Published 24/11/2024 09:12 by Michael Howard.

When these teams last met, at the beginning of November, Lagondas enjoyed a straightforward match against a 2-player team of Bill Tyler and Mark Thomas, recording a 10-0 win. Despite a similar match score, this was a much more difficult match and the Blades, comprising Bill and Mark again plus Kareem Omar, were incredibly unlucky not to win any of the sets. 4 of the singles sets and the doubles went the distance. The score in 15 of the 41 legs played was 11-9 and another 8 legs went to deuce. Despite losing all his sets in 3 legs, Kareem was extremely unfortunate against the Lagondas trio of Glen Davison, Sue Lewis and Chris Horn. A neutral observer would not have considered this a match between teams at opposite ends of the divisional table and the final match score flattered the home team.

The evening started with a very close 5-leg match between Glen and Bill. Having forced his way to a 12-10 win in the fourth leg, Bill raced to a 5-1 lead in the decider, before Glen clawed his way back and won 11-7. This was followed by a 3 leg win for Sue against Mark, whose mobility was badly affected all evening by a back injury. Despite that, Mark made Sue struggle before she won 11-9, 11-4,11-9. Chris then played Kareem, winning 13-11, 11-6.11-9. The doubles, between Glen/Chris and Bill/Kareem, also went to a final leg, with the away team having chances in the 4th leg, the home team eventually winning the decider 11-6. Sue then took on Bill, who played the match with pimples on one rubber, using it well, together with 'twiddling' the bat during rallies. Despite Bill's best efforts however, Sue won in 4 legs.Some of the rallies in the set between Glen and Kareem were spectacular, Glen coming through 11-8, 11-7, 13-11. Chris and Mark then produced one of the sets of the night, which went to 5 legs, with some tremendous hitting on both sides and Mark's play belying his back issue. Again the deciding points in the final leg went to the home team, with Chris winning 11-9. Another excellent close set followed between Sue and Kareem, who seemed unfazed by Sue's use of her bat with pimpled rubber on both sides, only for Sue to secure a win by 11-9,11-9,13-11. Chris and Bill fought out yet another 5-leg set. Chris won the first two legs 11-7, only for Bill to come back and take the next two legs by 11-9 and 11-5. Bill had a narrow lead at the change of ends in the final leg before extending this to 9-6, but Chris fought back and secured his maximum on the night by taking the leg 13-11. The final set of the night was between Glen and Mark, enlivened by some amazing rallies and winning strokes from both ends of the table. Mark won the first two legs by 11-3, 11-9 and it looked as though the Blades were going deservedly  to break their duck. Unfortunately for the away side, Glen recovered to take the next two legs fairly easily before taking a see-saw final leg 12-10.

Well done to the Blades for playing to a high standard throughout the night, in what was a very enjoyable and good-natured match, despite the problems they have faced for most of the season in only having two players on match nights. The teams are due to play in the Challenge Cup next week and, on the basis of this match, the start which the Blades will have may then prove decisive.