Goodshaw v Abacus B                     Haslingden Sports Centre      Thursday 19^th October 2017

 An Anniversary Win for Goodshaw

 A local match for me to cover this week between two very evenly matched teams: the home side led by the smiley Anniversary Captain, Nigel Holt, who played at one, assisted by Mike Nicholson and Dean Bertenshaw at two and three respectively; the Goodshaw ladies were Kath Gillam and Val Bertenshaw, with Lisa Archer playing at three. Their adversaries on the night, Abacus B, were Captained by Kathy Kier, who played at two, along with the experienced Julie Blackburn and Karen Cook; with the canny Mr Mick Crilly at one, assisted by Eric Duckworth and Paul Hooper, at two and three for the away team.

In the opening ladies’ games, despite some excellent anticipation and determined court coverage from the Abacus ladies, the strength of Lisa Archer at three ensured a solid start for Goodshaw. In the men’s games, however, all four games were extremely close and well fought. It really was neck and neck throughout, with all four men battling to get to 21 first. It was lovely to see the keen as mustard Mick, coming back from a shoulder operation, covering the court as energetically as ever. Delicate net shots and excellent short serving from Mike Nicholson for Goodshaw and strong centre line smashes from Dean meant the away men really had to work hard for every point. At the end of the level doubles, the home team were up 6 games to 2, with both men’s games split.

In the mixed doubles, the top pairing of Kath and Nigel, faced the tactical play of Julie and Mick for Abacus. There were many close rallies in this good humoured game with the away team winning both games. Nigel’s team seemed spurred on by their captain’s defeat, however, and the rest of the mixed games went Goodshaw’s way. There was some excellent agility at the net from Val Bertenshaw who produced the shot of the night when she retrieved Mick’s smash with a cross court winner in two very close games against the top Abacus pairing. Lisa and Dean were equally effective in their mixed, played as a level game, when they took on Kathy and Eric, despite some punishing cross court shots from the Abacus gent.

Despite the final score, this was a very evenly matched game, played with friendly competitiveness and good humour from start to finish. Tournament week is fast approaching, folks – your secretaries have received Claire’s email – so get thinking about who you’d like to enter with and make Rick Smith and his team of handicappers work hard on your handicap in singles, mixed and doubles!