Last night our men’s 2 team were away at Emerson Eagles 4 with the target of maximum points (having beaten Emerson Eagles 3 a few weeks ago) to keep on track for the title.
With football matches and illnesses playing a part in dwindling numbers able to play, it was left up to Kirk to scrape together a team. The line-up for the night consisted of:-
Pair 1 – Gary Y and Jonas
Pair 2 – Ross and Andy P
Pair 3 – Kirk and Darran
As Emerson have the whole hall for matches, it was all games on at the same time. 1st pair against 1st pair, 2nd against 2nd and 3rd against 3rd,
Myself and Andy P took to court confident from our last match together. We were in for a tough first game making things worse for ourselves dropping points and facing their pair running away with the game. At one point we were about 7-2 down. We slowly clawed it back and eventually went ahead at the crucial time to win it 19-21. The second game was a lot better as we’d settled in and we won it comfortably 16-21 to make it 0-1 on the night.
Darran and Kirk had an easier time of their first match winning 9-21, 16-21 to make it 0-2 on the night. As Gary and Jonas were still on court against Emerson’s 1st pair, we swapped opponents and went back on court.
This was a more straightforward win for Andy and I as we were playing well together and we ran out 10-21, 6-21 winners. On the next court, Kirk and Darran had a closer match against Emerson’s 2nd pair but still won comfortably 11-21, 18-21 to make it 0-4 on the night and we were on course for a good result.
Gary and Jonas were having a hard time of it against Emerson’s 1st pair having lost the first game 21-19. They came back in the second game and won it 15-21 to take it to a decider. They were 16-14 up in the deciding game when disaster struck. Having had a twinge earlier in the match, Gary then had an awkward twist on his knee and fell to the floor. Playing it safe and with the urging of everyone on the team, he unfortunately had to call it a night so as not to risk any long term injury.
This meant that the decider was conceded along with their remaining 2 matches. This changed the night significantly and made the score 3-4 on the night. We needed to win the remaining matches to secure the maximum points.
Spurred on to secure the points, myself and Andy took to the court against Emerson’s 1st pair. The first match was a close one in which we were behind for a long spell. It was only when we were getting near the finish did we put things together and get a run going. The run was good enough to snatch the game 19-21. We pushed straight back on court for the second game. This was even closer than before and despite being neck and neck most of the way, we lost it 21-20 to set up a decider. This time we were on a mission and we didn’t hold back, storming away to an 11-21 win to make it 3-5 on the night and secure the 2 league points and the win.
It was now all on Darran and Kirk to secure the bonus point by beating the 1st pair from Emerson. I did feel sorry for them as they’d had a tough 3 games against Gary and Jonas then straight on for 3 more games against me and Andy. However, we needed the points so there wasn’t too much sorrow!
It was another close game which ended up on a deciding point at 20-20. No pressure at all but the lads nicked it and won it 20-21. Another win and we’d have the bonus league point. It wasn’t to be though. Emerson stepped it up and won the second game 21-17 to set up a decider. This was just too much for our lads who slipped to a 21-9 loss.
This made the result 4-5 on the night. A good result considering and it was a lot tougher than expected. The team from Emerson 4 were a lot harder to beat than the team from Emerson 3 a few weeks ago. We’ve secured the points to remain top and we still have an excellent game difference.
Next up is an away match to Wychelm where we’re hoping to do the double over them and keep pushing for the title. In the meantime, we all wish Gary a speedy recovery and hope to see him back on the court very soon!
