I think this task was easier when we had one or two teams………

Here’s my best attempt at bringing us up to date with the match reports.

Gents 1

Gents 1 hosted Titwood at Cardross last night and managed a great 5-4 victory. They have now got 13 sets from their first 3 games which is ahead of Capt Maclatchie’s budget forecast.

The main thing of note in this match was a previously unseen QUADRUPLE Rikki by young Felix in the last game. To mark this momentous occasion here’s 4 Rickys to cut out and keep……

 

• For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term ‘ Double Rikki’ or indeed now ‘Quadruple Rikki’ Iain Brown will be more than happy to educate you in the Cardross folklore next time you see him at Club Night….

Gents 2

Captain Jim finally got his merry gang out of hibernation to start their assault on Division 6B. With new recruits Willie, Max, Gazza and Harrison adding to the battle tested Stevo and Bawgate Jim.

The visitors from DL West End had a couple of games under their belt already but this didn’t stop the ‘Dross 2nds from flying out of the blocks.

Willie and Stevo being trusted to steer the ship at 1 and all was plain sailing until set 3

Still 6-3 6-3 3-6 was a fine start at first couple.

Gazza and Max were unleashed at second couple. They seem to complement each other with Gazza’s flamboyant net play being a fine side serving to Max’s heavy artillery from the baseline or anywhere else on the court.

They were playing an experienced pairing but managed to seal the deal 6-3 6-3 6-4 without too much cause for concern. Good start guys.

At third couple we had Captain Jim trying to mentor young Harrison. And young Harrison knowing he was actually tasked with mentoring Captain Jim.  After back to back double faults from Jim in the first service game, the roles were confirmed. Harrison the mentor. Jim the mentee.

They won the first two sets only losing one game with Harrison displaying some fine volleys and baseline tekkers. The third set was a bit closer but they managed to press the reset button and win 6-4. An 8-1 overall victory is a great start and hopefully a sign of things to come. Next up is Fort Matilda on Tuesday 22nd.

Gents 3

The tough season continues for Gents 3 but there was a ray of hope gain with Callum & Fraser stepping up a couple of Divisions and combining to win their rubber 2-1 away to Lenzie. Great news for the boys and the club in general. Well done both.

Gents 4

I think I might be up to date with these ones. Sitting second in league with 25 sets after 4 matches. Good solid start indeed…..

Ladies 1

Think I’m up to speed with these ones as well. Sitting second in league with 20 sets after 3 games. We still believe…..

Ladies 2

The Ladies 2nd team came out of hibernation as well. Rumours that they have been hibernating with Captain Jim’s team are completely unfounded.

What better way to shake off the rust from the winter than to have a pre match feast in the McDonalds in East Kilbride!?

Yes – Mrs Hogg – we are looking at you.

And your defence that you ‘were just having a coffee’ cuts no mustard with us here. We have photographic evidence.

So the big questions would soon be answered.

How would the team do after a long break during our bleak mid winter?

Would they cope without the talismanic youngster Mia who was injured playing Netball for our glorious nation? (Get well soon.)

Would Janet have room in the car for anyone else or just McDonalds boxes?

We didn’t have long to wait…..

Jill  & Ronald McDonald combined at first couple to ‘drive thru’ the opposition.

Both players were hitting strong McForehands, McVolleys and decent McServes.

No quarter (pounder) was asked or given and they simply filleted (o fish) the home team 6-1 6-2 6-3. At the end of the match both Jill & Ronald were extremely happy (meal). They were very keen not to make a hash (brown) of it and feel like a couple of (Mc) nuggets.

I’ll stop now……….

Second couple saw a strange game. When Catherine & Rona were easily dispatched 6-1 in the first set things looked bleak. Once again. What do I know…….

Our brave warriors fought back like Joan of Arc, Bodicca or indeed Xena, Warrior Princess.  Or her from the Hunger Games. Ironic given the feast consumed by Couple 1…….

A 6-1 4-6 4-6 victory set us up with 5 sets in the bag and one rubber still to be completed.

Lisa was playing up from the 3rd team to help out the 2nd team & partnering Mhairi at 3rd couple.
A very dominant start with the first two sets going Cardross’ way. The third set slipped away but by then the job was done. 3-6 2-6 6-3.

7-2. What a great start to the season.

Ladies 3 

The Ladies 3rd team have suffered a couple of very narrow 5-4 defeats in the last two matches. One away to Helensburgh and one at Fortress Cardross to the beautifully named ‘Anchor’.

Ever dependable Capt Gwen combined with Lesley Robertson to win 3 sets against Helensburgh in the local derby and then with Lisa Fowler to bounce back from a first set defeat to win 2-1 against Anchor.

Sara & Danielle at second got pipped 2-1 at Helensburgh and then won 2-1 at Cardross with two sets going their way on tiebreaks.

Elaine combined with Natasha at Helensburgh but met a very strong pair in a 3-0 reversal and then with new team member Patricia, ( Welcome Patricia ) but the outcome unfortunately was the same although our ladies put up very strong resistance in the 3rd set where it looked likely they may pinch the set. Ultimately it fell to the visitors in what was a very good match.

Cardross have played 4 matches and chalked up 21 sets so are in a strong position in their league.

