Division 1 - here we come!
22/May/2008 14:24 Filed in: Results
After a long and close fought season. SATTC D2 team
gain promotion to Division 1.
Roy Claxton describes the play-off match against Brunswick A.
Roy Claxton describes the play-off match against Brunswick A.
S. Ayrshire won the toss and elected to be the away
team, in order to dictate the order of play.
Un uncharacteristically nervous Pierre played first against Cameron who has been a “bogey” player in the past. He lost the first game easily, but after a tactical change and notwithstanding playing well below his best, he went 2-1 up. Then at 5-3 up in the 4th, he decided to take a short break for a drink. Which effectively used up his “time-out” allocation for the match in the 10 seconds it took to nervously take a swig of water! He then lost 6 out of the next 7 points Including 2 serves that didn’t touch either side of the table! He eventually lost 3-2. Not the start we wanted.
Jago then took on Robbie and played the best I have ever seen him play to cruise it 3-0.
Paul then went on against Ian. A stern, determined top spinner, who was obviously a class act. Paul quickly went 4-1 down in the first, but then began to vary his returns and Ian showed a vulnerability in spotting the float ball. There were some great rallies and Paul threw away several game points as well as saving a couple. At 17-16 all I called a time out as Paul seemed to be trying too hard to win the final point each time he went in front. Ignoring my advice, he went for a hit. 17-all. He eventually won it 19-17. Tough stuff. The next 2 games were equally exciting although nowhere near as long. Paul beat a very good player 3-0.
Pierre then took on Robbie and just hung in there. Fighting his nerves more than fighting his opponent to scrape it 3-1.
Paul was next up against Cameron. And just threw the first game away. After a tactical change however, he managed to go 2-1 up, before again losing the tactical battle to go down without a fight in the 4th. However, he switched back to the game plan and won the 5th set very easily.
Next Jago against Ian. A classic battle of 2 attackers. Some great rallies and Jago deservedly scraped the first set. The ding-dong continued and Jago went 2-1 up, before a verbal exchange at the end of the 3rd got to him and despite trying to put it out of his head, he was easily beaten in the 4th. He re-grouped in the 5th, but Ian’s confidence was up and he was consistently forcing Jago onto the backhand corner. Ian won the decider 11-8. Great game.
So at 4-2 and the last 2 of the 9 games looking form-wise as though they could possibly go Brunswick’s way, it was felt that Paul just had to beat Robbie, who’s style as a pusher with the odd flashy backhand overcame Paul in a recent Vets tournament. Robbie took the first set 11-4. So again, an obvious tactical change was applied and after 3 more quite gruelling sets, our President clinched promotion for the team. Both Pierre and I agreed that Paul’s 3rd match was the pivotal point. If he’d lost it, instead of a 5-2 win, it could well have been a 5-4 defeat.
In summary, an outstanding team performance where the strength in depth became evident when with one player playing well below his best, the others raised their game to compensate. Pierre sweat blood for his win and was clearly not enjoying the fact that he was unable to find his table tennis brain. Jago played extremely well and Paul was obviously man of the match.
Un uncharacteristically nervous Pierre played first against Cameron who has been a “bogey” player in the past. He lost the first game easily, but after a tactical change and notwithstanding playing well below his best, he went 2-1 up. Then at 5-3 up in the 4th, he decided to take a short break for a drink. Which effectively used up his “time-out” allocation for the match in the 10 seconds it took to nervously take a swig of water! He then lost 6 out of the next 7 points Including 2 serves that didn’t touch either side of the table! He eventually lost 3-2. Not the start we wanted.
Jago then took on Robbie and played the best I have ever seen him play to cruise it 3-0.
Paul then went on against Ian. A stern, determined top spinner, who was obviously a class act. Paul quickly went 4-1 down in the first, but then began to vary his returns and Ian showed a vulnerability in spotting the float ball. There were some great rallies and Paul threw away several game points as well as saving a couple. At 17-16 all I called a time out as Paul seemed to be trying too hard to win the final point each time he went in front. Ignoring my advice, he went for a hit. 17-all. He eventually won it 19-17. Tough stuff. The next 2 games were equally exciting although nowhere near as long. Paul beat a very good player 3-0.
Pierre then took on Robbie and just hung in there. Fighting his nerves more than fighting his opponent to scrape it 3-1.
Paul was next up against Cameron. And just threw the first game away. After a tactical change however, he managed to go 2-1 up, before again losing the tactical battle to go down without a fight in the 4th. However, he switched back to the game plan and won the 5th set very easily.
Next Jago against Ian. A classic battle of 2 attackers. Some great rallies and Jago deservedly scraped the first set. The ding-dong continued and Jago went 2-1 up, before a verbal exchange at the end of the 3rd got to him and despite trying to put it out of his head, he was easily beaten in the 4th. He re-grouped in the 5th, but Ian’s confidence was up and he was consistently forcing Jago onto the backhand corner. Ian won the decider 11-8. Great game.
So at 4-2 and the last 2 of the 9 games looking form-wise as though they could possibly go Brunswick’s way, it was felt that Paul just had to beat Robbie, who’s style as a pusher with the odd flashy backhand overcame Paul in a recent Vets tournament. Robbie took the first set 11-4. So again, an obvious tactical change was applied and after 3 more quite gruelling sets, our President clinched promotion for the team. Both Pierre and I agreed that Paul’s 3rd match was the pivotal point. If he’d lost it, instead of a 5-2 win, it could well have been a 5-4 defeat.
In summary, an outstanding team performance where the strength in depth became evident when with one player playing well below his best, the others raised their game to compensate. Pierre sweat blood for his win and was clearly not enjoying the fact that he was unable to find his table tennis brain. Jago played extremely well and Paul was obviously man of the match.