Surrey Storm narrowly lose out again.

Graeme Williams reports

For the second time this month Surrey Storm fought valiantly but were unable to take the spoils on the road at Bristol.  Making his debut in the PSL was Mohammed Ali Anwar Reda to add a bit of spice to the top of our order.  He came in with Gilly Lane unavailable so we looked stronger than before. 

First up was a more relaxed Victoria Lust who had another tough match against Laura Lengthorne Massaro.  Victoria fought well against Laura’s class and in all the game was competing until Laura pulled away to take the first two games 11/6, 11/7.  In the third Victoria stayed with her for longer creating a game ball at 10/9 but Laura came back well to win 12/10.

On the show court Stacey Ross was getting the better of David Evans although both players were feeling a little of the base but Stacey won the big points to take a 2-0 lead.  In the third Stacey looked to be moving the better and reading David’s game to pull off some stunning winners and took the third 11/6 to level the match 1-1.

Surreys very own Peter Pan, Steve Meads was grinding down Hadrian Stiff 12/10, 12/10 before Hadrian had to withdraw due to feeling faint.  Again Surrey Storm had managed to move 2-1 ahead with the dogged determination and quality form the elder statesman of the team.  Next up was Jesse Englebrecht against the inform Mohammed El Shorbagy.  The first game was played at a high pace which suited the Egyptian as he reeled of exquisite winners from all areas as Jesse struggled to move him around as he would like.  In the second Jesse improved slowing the pace down and finding his range but at 8 all Mohammed pulled away to take a 2-0 lead.

In the third Shorbagy returned to the brilliance of the first and closed out the match 11/2 setting up a decider between the new boy Reda and the experienced Adrian Grant.

In the first Reda was too lose and had no answer to the control of Grant.  The second saw Mohammed tighten up and get in front a little more and he took it 11/8.  We were getting excited and dreaming of a first Victoria of the season but Adrian showed his experience taking the next two to seal the match for Bristol.

The nigh was a fantastic advert for the PSL with competitive games and played in a great spirit.  Bristol put on a great show with a fantastic crowed so we thank them and look forward to returning the favour next half.

Finally good luck to Stacey up in Manchester and hopefully our first win is not far away!