Our 1st Team opened their campaign in the Premier Division with a home tie against Edinburgh International 1. Stuart Gow known to Greig and Colin through his participation in the Veterans Tournaments joined the Club over the summer and teamed up with Colin and Greig to make his debut in the Edinburgh League. Greig defeated his bogey player Marek in the first match of the night before Colin surprisingly lost to Russell Frith. Stuart's first match was against Babu which he won in 4 ends. 3 out of the next 4 matches were won which gave Team 1 a 5-2 lead going into the final round of singles. Stuart struggled to adapt to Marek's style but Colin defeated Babu to take the pressure off Greig who finished the night with a victory against Russell. a 7-3 victory for the hosts with Greig winning 3, Colin 2 and Stuart 1. Greig combined with Colin for a win in the doubles match. El Presidente has taken a screenshot of the Online Scoring site to show him with a 100% success rate and rumour has it he's unavailable for Week 2's match against defending Champions Murrayfield 1!!!
Into Division 2 where Penicuik 4 took on Corstorphine 4. A new look side of Tony Brentnall, Kris Laszkiewicz and Gavin Hunter were never in any trouble with Tony in particular looking in complete control winning his 3 singles matches without dropping an end. The only blemish for him on the night was a defeat in the doubles match but by that time the home side were already 6-0 up. Kris also made a great start to the new season winning his 3 singles matches whilst Gavin won 2 in an excellent 8-2 victory.
In Division 3 Penicuik 5 faced their first match of the season away to Edinburgh Sports Club without a regular third player. John Bald was still to return from his six month holiday (oh to be retired) whilst Martyn Levy remains unavailable through injury. The team called up young Luke Hennessey from Division 4 to join Gregory Leplatre and Phil Daly. Even though the Team's opponents were a player short, Luke definitely stepped up to the plate by winning the 2 matches he played on the night, in the process beating Robin Copeland. With Gregory also winning his 2 singles and Phil contributing 1 and a doubles victory the visitors recorded the Club’s biggest win of the week as they triumphed 9-1, a scoreline which sent them to the top of the Division 3 table on game difference.
In Division 4. Team 6 faced a home tie against West Lothian 9 to begin their campaign. With the average age of this team being 12, the three "Ls" of Louis, Louis and Luke came up against far more senior opponents and their inexperience in match play showed as they lost out 8-2. Only Luke managed to get on the scorecard with two singles wins.
Finally in Week 1, Team 7 travelled to take on Murrayfield 8 in what was the first ever league match for all three of Penicuik’s players. Although suffering a 7-3 defeat, there were promising signs for the Team and in particular for young Millie Bennett making her debut, as she won two singles and only lost out in her third match to Murrayfield’s number 1 player by 16 points to 14 in the deciding fifth end. Millie also teamed up with dad, Stuart, in the doubles and just lost that game deuce in the fifth. Had those results gone the other way a draw would have been achieved. Sean Lennon, deputising for the absent Craig Johnson won the other match for the visitors.