 

 

 

 

 

The Ladies 3rd team have played 2 games already. Capt Gwen employing the ‘ you snooze you lose’ tactics and after a hard winter pre season our Ladies came out firing.

First up was a home match against the  Ladies from Uplawmoor.

After the obligatory ‘ Uplawmoor? Where even is that?’ questions from the players and supporters it was down to business.

( FYI – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uplawmoor)

Capt Gwen led the line along with Tracy at first couple. Turned out to be a very good quality match with some excellent serving and volleying from the Uplawmoor team that saw them take the first sets 6-3 6-2. The general feeling on the sidelines was that we weren’t going to get anything from this rubber.

What do we know? Gwen & Tracy dug deep.

They took the last set 6-3. A great turnaround by the ladies.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Every single set counts come August time so these are incredibly important. Well done

Second couple but aboard the ‘show court’ in a break from tradition were Lisa Fowler & Sara Sullivan. Lisa & Sara had too much firepower for the Uplawmoor duo and ran out 6-1 6-0 6-1 winners. Some great shots in this match and it did seem closer than the scoreline indicated.

Down on the darklands of Court 3 were Danielle & Elaine. They had formed a potent partnership last year and just picked up where they left off. A 6-3 6-1 6-1 victory was very efficient and business like. Great job.

There was also a lovely double rainbow but our Ladies didn’t ‘bungle’ the match.( See what I’ve done there? 😉 )

Next up was a road trip to the mean streets of Lenzie. Hopes were high of a delicate match tea in this part of the world. Bone china was a certainty.

At 1st couple Capt Gwen paired with Lisa this time and had too much cunning and tactics for the Lenzie partnership. 6-3 6-2 7-6 was a great start to the match with 3 sets in the bag. The last set was titanic but our Ladies held on…

At 2nd couple Sara & Danielle who were both victorious in different pairs last week looked a formidable force. They took the first set on a tie break but then the Lenzie team found their range and took the next sets 6-3 7-5. This felt like one ‘against the darts’ for the Cardross team but still ahead in the match 4-2 going to the last couple’s match.

The 3rd couple Elaine & Natasha didn’t do things the easy way thats for sure. A marathon first set they stole on a tie break before losing the second set 6-3 to set up a decider.

Another marathon for Natasha in what I believe to be her first match. The match tea quince jelly would be getting warm and the Celeriac emulsion losing its texture by the time this game finished.

But the team didn’t care about that when the result went their way 7-6 in the decider.

A strong 6-3 away win and the team are in great shape after two matches with 13 sets in the bag.

Great times…..

A breezy night at Cardross saw the visit of Clarkston who had come down from Division 2 last year and would prove a very stern test for our brave warriors. The off season saw our team depleted due to injury and final exams. How would our new dream team get on? We didn’t have long to wait.

At first couple we had the energetic Felix and the delightfully sunny disposition of Big G Porter.

In fact we thought it was Big G. It looked like Big G, walked like Big G and was wearing the new Dumbarton top gifted to him by Jim, who was obviously planning a few protein shakes before the season if he thought this top would fit him, but this impostor wasn’t playing like Big G.

We think it was Big G’s doppelganger who unfortunately for the crowd hadn’t played tennis before. The crowd were more confused than Scooby Doo as the first set went to Clarkston. 6-2

Felix had battled manfully so if Big G appeared soon we still had a chance.

He appeared.

The next two sets were epic. The Cardross guys upped their games and with Felix now paired with someone who could get the ball back things looked different. And different they were. 6-3 6-3 to the home pair and memories of Bad G of set 1 were forgotten. A 2-1 home win for our heroes in their first outing in Div 3 as a pair was fantastic. Well done indeed.

Court 2 saw the newly formed pairing of Keith and Harry tackling some heavy artillery from two Clarkston youngsters. Would our ‘sneaky’ ( I use that term affectionately) veterans be able to mix up the game enough to frustrate and compete with the bombers?

We knew the answer to that.

Of course they could. A mixture of slower serving ( I assume this was on purpose but it may of course have been that it was a long winter and our guys aren’t quite defrosted yet to normal serve speed) and lobbing and in some cases even staging the tennis equivalent of a ‘mic drop’ with Keith abandoning ship mid rally leaving Harry to soldier on himself for a good 4/5 shots before Keith realised the rally was still ongoing and re entered the fray after a lap of Court 1.

 

It’s never dull down Cardross way………

The rubber went the way of Clarkston 3-0 although bookies had stopped taking bets on Cardross taking the second set when they sped into a 5-1 lead but the youngsters clawed them back to take it 7-5. A poor result on the night but an awful lot of positives from the game and of course Keith’s step count for the day was a new Personal Best so it’s all good….

Down on the dark lands of Court 3 Capt Mclatchie & Jamie were looking good to seal a victory for us in our first game but unfortunately they suffered a bit of third set syndrome after safely securing the first two sets.

The Clarkston pair settled into the game and took the third set 7-5. A strong performance from our third couple to win 2-1 on the night but sadly it meant a 5-4 victory for the visiting Clarkston team.

It has to be said though  great start to the year. 4 sets in the first game gets us ahead of Capt Maclatchie’s algorithm