Men's A team clinch league title
The Men's "A" team clinched the Division 5 title on Saturday when they convincingly beat Graves/ITI "C" by 7-2 at Ridgeway. After the narrowest of wins against Stocksbridge two week ago by 5-4 and a great 8-1 win against Beauchief "E" last Saturday the stage was set for a win against Graves to confirm the championship and the team delivered.
In the first round of matches Liam Rudge and Mick Mason beat the first couple by 6-2, 6-2, Martyn Soar and James Haigh lost to the seconds (the best of the Graves pairings) by 3-6, 3-6 whilst Nick Johnson and Richard Sagar beat the thirds by 6-1, 6-4. A 2-1 lead to Ridgeway. In the second round Martyn and James made short work of beating the thirds by 6-0, 6-1 and Nick and Richard beat the firsts by 6-1, 6-1. This made it 4-1 to Ridgeway leaving Liam and Mick battling for the vital fifth rubber against the seconds. After going down 2-6 in the first set and being behind 2-4 in the second they battled back to win the set on a tie-break. In the champions tie-break they came back from 8-5 down to win 10-8, thereby clinching the win. The third round resulted in a win for Martyn and James against the firsts by 6-2, 6-3, a win for Liam and Mick against the thirds by 6-2, 6-2 but a defeat for Nick and Richard against the seconds by 1-6, 1-6.
Final match score:- Rubbers 7-2, Sets 13-5, Games 90 -57.
The win means the team will return to Div 4 next year and is a just reward for a good consistent performance by all the players who have played for the team. It also means that for the first time in many years the club will be getting a trophy at the Annual Presentation Dinner - this year it is on Friday the 6th November 2009 at Baldwin's Omega.
