Mens 3rd Team

3rd Team Captain - Howard Lane 01952 405556 Mob:0781 4536066... Click here for league positions

Howard and Trevor
Joey & Lee

A clean sweep to end the season!

It was another nice evening for the last match of the season for us and longden.
It was an important match for both teams as we needed 7 points to be sure of going up,
and longden needed a win to stay up. With Trevor on the team we hoped to be strong enough
to secure a good win.

After Howard had gone back home to get the score cards we started after a quick warm up.

Mike was lobbing the serve back to the baseline, making it difficult for the net player, but we were consistent enough to win most of the points in the end.

Howard and Trevor won the first rubber quite quickly but Joey and Lee were having a closer game and were behind in the second set having won the first 6-4.

They eventually won it 6-4 so we were 2 rubbers up.

Meanwhile Ray had turned up on his creaky bike and collected a few balls for us!

Trevor and Howard won the first set comfortably but had a bit of a dip in form in the second where the first nine games went against serve!

Howard managed to hold serve for the first time to win the match and secure promotion!

Joey and Lee went on to win in straight sets to give us a clean sweep!

Longden played well but our hunger for promotion saw us through!

Thanks to Trevor for helping us to win and serving well!
Thanks to Joey and Lee for being a solid pair throughout the season. Also thanks to Graham for playing when he could and Ray, Peter and Paul for stepping in!

Look out second team - we're back!

Wrekin 3 v ludlow 2 Lost 2-6

Teams

Howard & Peter Spragg
Joey & lee
It was the usual mad rush to get to Ludlow by 6:30, but somehow we got there
just before 6:30.

The showers had died down and the wind had died down so it looked like a perfect evening.

Ludlow were top of the League but we needed a point or tow to keep our promotion hopes alive,
and as they had to substitute a regular player with a lad we thought we had a chance.

Although Howard and Peter put up a fight they were quickly swept aside by both pairs,
only managing 6 games!

Joey and Lee were much more consistent and both times won the first set and lost the second, going to a tie break in the second match.

They hung on well to win both the champions tie breaks. They had to change to a court with lights to play the last tie break!

We still need to beat longden 3 7-1 to be sure of going up, incase Bridgnorth beat Claverly 8-0.

Well done Team and thanks to Peter for stepping in.

Wrekin 3 beat Shifnal 3 7-1.

Teams:

We were expecting a tough match against shifnal 3 having heard that they had won 5 out of 6 matches!

Being a tuesday we were able to recruit Alan to partner Howard.

The oppostion was tough to start with but we were also very consistent, so after both Wrekin pairs won the first set,
we both won our second sets fairly comfortably.

We continued our good form in the second rubber, but the first pair rallied against Howard and Alan to go ahead 5-2.

Having clawed back to 6-6, poor old Alan was flagging a bit and in the fading light we lost the set tie break and the Champions tie break.

Meanwhile Joey and Lee had enjoyed a comfortable win and were able to watch our demise.

Howard remarked to the opposition that they deserved their 1 point as they had worked hard for it!

We were all impressed by the food afterwards - two huge plates of sandwiches and two big baskets of chips and a plate of sausage rolls and mini scotch eggs.

SO thanks to Alan whose netplay was a crucial factor in securing the win.

Wrekin 3 Beat Claverley 3 8-0

It was another perfect evening for tennis with no threat of rain!

Having lost two and won two we needed a win to keep our promotional hopes alive and get revenge on the second team!

Graham and Howard made a nervous start, missing chances to break serve and slipping to 2-4 down, but after a
blistering service game by Graham we managed to regroup to win the first set 6-4.

Even though we missed more chances to break in the second set we were more consistent and won it 6-3.

The Claverley first pair were fairly solid against Joey and Lee to start with but we still won 7-5, 6-4. Meanwhile Trevor and Ray turned up for support and were quite useful fetching balls for us!

After the change over we quickly broke down any futher resistance and won the second rubbers easily, whilst the opponents voiced their
dislike of the courts which were too bouncy for them!

Afterwards, Martin said that he had never won at Wrekin. I'm glad he didn't say that before as we could have been over confident!

Howard

Wrekin 3 get am 8-0 clean slate against Shifnal4

Badly in need of a win, We were expecting a tough match as we had heard that Shifnal4 had beaten their 3rd team.

Fortunately this turned out to be wrong.

It started out as a near perfect evening with no wind and clear skies.

The home team excelled under these conditions, both pairs sweeping aside the opposition 6-1, 6-1.

Graham was deadly at the net even though he said he doesn't like it there!

