It was a cloudy but dry morning for Wheldrake’s start to the 2019 season, with Captain Murtagh at the helm for the fourth season running. It was a 50 minute drive to Harlow from Wheldrake, so we were all up earlier than we’d like for our last day of the Easter Holidays!!

Phil and Ben were at #1 as no-one else fancied it.

Colin and Andrew were at #2, with Don and Captain M on the #3 show court adjacent to the rather heated football match that was occurring simultaneously.

The Wheldrake #3 pair secured victory against their opposite numbers courtesy of their double fault tendency and Don’s calmness under pressure. After the first set of rubbers, Wheldrake were 1-2 up. After the second set, Colin and Andrew kept us in the hunt with a vital win to leave the game all square at 3 points each and 36 games each. It was all going down to the last set of rubbers.

Phil and Ben secured a pivotal win (3-9) to leave them with an impressive 19 game haul and were finished early so they could appreciate the game situation and quality play on show!

 Surprisingly, Andrew and Colin let slip a 4-5 lead to go down 7-5 to finish with a very impressive 21 game haul, so it was all down to the #3 pair – yikes! 

We thought we had blown it when Captain M missed an easy volley to go down 7-4 and lose the point to Harlow. Spirits were low at this stage of the match; however, Don kept our motivation up despite considerable chuntering from his partner and we managed to win the next game relatively comfortably thanks to some steady if not spectacular play. But was it enough……..?

Colin was despatched by Don to check the scorecard with the Home team, and the tension was mounting as time and time again the score was checked. Finally, after the umpteenth cross-check, Wheldrake had just scraped over the line in games, winning 53-55, and thus gaining the vital 3 points for the overall games won, in an ironic contrast to our last match of the 2018 season. It just goes to show, never ever give up and keep competing to the very end!

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