Mixed 1st Team

1st Team Captain - Carl Chung

Wrekin I Vs Woodfield I

A super Monday with both I and II teams playing.

A cold crisp evening brought us one of the crème de la crème of Shropshire Mixed tennis teams.
There was a young lad playing for opposition, alarm bell immediately started ringing. I discovered later that he played in the premier division. Wendy and I lost the first rubber 6-2, unable to handle the young lad's power and spin serve. We did slightly better in the second rubber losing 6-3.

Michelle and James continued their good record winning 6-1 6-3. To our delight, our in house mathematician informed us that at half way stage, we were one game up.

A miracle then happened.

Wendy and I found ourselves 4-1 up in the first rubber and I was overjoyed thinking that it might be enough. We got pegged back to 4-3. I then thought if we broke the girl's serve then I would serve for the set. That's exactly what happened and we took the first rubber 6-3. Job done, one would have thought. Not so apparently. With concentration wavering, we duly lost the second set 6-1.
Onto the tiebreak, whilst I was telling myself to concentrate, I heard the opposition girl's swearing as well as the sound of racquet making repeated contacts with the court. At that moment I knew we had them. We got ourselves 5-1 up and managed to maintain the lead taking the tiebreak 10-5, hence the rubber.

Michelle and James maintained their good form taking the rubber in straight set. In the process, James hit the shot of the year, returning the young lad's first serve so hard that the lad was yet to finish his service motion. Sublime!!

Due to pure attacking tennis, we finished the match at 9 pm and off we went to the Cock. It wasn't 10pm until the second team turned up. When I saw Carol's complex expression of horror, disbelief and desperation, I knew things weren't quite right. I was going to say ' its only a game….' NO, it was worse…. much…. much worse…Oh no, no sandwich!!! Cock up at the Cock. Instead they were offered chips, bread, pork pies and pasties. No a bad substitute.

Carl

Boughy Garden I vs Wrekin I

As I do, after dinner, I travelled to Newport to support our team.

Upon arrival, they just finished their first rubbers against a very strong Boughy team.

James and Michelled remained unbeaten winning the first rubber in straight set despite having been taken to a tie-break in the first set before winning the second set with a bit more authority .

Wendy and Dean, the debutant, did well despite having had a match point but eventually lost the rubber in three sets.

One of their players is a Dean look-alike, and it took me 10 minutes or so to distinguish one tall guy with glasses in blue top with another tall guy with glasses in blue top.

From then on, things progressed rapidly. In less than 30 minutes, it was all over.

We won 6-2. So good start to the season with 2 wins out of two. Good prospect of remaining in div I.

Home Vs Woodfield II

Memories have somewhat faded.

First match of the season in the dizzy height of division I, against the only team we lost to last season, Woodfiled II.

James and Michelle remained unbeaten in as many years winning both rubbers in straight sets.

Kay and I did reasonably well despite losing both rubbers in straight set, but managed to gather sufficient games to get over the winning line with four games to spare.

The cock is still the cock, except that we sat by the door and weren’t allowed vinegar because of its well-documented detrimental effect on beers! That affected my appetite dramatically. One of their ladies, who in her free time keeps chicken and grows organic vegetables, mentioned, “people up north have pork pie for their dinner”. Last time I checked, Shrewsbury was approximately 120 miles north of Watford. Well, there you go.

Carl