Our first visit to the Hall of Giant Curtains and the Bandits were on good form on Thursday, especially Peter, who none of us came to terms with. His peculiar sideways shot and hurried chop serve allied to an unerring forehand smash, saw us all off in straight sets, never seen Brian look so puzzled, whilst Ian and me practically surrendered! Ben was in a particular benevolent mood though giving so many points away with double faults and wild smashes as he went down to both Ian and Brian that I thought I had a chance against him. Guess what, he didn't serve one fault against me and landed all his drives. 'Just because the other two beat you Ben, don't take it out on me!' I cried. Ian made far too many unforced errors against Graham and lost in three. Match of the night was Brian against Graham. The pair are leading the averages and you could see why as they traded big drives and prolonged periods of defensive chops. I thought Brian was a gonner when he was two sets to one down and 5-9 down in the fourth but Graham got careless, Brian blocked superbly well and turned the set around to take it 11-9. His confidence boosted he then took the fifth with some zingy backhand drives as Graham couldn't find the form he'd had in sets two and three. (Graham's first loss of the season and it leaves Nick Bakewell as the only unbeaten player who has played ten matches or more.) Ian and Brian gave it all in the doubles but went down in four to Graham and Peter. Excellent night's tennis even with Barry, masquerading as an engineer, trying to repair a battered table tennis table in the storeroom! Good company and we look forward to the return, just hope Peter loses his bat in the meantime!  Lee

Written by: Lee Brown