Letchworth beat Merton 4-3

[<<] [>>] by John Hall
12th June 2006 (AC - Longman Cup)

Letchworth's first round match against Merton was played at home on a very hot Sunday 11 June (cutting it fine as this was the last date for it to be played).

The Letchworth team (with handicaps) was Jeremy Scott (4.5), Ian Mantle (6) Robert Staddon (9) and Colin Davies (20), who was playing in his first competitive Association match. The Merton team was Stephen Harbron (7), Peter Gunn (8) Nick Furse (9) and Colin Percival (11). Stephen Harbron belonged to the Letchworth Club about 15 years ago.

The morning session comprised one doubles and two singles. In the doubles Robert & Colin D played Stephen and Colin P and lost - 8. In the singles Jeremy lost to Peter - 21, and Letchworth's only win was Ian, who beat Nick + 5(T). This left the home team 1-2 down at the luncheon interval, with a daunting prospect in the heat of the afternoon.

However, in the second session Colin D played Colin P and achieved a notable victory of +22. In the other match on lawn 1 Ian lost to Peter -23. These games finished and left Jeremy and Robert on the other lawn. So at this stage Letchworth were 2-3 down.
From a seemingly lost cause, Jeremy then pulled his game round in great form and beat Stephen +3. Match all square. In the last game Robert and Nick were level and, with one minute left on the clock, Robert managed to score a hoop. Nick failed to hit in and so the result was +1(T).

So Letchworth's very first match on recently inaugurated new lawns resulted in a win by 4 games to 3.