We arrived on a nice evening at Didsbury to play the team just sitting above us in the table in 4th place so we knew it would be a tough match. We had the same team from the last match so Paul Mannion and Teddy Bennett playing at 1, Paul Clarke, Mark Bailey at 2 and Neil Cutler and Simon Jones at 3.

Paul and Teddy got off to flier with Teddy in particular playing some outstanding stuff and although the match looked close from the next court where I was playing, a 6-1 6-1 win was a great start. Similarly Paul and Mark after a fairly even first 8 games won both those sets 6-4 6-2. Simon and Neil had the longest match of the first round and that’s always a sure sign of a close one and so it turned out to be with the guys disappointed with a tiebreak loss in the first set and a close 4-6 in the 2nd.

Overall we were 4-2 up going into the 2nd round. Paul and Mark had a convincing win against the 3rd pair and started to get some consistency, Marks forehand looking as solid and reliable as ever and a factor in a 6-2 6-0 win. Paul and Teddy followed up with a comfortable 6-3 6-2 win with Simon and Neil just coming up short against a decent 1st pair.

So into the last round we were 8-4 up and with the fact that one of Didsbury players carrying an injury and having to forfeit those sets, meant we get those awarded and reached the winning post of 10 sets. Still there were 2 rounds of matches to play with the pressure slightly off although competitive instinct always takes over. Mark carried Paul through against the first pair, in one of those matches where we were generally behind but managed to win some key points and games and turned in another win 6-5 6-4.

A final word for Simon and Neil, what a night!!! Simon in particular played some excellent stuff but they just fell short against the 2nd pair losing another tie break. It was even more agonising having been 6-3 up only to lose it 8-6. You had to feel for them.

Still it’s a team game and we have all contributed with sets during matches so far. The match score overall was a 12-5 win, gives us 3 wins out of 4 and a great start to the season continues. Next match is vs Albert on 22 June and we will be practicing for that against the team 2nd in the table at present.

Paul Clarke