All seven of the Club's teams were in action in Week 22 of the Edinburgh & Lothians League.
In the Premier Division, Team 1 could only field two players in their away fixture against Murrayfield 2. Greig McDonell and Colin Green were disappointed with only one win each in their 8-2 defeat.
After an excellent 8-2 win in Week 21, Team 2 faced a difficult home match against second placed Corstorphine 1 in Division 1. Iain Johnstone and Clive Liddiard gave the home side a terrific start winning their opening matches but from 2-0 up seven of the next eight matches went the way of the visitors. Iain won 2 whilst Clive won 1 on a night when the 7-3 scoreline doesn't do justice to how close the match was with 4 of those games going to deciding fifth ends, all won by Corstorphine.
Team 3 consolidated their second place in the Division 2 table as they recorded a 7-3 victory over Police. Gary McDougal was undefeated on the night in singles play and combined with Abby Wighton for a doubles victory whilst Abby won 2 singles and dad James added 1.
Unfortunately at the other end of the Division 2 table Team 4 continue to struggle as they suffered a disappointing 6-4 defeat at the hands of Corstorphine 3. Matches 4 and 5 on the night proved crucial as first Chris Markey lost 11-9 in the deciding 5th end of his match before Marcin Mroz lost the next match 11-8 in the deciding end. Having started the night only a point behind their opponents, this defeat leaves the Penicuik trio captained by Krzysztof Laszkiewicz in deep relegation trouble with 5 weeks of the season remaining.
In similar trouble in Division 3 are Team 5 who were no match for top of the table North Merchiston 4 as John Bald, Vikas Singla and Louis Myatt fell to a heavy 9-1 defeat, Vikas providing the only win of the night for the Midlothian trio.
In Division 4, Team 6 bounced back from their defeat in Week 21 as they recorded an 8-2 victory against Haddington 3. Craig Johnson was undefeated in singles play and combined with Sean Lennon for a victory in the doubles whilst Sean and Stuart Bennett won 2 singles matches each.
Finally in a busy week for the Club, Team 7 visited promotion chasing North Merchiston 6 in Division 4. The visitors could only field two players and starting the night some 15 points adrift of their opponents in the table, the resultant 8-2 defeat was no real surprise. George Wilson won 1 singles match and combined with Lewis Baldock for a good doubles victory.
And so to our player of the week award for Week 22. Two players are in the running this week - Gary Mcdougal from Team 3 and Craig Johnson from Team 6. Both players are contributing hugely to promotion challenges for their teams and both were undefeated last week in singles and doubles play. Overall this season both players are at about 75% in the individual averages so it’s difficult to pick between them. But for the fact that this man has been very much under the radar throughout the season, this week’s award goes to Gary - Imagine how good he could be if he turned up to practice! Well done Gary.
And finally our controversy of the week section. It was going to be a good one this week - picture the scene as Team 1 turn out with two players to find only two players in attendance for Murrayfield 2 - 30 minutes after scheduled start time still only two of them and one is Gordon Muir from Team 1 - he’s been registered down to bolster Team 2’s squad - how dare they! The cheek of it! Only Murrayfield could get away with that! Outrageous! We already had our letter of objection drafted in our minds - oh hold on a minute why have Lindsay and Yuhan turned up? Young Mr Muir has missed his calling as a politician - he was just feeding us a line - some fake news it seems - all done rather convincingly!!
So instead, we may as well have a go at the rules and use the Murrayfield match as an example - only 2 players for us - Lindsay and Yuhan turn up considerably beyond the start time - Greig has two mammoth five enders including his normal marathon with Keith Dingwall where the expedite system was suggested by the ever supportive Aussie!! Well after 10pm by the time we got finished - if we’d had three players we would have been there until midnight!! In the good old days anyone who turned up more than 30 minutes late forfeited their matches - not anymore - so long as you’re playing at premises where you can play all night there’s no incentive on anyone to turn up timeously - surely that can’t be fair can it?? Another rule that needs looked at in our view.
