Sidmouth Ladies’ captain Viv Bess was delighted with the performance of the team who were 6-2 up in the recent home fixture against Exeter Golf and Country Club B when fading light stopped play, writes David Thorneley.

Viv and Di Kendall-Torry, as the number 1 pairing, secured victory in the opening rubber, whereas Nicki Keele and Debbie Snelgrove were unlucky to lose on a Championship Tie Break but were delighted to win their second match by a comfortable margin, on the adjoining court Viv and Di had won the opening set but the second could not be concluded due to the bad light, the score line currently stands at 6-2 and the match is due to be resumed at an early date. With the encouraging results so far the Ladies have played really well and seem to be gaining that all important “winning habit”.

The third fixture of the current season for the Men’s Team saw Newton Abbot as visitors to The Fortfield and also provide a timely opportunity for newly-appointed captain, Alex Spalding, to make his seasonal debut partnering the experienced Mike Fletcher with Peter Fung and David Thorneley making the second pairing. During “the knock up” it became obvious that the visitors, with three seemingly in their teenage years, were going to provide a stern test for the hosts, hopeful of gaining a second successive victory.

In the first rubber Alex and Mike struggled to cope with the lightning accurate serving of their opponents and went down, despite rallying somewhat in the second set, to a straight sets defeat: on the adjoining court Peter and David also found the high quality all court play of their opponents difficult to match and it was not long for the second set to commence!

however, the interval tactical discussion, centred on slowing the stroke play down, soon began to pay dividends resulting in the set being gained by a surprising margin with the hope that such momentum would be carried forward to victory in the deciding tie break. Alas this was not to be and with the prospect of fading light in his mind Skipper Alex called for even more effort in the quick resumption of play. Both matches were once again close encounters with Alex and Mike needing a tie break to seal victory, whereas Peter and David were once again on the wrong end of a tie break decider.

The match was lost 4-7 but skipper Alex, was upbeat determined to “take the positives “ out of the encounter which was not only played in the very best of spirits but saw some of the best all court stroke play by a visiting team at The Forfield for many a year.

The next fixture at home to Kingsteignton will see the welcome return of Greg Pepper to the team, with all involved aiming to secure a second victory and thus back on track towards achieving the aim of promotion.