With our beloved Rottweiler (and his missus) occupying the best free seats in town (and possibly doing a bit of pre-match spying) two more Colebridge Div Two teams, Chiefs and Hawks, entertained each other last Monday.
Things looked serious, when Chiefs arrived to find that their Welsh opponents ( Dad , Micky, and son , Chris ) had had an earlier practice session, and the match turned out to be very well contested, Chiefs eventually prevailing 6-4.
First up for Chiefs was 15 year old Sam Henderson, last season’s Division 5 individual winner, taking on John Cox, the individual runner-up in Division 3. The age gap looked significant, as Sam breezed through 3-0.
Another Colebridge debutant, Mike Credland, found himself up next, against wily Welsh senior. Lots of nip and tuck in this one, but with Welsh wizardry prevailing.
A topsy turvy set then ensued with both Chris Welsh and Neil Wheatley finding their form at one end and losing it at the other, Neil scraping home in 5, but no age gap problems next, as Mike and John sparred some long rallies, before the former claimed a 3-1 win.
I am sure that Neil and Sam would prefer to forget the doubles, even though they were up against an experienced pair, and Sam might have had that defeat on his mind, as he rarely looked like troubling the scorer (our beloved Inky) against Chris Welsh.
Welsh senior was at it again in the next, frustrating Neil’s none too successful attempts at long pimpled hitting, with some tricks of his own, to put his team in the lead with a 3-0 win.
The best sets of the night were the next and the last. First Mike battled hard to turn round a 2-1 deficit and level the score with an 11-9. 11-3 finish against Chris. Then, after Neil’s fairly comfortable defeat of John, young Sam demonstrated his fighting qualities with an 11-6, 11-6, 14-16, 14-12 victory over Mick, that was full of lengthy and exciting rallies. All credit to Mick who struggled with a back injury towards the end, but a very pleasing debut for Sam, who more than justified his elevation to what looks like being a very competitive Division.