Thirds "home" v Dean1 (Thurs, Nov 26,'09)

Second placed The Dean Club came to fortress St George's to see if they could knock us off our pedestal. Ross of Dean kindly supplied marking sheets at St George's as our stash had disappeared.

First up at #4 was a Marco's Old Boys reunion as Grange's Andy Whitelaw took on David Thompson. Andy caught a few Z's for the first game but somehow came alive to chase back to 8-8 and straight on to 10. Crucial, as David won the next one and was playing well. Andy became a bit hampered in his movement with a niggle. After another exchange of games, Andy managed to keep his creaking body from falling apart and stumbled over the finishing line 3-2.

At #2, Dougie Brown was blasted out of it in the first by Casey Hurren. For the next 3, Dougie pushed the ball to the glass and stopped Casey hitting out, closing out 3-1.
At #5 Christy Looby got enough errors off Ross Anderson's racket to take the first two. Credit the Dean man, he used his reach and big forehand to get back on even terms. Somehow he returned to the original gameplan of a few tins, serve outs and strokes to let Christy push on for the fifth 3-2.

There was a good #1 match on one court but everyone crowded to see the drama of #3 Stokes v James Birkhead. This was disputed, not just with the players but with the ref too. Some excellent retrieving from James and Alan pulling the strings, it went to 2-2 and included a lengthy discussion of the "turning" call. In the decider, Stokesy off to a flyer to get a decisive (or so we thought) 7-4 lead, but James had the stronger finish: 2-3.

Meanwhile another Marco's Old Boys reunion, Patrick Langley was playing out of his skin at #1 against Nick Wood. Nick is the type of guy that makes my back ache just thinking about him and all those clinging drops and volleys you have to dig up off of him. Patrick lapped them up, sweeping them wide to the glass or angling an exquisite counter-drops. At two down, Nick raced to an 8-1 lead in the third and a few people jumped into the showers to be back for the fourth... but Patrick had other ideas & survived numerous game-balls and clawed his way back to complete the clean-out. Man of the Match stuff, Patrick.

Overall, 4-1 and 19-10, this was one that could have gone the other way. Keeps us at the top, almost 20 points ahead of the next team, away to bottom club Heriot Watt 2 next Wed. The Dean ran up a record tab in the bar and mused about how much more they were paying for their pizzas and whether Stokesy should be "harried" or "consulted" about the history of the turning rule ;-) (Loob)