On Thursday 8th Dec Men’s B took on Penarth B at Weston LC.
Have you ever had that sinking feeling when you walk in to play and you haven’t even picked up your racquet yet?
This happened on Thursday when it was noted that half the players on court for Penarth B were recently on court at the Vale when they beat our A team, oh dear…
Dave and Nige paired up for their first game together all season. It turns out that preparing by playing no games at all together and ensuring that, even at club nights, they were never on court at the same time is not the way forward. Who knew? I recently put ‘Communication’ into my online thesaurus and under the ‘antonym’ section it had a YouTube clip of Dave and Nige playing against Penarth….
Glyn and Andy came on as 2nds and did their best but only managed the one.
Howard and Matt also played valiantly but couldn’t secure a win.
Final score 7-2 to Penarth.
Not to detract from the supreme depth and talent of Penarth we need to do better.
On the plus side the game due for the 11th was handed to us on the ‘Silver Platter of Concession’, (an ancient and much loved article from the realm of ‘you need all the help you can get’, bordering with ‘take it and runville…’). Happy days. Another 3 of those and we will stay up.
Once again a visit to the tombola that is the C team helped make up the numbers… Our second taste at the higher level and it’s fair to say a noticeable difference in consistency between divisions. The key appears to be patience and reliable play rather than playing all out ‘winners’ which invariably get returned! Maintaining the attack is tricky with tighter net play and flatter shots but all in all it’s a lot more fun than the run of 9-0s that we enjoyed in Division 3 (honest).
Matt and Nige stepped up as 1sts and went down with all guns jammed and fizzing in 2 straight games; 19 and 19. Not detracting from a talented home 1st pair Matt and Nige looked shaky throughout both knowing they could do better as they left the court in defeat. Things improved for their next games, as they got into their stride, polishing off 2nd and 3rds in 2.
Unfortunately Vale 2nd pairings, Glyn and Andy, failed to win a game all night which left a huge burden on our stand ins, Nathan and Howard. They rose to the task and took very tough games to the wire and two wins against 2nd and 3rds but just couldn’t contain the hard hitting home first pair.
Started badly when Nathan texted to say he had the lurgy on the morning of the match.
However, a superhero appeared and valiantly stepped into the breach in the form of Andy Kyle, despite having to leave Cardiff, go to Margam, come back to Cardiff and all for half an hour too soon because the league handbook is out of date! Andy held his own extremely well and was greatly welcomed into the team.
The delay didn’t deter the team’s efforts, though, with Glyn and Alison beating their 2nds and 3rds convincingly. Chris and Andrew were determined to get their money’s worth despite Chris’s aching joints from the last 2 matches with all theirs going to 3 but only taking their 3rds. The scores were all very close too.
Jayne and Matt again fought extremely well and although they didn’t take any games, their efforts were outstanding.
Although another loss, the scores are getting better! Keep it up, team. 6 – 3 to Cardiff A.
