Melbourn lost 10-4

Melbourn 2nds side at Nuffield (l to r): Jan Brynjolffssen, Aidan Hird, Moises Estrelles Navarro

After a season of ups and downs, the Herts League Division 4 title moreorless came down to this game – we were top, Nuffield were in third, but the St. Albans side were only 7 points behind and they had an extra game to play in everyone else. Basically it was winner takes all for the title.

The problem we had was form really wasn’t in our favour. We had been top at the midway point of the season after winning 7 of our first 9 matches. At that point Nuffield sixth in the table with just 4 wins. However the second half of the season had seen a change in fortunes: for us 3 wins and 5 losses, for our hosts here 7 wins and just 1 defeat. That had moved them to within 7 points of us, and with a game in hand as well. We need to win, ideally by 6 points. There were also some other teams involved, but the focus for the evening had to be on the match in front of us.

First up was Moises Estrelles Navarro (3), who took on home skipper Clive Baker. This was a match up of two players of very similar styles – hard running, getting loads back, but maybe not exploiting the openings presented at the front of the court as perfectly as they might hope. That made for a game about patience, waiting for the other player to make mistakes. For most of the opening game this was going well for Moises, but as the end approached he began to feel comfortable and push for winners… which resulted in errors instead as the lead leaked away and he eventually was edged out on a break.
Game two saw Moises digging in and playing to the plan – pump the ball deep when he had time, as him having time also meant Clive had the same and would likely chase down his drops. Play the very occasional kill if he could take it early and use Clive scrambling movement against the St. Albans player, but only attack in those circumstances (basically a counter-punch rather than a lead punch). This worked very well and Moises was level, but Clive dug in in the third to make things much closer. However Moises kept himself calm and saw the game out narrowly, despite some consternation about an out call that he (and the Melbourn players watching on) were bemused by, which seem to motivate Moises to play cleanly and sensibly at the key times.
The fourth game was another where Moises made the initial running, getting himself a lead, but then tightened up at the death as the desire to finish things off trump the belief in grinding, grinding, grinding to victory. There were moments when it looked like we might be heading to five, particularly when Clive got to game ball first at 14-13, but errors at inopportune times from the St. Albans player helped as Moises played three rock solid rallies, ending things by driving Clive deep into the backhand corner where he could retrieve: Moises won 15-17, 15-8, 15-12, 16-14.

Next up was Aidan Hird (2) against Josh Binmore, both making their debuts for these particular teams this season. Did I mention that it was a virtual league decider? Huh.
Game 1 started with Aidan looking to shake his nerves off and get his game going, but this proved difficult against teenager Josh, who was running everything down. One point, two points, three points… swiftly it was 7-0 to the home player and Aidan was clearly feeling in a whirl. Oddly enough being way down finally seemed to relax him a bit and the back half of the game saw Aidan using his game to his advantage, pushing Josh deeper into the court to build rallies for the attack from the service line. It was too late for game one, but this better pattern was maintained into game two as Aidan did a decent job of controlling the service line against Josh’s hard running and retrieving. As Aidan cruised to the game, all seemed well…
It wasn’t. Everything went wrong for the Melbourn player from this point. A few tentative points at the start of the third swiftly lead to over-pushing, trying to kill the ball from the back corners against a rapid player who was able to pick things up and was happy to control the front wall. Everything spiralled on Aidan from here as he got nervous again, which saw his feet stop moving properly, which in turn undermined him when Josh got a ball back he wasn’t expecting. By the fourth the belief had clearly gone, the match ending in a welter of errors as Aidan was beaten 12-15, 15-9, 4-15, 6-15 and once again left a match court wondering where Practice Aidan goes when people are watching.

That meant the Division 4 title practically rest on Jan Brynjolffssen (1) vs Jonathan Smith-Squire. It showed in a nervy first game which saw Jan confined to the back of the court, with his opponents might reach making all but the tightest shots vulnerable and many rallies cut short. A game down, it was clear a rethink was needed and Jan came back on with better focus, finding the tee off some accurate lengths and following defensive boasts forward more successfully. This consistent pressure was the Nuffield player making more “unforced” errors, and the points were traded to 14-12 against Melbourn, with a somewhat lucky winner taking the game but with spectators left optimistic the momentum had shifted.
The third started promisingly in a similar vein, but an encroaching injury saw Jan losing pace and struggling to retrieve as effectively. With the pressure slackened, a more composed opponent began putting away his opportunities to kill to finish the match off 3-0. Game scores were 6-15, 12-15, 6-15.

And that was that for our title chances. Not because Nuffield had gone past on the night, as the final score of 10-4 meant they only got to within a point of our total. But a result elsewhere saw Haileybury sneak a couple of points beyond our total of 144, and Nuffield still remain favourites for the title as they have a re-arranged match against Radlett to play from which they need 4 points to be champions… and 2 points to move past us to leave us third in the table. A disappointing end to the season, but with 10 wins and 8 defeats overall it’s pretty clear that we are at the right level playing in Division 4 and as such who wants promotion anyway?!?