It's been a bumpy ride in premiership

In the last game of the Devon Premier league, Sidmouth first team hosted Exeter Golf and Country Club. Underwhelmed by the crowd, night-watchman Glenn Borrett started proceedings against junior Luke Bishop. With half an eye on the clock, Borrett quickly went ahead 2-0 in businesslike fashion against an expressive Bishop who had few answers. However, determined to make his mark, Bishop channelled his frustrations into a tighter third, working Borrett hard and securing the game. His advantage was short-lived - Borrett, pushing his heart rate monitor up the scales, took the fourth and the match 3-1 before departing quickly for night duty. Meanwhile veteran Mike Taylor took on the rather sombre and curiously ranked No4 string John Unsworth. Giving very little away, Unsworth, dressed in black to match, bossed the court, giving Taylor little quarter to play his normal game. The Exeter man maintained a steady and controlled performance and dispatched Taylor quickly before exiting rapidly on a 3-0 win. In contrast, No 5 string Mark Trafford took a commanding 2-0 lead in his match against Bishop senior and looked favourite to take his first 3-0 win of the season. Bishop had other ideas, digging in and reversing fortunes in the third as both men began to stretch their skill and fitness levels. Not surprisingly the fourth was the crunch game, see-sawing both ways until finally Trafford edged to match point. Oh the excitement! Perhaps knowing he had the ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory was too much pressure for the Sidmouth player - who will ever know? Bishop took the fourth and rounded off the match in style with an entertaining 3-2 victory. It was left to head-hunted Phil Borrett and captain Chris Woodruff to try to rescue the match and end the season on a winning note. Woodruff took on Exeter Club coach Jon Rycroft but started as if he was a mature student, taking just a point in the first. Reminded by Trafford he was actually playing a match, Woodruff reversed fortunes in a much closer and extended second game. The third saw Woodruff slip back into coaching mode, failing to score at all and looking completely out of sorts. Struggling Woodruff somehow managed to extend Rycroft in the fourth and opened up an early lead of 3 points. Taking the term "continuous play" to the limits, Rycroft gasped his way through a series of long rallies and edged back into the game before finally completing the task and putting a clearly tortured Woodruff out of his misery. Phil Borret, player of the season for Sidmouth this year, was left to pick up any remaining points for Sidmouth against the demonstrative George Setter. Borrett started in familiar style, easing ahead in the first and commanding the second. Setter, clearly frustrated by events, proceeded to vent his anger by smashing two racquets against the walls. His antics appeared to pay off, distracting Borrett into a 9-10 loss in the third and settling his play. Perhaps realising he was rapidly running out of racquets, Setter concentrated on hitting the ball instead but was simply out- played by a re-focussed Borrett, who went on to complete another win in fine style 3-1. It has been a difficult season for Sidmouth in the premiership this year but it has been eased by the much appreciated support of two local businesses, The Marine pub and Your Move estate agents and has been wonderfully topped off by what has rapidly become known as the best food in the league, courtesy of the Tudor Rose. At least Sidmouth came top in something!