Phyllis Court beat Guildford 4-3

[<<] [>>] by Chris Roberts at Phyllis Court
10 Jul 2015 (GC - Inter-Club Shield)

10 July - Phyllis Court win last game decider again and march on in the Murphy Shield

Although not leaving it until the last hoop as they had in the previous round, Phyllis Court did sweat some in getting past a very game Gulidford and Godalming team in this Murphy shield quarter-final.
And it wasn't just the beating sun that turned up the heat, as the match went into a deciding game once again.
Phyllis Court got off to a good start by wrapping up the doubles rubber in quick time.
The host's Mike Fensome and Frances Colman kept up their winning record as a doubles pair in this competition, with a two game victory over Mike Huxley and Barry Gould, and the top two players then decided to make a start on their single match-ups.
Meanwhile Andrea Huxley pulled the tie level for the visitors, also in straight games, against Mary Gaynor, and the only first round rubber to need a third game was Roger Goldring's match with Mark Godfrey-James.
This was an interesting one where the former's growing GC experience eventually proved the difference over the latter's stylish AC accuracy.
So Phyllis Court held a 2-1 lead at lunch, with the early playing of the first of those top half singles poised at one each.
Fensome duly wrapped up his singles rubber soon enough against Mike Huxley, and Colman pulled her tie with Gould level before being frozen out of the decider.
Guildford now trailed 3-2 and needed both remaining matches.
Godfrey-James did his bit in two games against Gaynor and so it was all eyes fell on Goldring v Andrea Huxley where the Phyllis Court man held a first game lead.
The pair had met several times already this season in National B-Level Series encounters and Goldring had established a good lead in their 'head to head' games.
However Huxley improved greatly in the second game with confident center-ball clearances and positive hoop runs to level the match and fixture 3-3.
Goldring re-focused in the decider and made some bold, if somewhat non-textbook shot decisions, but fair play he pulled them all off.
Trailing, Huxley was forced in into higher risk shots herself to save the day and, as happens so often in such circumstances a slight error gifted Goldring a winning hoop 10, game, match and the fixture.
This was another exciting tie and good advertisement for this restricted competition.

Phyllis Court will next entertain their good friends Hamptworth for a place in the Final.

Results (Phyllis Court names first):
Mike Fensome (2) & Frances Colman (3) beat MIke Huxley (2) & Barry Gould (3) 7 - 3, 7 - 6
Roger Goldring (3) beat Mark Godfrey-James (4) 7 - 3, 5 - 7, 7 - 5
Mary Gaynor (5) lost to Andrea Huxley (4) 5 - 7, 4 - 7
Mike Fensome beat Mike Huxley 7 - 5, 7 - 6
Frances Colman lost to Barry Gould 6 - 7, 7 - 5, 4 - 7
Roger Goldring beat Andrea Huxley 7 - 4, 5 - 7, 7 - 3
Mary Gaynor lost to Mark Godfrey-James 4 - 7, 4 - 7