The rule book is pretty clear on this:
Rule 1. “In order to win a game the opposing side must actually, turn up, on the arranged night and play the game out.”

Our ‘fixtures bunny’ (Cheers Al) phoned the opposition. They suggested that the match was to be played on another night. This proved to be an admin error on their part. It was suggested that the match be decided by a throw of dice, over the phone, but we declined.

So to rephrase: We came, they didn’t, we conquered… To quote our captain, “it’s not the way we would have liked to have won but we will take it.”

The comfort blanket of ‘default win’ envelopes us once again… Hmmm, snuggly buggly.
Final score: Vale 9-  ‘We need a new fixtures secretary’ PD 0

However, the worrying part was that us West Glam BOYOS were at the county match, so we were hoping to get a much needed spurt of energy going in to our clash with Penarth A (or at least I was hoping Darius would do all the running as usual).

Anyway, despite those setbacks, the Vale crew gave it their all to beat Penarth, with Chris and Rob taking down the two fielded pairings of Jean/Ed and Alex/YC Lim (the one and only).

Alex and YC put up a great fight to beat Dave/Barry and Mart/Darius, to take two vital rubbers for the away side. But the boys from West Glam were not going to go to sleep just yet (although that would have been nice), as they managed to put the pressure on Jean and Ed, to win the final two rubbers for the vale, giving an end result of 7-2.

Thanks very much guys, good win.

Mart

Great to see you Hel and thanks for your support – but would rather see you with a racquet in your hand than a scoresheet.

Meanwhile back on the court we were only able to field two pairs so things didn’t look good from the start.  However …

With Captain Jayne sacrificing herself to annoy the men who turned up at club night – Al & Sarah paired up as first pair and despite not having played together for sometime they managed to win all three of their games.  All games being very close and very tiring!

Sandra & Rachel (who were on a roll from the previous match) had beaten their second pair and lost to the firsts… and so to the decider.  At 4 all and with the crowds cheering from the sidelines (there were at least 6 of us) it went to a third game.  Unfortunately a victory could not be secured as the girls lost 23 – 21.

So close but yet so far.  Well done to everyone.  With the wind in the right direction and a full team things might have been different.  Never mind return leg to come so there is hope yet of a first win of the season.

PS.  Anyway off the  pub – and the one night Glyn is not there a nice assortment of cakes.  They would have gone nicely with his cup of cocoa!

Al

Team Capt Glyn passed the mighty responsibility of 1st pairing to Nathan and Byron. They did not disappoint. The newly appointed firsts played to the crowd by allowing two rubbers to go to 3. Byron “I’m only going to hit it if it comes to me” Edwards got the opposition lifting and Nathan “Howitzer” Willcox put the shuttle repeatedly on the opposition floor.

Nige’ and Glyn seemed back on good form only losing out to a tricky home 1st pair after 3 games which all went the full distance. Dispatching 2nds and 3rds without too much drama.

Matt was introducing himself to his latest partner when a flicker of recognition came over him and he realised it was his actual, partner on paper, the mythical Rob John. Presumably Rob had thought there was tournament on at Eastern Leisure Centre? ;-)

Reunited at last the 3rds took the fight to the opposition and left them whimpering for mercy. Ok I may be bigging it up a tiny bit. They took two games without fuss and only just missed out to the 1st pair after a tough 3rd game.

Will Nige’ ever accept it’s just a game?
Will Rob and Matt play another game together before the end of the season?
Will Nathan ever get warm enough to play wearing only one top?
Will Byron ever move to a shuttle more than 6 ft away?
Will Glyn stop blaming his racquet?

Stay tuned to find out the answer to all these questions and more…

Final score Vale 7 Cardiff 2. Well done all, good to be back on winning form.

Just getting to the venue should count as a minor victory. It’s a long way from the Vale. Even longer if you take some of the more interesting routes selected by certain team members. I have two words for you guys: Tom Tom…

Once all were assembled, in the correct town, we assessed the venue. Suffice to say we won’t be seeing the Yonex Open played out of there anytime soon. Last time I saw that many different lines on a floor I’d just dropped a map of the London underground…

As is now the norm Glyn and Nige’ bombed spectacularly against the home team 1st pair. Nathan and Byron gave us a scare by allowing the 2nds to take it to 3 but then knocked it up a gear and comfortably won the 3rd rubber. It was going to be a long night.

There had been some sort of admin error at team selection HQ and Mat found himself with the same partner (Chris Rowbottom) for two matches straight (Don’t worry it won’t happen again…). Unfortunately they are still getting to know each other’s game and couldn’t beat the home 3rds.

The home 1st pair remained consistent and made short work of all Vale pairings. Glyn and Nige’ coasted to easy wins against the home 2nd and 3rds and Nathan and Byron dispatched the 3rds without fuss leaving the match at 4-4. Could Mat and Chris gel as a pair in time to bring home the vital final game?

