Mens
2 decided to continue to break all records on Monday at Ecclesfield. We
are on track along with Mens 1 for a 100% record this season,
unfortunately it is 100% defeats but who is quibbling? It was very kind
of Mens 1 captain Sam to concede his final fixture (even though winning
it could have kept him up) just to make us feel better! We are left with
alternative targets now, and more rubbers than Mens 1 is one of them!!
We’re a competitive bunch at Ranmoor!
On
the subject of Sam, he is probably the only member of the League who
had a tractor fall on him this week, and a 3 out of 3 record for
Combined 1 despite at least two broken bones may have helped keep
Combined 1 in the top division, so kudos to him!
Anyway,
back to records. Despite the amazing achievement of both sides getting 6
players out (both sides really struggled to, and we were without 7
players who would have played if any one of them had been able to) this
match probably broke all records for the quickest 9 games in the history
of badminton. The whole thing was wrapped up in 90 minutes.
Steve
and Rich dispatched two pairs with the minimum of fuss, not at their
best with some unforced errors but still had correct tactics and were
never in danger of losing an end. We had high hopes for Ravi and Rob as a
pair and the men of the match for Ranmoor did not disappoint beating
the same two pairs with even more ease, dropping just 28 points in 4
ends.
Unfortunately
now it is Beaver Hill’s turn to win some quick rubbers. The Pinders
were in the mood as usual and they hoovered up all three rubbers in
quick style. We were fairly confident having got at least 10 points in
10 of the 12 earlier ends against them last season and this. Sadly we
only added 1 to that tally. Steve and Rob taking them on first and
superbly avoiding them more than a handful of winners in each end, but
sadly only because of the number of errors we threw in! Ravi and Rob
fared little better, and debutants George and Rahul had a “welcome to
Division 3” moment. In truth though this Beaver Hill pair are a class
act that even our Mens 1 pairs have struggled to beat in the past and
their junior player is older and better now!
Well
done to Rahul and George for playing together on debut, they didn’t
manage to get over the line in any rubber, but pushed the opponents hard
in one of them and nearly got the crucial point we needed to win the
match. The experience will be of great benefit and that’s why we have a
Mens 3 under consideration for next season, if we have enough members
and court time.
A
5-4 defeat to Ranmoor. Our opponent had struggled to fulfil some
fixtures and had found it necessary to concede away games to our two
rivals Jaguar and Graves, which would incidentally have relegated us
anyway even if we had beaten Jaguar and Beaver Hill at home. It has made
the relegation battle a bit of a lottery so maybe it is lucky for our
sanity that we have lost them both 5-4 rather than the reverse!
Well
done to our opponents. It looks like (if my maths is correct) Graves
can still pip them to survival if they beat us in 2 weeks and Abbeydale
beat Beaver Hill. We’ll go strong in that game to salvage some pride,
and to be fair to the Division, and we’ll see what happens to the
relegation places as a result!
Steve K