With Team 4 having a free week, our four other teams took to the table in Week 22 of the Edinburgh & Lothians League with mixed results:
Featured Match of the Week: Team 2 v North Merchiston 4
Line-up: James Wighton, Krzysztof Laszkiewicz, and Bob Porteous (filling in for Gary McDougal)
Going into this match Team 2 knew that, following other results going their way, a point would be enough to secure promotion to Division 1. They faced a side sitting in the 2nd relegation position in the division but after a nervy and close win last week against bottom of the table Corstorphine, nothing was certain.
Krzysztof got the hosts off to the best possible start but when Bob lost match 2 the scores were levelled. Matches 3 and 4 both went the distance. James couldn’t find any consistency in a topsy turvy encounter v Julia Domagala. Having lost the third 11-3, he comfortably won the fourth 11-5 only to lose the decider 11-4! Meanwhile Bob’s 2-0 lead v Graham Booth was reeled in as Graham got to grips with Bob’s style – the last three ends all went in the visitor's favour. 3-1 down and the hosts were in trouble. Krzysztof steadied the ship with a 3-0 win v Julia before a crucial match 6 went the distance between James and Nick Adams. At 2-1 up James had the chance to finish off his opponent but narrowly lost out 11-9 in the fourth. Pressure on in the decider and James held his nerve for a crucial 11-8 win. 3-3 with the doubles to follow.
Krzysztof and James v Nick and Julia – the first four ends were shared - 11-7, 6-11, 13-11, 10-12. At 10-8 up in the decider the match was there for the taking for the hosts, but back came the visitors saving two match points and then having 3 match points of their own – this was tense! Krzysztof and James were over the moon when they eventually crept over the line with a 16-14 win. Match 8 saw Bob take on Julia at the same time as James faced Graham in Match 9. When Bob lost the first 2 ends 11-2, 11-4, he was in real trouble. It was even worse for James – he lost his first end 11-0 but then fought back for an 11-8 win in the second. He couldn’t keep the momentum going though as he fell to a four end defeat. 4-4! Bob kept battling and somehow managed to recover against Julia winning ends three and four 11-9, 11-8. That seemed to knock Julia’s confidence and Bob was massively relieved to get over the line 11-6 in the decider. With that, a point was secured. Krzysztof v Nick was the last match of the night and with time fast running out and the teams about to be thrown out, Krzysztof managed to secure a 3-0 win to give the hosts both points with yet another 6-4 win.
The visitors couldn’t quite believe how they got nothing from the match. Team 2 couldn’t quite believe how their opponents are struggling to avoid relegation. They certainly seem better than their league position suggests. But as the North Merchiston side fear relegation, the hosts have now mathematically guaranteed promotion. The title is still in the balance, but with a top two finish secured it’s huge congratulations to them.
Team 1 v Murrayfield 1 – Premier Division
Line-up: Colin Green, Peter Aird, and Ryan Docherty
With Club President, Greig, wanting to protect his massive 40% average, he was delighted when Ryan confirmed he could turn out again for Team 1’s visit to reigning champions and current top of the table Murrayfield 1. It was a tough challenge for the visitors, made virtually impossible by the very late call off from Team Captain, Colin. A migraine apparently – despite Peter and Ryan’s suggestion that he just pop some pills and get himself along to the match, he failed to show and because of the lateness of the call off, there was no time for a replacement to be found. Peter and Ryan battled hard but ultimately fell to a 10-0 defeat.
Team 5 v Heriot Watt 2 – Division 4
Line-up: Jay Jayalath, Phil Daly and John Bald
The students have had a cracking season in Division 4 and are still in with a chance of promotion. They showed why they currently sit third in the table with a dominant performance against Team 5. Jay was the only winner on the night for the visitors as the Midlothian side fell to an 8-2 defeat. The goal this season for Team 5, having come up from Division 5 last season, was to survive and they can now relax as with other results going their way this week, they are mathematically safe. Well done to them.
Team 3 v Edinburgh University 4 – Division 2
Line-up: Craig Linton, Kristian Skotzen and Charlie Brindley
The final match of the week saw Team 3 travel on Friday night to take on the students in Division 2. Team 3 are mathematically still in with a chance of promotion, although in reality they’re probably fighting for third place. They knew that their slim mathematical hopes of promotion would become even more remote if a win wasn’t secured. The match was tight, summed up by Kristian’s 3 singles – each match went the distance and remarkably Kristian lost all three 11-8 in the fifth. Match 6 saw Craig lose out 11-7 in the fifth and with that the team were 5-1 down. Three of the last four matches went the way of the Midlothian side but it wasn’t enough as the students triumphed 6-4 and leapfrogged Team 3 into third place in the league.
