Croxley Tennis Club Mixed B  v St Albans C (Watford & District Tennis League - Mixed Division 5)

Thursday July 24th 2008, played at Croxley

Croxley Mixed B

vs opp’n
Pair A

vs opp’n
Pair B

vs opp’n
Pair C

Sets Won

Sets Lost

Match Result: Croxley Lost

Captain’s Log: 

Oh dear, another must win game sort of, although against promotion chasing St Albans (who had already turned us over 9-0 at their place) it was always going to be tough.  I suggested to Peter after last week's effort that we ought to try and field some big guns if available.  Well, Chris is tall and myself and Mark qualify as big in other ways.  In actual fact Peter's big gun was Laurence, but his late withdrawal through injury meant that Mark stepped in to fill the void at the 11th hour.

And how the evening could have been different.  Myself and Mo, and Chris and Karen both lost opening sets on close fought tiebreaks.  I injured myself chasing an impossible retrieve, which I did retrieve, which I may as well not have bothered with as Mo called the ball out anyway much to the opposition's horror.  I wouldn't dream of making this as an excuse for the set to follow which can only be described as a horror show on the show court, and sadly the longer battles on the other courts proved fruitless as well.  The formality of another 0-9 drubbing was soon complete, leaving me again wondering how on earth we had achieved such a miserable scoreline against a reasonable, but by no means unbeatable team.  Sadly relegation is looking like a stark reality, not scoring any sets at all hardly helped the cause.  A win next week against lowly Riverside is now essential, then we keep our fingers crossed!

Oh well, at least I consoled myself with Maureen's tea, including ham closely resembling Billy Bear material.  The 3 eclairs I scoffed didn't make me feel any better but cut down on wastage.  I spent the following day hobbling around like an invalid, where's the Aloe Vera when you need it?

Croxley Tennis Club Mixed B  v Cassiobury B (Watford & District Tennis League - Mixed Division 5)

Thursday July 17th 2008, played at Cassiobury

Croxley Mixed B

vs opp’n
Pair A

vs opp’n
Pair B

vs opp’n
Pair C

Sets Won

Sets Lost

Match Result: Croxley Lost

Captain’s Log: 

Text Message from Peter Worby “ Can you play tomorrow in crunch relegation mixed match? It’s a must win verses Cassiobury.

Weather overcast starts to rain dreading playing on wet Astroturf. Team arrive on time. Thank goodness playing on the hard-court. Jon and Angie played a superb first set to beat the Cassiobury 3^rd pair. Angie was having some good long rallies and was covering for Jon who injured his knee.

Not sure what Pauline was shouting about on court two but it must have been putting Jerry off his tennis as they lost the first set.

Karen and Chris had a very long difficult set losing to the first pair in the tie break. So in to the 2^nd round Croxley 2-1 down all to play for.  Remember crunch relegation game.  Karen and Chris win 2^nd set, Karen injures knee in 3^rd set tells Chris well he played like a demon and they win the 3^rd set. What is going on courts 2 and 3? no more sets won. Cassiobury win 6-3.

Tea no comment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lemon cake preferred to Angel cake.

Will the mixed B team actually be relegated two matches left can they win them???????????? Start placing bets!!

Croxley Tennis Club Mixed B  v OA Tennis A (Watford & District Tennis League - Mixed Division 5)

Thursday June 5th 2008, played at OA Tennis

Croxley Mixed B

vs opp’n
Pair A

vs opp’n
Pair B

vs opp’n
Pair C

Sets Won

Sets Lost

Match Result: Croxley Lost

*Names courtesy of the OA scorecard

Captain’s Log: 

I was really looking forward to this.  My first outing for the Mixed B's this season and a chance to renew my partnership with Helen - we did really well last year only losing one set against a really hot lady player from Bovingdon, Dot was her name I think.  

We got the short straw, no-one else wanted to be the 'A' pair so we 'volunteered' to take that mantle.  It was clear from the warm up that we would do well to get much from their A pair and so it proved.  Their mastery of their own surface was more to be admired than our misguided attempts to hit balls that had long since spun away in Shane Warne fashion.  

Our set was short and far from sweet, we could only look on with jealousy as the other Croxley pairs fought rather more bravely, but sadly also to defeats. Gary and Shirley after a particularly long and hard fought tie-break set.

Round 2, and we were getting more to grips with the surface, and in a set that was neck and neck until 4-5, a couple of errors from yours truly meant that we got zilch again, particularl galling as we'd done well to hang in there that long and could have got something from the set.  Once again we were first off, and once again we could only look on with jealousy as the other Croxley pairs fought on, but sadly again to defeats.

Round 3, lo and behold we were all beaten soundly again and the record books will show an uncomfortable whitewash.   Against three very good men and one very good lady, we were never going to win this one on their patch, but 1 set would have been nice.  I haven't felt so down after a game of tennis for a long time.