Towards the end of the second set there was a shower of rain which we played through so we could at least finish
two rubbers and get a result which would have suited us.

Then the heavens opened and we had a rain delay for 15 mins as the thunder rumbled over.

We offered shifnal an an early finish down the pub, but having lost both rubbers they seemed keen to carry on!

The rain delay seemed to favour the opposition as they liked the lower bounce of the heavier balls. Joey and Lee were taken to 7-5 in the first set but Howard and Graham won theirs 6-2 after a shakey start.
Whilst Joey and Lee wore down the early opposition to win 7-5, 6-1, Howard and Graham lost the second set 2-6 to a suddenly rejuvinated 1st pair.

The tie break started well as we went ahead 6-0, but again the opposition clawed it back to a 7-6 lead.

We eventually won it 10-8 after a double fault on a close call from the other team.

Wrekin lose 1-7 to a full cream team!

Having re-aranged the match from last week we were hoping for good weather and a full turnout.

Luckily we had both - just the usual cross court wind!

Howard and Peter Spragg got off to a slow start and didn't really get into the first set, losing it 1-6.

However, just like Murray we started to play properly and won the second set 6-2 with a change in tactics (Howard not being at the net!) and less mistakes. So we were dissapointed to lose the tie break at the end.

Meanwhile, after a good start, joey and lee lost to the first pair 4-6, 0-6 who were very consistent.

Howard and Peter fought hard against the first pair but couldn't break them down, losing 2-6, 2-6.

We all agreed that the game was closer than the score suggests!

Joey and Lee managed to wear down the second pair with long rallies and won it 6-1 6-4 so we got a well deserved point!

Breaking News: Wrekin awarded Woodfield points after they field ineligible player

Wrekin 3 v Bridgnorth 3

Wrekin lose 1-7 to Bridgnorth 3 in a tough match.

Paul joined the team to replace graham who went all the way to Edinburgh to avoid playing!
He seemed worried about playing on carpet but ended up liking the surface.

The predicted gale force wind had receeded, the courts had dried out and we were anticipating our first win.

Joey and Lee were promoted to first pair got off to a good start against a tough pair after winning a tie break in a close first set, consolidating with a second set win of 6-4.

Meanwhile Howard and Paul held their own against some good serving but a few more mistakes from the second pair but eventually going down 5-7, 2-6.

So at half time it seemed fairly even and we seemed to be heading for a draw but the home team got into their stride and blasted Howard & Paul off the court 6-1, 6-0.

Joey & Lee has a closer game but lost 4-6, 2-6.

Now the big question was - would we eat in the clubhouse or the pub ? - great the pub!
There was a good choice of food in the Pub inclding chicken and pork pies as well as sandwiches and chips, and this time we got a seat!

Howard managed to spotted an error in the bar bill - a pint we never had (an honest mistake which may have gone unoticed by most visitors!)

Howard helped the away captain to fill out the score card but resisted the urge to cheat!

Anyway Better luck against Church Stretton in our first home match!

Wrekin 3 thrashed 7-1 by a rejuvinated Woodfield Team.

We arrived at woodfield with the threat of rain in the air and bits of tree all over the courts!

Lee rang in a panic as his sat-nav was trying to direct him to blackpool as he'ed written FY3 instead of SY3! But he arrived in reasonable time with Joey waiting at the bottom of the lane to guide him in.

Having beaten Woodfied5 easily last year at home we were quietly confident even though only one of the team were the same!

Steve and howard as the first pair got the end court with less debris on it, and struggled at first with the low bounce off the soggy carpet and had to dig in to come back from 3-1 down both sets to win it 6-4 6-3, capitalising on their mistakes.

Meanwhile Joey and Lee strugled to find form (Lee was a bit under the weather) and lost 4-6, 2-6 to the "Second Pair"

Having beaten the "First Pair" Howard and Steve were confident of beating the "Second Pair" but they turned out to be the better pair by far and we found ourselves up against a fierce lefty slice and some solid net play from them both and never really got into the match, losing 2-6, 0-6.

Joey and lee took the first set in their second rubber but Lee started to lose energy and sight of the ball in the gloom of the not so powerful lights and lost the second set
and the tie break.

Having got damp from several showers we were looking forward to a hearty feast of sandwiches and chips. Unfortunately, Woodfield did not take the catering as seriously as their tennis and it was standing room only and the bar with a serviette of chips and a very small plate of sandwiches
(provided free!)

Then the guy with the lefty slice serve told us he is really a second team player!

So altogether an interesting start to the season!