Chris & David Peter & Tony Dennis & Jonny
Shotley won by 12 sets to 6 and 85 games to 60
The curtain came down at the end of a fine season for Skip Davids team with a resounding win against local rivals Blaydon.
The skip made some bold selections as he had to consider being without the services of "sicknote" Vince and he surprised even himself as he confidently named himself and "Kid" Nichol as number one pair. (Would it prove to be the right call - we shall see ) relegating Tony and new partner Peter "Greek God " Toase. ( Peter mate you heard wrong - they actually said on seeing you "Good God") with "Pistol" Jonny paired with Tennis Dennis.
The first round saw Shotley take command as Tony & Peter halved as did Skip & the Kid as they lost a second set tiebreak but pulled ahead as Pistol & Tennis Dennis won both sets.
As the sun shed its last rays of the day a spectator remarked that a certain pair's footwear were a touch too bright and merely highlighted their shortcomings. He (or was it a she) thought they looked like an aged PJ & Duncan "Getting Ready To Grumble"
Back to the action and the second round where only Pistol & Dennis came up short by losing both sets as Shotley took an 8 - 4 lead and were well in command. The battle for top couple was going to the wire as both the top pairs had 3 sets each but Skip & Kid in front by 5 games.
The last round saw Pistol vent his frustration by finding new ways to clash his raquet down as he and Dennis went down tamely winning only 3 games. Skip and the Kid were now up against Blaydon's top couple while Peter & Tony rattled through 2 sets in double quick time for the loss of only one game. Playing under the lights he himself wired up only 3wks ago the Skip shone but not as brightly as the Kid who rose to the challenge, playing winners from impossible "gets" and chasing anything down to win point after point. The pair won 6-1, 6-3 to make it a comfy 12-6 victory. But who was top couple - now for the maths and supper.
As the Skip bought a round of drinks for his team the scores were totted up and after a lot of persuasion Peter finally conceded that unless you are on Pointless then +19 is better than +17 thus making Skip and the Kid top pair by 2 games - fully justifying the pairings.
Of course the beaten pair took the blow manfully, holding back the tears until one of them was renamed "Dorothy" because of his red shoes. What followed was not a pretty sight.
As this was going on Vince helped out by doing the hoovering. First he hoovered the last of the sandwiches and then he hoovered up the last of the apple pies. The one thing he didn't get the chance to clean up was the donuts. With a choice of lemon or custard one of the team couldn't quite decide which he liked best and after polishing off several of each decided he would like more before making his final decision. Alas he had eaten the lot - take a bow "Donut" Dennis.
with 4 wins and 2 losses - a very good season for the boys.
