Match Report  (courtesy of Bob Andrews)   

   Adeyfield C   7 - 3   Adeyfield B   

The current division leaders, Adeyfield B, were the away team to second placed Adeyfield C.  With the top of Division 2 so close, everyone had done their maths revision well before the match, to work out all the permutations!  Adeyfield B needed a draw to keep 3 points ahead of their C team, but a 6-4 win for Adeyfield C would be enough for them to get above the B team (level on points, but ahead on number of wins).    

Both teams had their expected lineups and the first 6 sets went as expected.   The B team took the lead 1-0 as Martin Johnson beat Bob Andrews.   The C team then took the lead 2-1, as John Fox beat Mariusz Puczynski and Bruce Ghaemi best Martyn Ford.  The lead swapped again as the B team took the next 2 sets, with Martin J beating John Fox and Martyn F beating Bob.  Bruce beat Mariusz to bring it back level at 3-3.  It was clear that the last 4 sets were all going to be close.  John beat Martyn to make it 4-3 on the night to the C team.  Next, the big game of the night saw Bruce play Martin J, which was an amazing set of competitive games.  Bruce went ahead 11-4 in a very controlled first game, but the game got more open in the second and Martin took that 7-11.  Game 3 was really close but Bruce just secured it 12-10, and finished the 4th game 11-7, to put the C team 5-3 up.  Player of the Match again for Bruce, and he finishes the season on 100% - an amazing individual performance all season.

The last singles saw Bob against Mariusz.   It was 1-1 each in the previous two encounters this season, so was expected to be close.  Bob played a controlled game to try to avoid Mariusz’s strong forehand, and won the first 2 games, with the tactics being Mariusz's strong forehand hits versus Bob’s controlled forehand loops.   Mariusz started to play with more control, and came back to win the next 2 games closely 9-11, 9-11, to set up the first 5th game set of the night.  It was close, throughout, but Bob just managed to get back in control near the end, to win the 5th set 11-8, much to the delight of his teammates, as it secured the needed win for the C team.

The night was not over with the doubles to go.  Colin Tibbles was watching, as his team still had a say in second place, and needed to know his challenge for the following week.  Adeyfield C fielded Bruce and John against Adeyfield B's Martin J & Martyn F.  This turned out the best set of the night.  Like the previous set, it went to a final 5th game, and again was very close, with Adeyfield C finally snatching it 11-9.    

So the C team went from 3-2 down to win 7-3, and secured 8 points, to go 2 ahead of the B team and back to first place in the league on the night.  Realistically, this is really second, given Flamstead A have 2 games against the bottom team Northchurch A, to play.   C&S B would have to win 9-1 against McAlpine next week to go back above Adeyfield C.  Adeyfield B are still 7 points ahead of C&S B, so C&S B could still also claim 3rd spot, whilst a big win for McAlpine, could push them up to 4th and C&S B down to 5th place!!  We will all know how it ends, next week?