Player of the Week
This has to be the most straightforward choice of the season, doesn’t it? Only one player was unbeaten in singles play this week. That player’s three singles wins was added to by his contribution in a crucial and exciting doubles win. Add to that the fact that his unbeaten night resulted in promotion being secured for his team then surely he’s a certainty this week for the award. But hold on, what about the efforts of other players this week? Now that would be ridiculous - our selection committee spent less time than it’s taken to write this paragraph to consider matters this week! Well done to Krzysztof – a cracking performance and well deserved.
Controversy of the Week
Not one controversial moment in Week 22 apparently! What we hear you cry! Nothing? In fairness Team 4 had a free week and they’re normally our best source for controversies! With the season racing to a close, the League committee are trying to organise awards night and identifying a date by which all matches should be played. The last scheduled week of the season is week commencing 24th March. That’s only 4 playing weeks left! In the Premier Division there is a big difference in the number of games played by various teams caused partly by Haddington's predicament. They’ve only played 13 matches and somehow need to fit 7 matches into the last four weeks! Remarkably, if Haddington manage to play a full 20 matches, and don’t postpone any more, 9 of them have been postponed/rescheduled! They’ve also just conceded one to Murrayfield. So much for the rule about being allowed one postponement each half of the season!
Maybe it’s an East Lothian issue – if we look into Div 1, Haddington 2 have had five postponements / rescheduled matches. They currently have two postponed fixtures still to play in the last four weeks. Drop down to Div 4 and their Team 5 have 8 rescheduled matches. The point? As with many rules in the ELTTL, what is the purpose in having this rule? Just get rid of it and various others. We seem to be able to do what we want anyway. And there’s nothing wrong with that if teams agree. And if they don’t agree, just ignore the rules anyway, and you can always ask the committee to make a random decision (well at least Murrayfield can – we’re still trying to organise our handicap cup fixture after the committee’s intervention)!
Four weeks to go – only really Team 2 left with anything to play for.
Featured Match of the Week: Team 2 v North Merchiston 4
Line-up: James Wighton, Krzysztof Laszkiewicz, and Bob Porteous (filling in for Gary McDougal)
Going into this match Team 2 knew that, following other results going their way, a point would be enough to secure promotion to Division 1. They faced a side sitting in the 2nd relegation position in the division but after a nervy and close win last week against bottom of the table Corstorphine, nothing was certain.
Krzysztof got the hosts off to the best possible start but when Bob lost match 2 the scores were levelled. Matches 3 and 4 both went the distance. James couldn’t find any consistency in a topsy turvy encounter v Julia Domagala. Having lost the third 11-3, he comfortably won the fourth 11-5 only to lose the decider 11-4! Meanwhile Bob’s 2-0 lead v Graham Booth was reeled in as Graham got to grips with Bob’s style – the last three ends all went in the visitor's favour. 3-1 down and the hosts were in trouble. Krzysztof steadied the ship with a 3-0 win v Julia before a crucial match 6 went the distance between James and Nick Adams. At 2-1 up James had the chance to finish off his opponent but narrowly lost out 11-9 in the fourth. Pressure on in the decider and James held his nerve for a crucial 11-8 win. 3-3 with the doubles to follow.
Krzysztof and James v Nick and Julia – the first four ends were shared - 11-7, 6-11, 13-11, 10-12. At 10-8 up in the decider the match was there for the taking for the hosts, but back came the visitors saving two match points and then having 3 match points of their own – this was tense! Krzysztof and James were over the moon when they eventually crept over the line with a 16-14 win. Match 8 saw Bob take on Julia at the same time as James faced Graham in Match 9. When Bob lost the first 2 ends 11-2, 11-4, he was in real trouble. It was even worse for James – he lost his first end 11-0 but then fought back for an 11-8 win in the second. He couldn’t keep the momentum going though as he fell to a four end defeat. 4-4! Bob kept battling and somehow managed to recover against Julia winning ends three and four 11-9, 11-8. That seemed to knock Julia’s confidence and Bob was massively relieved to get over the line 11-6 in the decider. With that, a point was secured. Krzysztof v Nick was the last match of the night and with time fast running out and the teams about to be thrown out, Krzysztof managed to secure a 3-0 win to give the hosts both points with yet another 6-4 win.
