Wednesday night was the turn of the men’s team to travel to Emerson Park to take on Emerson Eagles 1 in the Men’s Division 3 match. This year the league is proving to be close at the top so we needed to take maximum points to stay in 1st position.
We needn’t have worried as the guys were up to the task, and then some.
First up on court was Andy and Tom against the home 1st pair. Andy and Tom got ahead early and stayed there with a convincing 13-21 win. However, it wasn’t plain sailing for them and they slipped up on the second game losing it 21-18 to take the match to a decider. Our guys turned up the heat and took the game 15-21 and with it the first points of the night.
Next on court was Gary and Oliver against the home 2nd pair. With a close finish in the first game (19-21 to us), it was on to the second game to secure the points. They didn’t disappoint and delivered a 17-21 win to take the second match point of the night and keep us on course for maximum points.
Third match was Kevin and Kenny against their third pairing. This was a comfortable win with our guys taking it 15-21, 16-21.
The fourth game was our first pair of Andy and Tom against their second pair. The first game wasn’t too close with Andy and Tom cruising to a 16-21 win. However, the next game was nowhere near as close with our lads sneaking it 20-21 to make it 0-4 on the night and secure a minimum one league point for us.
Fifth game of the night saw Gary and Oliver cruise through their match against Emerson’s third pairing 10-21, 10-21 to take the fifth match point of the night and secure the second league point for us.
From now on, we just needed one more match win to secure the bonus league point and take us to the top of the table.
Step up Kevin and Kenny. This was a mammoth battle between both pairs which saw very close games and close points. We lost the first game 21-19 but that didn’t stop the guys. They upped their game to take the second game 18-21 and bring the match to a decider. In the closest game of the three, Kevin and Kenny snatched it at the death 20-21 to make it 0-6 on the night to us and take us to the top of the table.
So, the 7th match of the night was Andy and Tom against Emerson’s third pairing. This match was a fairly one-sided affair with Andy and Tom cruising to a 13-21, 12-21 win to make it 0-7 on the night and on course for a whitewash.
The penultimate match of the night saw Gary and Oliver take on their 2nd pairing. The first game was a fairly evenly affair with Gary and Oliver pulling ahead at the end and taking it 19-21. With that in the bag, they stepped up a gear and took the second game 17-21 to secure the 8th point of the night with one match remaining.
The last match of the night was Kevin and Kenny against Emerson’s second pair. The first game was a comfortable 16-21 win for us taking us to a second game to secure a maximum win on the night. The second game of the match was a lot closer but Kevin and Kenny nicked it at the last point to take the final game 20-21 and with it the final match point of the night to complete a 0-9 whitewash.
Well done to the lads on the excellent result and we are now on top of the table and promotion is now ours to lose. It’s a good position to be in and the crunch match will be between Emerson Eagles 2 and Corinthians on the 12th March away at Emerson Park. We are level on points but we lead on games won. If we win that match, we could secure the league given we have a game in hand.
It’s going to go to the wire!
– Ross
