My Topspin team kept our unbeaten record for the season after a gutsy display tonight. As an ecstatic Mervyn Kelly succinctly put it “We snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat”, coming back from 3-5 down when all seemed lost.
 

The crucial 9th set was played out between Russell Penn and Iain Lindsay. Earlier in the match Iain had looked invincible when beating me in 5 games first up and then Mervyn in straight games whereas Russell was in a bad shape, losing tamely to Barry Bishop and struggling against Dave Plumb, when forced to rescue game points in separate legs. Then I recalled Russell’s startling ability to pull the proverbial ‘rabbit out of the hat’ as history shows that he can turn his form round in a flash. I remembered that he turned over Dan Sawkiewicz and Michael Wilkins on different ocassions but in identical circumstances to the challenge he faced from Iain. And right from the start of the set he was all over Iain, hitting classy winners from all parts of the table to win comfortably with just a small blip at the end of the 3rd game when he allowed Iain to sneak home. Fantastic. No one in this division plays like Russell when he's in full flow.
 

I went on to seal the draw with a win over Dave in the final set. However once again this match showed how important the doubles can be as our loss here (Mervyn/me v Iain/Barry in an excellent set) cost us the team’s 100% winning record. So it was 2 wins each for Russell and me for Topspin and 2 wins each for Iain and Barry for Eagles. Good match and well played all.