Our
rematch against top of the league Abbeydale saw a similarly strong
opponent with just 1 change, and 4 changes for Ranmoor with a late
change following an injury at the weekend.
King
Sam was absent again, skiing this time on beautiful new powder the
lucky £$&**! As a result I decided to step into his position as
number 3 man, with Rob playing number 1 and Ben completing the set.
Aparna played number 1 for the ladies so played both ladies games with
Ruth and Elaina.
Abbeydale
were friendly but ruthless with some real badminton players, feathers
league experience in at least 6 of the 9 ends. It was going to be tough.
The
first rubbers were over fast with Aparna, Ruth, Rob and Ben getting
10-14 in all ends against a high standard of opponent. Things picked up
after that though with Aparna and Elaina winning their ladies in
straight ends to 12 and 15, then Rob and I almost grabbed an end against
the men, losing to 19 after I took a hard smash to the head at 19-19,
then the second end to 14 as Abbeydale went up a notch in class. 3-1 to
Abbeydale after the levels.
The
mixed was a similar story. Ben and Ruth battled well but went down in
straight ends to 17, 17, 13 and 21. Rob and Aparna went down 14 and 14,
both playing an opponent in all three rubbers which can be very tough
against a good team! Elaina and I seemed to hit it off as a pair
straight away, beating one pair in straight ends to 17 and 18, before
narrowly losing to the other pair to 16 and 19 after being 19-18 up in
the second end.
A
7-2 defeat which matches the result at theirs. Well done to them. No
shame at all though, we improved our points difference to them (-63
across 9 rubbers this time) and some brilliant performances. Let’s keep
it up for the remaining games and we may have a chance of staying in
this division, which we’re keen to do despite the reshuffled division 2
this year being very tough, containing only 1st teams, us and Abbeydale.
Player Of The Match – Elaina (2 rubbers)
Steve K
