The men’s Late Summer League team lost its first match of the season in its away match at Chesterfield on Saturday.  The final score was a 3-1 win to the hosts but it was another tight match.

First couple John Firth and Jamie Macefield lost to the home team’s first couple by 6-7 in a tie break in the third set after the first two sets were shared at 2-6, 6-1.  Second couple Matt Metcalfe and Cliff Andrews also lost to the second pair in three sets – 7-6, 3-6, 1-6,   In the second round of matches John and Jamie beat the second couple by 7-5, 6-3 but Matt and Cliff lost 1-6, 1-6 to the first pair.

Final match score was Rubbers 1-3, Sets 4-6, Games 40-52

Ridgeway beat Graves B in the re-arranged encounter when the original date for the match was ruined by heavy rain. The weather was poor again today (26th Aug) but the match was concluded at Graves after heavy rain showers again interrupted the play.  Whatever the weather Ridgeway came out of the match with a narrrow 5 game win after rubbers were shared at 2-2, sets at 4-4 bur Ridgeway squeezed home with a win on games by 34 games to 29.

In the first round of matches John Firth and Alin Carnariu lost to the first Graves pair by 2-6, 4-6 but Jasper Patel and Matt Metcalfe beat the seconds by 6-3, 6-0.  Ridgeway just three games to the good after the first round. John and Alin then beat the second couple by 6-0, 6-2 and Jasper and Matt lost to the firsts by 1-6, 3-6.  Totalled up the win was by just 5 games.  Well done team – in this format every game can prove to be vital so every player did their bit.

The result means the team is unbeaten so far with three wins from three played and two of those were on games countbacks.

The men’s Late Summer League team snatched a great win in an extremely tight match by just three games.  In the for man format every game won can prove vital and so it proved on Saturday the 12th.

John Firth and jamie Macefield beat the first couple by 6-2, 6-4 before beating the second couple by 6-1, 6-0. That was just half the story as John Hallgarth and Cliff Andrews lost to the second couple by 1-6, 4-6 and by 2-6, 3-6 to the first couple the games they won proved vital as rubbers were shared at 2-2, sets at 4-4 so the result came down to a count back on games won and lost. That resulted in a win for Ridgeway by 34-31. Well done to all for a full team effort.

The Thorncliffe B team has withdrawn from Division 3 of the Late Summer Men’s League.  This means there is no fixture on Saturday 19th August and the courts will be free that afternoon for social play.

After being postponed twice due to rain the Works League b team completed the season’s fixtures with a 4-0 defeat to visitors Stocksbridge B at Ridgeway last night. Ben Kay and Steve Hill lost both their rubbers by 9-0 and john Hallgarth lost to the second couple by by 9-3 before losing to the seconds and to the firsts by 9-1. Final match score was Rubbers 0-4. Games 36-4.

A big thank you to all the players who have taken part in the Works League matches and to Ben Kay who has dealt with the difficult job of team selection.  It is never an easy task but there have been a lot of members to consider this season so hopefully everybody has managed a few games.

The men’s Late Summer League match v Moorgate C, postponed last Saturday due to the weather, has been re-arranged to be be played on Wednesday the 16th August at 6:00 pm  The courts will not be available that night for sociial play.

Saturday’s match, 5th August, fell victim to the weather. With heavy rain during the morning, the visitors Moorgate C agreed that the match should be called off in view of the forecast for more rain during the afternoon.

Meanwhile the recently cancelled match Late Summer League match, Ridgeway v Graves B has been re-arranged for Saturday 26th August

The final match of the Works League B team is proving difficult to play due to the rain we have suffered for the last two Wednesdays. Having been scheduled for the 26th july the match was postponed due to rain until Wednesday the 2nd August but had to be cancelled again.  It is now set for Wednesday the 9th August at Ridgeway.   Fingers crossed the match can be played.

Ridgeway’s A team finally found out yesterday that they had become the Works League Division 2 champions.  After an agonising six day wait after last Wednesday’s narrow win against Welbeck B the League Secretary confirmed yesterday that Ridgeway had won the divisional title with Welbeck B as runners up.  The League Secretary said ‘ ‘Ridgeway won on countback, on rubbers and it effectively all came down to a handful of games in the last match between the two’.  There are just three outstanding matches to be played but they will not affect the top two positions and the league table will be published after that.

Well done to the squad and to all the players who contributed to this success.  It means the A team will compete in Division 1 next year.