Which ever way you look at it, this is a painful scorecard to look at.  Needing a 7-2 win to put us in with a good shout of staying up, we were 3-0 down after Round 1 with the season pretty much in tatters.  I won't dwell on the detail, but suffice to say that all of our pairs could/should have beaten their 2's and 3's.  Ultimately it was the 5-4 defeats earlier in the season that condemns us to relegation and a meeting with the D's next season back in the WDTL's bottom rung, but this performance simply wasn't good enough and we got what we deserved.  

A match we had to win to keep our prospects of staying up in our own hands, against a Cassiobury team already crowned champions, but one we know we should have beaten at home.  We didn't get off to a great start with captain Spider stuck on the M25 at the scheduled start time.  The weather was indifferent, maybe the rain would help?  Maybe Cassiobury as Champions with nothing riding on this match would show some flexibility?  Well the weather tried, but in the true Cassiobury spirit, well.........

At the first rain break, myself and Gary had only completed 3 games.  At resumption, Spider was raring to go, but Cassio wouldn't allow him to play his 1st set.  Thanks. As it was, Steve and Doug capitulated after the break, whilst Gary and myself were still hanging in there at the 2nd rain break.  We finally fell in a match we really could/should have won, too many errors again although a controversial line call at a crucial stage cost us heavily (called 4 inches out after his partner had applauded the shot that caught the line). 

So Round 2 and 0-3 down, everything to do. Sadly Mike and Spider made no impression and were quickly despatched.  Doug and Steve battled hard but fell short in a set they should have won, and Gary and myself turned a 4-2 lead and 3 break points into a 6-4 defeat, not good enough.

The game was lost, but in the battle to avoid relegation, all sets could be important, and a haul of 1 measly set in the final round was simply not good enough.   We are good enough for this division but too often have failed to convert key matches into wins which is why we are in this mess.

So, final match at Bovingdon next Tuesday and the skipper is unavailable.  We need Radlett to lose at Northwood the following day for us to have any chance of staying up.  If they lose 5-4, a 7-2 win for us will see us safe - a 6-3 would mean an agonising wait to find out our respective % games won over the season compared with Radlett.  If Radlett lose by a greater margin, our requirement is less, but in short as we play 1st, the target is a 7-2 minimum win

Ah, so now I know what the rest of the legaue are talking about.  It's been a bit of a consistent theme this season, wherever we play, the subject of the Grosvenor behaviour crops up.  Sad for the good guys really that their club's reputation is tarnished by the odd individual 'performance'.  Still mustn't dwell on this (heaven forbid Croxley gain such a reputation!), there was a tennis match going on and we rather badly needed to win.

So, round 1, and myself and Gary (the 'dream' Broadbridge/Peoples pairing having been ditched after 1 week) didn't get off to a flyer, and poor Gary struggled to return a serve all set.  However we hung on and clawed our way back into the set until the death until I lost my serve at 4-5 down.  Never mind, and thanks for the set Duncan, a great pleasure.  Fortunately the other pairs were off to a better start both chalking up wins to put us 2-1 up.  Confidence boosted, we pretty much repeated the dose, with Doug and Steve narrowly failing aginst the 1 pair whilst we won both other sets to put us in a matchwinning 4-2 lead.

Set 3, and plain sailing as Gary from nowhere produced some God-like strokes, and a near faultless set was achieved as we swept the 2's aside 6-0 to silence the commentator, with Steve and Doug not far behind in completing another 6-0 win.  6-2 up in the match, the final set was academic, but it was a shame that a much happier skipper and Mike fell to a 5-7 reverse in the longest set of the night.

So, a win that lifts us out of the releagtion positions (just), but we know that in all probability we may still have to win our 2 remaining games to avoid the drop - starting at champions Cassiobury next week!  We should have beaten them at home, so why not?

Blimey, I go away for a couple of days and this!!

'Gutted' would be an understatement of how we all felt after this one.  Our 3rd 4-5 reverse in a row, our 4th of the season, sees us staring relegation firmly in the face.  The Rivrside 1's were pretty good, but some inspired stuff from Colin and Gary put the 5-0 up.  Thereafter the stuff of nightmares as the opponents fought back, poor Colin and Gary could hardly buy a point and slumped to a 5-7 defeat.  Doug and Steve narrowly fell to the 2's whilst myself and Mike had the easiest of starts.  We could have easily been 3-0 up, but we were 2-1 down.

Round 2, and a win for Gary and Colin, a sound beating for Steve and Doug, and a most disappointing 6-2 reverse for myself and Mike - we just couldn't convert the big points in a set far more even than the score suggests.  So, 4-2 down, all not looking good.

It was soon 4-4 as Gary/Colin and Steve/Doug both won their final sets.  So, all down to myself and Mike to try and salvage an unlikely win, particularly when 5-2 down against the strong 1 pairing.  But try we did, and when we clawed the game back to 5-5 in the gathering darkness, we all believed.  Sadly at 5-6 down and a few missed volleys later the set was lost.  A crushing blow, we so could have won tonight, again.........story of the season?

Gary had billed this as a must win game, and although I'm personally confident the C's will pick up enough points to stave off the threat of relegation, this was nonetheless a disappointing defeat.  A glorious evening in the sunshine on the grass got off to a poor start with myself and Gary being well beaten by the Grosvenor No 1 pair - including Croxley member Anthony.  Not that we played particularly badly, but Anthony and his Austrian Croxley resident partner played exceptionally well.  Skipper Spider and the bare armed Oatesy fared little better on Court 2, so it was left to Mike and Doug to grind out a first set win to keep us in the match.

Round 2, and sadly Spider and Oatesy never got going in an important set against Grosvenor's weakest pair.  Meanwhile myself and Gary were producing some complete and utterly garbage tennis to quickly go 4-0 down against the 2's.  I have to say it was great fun reeling the next 6 games off on the trot to record what had semed an improbable win, hats off to us I say!  Even more improbable perhaps was an excellent show from Mike and Doug to beat the 1's 6-4 to level the match at 3-3. Cue Anthony racket throw.

So, final round and all to play for.  Sadly our No 2 pair capitulated 6-0 to round off their pretty miserable night.  Myself and Gary carried on where we left off in Round 2, swiftly moving into a 5-0 lead before disappointingly losing our 1st game in 12, nonetheless 6-1 was not to be scoffed at.  So, 4-4, and all eyes on Doug and Mike.  Perhaps trying to emulate what myself and Gary had achieved in Round 2 wasn't the best idea.  But emulate they tried and at 5-1 down it wasn't looking great.  But then the fightback, and with a captive audience they pulled back to 5-4 before disappointingly falling at the final hurdle.  The last game included Mike being aced by a daisycutter that only the Grosvenor grass can produce.

So a 5-4 defeat, my 3rd in 7 days for the club, not amused!

Tea was most pleasant, the cheese selection very good as was the choccy cake.  Spider can hopefuly rest his injury now with a week off next week.  Mike is now a fully fledged C teamer having made his 4th appearance of the season.

Bring on Riverside!