Taking aside the Comets result, we have had a very positive start to the season.  

For some unknown reason the Division 2 match between Beauty & the Beasts and Good Karma B was not played resulting in a spare table being available. Much to the benefit of both teams it removed any potential controversy from the final result as games 5-8 were played on two tables. We are notoriously late finishers and things didn’t bode well as Bing was the first of their team to arrive and after 18:30. The first game began at 18:50.  

Last season George blew me away in 3 very comfortable sets. This time round George may have been a little jet-lagged, having arrived back in the UK early Thursday morning. After two evenly contested sets I raced through the third set comfortably. In the fourth I held two match points at 10-8. George fought back to level at deuce. At 11-10, and for the second time this season, a fortunate net ended the contest. We often find ourselves cursing our own luck when the opponent gets an edge or net, but far too often we so easily forget when it’s in our favour.  

With Ronnie arriving earlier that expected the games were played in order. The next two games went arguably to form; Ronnie came back from 10-6 down against Xavier in the second set.  

In the fourth game of the evening George put up a valiant fight in the opening set against George, coming back from 8-2 down to level at 8-8 before losing 12-10 and eventually 3 straight sets.  

With the match poised at 2-2, I had to play Xavier. Last season I came back from 2-0 down, only to lose 3-2. This game had a very familiar feel to it as Xavier again raced ahead 2-0, but this time there looked to be no way back as he led 9-6. It’s a funny old game, as Jimmy Greaves used to say about football, and certainly true of table tennis, as after saving a match point at 11-10 and winning the third set I came through comfortably in the end.

Only two singles matches went to five. In the second George looked dead and buried after Ronnie raced into a 2-0 lead, winning both sets 11-6, but then staged a remarkable comeback, winning the next two very close sets and then running away with the final set.  

With the result standing on a knife edge, I went into the final game having to play Bing, whom I had played many times, winning and losing, over the years in the Central League. I had in fact lost to him recently in the Central League’s Warne Cup competition so was really surprised by the outcome. 

With Ronnie and I winning the doubles, albeit in the third 5-setter of the night, we were able to celebrate our second win of the season.