Tuesday November 24, 2009.
This team finished above Popps last year and currently are one place above us.  A win could take us above them, but would we be able to demonstrate some consistency against these experienced campaigners?  We arrived ready to play at 7.15 and waited for our opponents to turn up. They eventfully arrived at 7.30, having claimed to have fought through storms and floods to get here. In fact they arrived with one player stuffing herself with chocolate bars while the remainder sucked lollypops for most of the evening, hence the sticky ball, something to be avoided in all situations.

Terry Wassall kicked off well with a win against Derek Williamson.  It took 4 games, Terry winning the first with some good smashes and G2 with better play. However, in G3, Derek took one back with consistent play and the odd fluke. Terry had to focus well to win G4, but he did so, with some well-aimed smashes and a generally safe approach. Terry won 11-5, 11-7, 9-11 and 11-4.

Alan then appeared against Sue Allen. He took time to settle and tried to play safe, but Sue bamboozled him with her service and her successful attacking shots. Alan played better in G3, taking her to 13-15, purely by playing steady returns, but she prevailed to win 3-0.

Your team secretary then took on Rose Tipton. Players from Old Town Hounds like to make themselves out to be shepherds eking out a living in the high pastures of the Pennines, but in reality they are solidly middle class financial advisers and systems analysts.  Robin could not deal with her serve which in fact turned out to be illegal and has been banned by the international court of justice in The Hague.  She also executed some good (legal) forehand smashes and Robin lost 11-8, 11-6 and 11-3, by which time he was hitting anything that moved. At one point, she removed her track suit top to reveal a Persil-white aertex shirt. This is of course illegal and our John Taylor would have called in the TT police. However, it was the sensuous removal of the track suit top which finally killed off RT’s concentration as she waltzed to a 3-0 victory.

It was then Alan’s turn to meet Derek Williamson. He played well in the first game while Derek was executing some wild, angry smashes and at 11-7, things looked good for us, but Derek got his game together and with the help of a good back hand flick moved to 11-6.  Alan could not sustain his form and Derek used his flick to good effect to win the remaining two games to 4.

Then came the set of the match between Terry and Rose Tipton.  Initially, he did not cope with that serve, did not settle down and lost 6-11.  Despite one shot which hit the roof, Terry pulled away to win G2 11-8 and achieved the same score in G3 after a balanced game and one lucky fluke.  In G4, Terry needed to keep cool, but Rose was creeping ahead to 11-7 and a final game beckoned.  Using his short serve worked well, followed up by a smash to Rose’s back hand and Terry eventually succeeded at 11-5.

Robin had some good rallies with Sue and executed one or two attacks, but overall her game was too steady and she ran out 11-5, 11-6 & 11-4 as Robin’s enthusiasm for prolonging the agony finally petered away.

Alan then took on the shimmering white top of Rose. He stumbled as he blinked in the glare, like a startled rabbit in front of a BMW on a dark Pennine night and Rose motored ahead to 11-5. She executed a powerful back hand flick and a well-placed oblique shot to the right of Alan’s forehand and won G2 11-4.  A similar pattern was observed in G3, with Alan not dealing with the serve. He pushed back in mid-game, but Rose eased to 11-5 to take the encounter.

Robin failed to deal with Derek’s tricky serve, got some smashes in, but went out as Derek won 11-5, 11-4 & 11-5.

Terry had hopes of keeping his 100% record in the final set against Sue. He tried to balance his attacks with some steady defence, but Sue smashed her way to 11-8 in G1.  His tactics were more effective in G2 and the game was level at 9-9.  However, Sue kept her nerve with a couple of winners, the final one accompanied by a major foot-stamp. This woke us all up, but stamping, whilst illegal in Rugby Union, is ok in TT it seems. In G3, Terry tried hard to keep on terms, producing some good attacking shots to level at 5-5.  But Sue steadied her game, this time without stamping on anyone and cruised to 11-6.

As usual, the match, won 7-2 by Hounds, was played with good humour and enthusiasm and our opponents climbed on to their tractor and rumbled back through the flooded valley to the barren slopes of the Pennines with another win under their belts. Tomorrow, Rose’s shirt will tipped into the Hotpoint twin-tub be soaked in Persil again, ready for another dazzling success.