It’s not often that match reports have a soundtrack. But this one does. But how did Jerry Lee Lewis know about this:

back in 1957?!?

Whilst trying to unentangle this chronological conundrum Moises Estrelles Navarro (3) took the court against Chloe Bhola. We had seen Chloe before when she gave Matt a run for his money at second string in the match at Melbourn in the opening half of the season, so we knew she was both a good controlled player (indeed a coach in her own right, and it shows in a properly put together game) and also a determined young lady who kept her head and fought to the end of that one despite a horrid start. Would her clean play and movement do for Moises, or would El Canibal’s hard running around the court, which he has always had but which these days is allied to much improved positional and defensive game (the work with Head Coach Chris is really paying dividends) be too much for her… as it has been for most other opponents at #3 string in Herts Div.4 this summer?
The answer turned out to be the latter as Moises put in a super-impressive performance. OK, maybe not in game 1 which was a bit scratchy and could have gone either way before he won it 15-12, but definitely in game 2 as Moises cut out the bad drops, focused on the tactics that were winning (depth, patience, trust the strengths of his game) and generally played without errors. Once again Chloe refused to get down on herself and came back in the third (an impressive trait) but despite the extra pressure Moises eased it home 15-12, 15-4, 15-9.

Next on was Matt Walker (2) against Jamie Goodman. Here the roles were somewhat reversed as this time the Radlett player (Jamie) was the ‘chase everything’ runner. Matt attempted to react to this by going for everything but his usually deadly volley-drop was misfiring, and that from the very beginning. Maybe a little longer to establish his game first would have helped. Jamie was very happy to live on Matt’s errors and counter-punch where he could, with Matt dropping the opening game (which would prove significant as the evening wore on).
Matt cleaned things up in the second, playing with more patience to create the openings before going for the kill, taking the game amid multiple fist pumps to level things up. The third started well… but then at around 5-5 it became clear the issue the opener had caused as Matt’s energy started to noticeably fade. A string of attempts to force kills were punished, Matt losing 7 rallies in a row. That was too much to recover, and now Matt was 2-1 down. And also gassed.
Game four was a matter of will for Matt – could he drag his tired body around the court enough to play the sort of extended rallies needed to break Jamie down. It was taking three kill shots for Matt to win most points… something he really didn’t have the energy to do. Trying to get out in one shot was resulting in tins though, and as the game got closer and closer to the end Matt did this more and more often. He could never break clear, fell match point down and after one last lung-busting rally was beaten 11-15, 15-12, 11-15, 13-15. He then collapsed on his back on the court for a number of minutes, leaving a large sweat patch with the Melbourn Club logo clearly picked out in it! It was that sort of match for him.

That meant things were all-square as Jan Brynjolffssen (1) and James Howell got underway. It was quickly apparent these two were very evenly matched… and also rather similar players. Yes, both were happy to exchange down the backhand wall for a while and both were also willing to lift in defence to buy themselves time to get back to the ‘t’, but they were both also looked for the opportunity to vary and get out of these exchanges. Neither was really confident they could simply outlast their opponent. For most of game one James held a narrow advantage, but as game ball approached he tightened up, allowing Jan to save one, then two, then three chances, the third with an ace. James had another opportunity to close it out at 15-14 which he should have taken, but a tight drop went high, Jan stepped up to kill and two points later he was slightly surprised to find himself 1-0 up instead.
This was good, but unfortunately Jan didn’t keep it up in game two, losing a tiny but key amount of accuracy on his lengths and depths. This was particularly evident mid-game as points leaked away. A comeback towards the conclusion, Jan closing from 14-7 down to 14-11 before James closed it out spoke again about finishing issues with his opponent… but the ideal was not to be 7 game balls down in the first place! Unfortunately game three proved to be more of the same for Jan despite the occasional framed winner, most of which were going up. This one kind of blends into game two in the memory, with the result being a 2-1 lead for James.
The fourth was better from Jan as he stepped higher up the court and played with more pop despite the sweltering conditions. Maybe this was indicative of James also losing a bit of oomph in his legs? Whatever the cause it was even at 12-all… until James got a framed winner to make up for Jan’s ~4 earlier. Better timed though. One point later it was match ball, and though Jan saved the first he lost the next after a desperation rally ended with James firing the ball as hard as he could at his opponent, Jan framing it on a win-or-bust shot… and tin. Damn. Game scores were 17-15, 11-15, 10-15, 13-15.

So defeat. Which meant we slip from top spot once again. But only as far as second, just two points back of new leaders Letchworth with five rounds of games to go. Who the top two in Division 4 will be is anyone’s guess… but the 2nds are very much in with a shout of being involved.