From Neil (see below for John Crawford's comments) 

John had cried off from the Central League match on Wednesday as he was so ill (mere coincidence that his team were playing Man City that evening as well) but climbed off his sick bad to play in this one. 

Johnny meanwhile sprained his ankle a couple of hours before the match but elected to play rather than let the team down – with an ice-pack clingfilmed to his ankle! 

The tone was set in the first singles when Terry faced John looking for revenge having lost in the first half. Almost but no coconut, took it to five winning the first and fourth legs, very familiar territory for John, but John then ran away with the fifth. 1-0 PRO. 

There were then three fairly routine three straight wins for Castaways, the most notable being Johnny managing to beat Jai on effectively one leg. 

Johnny then had to face John and try as he might Johnny couldn’t find a way to win, even resorting to pushing at times. John duly won in three for possibly his first ever win over Johnny. 

We then came to the match-up that has been a bogey one for Neil over the seasons, Jai at the other end of the table. Sure enough Jai won the first, hen the second on deuce, and another banana skin was in sight reaching nine all in the third. Somehow Neil managed to take the next two points and then in one pf those strange twists won the next two legs only conceding five points in total. 

Johnny then faced George and really had to fight through the discomfort to win in four having dropped the third leg. 

Terry made short work of Jai and that brought the two unbeaten players to the table with John looking for his own revenge having lost to Neil in the first half. 

Inevitably it went to five though only just with Neil coming from match points down to take the fourth. John then took command, in yet another five legger, and ran away to win it. Superb maximum from (sicknote) John and we think the first time he’s ever done that against Castaways. 

Johnny had to stand (limp) down from the doubles leaving Neil and Terry to face the awkward John and Jai. They managed to win three straight but not without a scare in the second coming back from 10-6 down to win 13-11. 

The usual great spirit of a match between these old combatants, the real essence of what this league is all about.

=======================================================================================

From John Crawford

To add to Neil's comments.  

 This should certainly be seen as a missed opportunity for Castaways to close the gap on Comets A at the top of the table.   

After two evenly contested sets in my opening match v Terry, the pivotal point has to be the third set deuce game which went in my favour 13-11. Strange fourth set, I came back from 7-3 down to level at 7-7, only to promptly lose 11-7. I established an early lead in the fifth to come through 11-5. Doing the double over Terry, having never beaten him before, London buses spring to mind.   

Johnny injured his right ankle about one and a half hours before the match was due to begin. Despite dropping a set to George, he came through with comfortable wins against George and Jai.   

With his ankle injury causing obvious limitation in his movement I took full advantage, coming through in straight sets.   

A case of Déjà vu in the match between Jai and Neil. Jai again raced into a 2-0 lead, only to lose a close third set, after which Neil never looked back, comfortably winning the final two sets.   

It seemed fitting that the final singles match should be between the night’s two unbeaten players, and as you say old rivals, Neil and I. With the exception of the fourth set, which Neil won12-10 after saving a match point with a net, it seems that whoever got in front early on went on to win the set relatively comfortably. 

Our previous five matches going back to 2017/18 had all been close, 24 of 25 possible sets contested, and all had seen Neil the victor. Finally, it was my turn again.

The result doesn't end Castaways challenge for the title, but does put a slight dent in it.