Season: 2017/18 Season
Hunters Cov 2 vs AT7 2
The third of three home games in quick succession saw Hunters 2 host AT7 2 at Rugby High School.
It was clear this was going to be a more challenging encounter with some strong opposition who were playing in the league above last season. Pairings this week are Mark Currie/Andy Dunn, David Pugh/Tom Marsh, Simon Piercy/Jonny George.
The opening rubbers put us on the back foot, with both Mark/Andy and David/Tom failing to win. Simon and Jonny had an easier run against the AT7 thirds, so we were behind 1-2 at this point. The trend continued in the next three with Hunters only winning against the match between Mark/Andy and the AT7 third pair.
At 2-4 things were looking dire, but an improvement in fortunes saw Simon and Jonny take a win to provide a grain of hope at 3-4. Despite David and Tom winning the final game, the AT7 2nd pair were just a little too strong for us on the night and we couldn’t convert that all important deciding leg.
Match score win for AT7 2 4-5.
Hunters Cov 2 vs St Philips Cov 2
Another early season fixture against local opposition from St Philips, this time in the Coventry league. With the benefit of three courts, the first games were underway together, with all three pairings of Mark Currie and David Pugh, Martin Toms and Jonny George, Simon Piercy and Andy Dunn securing a win in 2 games.
The next three netted a further 2 rubbers for Hunters, making the 5 rubbers needed for the match. With the pressure off, St Philips stepped up their game for the final three, taking two of the rubbers to a deciding third game. With Mark and David winning their game 21-17, 21-13, Martin and Jonny weren’t quite able to convert their decider, while Simon and Andy had better luck winning 21-14 in theirs.
Match Score 7-2 to Hunters 2.
Lutterworth 3 vs Hunters 4
The first match of the season for the 4th team and league debut for Martin Mottram and Manu Kapedia proved to be a stiff challenge. While Martin Toms and Manu put up strong resistance in both rubbers they were not able to beat the very consistent Lutterworth pairs. Tom Marsh and Martin Mottram struggled in their first rubber but a much stronger performance in their second still bought no reward. It was only in the final rubber of the night that Tom and Manu were able to get a consolation prize to finish the tie at 5 – 1.
St Philips 3 vs Hunters 3
A new season brings old adversaries as Hunters 3 take on their opposites at St Philips in this away match at the Collingwood Centre.
With St Philips missing a player to start with, Simon Piercy and Jonny George get the match underway, while long-time pairings Mark Taylor and Simon Davies wait patiently for the opposition to arrive.
By the time the second rubber is underway, Simon P and Jonny are already a game up, and cruising towards a win in the second. Mark and Simon D faced a tougher challenge, ultimately needing three very long games before clinching the win in a nail-biter for both teams.
With Mark and Simon D worn out after their initial encounter, they couldn’t convert their next match. Meanwhile Simon P and Jonny took advantage of their oppositions similar tiredness with an easy win – the second game a bruising 21-2.
With a scoreline of 3-1 in Hunters favour going into this split, just one rubber was needed for a win on the night. Thankfully both Hunters pairings won in 2 games securing a good opening win of 5-1 to Hunters 3.
Hunters Cov 2 vs Aerotech Labs 3
Hunters 2nds (Coventry league) opened their account with a home fixture against Aerotech Labs 3.
Some shuffling of players were needed due to injuries, but the team were up for the challenge.
Simon Piercy and David Pugh fought a tough match against Aerotech’s first (and strongest) pairing, needing three games to take the rubber for an initial lead. New pairing Pan Dhokia and Martin Toms played well but couldn’t quite edge past the second pairing, only conceding by a respectable 21-23, 17-21. Mark Currie and Andy Dunn made easier work of the third pairing winning comfortably in two.
Rubbers 4, 5 and 6 went a similar way with 2 wins and a loss for Hunters.
Pan and Martin then played the closest of matches, but couldn’t overcome Aerotech, in another close one (18-21, 20-22).
With the match score at 4-3, Hunters needed one more for a win. Andy and Mark took the first leg of their final rubber, meanwhile Simon and David on the next court has fingers crossed that the weight wouldn’t fall on their shoulders to win a decider. As the games progressed, Andy and Mark couldn’t make their efforts count, but Simon and David had a more comfortable game, winning 21-16, 21-16 to clinch the match.
Match result 5-4 win for Hunters 2.
Hunters Cov 1 vs David Lloyd 2
The Coventry 1st Team were given a harsh welcome to the Coventry Mens 2nd Division following promotion last year.
Following team struggles on both sides the match finally got underway and was played in great spirit.
Steve and Aseem seemed to struggle all night with keeping the shuttle in the court and over the net. More practice required… However, managed to keep just enough over and in to take David Lloyd’s first pair to a three game rubber, but fell a little short.
Shahid and Phil were a little slow on the up take but managed to take a rubber against the David Lloyd 3rd pair. Not without a little controversy with confusion over a frame shot!
Jeremy and Isaac were up to their old tricks combining acrobatics and Badminton. Both diving for the same shot at one point! After a full on three game rubber they secured another win for the team over the David Lloyd 1st pair.
Now all the cob webs have been knocked off it is very much a case of onwards and upwards. We now know the standard and have to become competitive at this new level. All of the opposition pairs were beatable and we look forward to the return match away at the end of the season.
David Lloyd Coventry BC won the match 7 – 2.