Only 5 weeks of action left - where have the last six months gone??
In the Premier Division, Team 1 could only field two players in their away fixture against Murrayfield 2. Greig McDonell and Colin Green were disappointed with only one win each in their 8-2 defeat.
After an excellent 8-2 win in Week 21, Team 2 faced a difficult home match against second placed Corstorphine 1 in Division 1. Iain Johnstone and Clive Liddiard gave the home side a terrific start winning their opening matches but from 2-0 up seven of the next eight matches went the way of the visitors. Iain won 2 whilst Clive won 1 on a night when the 7-3 scoreline doesn't do justice to how close the match was with 4 of those games going to deciding fifth ends, all won by Corstorphine.
Team 3 consolidated their second place in the Division 2 table as they recorded a 7-3 victory over Police. Gary McDougal was undefeated on the night in singles play and combined with Abby Wighton for a doubles victory whilst Abby won 2 singles and dad James added 1.
Unfortunately at the other end of the Division 2 table Team 4 continue to struggle as they suffered a disappointing 6-4 defeat at the hands of Corstorphine 3. Matches 4 and 5 on the night proved crucial as first Chris Markey lost 11-9 in the deciding 5th end of his match before Marcin Mroz lost the next match 11-8 in the deciding end. Having started the night only a point behind their opponents, this defeat leaves the Penicuik trio captained by Krzysztof Laszkiewicz in deep relegation trouble with 5 weeks of the season remaining.
In similar trouble in Division 3 are Team 5 who were no match for top of the table North Merchiston 4 as John Bald, Vikas Singla and Louis Myatt fell to a heavy 9-1 defeat, Vikas providing the only win of the night for the Midlothian trio.
In Division 4, Team 6 bounced back from their defeat in Week 21 as they recorded an 8-2 victory against Haddington 3. Craig Johnson was undefeated in singles play and combined with Sean Lennon for a victory in the doubles whilst Sean and Stuart Bennett won 2 singles matches each.
Finally in a busy week for the Club, Team 7 visited promotion chasing North Merchiston 6 in Division 4. The visitors could only field two players and starting the night some 15 points adrift of their opponents in the table, the resultant 8-2 defeat was no real surprise. George Wilson won 1 singles match and combined with Lewis Baldock for a good doubles victory.
And so to our player of the week award for Week 22. Two players are in the running this week - Gary Mcdougal from Team 3 and Craig Johnson from Team 6. Both players are contributing hugely to promotion challenges for their teams and both were undefeated last week in singles and doubles play. Overall this season both players are at about 75% in the individual averages so it’s difficult to pick between them. But for the fact that this man has been very much under the radar throughout the season, this week’s award goes to Gary - Imagine how good he could be if he turned up to practice! Well done Gary.
And finally our controversy of the week section. It was going to be a good one this week - picture the scene as Team 1 turn out with two players to find only two players in attendance for Murrayfield 2 - 30 minutes after scheduled start time still only two of them and one is Gordon Muir from Team 1 - he’s been registered down to bolster Team 2’s squad - how dare they! The cheek of it! Only Murrayfield could get away with that! Outrageous! We already had our letter of objection drafted in our minds - oh hold on a minute why have Lindsay and Yuhan turned up? Young Mr Muir has missed his calling as a politician - he was just feeding us a line - some fake news it seems - all done rather convincingly!!
So instead, we may as well have a go at the rules and use the Murrayfield match as an example - only 2 players for us - Lindsay and Yuhan turn up considerably beyond the start time - Greig has two mammoth five enders including his normal marathon with Keith Dingwall where the expedite system was suggested by the ever supportive Aussie!! Well after 10pm by the time we got finished - if we’d had three players we would have been there until midnight!! In the good old days anyone who turned up more than 30 minutes late forfeited their matches - not anymore - so long as you’re playing at premises where you can play all night there’s no incentive on anyone to turn up timeously - surely that can’t be fair can it?? Another rule that needs looked at in our view.
Only 5 weeks of action left - where have the last six months gone??
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