Manor Pull Off Semi-Final Upset Against The Favourites!!
Manor Pull Off Big Upset in the Derbyshire County Cup Semi-Final Against Brampton Manor
Wednesday 25th April goes down as a great day for the Manor when we convincingly disposed of Brampton Manor in the Semi-Final of the Derbyshire County Cup.
Teams were as follows (Manor names first):
No.1 – Pete Goodings V’s Brendan Hickerman, No.2 – Neil Rossin V’s Phil Scully, No.3 – Jason Walsh V’s Dan Busby, No.4 – Craig Walsh V’s Charlie Wall, No.5 – James Healey V’s Steve Barker.
First on was James at No.5 and he managed to keep his error rate down whilst doing some remarkable retrieving and came away with a fantastc 3-2 win. All that recent training in the gym with our club Physio George Allsop has obviously done him the world of good so well done to James. Second on was Craig Walsh, who drove Charlie Wall to the point of ‘eruption’ with his hard hitting and accurate delayed boasting. Craig did turn off the concentration from time-to-time however the result never really looked in doubt and he finished the match off in 4 games. Next up was Craig’s brother Jason who dispatched Dan Busby in 3 tight games (much to the annoyance of Dan who went off after the 3rd game and smashed his racket against every wall he could find – although the racket remained intact!). This was the match we needed to ensure we went through to the final and so the pressure was off the for the next 2 matches. Neil Rossin stepped onto court against Phil Scully but never really got out of 2nd gear and struggled to push Phil as hard as he normally would have done. He lost 3-1 but remained in fairly good spirits as he knew we had already won the match. Last up was Pete & Brendan, neither player stops short of hitting the ball faster than a bullet and so the match continued in the way only they know how – at 100mph!! Pete looked the more comfortable of the 2 throughout and only lapses in concentration let Brendan back in. The threat of wearing a “Mankini” in the final at Duffield loomed and this was an obvious distraction as the laughter and enjoyment took over and the focus began to drift from Pete’s game. Brendan took full advantage and levelled the game score at 2-2. In the last game Pete only managed to re-focus in the tie-breaker and finished the match off with some seriously aggresive hitting with Brendan’s error rate topping out.
A fantastic result for the Manor and they now progress onto the County Cup Final at Duffield on Sunday 29th April – with play due to commence at around 3.30pm. Please come along and support if you can as Duffield are on home turf so the Manor boys will need all the support they can muster to pull off another big upset! Wish us luck……………………..