DUFFIELD GET OFF TO A WINNING START

Andy Whipp reports

We got our Premier League season off to a winning start in a match which was always going to be close and a crowd pleaser against a full strength Pontefract team.

VANESSA GETS PONTE OFF TO A PERFECT START

This was a good women's match to watch with two excellent players. The first two games were close with the games shared, but at 1 game all Vanessa managed to pull away after a few hard rallies and in the end showed her class to emerge the 3-1 winner. Laura put up a great fight especially given that she's been struggling with a few niggling injuries and illnesses in the previous month. Everyone knows Laura can create upsets and I'm sure as the season wears on she will only get better and better.

JOEL LEVELS THE SCORE

Joel and Neil were on the back court at the same time as the popular local fire-fighter was battling away on the glass back, but still managed to draw a decent crowd, maybe wondering how his hair was styled this week. Joel can just do everything a bit too fast for Neil who is a very good, accurate player. Neil seems to be gradually getting a bit quicker these days but just seemed generally a bit rushed by Joel's fast paced game. The were several low drop shops from both players but even though Neil put up a great fight and made the second and third games close, Joel just had a bit too much power to emerge as the 3-0 winner. A good debut for Joel back at Duffield after several years away. A great addition to our team.

SOURAV ON FIRE!

This was never going to be a dull match to watch, with two players who were always going to play shots and run around quickly. This was one of the key ties marked by both teams as I'd got the victory at the end of last season in a tough match but Sourav of late has been playing extremely well. Unfortunately for me Sourav played very well not putting a foot wrong. The match was played at a crazy pace with both of us running and running and running after balls that should have been given up on to the delight of the packed crowd (but not my little legs!). Sourav won the first game 11-9 which turned out to be crucial as he just gained in confidence from that and just played too well. He was moving very well and played some fantastic shots and credit to him as he came away with the 3-0 win. I kept on running like an idiot till the last point but just felt a tiny bit rusty with a lack of good matches under my belt early on in the season. The crowd were disappointed their player had lost but were impressed with Sourav and loved the entertainment as always.

JOEY MAKES A WINNING DEBUT

Joey and Lee then went on. With Joey expecting to win as Lee has recently had surgery on his leg, he made a good start and took the first game. As most of the crowd didn't know about Lee's recent venture under the knife, there were all sorts of mumbles from the crowd wondering why Lee had some dodgy strapping on his knee that quickly became loose with the sweat and started flapping around, exposing his bloody wound. Lee actually played some great stuff, showing off how good he is with the racket by playing some fantastic volleys and took the second game to level. Lee continued to generally control the rallies but started to struggle more and more with his movement displaying some painful grimaces along the way. He fought well and continued to play some great shots along the way, but Joey stuck to his task very well and won 3-1. Very nice for Joey to get off to a winning start on his debut. Another new addition to the team this season which will without a doubt make us the team to beat this year in The Premier League.

AWESOME NICK!

With the match score at 2-2 it was fitting it was left to the two top players in the country to decide the overall outcome. Nick and James always have great matches with Nick tending to get the better of them in recent years, but with Nick's absence for so long last season with his shoulder injury and with James' outstanding form over the last year it was always going to be close. This was a brilliant match. The pace was very high and the quality even higher. Nick went 2-0 up and it was up to James to try to save the match for his team. He came out and stuck with Nick up to 9-9, until Nick won the last two points to win 3-0 in a superb match. Nick played so well as did James, and apart from one or two tins from James I don't remember any tins, impressive in a match played at that high a pace with some lovely short shots. Nick is obviously feeling good these days to play at that pace for the whole match against someone like James.



A great night loved by everyone there who went to watch. As always the Duffield fans were brilliant as commented by Joey who seemed glad he'd come to play for Duffield. Our next match is in two weeks against Nottingham away, so let's hope we continue the winning start to try to reclaim our title.

Thanks

Whippy