Tonight saw the men take on Emerson Eagles 2 in a Division 3 match at our second home of Hornchurch. With Emerson warming up already as we arrived, it was going to be a quick start to the night.
The first match saw Andy & Tom take on Emerson’s first pairing. Both games were tough but our guys brought home the points with a 21-17, 21-18 win.
Second up were me & David against their second pairing. It was a lot closer than expected and it took us a while to warm up and get into the game. However, we managed to scrape through the games 21-20, 21-20 to take the second points of the night.
Third match saw Kevin & Kenny take on their third pairing. Our guys were straight on the offensive and took the first game 21-7. The second game was a little closer with us taking it 21-15. So far so good.
The fourth match was David & I against their first pairing. We took the first game 21-19 and were on course for a match win until a few good shots from them and a few poor returns from us saw them pip the match 20-21 taking it to a deciding 3rd game. It was close all the way but their pairing stepped up their game to take it 19-21 and with it their first point of the night.
Match five was Kevin & Kenny against their second pairing. The first game was a bit too close for comfort finishing 21-17 but our guys turned up the heat and finished the second in style 21-10.
Match 6 was Andy & Tom vs their third pairing. The first game finished closely 21-19 to our guys. The second saw our guys step up to take it comfortably 21-13.
Match 7 of the night was a good match between Kevin & Kenny and their first pair. With our guys taking the first game 21-16, the Eagles pair raised their game to win the second game 18-21 to take it to a final game. Fortunately for us, Kevin & Kenny were up to the task and took the match 21-12.
The penultimate match was a quick one for Andy & Tom against their second pairing. Our pair were just too strong and they won 21-15, 21-8 to make the score 7-1 for the night with one match to play.
The final match was between David & I and their third pairing. The first game we just didn’t get out of the starting blocks, quickly falling behind to 6-14 at one point. However, a good run of points for us saw the game being brought back to 18-16 in our favour. However, a few mis-hits from them caught us out and a few lucky “hit the net and crawl over” shots saw them snatch the game 21-20. The second game was better from us and we deservedly won that one 21-9 to set up a decider. Again, luck was on their side with numerous mis-hits making it over the net and a few nicked net shots climbing over to give them the win 16-21.
With the final score being 7-2 we still got 3 points for the league to keep the 100% record intact. The next match for the Men is in January so they can take a well deserved Christmas break!
– Ross
