Old Town Hares are currently Division leaders so POPPs B (third from bottom currently) framed themselves to save face and attempt at least to win some games. So the formidable Hares trio of Simon, Phil and Neil faced the rather less than formidable POPPs B team of Alan W, Terry W and John M. However, Alan turned out to be the star of the evening winning all 3 of his sets in dramatic style. In his first set against Simon the writing seemed to be on the wall from the off with Alan losing the first game rapidly 4 – 11 having trouble with Simon’s serve and brisk returns. In the second game his service return improved a little and managed to get into some longer rallies. Simon played with more abandon in this game, probably because he won the first so easily, and began to miss some of his more aggressive shots. This gave Alan the opportunity to pull back an early deficit and take the game to 10 all. Simon served for the set on 3 occasions but Alan returned and through dogged defence survived and served out to win the game 15 – 13. With this setback Simon returned to his rather more circumspect style of the first game and had little difficulty winning the 3rd game. Alan continued to improve his service return but lost out on the long defensive rallies as Simon just kept pushing the ball back and waiting for mistakes. At this point it looked as if Simon had re-established his superiority after a temporary lapse in the second game and was well on his way to victory. Oh ye of little faith! Alan would have none of this and, having adapted his game to deal with Simon’s difficult serves, now dug in to improve his accuracy and reliability in the long pushing rallies. He did this to such good effect that he ran out the winner of the remaining 2 games 11- 7 and 11 – 5, and so winning the set 3 games to 2.

Terry’s first set, against Phil, was altogether more predicable and very much quicker with very few rallies of more than 4 strokes. Of the three Hare’s players Phil probably had the trickiest serve of all. He hardly won any points against Phil’s serve with his returns flying off the sides of the table to left or right or, to break the monotony, occasionally into the net. If and when a rally got going, usually on Terry’s serve, a few points were salvaged but the final game scores were 8 – 11, 6 – 11, 1 -11, evidence of Phil’s domination and Terry’s frustration and lack of patience.

John’s first match was against Neil. The first game showed some promise with John getting in some very good backhand drives but, like Terry before, missing too many forehand ‘winners’. He also tended to be the first to make a mistake in the longer pushing rallies. However, despite losing 7 – 11, John was settling in, finding his range and looked like he was beginning to raise his game. This was confirmed in the second game which remained close throughout with John winning 12 – 10. This may have taken it out of the old war horse though and with his forehand continuing to let him down and Neil prolonging the rallies as much as possible, the next 2 games were both lost 5 – 11. losing the set 1 game to 3.

Terry’s second set was against Simon who, chastened by his 5 game loss to Alan, started with determination and confidence. His confidence  was undoubtedly boosted by Terry’s previous less than impressive showing. And, as contenders for the Division champions in a very tight competition, every game lost could be crucial in the final reckoning. Simon made no mistake and won 7 -11, 1 -11 and 8 -11. Terry played his usual occasional dramatic backhand and forehand winners, one crashing backhand smash made from 3 feet to the side of the table with the ball at shoulder height. It could have gone anywhere and normally it would have. Fortunately on this occasion it hit the right end of the right table.

Alan’s second set against Neil was the highlight of the evening. To cut a long story short Alan won 3 games to 2 but not before losing the first two games 5 -11 and 9 -11. The key lesson to be taken from watching Alan is that he learns from the early stages of a match, sharpens up what are the vulnerable aspects of his game, and modifies his strategy to nullify his opponent’s strengths. Alan has gained a reputation from previous matches of winning 5 game sets and coming from behind. (No doubt the latter is a characteristic Yorkshire trait). His winning of the 3rd game 11 – 4 may perhaps be partly due to Neil losing a little concentration being 2 games up, but if this is the case it was his undoing. Alan went on the win the remaining 2 games 11 – 7 and 11 – 9. Neil tried to dig in and eliminate errors but Alan’s relentless concentration and consistency proved too much to resist.

Your reporter would like to draw a veil over the next 3 sets, all won comfortably by the Hares. John lost to Phil and Simon in 3 straight games. Terry played his remaining set against Neil and, as John had done earlier, managed to take a game from him. So John’s and Terry’s haul for the night was 1 game each. I suppose we shouldn’t be too disappointed given the quality of the team we were playing. And who knows, in the Greater Scheme of Things, these 2 games taken from the Hares may help the cause of the POPPs A team who are one of the contenders, with Hares, to win the Division and be promoted.

The last set was Alan against Phil and, by Alan’s standards, was a rather routine victory. He lost the first game (as usual!) 5 – 11 but in the process sussed out Phil’s demon serves and his quick fire aggressive block returns. The second game was very close as Alan developed his game strategy, winning 13 – 11 (after being 0 – 4 down). The next 2 games went Alan’s way 11 – 7 and 11 – 2. In the final game Phil’s frustration led him to go for too many winners, in contrast to how he had been playing throughout the evening, but to no avail.

The final outcome was a loss for POPPS B, 3 sets to 6. This may prove to be a crucial result as the struggle to avoid being bottom of the Division is just as close as the battle to be top so every set and game won could be vital.