Not knowing the Handicap allowance till the end of the match made it quite exciting.

Peter Mc Started the battle with a hard attacking effort against David Blackburn.Davids retrieving from 20′ back was amazing and eventually won him the game 42-30 — still a satisfactory start for Popps.

John T. had a similar result against Brian Chapman going down at 42-29.

Terry A. then revealed himself (!) and had an easy win against Steve Caufield 42-24.

Peter lost 41-32 to Brian C but then Terry came on against Dave B in what was to be the Match of the Season. In a 3 hour Epic and after 24832 strokes Terry finished up the victor at 42-39, a fantastic performance by both players.
The aggregate score at this stage was Suma 188 Popps 175 — Popps seemingly in a strong position.

Popps continued in a similar vein over the last 4 sets — Terry completing his 100% record against this high flying Div 2 opposition, with Peter and John doing their best in the other games.

Popps thought the match was theirs with a mere 53 points deficit.
However when the ballot box was opened and showed only a 45 point allowance, Suma came out victors by the narrow margin of 8 points !!

We have to congratulate Suma on the way they stuck at it, particularly David when he had to win by a big margin to clinch the match.
So the singles season comes to an end and our gradual improvement unfortunately came to the attention of the handicapping committee just too early ! We can’t hide our light under the bushel forever !

Well done all who have played in the Popps A team this season, those who played tonight, also Derek and Alan who have made equal contributions.
And a special mention to Terry Allington who must be undoubtedly be Halifax’s emerging “Star of the Season”

P.Mc