Two changes to the team today as Niall and Juan came in for Ben and Phil which meant Dan pushed up to No.1 and Eddy played at No.3 and a chance for the big Oadby crowd to watch new signing Juan in singles action for the first time.
George would have been pleased that all the matches started on time this week and early signs were good as Juan and Niall raced off to early leads whilst Eddy and his opponent were competing to see who could hit their forehand the hardest. On the top court Dan was playing against someone who could be best described as Westfields version of Vivienne Westwood a la mode de peche. Rods & tackle aside, he even won a few of the longer rallies.
Back to Juan’s match and he was strolling to an easy win with his metronomic consistency, and he seemed to spend longer at the changeovers having a nice friendly chat with his opponent then he did on court. Eddy had dropped the first set 6-2 and Niall had cruised the first set 6-1 looking like Oadby would have a 3-1 lead going into the doubles. Juan was off court first with a very tidy 6-2 6-0 win. Niall’s game started to go off the boil as his opponent made him hit one more shot at every point and he slowly ground Niall down to take it to a match tie break which Niall lost 10-5. Disappointingly unlucky for Niall but as Leicester City have shown if you come through a tight win then confidence will be flowing again and that’s what he needs to get back that killer instinct on court. With Niall having lost and Eddy down in his match I started wondering about the doubles pairs and whether to call in an extra player. Gary was in the clubhouse tucking into some nice food so he wasn’t available. Scrolling through my phone I came to Simon’s name….then I thought better of it and gave Ben a ring only to go through to his voicemail. I changed my mind and kept the faith in the team out on court.
Eddy got the Oadby crowd back roaring again as he won the close second set 6-4 and then went on to win the tie break 10-8 after letting a 9-4 lead get back to 9-8 before finishing him off. Great win Eddy – lots of guts and spirit to come back and win that one. Dan was the last to finish and I was expecting a 7-6 7-6 scoreline as it had been a fairly long match but no; Dan won in his usual style 6-2 6-2.
With a 3-1 lead in the singles I came in for the doubles whilst Niall did arguably the most important job for the team and nipped off to Asda to get some jaffa cakes. Dan and I played well to win 6-1 6-1 and Eddy and Juan had a real scrap on their hands to come through their doubles 3-6 7-5 10-5.
Player of the day – Tough to call between Eddy and Juan (who made his winning debut) but I have to give it to Eddy again the tiebreak king with nerves of steel. Well played!
Highlight of the day – Dan hitting a big smash only for it to hit the net tape and trickle over in the worst possible way for the opponents who looked on agonisingly.
On to next week away at Victoria at 10am for what could be a very tough game. Come down and support if you can!
Alex
