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| Report: | The Pirates travelled to last year's champions Bude last night. The long journey for the unbeaten Penzance team could give the Pirates top spot in the league if they could pick up 13 points.
The 2nd string match got underway with a rematch as Ian Hatch who won the home tie 3-0 against Ali Mason. Hatch had memories of a 3-0 defeat on the Bude court last year and after getting a good start and taking the first game, Mason started to take the ball out of the air with some lovely valley drops to take the 2nd. With Hatch up and going well at 14-11 in the third, the Bude player pegged him back to take the tie break. Hatch then took control levelled the match first before edging out the last two, to remain unbeaten for this season.
String 3 saw Pirates Tim Hayden working hard against Robin Craig in a very energetic and long rallying match. Hayden was far too gifted and matched Craig shot by shot despite losing the first. The 2nd and 3rd were dominated by Hayden but a tough 4th saw Hayden dig in to nick the tie break to take the tie 3 games to 1, as the match went the way of the visitors putting the pirates in a great position leading 6-3 at the halfway stage.
Gordon Mackie came back in to the side at the last minute and found himself having to work very hard against yet another energetic Bude player Nick Westlake. Westlake took the first in a scampering and resilient game but Mackie replied having the upper hand on skill and touch. But the tenaciousness of his opponent eventually came through as the Bude player took the 3rd and then 4th games, reducing the lead to 7-6 for Oz.
This setup the last match and game of the night. Nigel Bell vs Chris Hemmerle and with Bell's ranking some 15 places higher the Pirates looked to be favourite. The Bude player was having none of it, and his awkward shot selection and unpredictability left Bell off guard and struggling to settle at times. After losing the first game, he easily took the next two but Hemmerle was not beaten as he first levelled then in a nail biting decider win it for Bude for the match overall to end at 9-9. The 3 additional match points would go down to count back of the actual points and this was in Penzance favour 240-221 with Bell having won more points in his match despite losing overall.
The Pirates retained there unbeaten league record in taking the match 12-9 and now top the Division level with Falmouth 2 but with a game in hand halfway through the spring season. |
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| Author: | Ian Hatch |
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