The visitors couldn’t quite believe how they got nothing from the match. Team 2 couldn’t quite believe how their opponents are struggling to avoid relegation. They certainly seem better than their league position suggests. But as the North Merchiston side fear relegation, the hosts have now mathematically guaranteed promotion. The title is still in the balance, but with a top two finish secured it’s huge congratulations to them.
Team 1 v Murrayfield 1 – Premier Division
Line-up: Colin Green, Peter Aird, and Ryan Docherty
With Club President, Greig, wanting to protect his massive 40% average, he was delighted when Ryan confirmed he could turn out again for Team 1’s visit to reigning champions and current top of the table Murrayfield 1. It was a tough challenge for the visitors, made virtually impossible by the very late call off from Team Captain, Colin. A migraine apparently – despite Peter and Ryan’s suggestion that he just pop some pills and get himself along to the match, he failed to show and because of the lateness of the call off, there was no time for a replacement to be found. Peter and Ryan battled hard but ultimately fell to a 10-0 defeat.
Team 5 v Heriot Watt 2 – Division 4
Line-up: Jay Jayalath, Phil Daly and John Bald
The students have had a cracking season in Division 4 and are still in with a chance of promotion. They showed why they currently sit third in the table with a dominant performance against Team 5. Jay was the only winner on the night for the visitors as the Midlothian side fell to an 8-2 defeat. The goal this season for Team 5, having come up from Division 5 last season, was to survive and they can now relax as with other results going their way this week, they are mathematically safe. Well done to them.
Team 3 v Edinburgh University 4 – Division 2
Line-up: Craig Linton, Kristian Skotzen and Charlie Brindley
The final match of the week saw Team 3 travel on Friday night to take on the students in Division 2. Team 3 are mathematically still in with a chance of promotion, although in reality they’re probably fighting for third place. They knew that their slim mathematical hopes of promotion would become even more remote if a win wasn’t secured. The match was tight, summed up by Kristian’s 3 singles – each match went the distance and remarkably Kristian lost all three 11-8 in the fifth. Match 6 saw Craig lose out 11-7 in the fifth and with that the team were 5-1 down. Three of the last four matches went the way of the Midlothian side but it wasn’t enough as the students triumphed 6-4 and leapfrogged Team 3 into third place in the league.
Player of the Week
This has to be the most straightforward choice of the season, doesn’t it? Only one player was unbeaten in singles play this week. That player’s three singles wins was added to by his contribution in a crucial and exciting doubles win. Add to that the fact that his unbeaten night resulted in promotion being secured for his team then surely he’s a certainty this week for the award. But hold on, what about the efforts of other players this week? Now that would be ridiculous - our selection committee spent less time than it’s taken to write this paragraph to consider matters this week! Well done to Krzysztof – a cracking performance and well deserved.
Controversy of the Week
Not one controversial moment in Week 22 apparently! What we hear you cry! Nothing? In fairness Team 4 had a free week and they’re normally our best source for controversies! With the season racing to a close, the League committee are trying to organise awards night and identifying a date by which all matches should be played. The last scheduled week of the season is week commencing 24th March. That’s only 4 playing weeks left! In the Premier Division there is a big difference in the number of games played by various teams caused partly by Haddington's predicament. They’ve only played 13 matches and somehow need to fit 7 matches into the last four weeks! Remarkably, if Haddington manage to play a full 20 matches, and don’t postpone any more, 9 of them have been postponed/rescheduled! They’ve also just conceded one to Murrayfield. So much for the rule about being allowed one postponement each half of the season!
Maybe it’s an East Lothian issue – if we look into Div 1, Haddington 2 have had five postponements / rescheduled matches. They currently have two postponed fixtures still to play in the last four weeks. Drop down to Div 4 and their Team 5 have 8 rescheduled matches. The point? As with many rules in the ELTTL, what is the purpose in having this rule? Just get rid of it and various others. We seem to be able to do what we want anyway. And there’s nothing wrong with that if teams agree. And if they don’t agree, just ignore the rules anyway, and you can always ask the committee to make a random decision (well at least Murrayfield can – we’re still trying to organise our handicap cup fixture after the committee’s intervention)!
Four weeks to go – only really Team 2 left with anything to play for.
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