Broadberry Sports

Flooded courts at DLWE meant that we had to move one of our club’s home games to an away fixture. Fortunately Strathclyde Uni were able to accommodate our 2nd team, so the 1st team kicked off early against Strathgryffe 1.

First on were the No.5’s – with Joe McDonald being drafted into the the 1st team to face Chris ‘The Pirate’ Patrick. Chris was busy telling us all his sea shanties about his bad back, his bad ankle and his bad hairdo (!) etc! – however he was as sharp as ever with his trademark volleying and his telescopic reach. Having said that he also showed his trademark ability to switch off at any time and lose multiple points in a row. Fortunately for him he was well in control of this match as Joe looked a little out of sorts. So a 3-0 win for The Pirate. Arrrrrrrrgh!

That match finished about 6.30pm – I went on next about 7.20pm! Mind you I made up lost time very quickly by putting in a terrible performance against John Meehan. 3-0 again and I’m beginning to get vertigo, as No.2 is a bit too high for me! (the sooner Andrew beat’s me the better!). John was clinical though and played well.

Next up was David Craig (nic-named ‘the big hansom’ by a former captain) for us against James ‘Saint-Tropez Tan’ Dare in the battle for “No.4’s most striking!” This was an excellent match and we soon secured the first DLWE team point of the night (about time too!). However James really got into his stride after that and took the next 2 reasonably easily. Big Davie put in a massive push in the 4th and it looked like James was tiring at 6-9 down; a 5th game decider surely beckoned? But from nowhere James won the next 5 points on the trot, to take the match and the most striking player! 🙂

Andrew Glen was on next and was promoted to No.3 this week and was up against Ruadhri McDougall. Both lads (and John Meehan) are off to the 2017 British Junior Championships from Thursday in Manchester, so good luck to them. However back to the mighty West Leagues and it was good to see the youngsters battling it out. At the end of the day Ruadhri had just a little too much composure for Andrew and despite all the games being very close it was just a few mistakes, at the wrong time, which proved to be the difference between them.

Last on were the No.1s as Craig Valente-Wallace took on our previous No.2 team mate, Jason Lang. I personally blame Jason for my elevated position this season and all the losses……and my lack of fitness…..and well everything else as well!! Seriously though, it’s good to see Jase competing at No.1 and this clash was particularly interesting as both ex-team mates had a point to prove (also good to see both using the Harrow Vapor Racket! 🙂 ).

This was a match of 2 halves (well, technically five fifths, but you’ll get the picture soon enough!). Jason dominated the first 2 games (7 & 7), but did a fair amount of work to get them. Craig got the 3rd easily, then it all got interesting. There were some massive rallies in the 4th and Craig managed to get Jase on the end of quite a few of them. Both men were beginning to look like a burst-baw, but at 7-7 it was the actual baw that burst, giving the players a quick breather. After the new knock-up, Craig kept the pressure on and, 45/50 mins into the match, the 4th game was won. And so to the 5th!

Craig’s fitness shone through in the 5th as he secured the winning point 11-6, but what a fight both men put up; it was a great match to watch. M.O.T.M. to both guys I’d say – click here to see the last point. 

Good luck to all the juniors going to the 2017 British Junior Champs in Manchester – look forward to hearing about the weekend’s results.

Read more…