Friday saw our last match of the season, with the Ladies travelling away to Three Spires. As they had already won the Ladies title, it was never going to be an easy night! Three Spires weren’t taking it lightly either and unfortunately it resulted in another 6-0 loss.
So a difficult season for our Ladies – plenty of effort and endeavour, some close games in a good number of the matches, but sadly not much to show for it at the end of the season.
After two nights off for the Easter Bank Holidays, now it’s time to start working off those Easter eggs! Only one match remains, with the Ladies due to face Three Spires up in Lichfield on Friday 20th to bring our League season to a close.
Club nights will continue throughout the whole of the summer though, except for the Bank Holidays and the usual week or two break at the end of August.
Tuesday night also saw the last match of the season for the Mens 2 – an away trip to TP Riley-Norton 3. Sadly they were only able to field two pairs, swaying the result, but we still managed to win four of the remaining 6 games to record a 7-2 win.
So a good result to finish the season and thank you to all those who have played a part. If we can continue the good work on improving the understandiung between our pairings, hopefully it will set us up for a potential challenge for promotion next year.
As we moved into April, so the end of the season looms. The last two matches for the Mens 1 were the two ties against Cannock – the Monday before Easter at home, with the return leg on the Tuesday after Easter. And after the loss to BJF, we needed to win both to claim the title and promotion to Division One.
The home tie saw some long games as both sides battled for the result. Eventually the stubborn resistance was overcome and we ran out 7-2 winners. Last night’s away tie saw a return to playing with plastics and some unexpected difficulties in some of the rubbers. Having got to a 4-1 lead there was a brief wobble that looked like it might come down to the last two games. But consistency eventually won out, resulting in a final score of 6-3 and promotion – with a celebratory curry afterwards!
The end of March saw the Mixed team travel up to Lichfield to take on Three Spires. Having lost 9-0 at home earlier in the month, albeit with some good play having gone unrewarded, it looked like another tough night ahead. However this time the good play did earn some return. With chances in most of the rubbers, it was almost with some disappointment that we ended up losing 6-3.
Thank you to all those who have played in the Mixed team this season, and enjoy the break until next year.
When TP Riley-Norton 3 came to play our Mens 2 on 26 March it always looked like it could be a tight game, with some experienced heads on both sides. And so it proved, with some close games leaving the result hanging in the balance with all to play for in the last two games.
These eventually got started, side-by-side, only a little before our normal 9.30 finish time. Fortunately the late hour didn’t affect the concentration of our two pairs and they held their nerve to put a final gloss on the evening for a 6-3 result.
There’s just one fixture left for the Mens 2 this season – TP Riley-Norton 3 away…
The Mens 1 travelled to Alumwell on 22 March to play promotion rivals BJF. A good test is always to be expected, especially as they still play with plastic shuttles. Unfortunately we didn’t seem to adapt too well in a somewhat lacklustre display, leading to a 7-2 loss.
That leaves us needing to win our two remaining fixtures (both against Cannock) to finish ahead of BJF for promotion to Division 1. However the standard will have to improve to give us a chance, and if we do go up next season the games will only get harder.
19 March saw the Ladies take on Hamstead Manor 2 at home. As so often this season, some close games followed before the night was over, and once again the 6-0 loss didn’t really reflect all the hard work our Ladies put in.
Just over a week later, they travelled to Cannock with a welcome return being made by Stef. The extra bit of strength showed, with the first four games being shared. However once the pairs split up, we weren’t able to snatch either of the remaining two games to earn the draw, so a 4-2 loss was the final result.
Last night the second of our Beasley trams travelled to Cheslyn Hay to take on Pinfold. Having already beaten our other team back in November with the aid of a large handicap, we always knew the pressure would be on us to win all of the games whilst conceding very few points.
Sadly almost from the beginning we were giving away too many easy points, and before long it was clear the tie was effectively over in all likelihood. When the handicap was revealed at the end, it showed 168 to Pinfold – the equivalent of us winning each of the twelve games no worse than 21-7…
So having entered two teams for the first time this season, both fell to the same opponents – our best wishes to Pinfold for the semi-finals.
Tonight we had a Mixed match against Three Spires, our last Mixed home match of the season. After a bit of a slow start in the first couple of rubbers, the next two were much closer and each required a third game. More close games followed too, but sadly all the hard work went unrewarded with the match ending as a 9-0 loss.
Novus Badminton Club 