York men’s 1sts slipped to an agonising defeat against Leeds Met 2nds in what was only their second loss of the campaign, but remain in poll position to secure promotion from the BUCS Northen 2B division as they top the league table.
Seed 1 Ed Shannon breezed past Lewis Doughty, with the York man’s delicate lobs and accurate slices proving too much for his opponent. Shannon’s style of play was quite a contrast to that of his pre-match warm up, though, with his fierce forehands actually denting a hole in court 3’s back wall.
Matt Lewis comfortably beat Leeds’ Chris Baird on court 2 but John Holden, David Potter and Sam Westmoreland all fell at the last hurdle; losing out 2-3 in their matches.
The game of the day was on court 5, as Holden rallied back from 0-2 down to gain two match points at 2-2 in his enthralling encounter and looked to secure York their victory. Yet, despite serving up a mouth-watering finale, he couldn’t take them and lost 12-14 in the final game.
York men’s 2nds also suffered a surprise defeat as Bradford 1sts came, saw and conquered in a top vs. bottom shock result. Before today, York had won all six of their league fixtures but still sit comfortably at the top of the Northern 4B table, with promotion already in the bag.
Stu Wells triumphed 3-0, but York’s Nanz Dixit and Dan Frances lost out by the same margin. Wells performed admirably, often dropping his balls too low for his opponent to reach. It took him a little while to get into the swing of the pacey encounter, but he found his stroke and matched whatever was hit at him with a strong response.
The results mean York 1sts have four games left to maintain their promotion push, with quite possibly the match of the season coming on the very last day, when Sheffield Hallam (currently sitting just behind York in the table) come to visit. Meanwhile, York 2nds are safe in the knowledge that they will be playing at a higher level next season.