Team A continue to struggle in Premier Division

Dec 22 2011 by Kieran Westbrook, West Lothian Courier

THE DISMAL run of results and misfortune continued for Team A in the Premier Division of the Edinburgh and Lothians League with a 7-3 defeat away to Murrayfield.

The good news is that after a period where they have been unable to field their top team because of a mixture of holiday, injury and ill health, they are now able to include the trio of Brian Hunter, Lewis Hills and George Flanagan regularly.

Hunter in particular has been in excellent form and more often than not has shown his colleagues the way. However, on this occasion all three won one game each and this haul might have been even better had they not been at the wrong end of deciding set reversals.

The league table now seems to be separating into two distinct sections with West Lothian heading the bottom half.

In Division One the table-topping B team travelled to fourth placed Corstorphine while the fifth-placed C Team hosted as yet unbeaten Murrayfield.

There was a hope, forlorn as it proved, that the C Team could do their club mates a favour by taking something from Murrayfield.

The omens were not good when Kevin Milne became unavailable late on and things got even worse when Andy MacDougall and Keith MacKay found themselves under par because of illness and injury.

They did, however, make the effort and were joined by Andy Wyles but found themselves at the wrong end of a 10-0 whitewash against the title favourites.

The pick of the games was a classic offence versus defence entertaining encounter between the attack-oriented Wyles and his defensive opponent.

He eventually lost despite playing particularly well.

The B Team chose John McCulloch, Dariusz Szymczak and Barrie Hills for their fixture and rested the in-form Kieran Boyle. Given their respective league positions, a close match was anticipated.

But the West Lothian contingent dug deep and eventually subdued Corstorphine by 9-1.

Szymczak was yet again in imperious form and retained his 100 per cent personal record with a wonderful display of powerful hitting on both wings allied to a real competitive spirit.

The veteran McCulloch matched this set of results but had to put his vast experience to good use in outwitting his opponents. Hills dropped his first game of the night to make the score 1-1 but won the other two with his usual dogged, gritty performance.

Szymczak and McCulloch also won the doubles rubber.

At the same venue and on the same night the D Team of Ian Wodecki, Drew McLaren and George Anderson won 6-4 with a spirited performance in a Division Two fixture. Normally, Anderson is outshone by at least one of his colleagues. But on this occasion it was his efforts which put the other two in the shade.

Over the years he has had the reputation of being much stronger on his backhand wing but his forehand has recently developed to the extent that opponents can no longer treat it as a weakness in his game.

In winning his three singles games he set the standard and dropped only two sets in doing so.

Wodecki was his usual solid self and chipped in with two wins but the usually dependable McLaren accounted for only one, but did lose five sets at deuce.

The final score might have been more comfortable had these two not lost the doubles. But in the night’s only five setter they went down 7-11, 11-5, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9.

In the same division the E Team beat Edinburgh University at home by the same 6-4 scoreline but without the drama and the excitement.

Martin Rumsay, Aaron Cameron and Kevin Boyle made up the team.

Despite the fact that the match was a closely run thing, the same could not be said of the individual contests as only two games went to four sets and none to five sets.

Rumsay continued his recent good form with two wins, the second of which decided the destination of both points.

Young Cameron matched his captain’s performance and they combined to take the doubles.

Boyle came in as a late reserve and his win was a vital contribution to the final result.