Tonight our Combi 2 team were playing away at Wychelm in a crunch fixture for the division. Wychelm and Corinthians always have good close matches and this one was another one – despite the final scoreline. The final score was 5-1 to Wychelm but it did not do justice to the actual matches played.
First up on court were me and Darran vs the Wychelm men while over on the other court, Paula and Penny took on the Wychelm ladies. In past matches, myself and Darran have struggled to get going and normally the games were over too quickly. We had a couple of practice games at club last week and were ready this week! After a slow start we managed to get going and made a good comeback in the first game but dropped too many points with the fast shuttles going out the back, eventually going down 17-21. Undeterred we were back on and playing much better but just couldn’t find top gear. It was nailbitingly close at the end and we lost it 20-21. Given our last matches have ended with us on single figures we were pleased with the progress.
On the other court, Paula and Penny were doing us proud (and keeping us in the match as usual!) coming off court the victors 21-18, 21-11 to make it 1-1 on the night.
Now we come to the games we are normally strong at – the mixed. Myself and Paula went on while Penny and Darran went on the other court. It was a gruelling match for Paula and I, taking a loss in the first game 20-21. After a quick drink and swapping ends, we went back on determined. Things clicked for us and seemed to go wrong for Wychelm and we ran away to a 21-10 win to take it to a decider. Annoyingly (AGAIN!), it was so close at the end and we lost it on the final point going down 20-21 giving Wychelm a 2-1 lead on the night.
Meanwhile, on the other court, Penny and Darran had a disaster. Even I don’t know what happened but they lost 4-21 (yes, that’s a number four!) but redeemed themselves in the next game going down 21-12 to make it 3-1 on the night to Wychelm.
Swapping over, I played with Penny and Darran took to the court with Paula for the final matches of the night. We needed to win both to salvage a draw and earn a league point.
Penny and I started strongly and had yet another close game, this time nicking it 21-20. The next match was another close one but this time it went the way of Wychelm, 18-21 to set up another decider for me (I like to punish myself!). Again, it was a close game but some unforced errors started creeping in to my game and we lost it 15-21.
Over on the other court, it was much the same for Paula and Darran. They lost their first game 10-21 but picked themselves up and won their second one 21-17 to set up another decider. Agonisingly close again, this one finished 19-21 in favour of Wychelm.
With 3 of the matches going to a decider and 4 of the games on the night finishing 21-20 (three to Wychelm and one to us), you couldn’t get much closer. Unfortunately for us that was the end of our title hopes. Well played Wychelm, it could have gone either way but at least we had some very close and very well fought matches.
Next week we have a home match against top of the table Hunters who are currently unbeaten this season. Let’s try and end some streaks next week – end our losing streak and end their winning streak!
