1st team overpower Defence Academy

The first team recorded their third win of the season to close the gap at the top of the table.
Henley travelled to Defence Academy in Shrivenham and won 5/0 (19/2) in a very one sided contest.

At first string Luke Power beat Nigel Rowe 3/1 in a match of attrition. Long rallies and good recovery shots were abundant in this match with Power able to sustain his fitness longer and close out the vital points.

At two, Harry Carr beat Adam Oakley in a very one sided match. Carr was too consistent and Oakley seemed reluctant to battle as much as was needed to overcome his determined opponent, providing Carr with an easy victory.

Simon Street played at third string and was leading comfortably in the first game when a loss of concentration and a sequence of winners from his opponent, David Ridgway, resulted in the loss of the first game. However, a more focused Street emerged for the start of the second game and duly won the remaining three games for the loss of just two points.

At fourth string Sam Carr was determined to show that he can play winning shots as well as long strength-sapping rallies as he beat Anthony Dennington 3/0 for the loss of just 4 points.

Stefan Stanton beat Mike Stannard 3/0 at fifth string in another very one sided match.

This result leaves Henley in contention for the league, although Abingdon remain favourites to retain their title.

Henley seconds in division 2 had a disappointing evening against Abingdon 2nds losing 4 matches to 1.

At first string Andy Walters could match Gavin Collins stroke for stroke in a very skilful contest. But as the match progressed into the third game the amount of effort required to keep up the high standard was obviously telling on Walters and Collins gradually wore him down with Walters losing 2/9, 9/2, 8/10, 2/9.

At second string James Knight employed his usual highly unorthodox style to confuse his opponent Bobby Pearson. Both players are very fit but Knight just had the skill and speed to get the ball back one more time, eventually wearing Pearson down and winning 9/3, 9/2, 9/0.

Derek Oswald at third string played the tricky Andrew Smith and soon went 2 games down. However his obduracy in the face of adversity brought him back to level the scores at 2 all. Oswald could not quite manage the fifth going down 5/9, 8/10, 9/7, 9/7, 5/9.

Terry Whiter at fourth string could do nothing against Carlos Riviero with Whiter succumbing 0/3 game scores 6/9,4/9,3/9.

The last match of the evening was the longest with Roger Booker and Cyrille Thomas having a real ding dong match. Thomas quite easily took the first with Booker struggling with Thomas’s unusual drops. However Booker squeaked the second game only to lose a very tight third game by the same margin. A tired Thomas seemed to lose interest in the fourth game but having gone 0/5 down in the fifth, managed to play a few more tricky drops to win. The score was 7/9, 10/8, 8/10, 9/5, 7/9.

Henley 8 points, Abingdon 16 points.

Henley third team in division 5 played the league leaders Defense Academy with Jill Campion being the star of the evening.

At 5th string Alan Smallman played a long hard match against Graham Vizor. After a heated fight Alan, with his unusual game style, finally managed to win 3-2 – much to his opponent’s disappointment.

At 4th string Chris Pullen played a very fit and young Geoff Ward. Although technically Chris was far better player, which gave him the second game of the evening, Geoff’s fitness really showed as he continued to run everything down. Chris losing 3-1.

The match of the evening was 3rd string Jill Campion playing Paul James. Jill, playing better and better, took the first 2 games but struggled to finish off the match in the 3rd. Paul then took the next 2 games to make a fight of it, but Jill finally won 9-4 in the decider, winning over all 3-2.

At 2nd string Steve Berger played Adam Humphries. Although Steve would normally have beaten Adam, the recent Henley Ironman has seen Steve pounding the streets instead of the courts so was very rusty and could not compete with Adam’s accurate shots who came away with 3-0 victory.

At 1st string Pete Paddick’s evening didn’t go to plan playing Justin Cox. Pete played a valient game, but the old warwound rose its ugly head and Pete, not through lack of trying, had to retire – handing the match to his opponent, 3-0.

Henley fourth team had a rest week this week.