Murrayfield VI

• Charlie Ellis 2
• Alex Asiounkin 2
• Ian Robertson 0

Corstorphine II

• Brian Fulton 1
• Thomas Grant 2
• David Hall 2

Team 6’s final game of the season produced a fine match between two well-matched sides, featuring several of the top players (on averages) in the division.
A sizeable contingent of Corstorphine supporters (Ken Cadogan also attended-not sure whose side he was on!) helped make it a real event (thanks also to Colin Clarke for his support and mid match advice: just a shame we weren’t able to implement enough of it).

Though neither was on top form, Brian and Charlie played out an entertaining game with several long distance rallies. Having lost in three in their previous encounter, Charlie did well to take two deuce ends including the last (despite serving off at match point up!) (9-11, 11-8, 13-11, 6-11, 12-10).

Alex also avenged a previous defeat in beating Thomas in 4. Alex played a more tactical game than usual and his sidespins prevented Thomas from gaining any real attacking momentum (11-9, 11-3, 5-11, 11-3).

In his game versus David, Ian produced a performance typical of his play this season: some superb attacking TT (especially in the 1st game) but also making too many unforced errors-and lost in 4 (11-5, 8-11, 5-11, 8-11).

Alex’s topspins again allowed him to get the better of Brian in another high quality match. David –with some superb BH blocking- then dominated the early stages of his game with Charlie. Charlie was very fortunate to take the 2nd end (14-12) to keep himself in it before finding some form and taking ends 3 & 4. Thomas then completed a 3 sets win over Ian whose play was again inconsistent.

After a string of poor doubles performances, Alex and Charlie were somewhat surprised to find themselves 2 -0 up before normal service was resumed and they were pegged back to 2-2-as they suffered from their usual ‘communication’ problems. The momentum was clearly now with the Corstorphine pair (David and Brian) but somehow Alex and Charlie took the scrappy final end.
This gave Murrayfield a 5-2 lead but facing three tough singles games. Alex was unable to find his looping rhythm against David’s servers and –though- he should have taken the third end (11-13), lost in disappointing fashion in three: though David was having a good night and was perhaps Corstorphine’s strongest player on the night.
Brian rapidly defeated Ian setting up the final match as a decider (a drawn match was sufficient for Corstorphine).

Urged on by the Corstorphine supporters, Thomas began strongly taking the 1st end before Charlie found some rhythm to take the 2nd. The pattern was repeated: Thomas taking the 3rd before Charlie swept through the 4th, 11-3 and seemed to have the momentum. Throughout the game Charlie’s FH-which had been his main weapon since February- misfired: though Thomas’ good blocking forced some of these errors. Young Thomas had shown glimpses of his best form in his earlier games so did well to produce his best play just when it counted.

In the 5th end, Charlie made some receiving errors and soon found himself 5-1 down at the turn-around. Though he made a bit of a comeback, Charlie was unable to get close enough as they traded some dramatic points (some nets and good recovery shots etc). At 7-10, a final FH drifted just long and sparked celebrations at the Corstorphine end of the court. (9-11, 11-4, 8-11, 11-3, 7-11). Certainly a disappointing result for team 6 but certainly no disgrace to draw against a strong Corstorphine side. 

the result means that it's Corstorphine 2 and not Murrayfield 6 who will playoff for promotion to Div 1.  

match played: April 3rd 2010 at Murrayfield.

  West Lothian III

• Keith Mackay 1
• Kevin Milne 2
• Ian Wodecki 2

Murrayfield VI

• Charlie Ellis 3
• Nazmi Okan 0
• Alex Asiounkin 1

  After a run of very easy victories, team 6’s title challenge hit the buffers as they lost out to West Lothian in a tense match. M6 had narrowly won the 1st match but it was always unlikely that Alex and Charlie would again both win their 3 singles. Charlie maintained his recent consistent form but Alex lost more games in the evening than he has in the entire season , while Naz played well but missed out before his evening ended prematurely.

The key stage in the match were games 6, 7, and 8: all 5 setters and all lost by Murrayfield: WL doing slightly better on the 'big points' which determined the outcome.

 In the opening game, Charlie did enough to overcome Keith’s good blocking and FH play in three tight games (11, 6, 11-8, 11-8).
Naz and Kevin played out a tight match. Kevin took the 1st two sets, causing Naz difficulties with his skillful twiddling which made full use of his Long Pimples.  In sets 2, 3 and 4 Naz played some good defence and forced some FH errors from Kevin but just failed to take it to a 5th set (6-11, 10-12, 11-7, 10-12).
Alex was unable to get to grips with penholder Ian’s sidespin serves and disappointingly went down in three-only his 2nd Div 2 loss of the season (he's played 15 of M6's 23 matches). 

Charlie took the first end against Kevin but then struggled with the ‘dead’ balls that Kevin produced and lost the 2nd set and found himself 7-3 down in the 3rd, and the game drifting away. Fortunately, Kevin’s level dropped and Charlie altered his approach a bit and took the third with 8 consecutive points and then the 4th with relative ease.
Despite losing the 1st end, Alex found his looping game and beat Keith in 4 (5-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-4).
The match then entered its critical stage with 3 consecutive 5-set contests.
Naz also found Ian’s serves (and third ball follow-ups) difficult to cope with but also found his own attacking form, especially in the 2nd end which he took 11-2. After taking the 4th he began the 5th well but made some return errors and lost it 11-9 and with it an entertaining match which feature several long rallies (5-11, 11-2, 8-11, 11-5, 9-11). The game was now tied at 3-3: illustrating how well-matched the sides were and also how important the doubles would be.

After taking the 2nd (just) and 3rd ends, Alex and Charlie looked set to win the doubles but they faltered and played some poor stuff in games 4 & 5 as Keith and Kevin proved more consistent (8-11, 14-12, 11-6, 8-11, 7-11). This left Murrayfield 4-3 down: needing to win the final three singles to win the match.

Again Alex led 2-1 but wasn’t able to maintain his form and a determined Kevin hit some good FHs and took the final two tight ends to secure at least a draw (5-11, 12-10, 11-7, 8-11, 9-11)
Though he took the 1st end Charlie found Ian’s counter-loops difficult to cope with and lost the 2nd end. He soon recovered and took the 3rd and 4th game, controlling the rallies well. Murrayfield now 5-4 down but feeling that Naz had a decent chance versus Keith who- on the night- had been the weakest WL player.

Naz lost the 1st end of the match (9-11) and was trailing in the 2nd but both players looked evenly match and a 5-setter seemed likely. Unfortunately, Naz suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right arm and was unable to continue.
 

This result ends any chance that Murrayfield 6 had of winning Division 2. They can still finish 2nd-but only by beating Corstorphine 2 (who recently beat West Lothian) in their final match -next Friday. 

  brief mention here:

http://tinyurl.com/y3svady

Match played 25th March 2010, at Murrayfield (though officially a WL home match-the 1st meeting having been switched to Bathgate). 

Roger Thomas 0

Derek Croll       2

Colin Clark        0

Brian Maloney  2

Ian Moran          3

Chris Markey    2

Roger and Colin won the doubles against Ian and Chris

MM4 went a step closer to the league title but they were made to work for it especially in the first set of games where both Derek and Colin blew 2-0 leads and a few match points against Ian and Chris respectively. Colin had actually won the 1^st two ends 2 and 6!

So instead of being 2-1 ahead MMV found themselves 0-3 down. Derek won the next game defeating Brian in 4 but then Ian, now playing very well, and Chris defeated Roger and Colin in straight sets. The last named 4 players competed the doubles and after the singles results MMIV must have been favorites to maintain their 100% doubles record of the season – Roger and Colin won 3-0.

Derek then defeated Chris but Colin blew a 10-6 lead whilst losing to Brian and Ian completed a good win for MMIV coming back for 1-0 down to defeat Roger 3-1.

MMIV now just need to avoid 2 heavy defeats in their last 2 games to win the title and MMV have to win their last match to hopefully edge 3^rd place on goal difference.

With Colin rested for next week’s derby*,  the Murrayfield V team of Derek, Roger and Bob had a convincing 7-3 win over an HPO I team fighting to avoid relegation.

Roger is coming back to form just in time, with next week’s match in mind,  winning 2 and the doubles with Derek. This was actually Murrayfield V’s 3^rd consecutive doubles win with 3 different pairings!   (The previous two being Colin & Alex vs North Berwick and Roger & Colin vs Edin Int 3). 

Derek put last week’s hiccup (Edin Int 3 defeat) behind him to win his usual 3 games and Bob chipped in with 1 and was unlucky not to win 2.

The win keeps Murrayfield V in 3^rd place with only 2 matches remaining.

*        On Wednesday 24^th 7pm Murrayfield V host Murrayfield IV (3^rd vs 1^st in div 1).

  All welcome!

 Edinburgh Int X

• Alan Gracie 0
• Ali Pakarian 1
  
• Mr Absent 0

Murrayfield VI

• Charlie Ellis 3
• Alex Asiounkin 3
• Ian Robertson 2

Not exactly a classic game with all three Murrayfield players below par (and all struggling in the gloomy lower hall at NM with an old ball that was far from white!)-Alan Ward was due to be EI's third player but never arrived!

At least Charlie and Alex were (when they concentrated) steady enough to win their games (plus the doubles) with some comfort.  Neither managed much fluent play with Charlie a bit ragged with his FH and Alex playing some 'ambitious' loops that threatened his opponent's body...

However, Ian had a serious off day and struggled to beat Alan (7-11, 11-2, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9

before succumbing to Ali in 3 (giving Ali too many opportunities to play his down the line drive and making too many mistakes on his own FH). 

Things will be much tougher when they take on West Lothian III next Thursday.

match played : 16th March  2010-at North Merchiston.