Er, No. But not for lack of trying. It went to 3 at which point it all got a bit too much and the home team 2nds took the match. So barring another shock revelation the B’s first defeat this season.

Final score 5-4. Check your calendars for the return leg it may just be a vital match…

Playing Heath B’s 1st pair proved no exception. Following defeat we checked the rule book to make sure that a pair can both be left handed, it was established  that, apparently, there’s no actual rule against it, a loop hole that the WBU should address surely?

Nathan and Byron were on top form and managed to secure all 3 rubbers. [Natch - Ed.]

Mat however, he no longer has a partner. Before each match we give him a copy of the 2006 census and he throws a dart at it until he hits the name of someone living in South Wales and the lucky winner gets to partner him for one match. In this case it was Chris Rowbottom. To be fair they played really well and were unlucky to lose to Heath’s 3rd pair (whom were significantly more talented than their 2nd pairing!). They even took the Heath’s 1st pair to 3.

A good win for the Vale, final score 6-3.

As usual with this draw the C’s brought out a ringer for the occasion this time it was Vale new boy Chris Rowbottom. Jack and Simon managed an awesome show of defence and managed to beat Nige’ and Glyn in a really close and enjoyable 3 setter.

Rob and Chris also took the Vale’s 1st pair to 3 but some rather unwise calling of the ‘good end’, to start the game, saw them playing out to the final leg of the 3rd down in the naughty corner. This resulted in a spectacular collapse as the pressure of victory and the lack of light took their toll. Predictably, the rest of the night didn’t go so well for the Vale C’s and Vale B with the 2nd and 3rds not messing about (like the so called 1st ) pair and dispatching all with relative ease.

Vale B romped home with a comfortable win. Final Score 8-1 or 7-2 or 6-3?????!! [No idea - Ed.]

Nathan managed to turn out despite becoming a new dad about ten minutes before the game so a great big well done is due… to Nathan’s Wife for coping so soon after the big event! The team’s only national player Rob John was not able to make it but his mighty shoes were filled by the experience and cunning of Allan Evans (thanks Al).

The match was hard fought. Glyn and Nige’ struggled badly with the first pair but subdued the 2nd and 3rds without too much worry. Nathan and Byron seemed to be missing their usual zip and also dropped 1 against the firsts, sleep deprivation playing a part, no doubt. No more late nights for you Byron…

Allan and Mat gave it their all (as usual) but just couldn’t bring that all important win in. So the final score was 5-4? But it’s not over ‘till it’s over and subsequent revelations by the home team revealed that an ineligible player had taken part and therefore Vale get to roll in the comfort blanket that is ‘default win’. Hmmm toasty.

Did you know that Richard Vaughan (the former world number 7) lost 3 rubbers in straight sets last night????

Did you also know, that the the word gullible has been eradicated from the english dictionary? ;)

Although those stories would be nice, it was certainly not the case. Richard Vaughan made an appearance (representing our friends, the Rebels Posse) and partnered with the very talented Gareth Day to secure 3 rubbers in the Division 1 clash with Vale A.

However, the Vale crew had no intentions of holding up the white flag, and proved this by taking down the strong pairings of Simon/Andy and Huw/Steve. This meant Vale got another well deserved and hard fought win. It was nice to have such a friendly match, with eye-catching rallies and good old fashioned banter.

However… oh dear, what an expensive game this has become for Vale member Barry ‘Can I borrow a racket‘ Garnham, who has… yes you guessed it… managed to break ANOTHER racket (See above).

It leaves me to ask Barry, will he make it through the next match and break (no pun intended) this expensive trend? Only time will tell, and his bank balance of course.

Thanks for playing guys, good effort. Mart.

However, Heath are not a team to go down without a fight, and true to their word, they showed some class, taking down Vale 2nd pairing of Huw and Darius, eventually bringing the match to 3-3. Our boys put up a good fight, and will be ready for the rematch extravaganza.

So our chances of division one glory rested in the hands of Barry ‘I go through 3 rackets in one match’ Garnham and Martin ‘I can count, so I don’t need you to butt in and score in my game’ Dix.

This was no easy task, but they managed the first hurdle, taking down Heath’s 3rd pair 21-10, 21-11. A good start to a tense night. However, the dynamic duo had to square off against their highly talented first pair and despite giving their all, and coming close to winning, they managed to lose in 2 straight games.

The match is now set at 4-4 and it was up to the odd couple to bring home the gold. So 3 rackets, 6 shuttles, 10,000 smashes  and one dispute later, the boys managed to win the game 21-16 in the final set, to secure a 5-4 victory over Heath.

A big thanks to everyone who played, good effort boys.

CBDL Quiz Night – Sat Jan 30th at Heath Sports & Social Club