Sidmouth’s Advanced League team of Peter Hills, David Temple and Richard Wood had an eventful visit to Bristol for their latest match, writes Mike Taylor.

An animated conversation about openings resulted in the team missing their turning on the way to the match and only Peter’s local knowledge helped them backtrack through the streets of Bristol to arrive only a few minutes late.

In the morning games, Richard was quickly beaten in the singles, while in the doubles David and Peter were engaged in a tense battle.

They eventually took the lead in their last turn, only to watch their opponents draw level and then take the golden hoop. So Sidmouth were 0-2 down and needed to win all three of the afternoon singles. Every one of these games was close-fought and at times it looked as if Sidmouth were in line for a heavy defeat. Peter’s game was interrupted by a lengthy conference when a wrong ball was played, but only discovered several turns later.

A local expert and the laws book eventually allowed the confusion to be sorted out and Peter admirably held his concentration to complete a narrow win. With David and Richard also just getting home by 4 and 1 respectively, the result was the narrowest of victories for Sidmouth 3-2 – an excellent result against a higher-ranked team and a confidence booster ahead of the last match against Nailsea next week.