All Popps attendees and partners etc are invited to attend — the more the merrier.
More choice than ever, eat if or what you like. Steaks, Xmas, Vegetarian etc at £4 – £6 including a drink are available.
An indication of your availability will be appreciated so we can give
Wethers an idea of numbers will be appreciated.
(Let any of the regulars know)

Another excellent result for the C team playing two thirds of the team that turned out for Rainbow 1  last week who beat POPPs B so comfortably. On this showing the C team is significantly stronger than the B team thanks largely to the two new recruits Jack and Jake.

The strongest player of the evening was Jake. He won all 3 of his sets: Vannthia  11-4, 7-11, 11-3, 5-11 & 11-3 (winning the set 3 games to 2), Derek 11-3, 11-7 & 11-9 (3 – 0), and Phil 11-2, 11-6 & 11-3 (3 – 0).

Jack won 2 of his sets beating  Derek 8-11, 11-7, 11-4 & 15-13 digging deep to win in 4 games and taking the set 3 – 1. He went on to beat Phil 11-9, 11-9 & 11-5 in 3 straight games, but losing only to Vannthia in a hard fought 5 game set 12-11, 4-11, 11-6, 8-11 & 8-11. Vannthia was clearly Rainbow’s strongest player having lost to Jake in 5 games but prevailing over Jack in an equally tough encounter.

Tom provided sterling support, playing at number 3, and won an important point for the team by beating Phil 11-9, 11-6 & 11-5. He did extraordinarily well taking both the other Rainbow players to 5 games sets losing to Derek 11-8, 2-11, 7-11, 12-10 & 5-11 and Vannthia 11-7, 7-11, 9-11, 13-11 & 7-11.

So POPPs C ran out clear winners, 6 sets to 3, and maintain their 100% record so far!

Kristian Fearnley opened the proceedings with his new style of cautious defence and well picked forehand smashes, winning in the 5th. Terry Allington, a bit slow to get into his first match against highly rated Les Wood, lost in 3-1. Connor Pollard, the spin wizard , then came on against Mike Hepworth and showed us all how to do it winning in a straight 3.

A procession followed and Popps won all the other games in fine style but did need every ounce of skill and determination they could muster, many of the games going to 5. Special mentions to newcomers Kristian, who has altered his style to show great patience before executing his super forehand smash, and Connor whose consistancy and spin control is outstanding. These 2 lads will definitely rise to the top if they keep developing their games as they have shown tonight.

RESULT: Central 2, 1 Popps A , 8

The strongest player of the night and showing great promise was POPPs player Jake, winning all three of his sets comfortably 3 – 0. Not to be out done, Jack also won all of his sets but had to dig deep to win two of them 3 games to 2 against Steph and Dave. Jack’s fighting spirit also bodes well for the rest of the season.

Tom played a determined supporting roll going down in 4 games to Dave, a battling 5 games to Tom Willmore, but managing to win the extra point for the team by beating Steph 3 games to 1. No doubt age and cunning overcame beauty and respect for the elderly!

This should have been POPPs C’s second match of the season but unfortunately last week’s scheduled away match against Senior Citizens had to be postponed.

A v X:11-2/11-13/11-7/11-7  H
B v Y:9-11/5-11/7-11 A
C v Z:7-11/11-9/5-11/3-11 A
B v X:8-11/15-13/4-11/12-10/4-11 A
A v Z:12-14/7-11/6-11  A
C v Y:4-11/10-12/8-11 A
B v Z:5-11/11-13/8-11 A
C v X:11-9/9-11/11-7/4-11/11-7 H
A v Y:8-11/11-5/11-3/7-11/12-10 H

PHIL v PETER: Strong start from Phil, giving no quarter, with Peter struggling to find his length: battling 2nd game shaded by Peter & an even 3rd with Phil proving a little more accurate: Phil maintained his form in the 4th to close out the set.

COLIN v DEREK: Solid start from Derek, winning 1st game comfortably despite casual last few points: 2nd & 3rd games saw more of the same with Colin struggling with Derek’s side spin & bounce off the top spin.

JO v TERRY: Solid, if tight, 1st game from Terry with a similar 2nd game pushing the advantage towards Jo: the 3rd game started well for Terry & Jo became somewhat erratic presenting Terry with a 2-1 lead & the 4th game went to Terry as Jo became more casual.

COLIN v PETER: Tight 1st & 2nd games between two evenly matched players, followed by a runaway win for Peter in the 3rd: the 4th saw Colin clawing his way to a well deserved win but Peter proceeded to run away with the 5th game.

PHIL v TERRY W.: A close encounter, with Phil a little off the boil & Terry hitting the ball very hard, eased to a close win in the 1st game: Terry pushed to a more accurate win in the 2nd & took the set with a confident & dominant 3rd.

JO v DEREK: Strong start from Derek as Jo found it hard to get back into it after a long break. A close 2nd as Derek, yet again, got very casual but the confidently won the 3rd with Jo struggling with side spin despite playing some stronger shots.

COLIN v TERRY W.: Excellent 1st game from Terry followed by a titanic struggle in which he won the 2nd, completing his victory with a steady run away in the 3rd – Terry on good form tonight!

JO v PETER: Close encounter in the 1st with Jo shading it & Peter returned the compliment in the 2nd: Jo found her form to take the 3rd but Peter came back to even it up with an easy win in the 4th: the 5th included some hard, wayward shots from Jo causing Terry, largely in the firing line, to comment from the electronic scoring machine “…it’s just like flying Concorde”! Jo hung on despite these aberrations to take the set.

PHIL v DEREK: After taking the 1st game comfortably Derek allowed tiredness to dominate the next two games before pulling back the 4th: the 5th, however, was a game too far.

This was the usually relaxed and friendly encounter with the kind country folk of Old Town, enlivened by the banter and refreshments and a gently competitive match: thank you one and all and well done POPPS ‘B’!

Last season the A team finished second in Division 3 with only a couple of points splitting the top 3 teams. They won all their first half matches up to Christmas but struggled a bit more against improving opposition in the second half. However, they dug deep to stay near the top and succeeded in getting a well deserved promotion to Division 2. This year’s target will be to stay up for the 2012-13 season!

Things were equally close at the bottom of Division 3 with POPPS B just managing to avoid coming last, finishing above Old Town Robins who had the same number of league points but the B team had won one more set over the season. In fact the last match of the season was against Robins and we lost 4-5. If we had lost 3-6 we would have finished last in the division below Robins. This year the B team will be a bit stronger as a couple of last year’s A team players, Derek and John, are in the squad and, like the A team, we have recruited  one or two promising new comers. The B team’s objective this year will be to finish in the top half of the division.

In addition we have started a C team. This is comprised of some new and improving players and in some respects is the POPPS Academy. This will be a shake down and learning year (aren’t they all?) and the C team’s objective this year is not to do any worse than the B team last year.

So good luck to all three POPPs teams and also (not quite as much) good luck to all our opponents. Let battle commence!

Result
Popps B 1 Popps A 8

3 wins from Peter Mc, 2 from John Korner and 1 from Phil Parrywere enough to turn the tables on Evergeens who are a Championship seeking side who were leading 3 – 1 at one stage.
All due to John’s tactics of promoting Phil to No 1. !

Result
Popps A 6 Evergreens 3

Most sets went to 4 or 5 games but each time in Marsh’s favor.
Phil Parry, John Korner and Peter Mc managed 1 win each — not
enough to take the match.
Result
Popps A 3 Marsh B 6