Seconds away vs Hatton Wed 9th January

...or should this be more correctly titled..."In Hatton, nobody can hear you scream..".

I'm afraid that the Second's nightmare season continues with another loss, this time in the wooden-spoon battle with Hatton. Tricky courts to find (we did go up and down that section of the A71 four times before managing to actually locate and then get into the life-threatening driveway) and tricky to play on. The enclosed boxes make every shot sound like a rifle bullet...very tricky to judge the true pace of the ball.

At No 4 Mark Dutton took on youngster D Tinning (I didn't write down the first names and now can't remember them...) and, quite frankly, was sorry he did. Mark had beaten this opponent in five in the first round and had high hopes of registering another rare win, but in the end could only dream of getting that number of points. In the end he did at least exceed (only just) that number of hand outs. I won't embarrass myself any further by revealing the actual point score. Game score 0-3.

At No 5 Pete Cockburn came up against D Pollock at No 5. Should really have won but somehow contrived to be 0-2 games down before coming to life with a 9-0 third game. Fell back into bad habits of the first two games and went down 1-3.

Dougie Brown at No3 hads a similar story. Looked like he ought to have had the better of the elder N Tinning but only managed the one game in the end. 1-3.

Alan Stokes at No 2 against J Gordon was our success story for the night. A contrast of styles with Alan taking on the sof touch role (soft touch as in delicate, that is..) and his opponent the hard-hitting route. Numerous very good boasts and drop volleys saw Alan victorious but also laying prostrate on the floor at the end.

Gerald Suggett took on M Mitchell at No1. The conditions (superfast courts) should have suited Gerald but his opponent was up for it too and Gerald was 1-2 games down but still looking very much in it. A 0-9 fourth game soon put paid to any hopes of win.

All in all...we continue looking for that elusive second win of the season...

Signed...Granny Dutton.