Grange 5 at Dunbar 2 – Thursday 31/01/2013

The Fifth’s were playing down at Dunbar this evening and we were struggling for a full team, until Jordan Fleming agreed to play in the no 5 berth on the morning of the match. The travel arrangements were fragmented as well with Jonathan and Jordan (who were both making their fifth team outings for this season) opting to relax and let the train take the strain.

The leisurely journey obviously worked wonders for both players as they were first up on court with Jordan playing at number 5 and Jonathan at number 3. Jonathan settled quickly into the match and asserted control early on and went on to close out a comfortable 3-0 win, 9-2, 9-2, 9-0. Jordan who was only playing his second competitive match in three months returning from an injury, took the first set 9-2, A lapse of concentration and the inability to hit the ball a length saw Keith take the second set 5-9, a little pep talk and a bit of chuntering from Jordan soon sorted things out and Jordan went on to close the match out with a 3-1 win, 9-2, 5-9, 9-5, 9-4. 

Next on court was myself playing Richard Baty at number 4, Richard had come out of retirement to play for Dunbar and I had promised myself to play more lengths and crosscourt shots and limit the boasts until the point had been set up. This was a good plan until the third point in when the first boast was played and Richard was rooted at the back of the court, sensing that this would yield cheap points the game descended into a boast feast with tight, loose and indifferent boasts making their mark and a 3-0 win for the Grange, 9-1, 9-4, 9-0.

Meanwhile Andrew Beames was playing Martin Baty at number 1 on the other court and this match was a much tighter affair. Andrew always had his nose in front and went on to win the rubber 3-0, 9-6, 9-7, 9-5.

Last up was Brian Sloan playing Alan Murphy at number 2, and after Alan had a moan about the amount of leftie’s he has to play the game started and Brian soon found himself down 1-7, a rally from Brian saw him taking the first set 9-7. The second set saw Brian race into a 6-1 lead only for Alan to claw back to level a 6-6, a couple of changes of serve then saw Brian get over the line and take the second set 9-6. Similar story in the third set with Brian quickly going behind 0-8, and then of course the recovery which saw Brian get back to 7-8 before Alan got the point he needed to win the third set 7-9. The fourth set saw Brian control from the start and he closed out the match for a 3-1 win, 9-7, 9-6, 7-9, 9-5.

Match results including ref points was 20-2 to Grange 5 and our first full house of the season. Well played guys.

We were treated to Lasagne and salad, with enough leftover for second helpings for those were so inclined. Chat was good natured and then we said our goodbyes to make the journey back to Edinburgh. We had to ensure that Brian’s car started before we left the car park, which it did first time and with Jonathan opting to take the train back to Edinburgh Park, the remainder of the team started the journey back up the A1 and conversation turned to Stargazing live and vertical farming, before dropping Jordan off at his home in Dalkeith, which turns out to be a an octagonal polychrome brick water tower constructed in 1879 for the Dalkeith town council by James Leslie, Engineer of the Edinburgh water company. How cool is that.   

 

Match report – Neil Love

 

Pos	Player	Rubbers	Games	Points			Player	Rubbers	Games	Points
1	Martin Baty	0	0	18			Andrew Beames	1	3	27
2	Alan Murphy	0	1	27			Brian Sloan	1	3	34
3	Neil Black	0	0	4			Jonathan Norrie	1	3	27
4	Richard Baty	0	0	5			Neil Love	1	3	27
5	Keith Nicolson	0	1	20			Jordan Fleming	1	3	32
Total		0	2	74				5	15	147
Competition Points		2						18