Marsh Gibbon V Harbury B – Monday 24th October

With a last minute team line-up change for Harbury, super subs David and Karen Bristow joined Sue Panton and Olly Wiltshire to play Marsh Gibbon at Brackley.

The men’s pairing of David and Olly started steady and Harbury slipped behind 3–1 but once into their stride David and Olly were running and leaping all over the court to edge in front. Missing the first opportunity at 4-5 to take the set, Harbury had to take the long route and win a further two games and close it out at 5-7. The second set was a polar opposite with Harbury keeping the momentum going and soon found themselves 0-5 up. A fight back looked on the cards for Marsh Gibbon snatching a break of serve but Harbury held their nerve and broke back to take the set 1-6.

The ladies pairing of Sue Panton and Karen Bristow got off to a roaring start. There were plenty of long rallies and multiple deuces throughout and after sharing the spoils in the opening games Harbury opened up the lead to win the first set 2-6. The second set started out much the same with cries from the opponents of, “is it really only 1-1.” This time Marsh Gibbon took the initiative and the lead to finish off the set with a 6-2 score line.

The first mixed pairing was Sue and David and what a formidable force they were. They romped home to a 0-6 and 1-6 score line. To be fair to Marsh Gibbon this probably wasn’t a true reflection of how close each game was but nevertheless Rob would be proud of the finishing from both Sue and David.

The second mixed pairing of Karen and Olly had an extremely tough game with nothing to separate the two teams. With the lead switching between them throughout both sets, the match looked set to be going long into the night. Harbury managed to capitalise in the first set winning 5-7 but Marsh Gibbon took the second 7-5.

Harbury won the match 2-6 overall. All in an all a thoroughly enjoyable evening with a very friendly bunch of people.