Last night we hosted Emerson Eagles 2 in a BHDBL Combination Division 2 match.  In the reverse fixture early in the season, we managed to get a 4-2 win so we were hopeful of another good match.

However, with Paula struggling to breathe with a bad cold, Penny not feeling 100%, Darran cutting his hand while putting up the net and me on only my second week back since December, the signs were not looking good!

The first matches on court were the doubles.  Myself and Darran on one court against the Emerson lads with Paula and Penny on the other court against the Emerson girls.  I don’t know why but myself and Darran never seem to do well in matches (probably due to little practice together on club night) and the result pretty much mirrored the reverse fixture, losing 8-21 and 9-21.

Thankfully, Paula and Penny did what they did best and won their match, 21-20, 21-18 to keep it 1-1 on the night.

Next up on court it was Penny and Darran who took it to a decider and won 17-21, 21-17, 21-20 to make it 2-1 on the night and things were looking up.  Then it was the turn of Paula and myself.  Despite getting off to a good start, winning the first game 21-17, we slipped up in the second and lost 15-21 to take it to a decider.  Paula, having taken a fall and a shuttle to the head, was still fearless at the front of the court and the Emerson lad seemed to be deliberately taking aim to rattle things up.  Despite mounting a comeback, we went down 18-21 to make it 2-2 on the night with only two matches left.

It was partner swap time so I joined Penny on court and Paula joined Darran on court for the final matches.  After a runaway start to the first game, Penny and I started to claw the points back and came back from 12-20 down to 19-20 down but it wasn’t to be.  We lost the first one 19-21.  Next game wasn’t as close as the heat started to take its toll on me (the heating in the hall had been fixed and the school were so pleased they decided to test it out during half term!) and I was making too many mistakes.  We eventually lost 14-21 to make it 2-3 on the night.

With the final league point resting on Paula and Darran’s shoulders, we came off court at pretty much the same time.  The result in their match was similar to ours and they lost 14-21, 18-21.

Final result was a reverse of the reverse fixture – 2-4 in favour of Emerson meaning things in the league stay the same.  Next match is away to Wychelm at the end of the month.

The division is actually shaping up to be a close run affair.  We are level on points with Wychelm (but they have a game in hand) and Hunters are 3 points out in front.  They play Emerson the day after our match with Wychelm so things could be all change at the end of the month.  Hunters will still be top, regardless of the outcome but it could see us, Wychelm and Emerson all swapping places which will really mix things up.

Anyhow, that’s in the future.  For now, my thanks to Paula, Penny and Darran for their efforts last night and sorry for letting the side down (being the only person on the team not to actually win a match!).  Despite being a sub-100% healthy team, we didn’t do too badly!

Next up we have Wychelm on the 27th so I think next week we need to get some practice together and in the meantime, dose up on some Vitamin C….

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