Team B snatch second in Division One

Dec 1 2011 by Kieran Westbrook, West Lothian Courier

TEAM B shot up to second in Division One as the Edinburgh and Lothians League reached its halfway stage.

The squad of John McCulloch, Barrie Hills, Dariusz Szymczak and Kieran Boyle enjoyed a successful fortnight of two wins in three matches.

The first of these games was against title-favourites Murrayfield, pitting the division's only unbeaten teams against each other.

But top player Szymczak was not available which played a part in the eventual 4-6 defeat.

Veteran McCulloch registered victories against each of his opponents who had lost only 14 games between them beforehand.

Fellow veteran Hills took the other with young Boyle unluckily dropping his three.

At 4-5 McCulloch and Hills narrowly lost out in the doubles and so both points were lost.

On the night, only three of the 10 games were won in straight sets.

Next they travelled to North Berwick with the same team.

This time it was Hills who showed the way with a very one-sided win against the division's top player but later blotted his copybook by losing to another opponent.

All three won two singles to record a 6-4 victory.

Once the winning post had been reached they conceded the doubles because of time constraints.

Their next fixture took them to fifth-placed Edinburgh International with Szymczak replacing Boyle.

In a tour de force, an unwell Szymczak won all three with ease and McCulloch joined him, but not without saving two match points in one game.

Hills won two and joined McCulloch in winning the doubles to make the final score 9-1.

In the same division, the C Team seem to be experiencing a Jekyll and Hyde season.

With a pool comprising Andy MacDougall, Kevin Milne, Keith MacKay and Andy Wyles, they are all too often without as many as two players because of work commitments.

With a full team they tend to perform well but when requiring to find reserves within the reserve pool performances drop.

Circumstances forced them to travel to Edinburgh International with only Andy MacDougall and Keith Mackay and suffered a 4-6 loss.

MacKay, who is having his best-ever season, won two and combined with MacDougall for a doubles win.

MacDougall recorded the other win.

They followed this with a trip to Edinburgh University with only MacKay from the previous match but this time he was supported by the returning Kevin Milne and young reserve Aaron Cameron.

MacKay and Milne both won one and combined for a doubles win in a 3-7 defeat.

Cameron was making his second visit of the season to this venue but was unable to repeat his previous winning ways on this occasion but did go down in one game in a close deciding set.

In the final match of their trilogy the three amigos (MacDougall, Milne and MacKay) all managed to play against yet another of Edinburgh International's teams and recorded a 7-3 win.

MacKay led the way with three wins with the other two recording two apiece.

Unusually, they also lost the doubles and this after having taken the first set.

In the Premier Division, the in-form Brian Hunter has also often been without his two regular team mates Lewis Hills and George Flanagan through injury.

Their first fixture was at home against league title-holders North Merchiston.

Hills had to cry off at the last minute because of injury while the visitors were at full strength. In a 2-8 defeat, a determined Hunter beat two really top quality players.

They then headed to Edinburgh International where Andy MacDougall replaced the injured Hills.

In a 5-5 draw, Hunter continued his fine form by winning all three of his singles encounters and was abetted by Flanagan with two wins.

As only one team is relegated out right, it might be of concern at the end of the season that this point was dropped to the team currently languishing at the bottom of the table.

Division Two has been no less busy.

The D Team of Drew McLaren, Ian Wodecki and George Anderson met Edinburgh University in a home fixture and were disappointed with 4-6 reversal.

Wodecki won two and only lost his other singles game at deuce in the deciding set.

McLaren and Anderson pitched in with one each.

In their next encounter away to Edinburgh International, the final score was the same, but this time in their favour.

However, after six games the result was still in some doubt with the score at 3-3.

McLaren and Wodecki then took the doubles before the winning two of the final round of singles.

Wodecki and McLaren recorded two wins and Anderson the other.

In a copy of that match, the E Team also won 6-4, this time away to Corstorphine.

The doubles game was won by Martin Rumsay and the returning Jim Stewart both of whom also recorded two wins with a slightly off colour John Swift the other.

The highlights were the good form of Stewart after a lay off and a spirited five-set victory for Rumsay after dropping the first two sets.

In Division Three the F Team continued their winning ways in a 6-4 victory away to Edinburgh International with a team comprising Benny Flockhart, Kevin Boyle and Liz Henry.

With a wealth of experience behind him, the club is greatly indebted to Flockhart for captaining a large group of mostly inexperienced players to gradually introduce them to a higher standard of competition.

By the end of play Flockhart had, as usual, played a skipper’s role by winning three singles and joining with Boyle for a win in the doubles.

Boyle accounted for the other two wins.

And it was left to him to win the deciding last game, which he did after a nail-biting five setter.