David was quite well behaved over tea, which I felt fell below the normal OA high standard, but was still ok unless your name is Gary - 7/10

Croxley Tennis Club Mixed B  v St Albans D (Watford & District Tennis League - Mixed Division 5)

Thursday May 22nd 2008, played at St Albans

Croxley Mixed B

vs opp’n
Pair A

vs opp’n
Pair B

vs opp’n
Pair C

Sets Won

Sets Lost

Match Result: Croxley lost 

Captain’s Log: 

It all started so well…...   

Everyone arrived at the Club early, and raring to go.  The first problem arose when we tried to fit five adults  into either Doug’s van, Karen’s Mini or my Fiesta.  Help came with a unexpected offer from Chris Montague who gamely volunteered  to drive, despite having only recently passed his test.  

Karen offered to give directions via a number of short cuts she knew of, using that tried and tested technique of navigation by pub.   It became increasingly clear, however, that she had no idea where we were going when we found ourselves driving down a long, windy, single track lane that ended up at a farm!

Chris deftly manoeuvered the car through a nine point turn (only joking Chris) and headed back up the track, recklessly ignoring the 10 mile an hour speed limit in an attempt to make up much needed time.  Laura, who had made her own way to St Albans, entirely without incident was wondering where the hell we all were, when we turned up just in the nick of time.

Karen and I were greatly encouraged by the home team’s welcome of ‘what a young team you are’ and thought how lovely they were J.  On reflection, we decided they were probably referring to Tom, Laura and ChrisL

Game on ….

I can’t really tell you what went with the other pairs except that whenever I looked over, everyone seemed to playing much better tennis than me.  As number three pair, Doug and I valiantly battled with the unfamiliar surface and Doug decided it was better not to let the ball bounce. We both served reasonably well, with Doug expertly executing his googly serve - especially in the second set.  Shame the rest of our shots didn‘t quite match up.  In the first set with two match points in hand, we went on to snatch defeat from the arms of victory, losing in a tie-break.    We made reasonable headway against their first pair holding them to 4 games all, before sliding to a 6-4 defeat .  Sadly, with an experienced and technically better second pair my personal  hopes of an end to my win drought bit the dust.  Karen and Chris fared no better.  Brother and sister team of Laura and Tom scored a small victory, beating the number 1 pair but more importantly, managing to play together without arguing.  Final score  - an enjoyable evening’s tennis but an 8 - 1 loss.  

Croxley Tennis Club Mixed B  v Leverstock Green C (Watford & District Tennis League - Mixed Division 5)

Thursday May 15th 2008, played at Croxley

Croxley Mixed B

vs opp’n
Pair A

vs opp’n
Pair B

vs opp’n
Pair C

Sets Won

Sets Lost

Match Result: Croxley lost 

Captain’s Log: 

Hope this is not too long but Peter insisted it had to be lengthy. Not my fault as ever…

The persistent rain stopped before the mixed B team's second match, but that was where our luck ended. A closely fought match was won 5-4 by Leverstock Green C team. We went into the final round needing to win all three, and it went to the wire with the family pairing of Laura and David playing the last set of the match and losing to a strong second pair (they assure me it was closer than the 6-1 scoreline suggests).

Pauline and Doug took a while to get going, but comfortably beat the opposition's first pair in the final round and were the only Croxley pair to achieve this. A complete recovery from their match against the second pair which must be a contender for the quickest set ever and a crushing 6-0 defeat. Perhaps it followed too closely on the heels of their defeat by the third pair which was before they were properly warmed up.

Laura and David beat their third pair but lost to the other two. A deadly combination of youth in their second pairing and experience in the first proved too difficult to overcome.

As for Chris and me, definitely a case of "if only". We came from behind to beat the second pair and also defeated their thirds, but lost to a beatable first pair. Chris hits the ball so hard I have difficulty seeing it (must get my eyes tested soon). Maybe we won two sets because my shots are so soft that the opposition struggles with the change of pace....

It was an enjoyable match played in good humour. Refreshments were provided by Peter W who drove to Tesco's in the second half of the match (leaving it late in case the threatening clouds led to the abandonment of the match). Standard fare with some improvisation by warming the Quiches in the microwave (don't try this at home), warm sausage rolls and the dodgiest pickle ever seen on a Croxley table. I take the blame for this as the out of date lid was hidden by sleight of hand. Doug declared it was vile and put it back in the jar. The resulting discussion as to whether pickle can go off seems to be resolved and the jar was consigned to the skip. I am keeping the identity of my co-conspirator secret to protect the guilty. Martyrdom is a lonely path.

Maureen

Croxley Tennis Club Mixed B  v Riverside D (Watford & District Tennis League - Mixed Division 5)

Friday May 9th 2008, played at Croxley

Croxley Mixed B

vs opp’n
Pair A

vs opp’n
Pair B

vs opp’n
Pair C

Sets Won

Sets Lost

Match Result: Croxley Won

Captain’s Log: