Match: Knutsford 1 Away to Bollington 1

Date: 11th November 2010

The Armistice day match and Knutsford 1sts laid down their weapons and surrendered to the batllers from Bollington.
Knutsford arrived fresh with their 2nd place ranking looking good, spirits were high and the camaraderie was good. A nice glass backed court backing onto a private bar was waiting for some gladiatorial combat. Unfortunately it was like lambs to the slaughter for 3 of our team.
First up was Burkey, hoping to make a rapid exit and dash off to do a spot of homework he decided to play at no.3 against their usual no.4 and quickly took a 2-0 lead. But his oppo proved a little difficult to finish off (despite his portly frame) and moved himself and our Burkenator around the court well. The Bollingtonian got redder and the Knutsfordian got whiter as the 3rd game ran into a 4th. Some good pickups from our man saw him win reasonably comfortably 3-1. no.1 next week for you Mr Burke!
Looking like a good start and with 2 courts, our no.1 and no.4 went on at the same time. Unfortunately both finished just as quickly!! Steve S against Mr Ogden proved a game worth watching, The Ogdenator having lost his first competitive game in 2 years the previous week to AZ!!! No fear, our man was unbeaten for this season and confidence was high…but Ogden was a tough oppo and made few mistakes to take the first 9-5. After some encouragement from yours truly Mr Smith battled hard in the second and should have got his man in the tie break, but Ogden was piling on the pressure and some tinned volleys saw our man go 2 down. Getting tired, it didn't look good for Steve but he kept trying to move his oppo around the court….to no avail and he lost in 3. Welcome to our world Steve!!
Steve C on at the same time only realised he was playing a lefty in the 3rd game. But by this time he was 2-0 down. Some advice was needed and not heeded so our man went down 3-0. To the bar it was………..
So it was down to Chris and Justin to pull the match out of the bag. Both pumped up, hitting high fives and bum slaps before going on court, hopes were high. Risley had his man on the ropes in the first and after going 7-2 up looked good. Then a thought crossed his mind…..why not serve the next out! Oh my god…the demons came out and he soon let his oppo get the next 2 points. After getting the serve back again the evil demon pops up and says again…. 'serve out'…. the voices in his ears were now ringing and what do you know he did just that and lost the game 9-7. After that Risley couldn't control the demons and after getting a verbal warning from the ref for swearing!!!!! he retired to the bar in 3. A visit to the shrink required.
Meanwhile on the other court Chris was himself dealing with his own devils and the one called the ref. Some choice language (Risley could learn a thing or two here) and The Bollingtonian swearing at the ref left the gallery wondering whether they were watching a football match. This game looked tight and with the match already lost Knutsford needed all the points they could get. Smithy worked hard and the last game went to 7-7. Some exchanges of serve and nerves were shredding in the gallery. Could Smithy pull it off. He did just that with two superb kills. Man of the match to Chris for his first away win of the season.
So we got 6 points and with AZ1 next week without our number 1 the season has started to turn ugly. Keep your peckers up chaps……lets make a comeback.

Scorecard