Colinton Castle 5s 12 v 6 Border Reivers
Sir Andrew 0-3 Mark Crease
Mark was no stranger to the Reivers squad having had many epic tussles in the league and in friendlies in previous years. This game was closer tan the scoreline suggests; Sir Andrew just couldn’t get Mark Crease off the T-Line enough so that Mark crease could command the rallies and Crease won 15-12, 15-10, 15-10.
Gary Bramble 0-3 Steven Hill
The City Youth Hill was making his debut in the Senior leagues, and his skill and fitness showed why the junior had been called up with an awesome performance. Despite his youth Hill had very fast, powerful shots and Bramble couldn’t get past the youngster and Hill got the second match-up for Colinton Castle 15-7, 15-6, 15-10.
Del Sharratt 1-3 Bob Blaikie
These pair had met previously in the league, with Bob Blaikie taking it a pretty straightforward 3-0 last time out. This time it wasn’t so easy. The first game was pretty even with the scored going tit for tat until 7-7, then Blaikie managed to gradually get a gap with a couple of cross court drops to Del’s backhand that Del just couldn’t reach. Blaikie took it 15-11. In the second game Del managed to keep his shots tight to the wall and slowed the game down a bit which cooled the ball down and Del capitalised with a 15-11 victory.
The Third and Fourth games were very similar with Blaikie commanding the rallies, he had the knack of keeping Del at the back of the court then pulling out a cross court drop, this tactic produced 5-6 points for Blaikie. Del had no reply and Blaikie cleaned up the game 15-8, 15-8.
Amir Hosny 2-3 Michael Gibbs
Amir struggled to get going in this match, h covered the court well but whenever Amir got the Serve back his serve went above the court line and out so Amir couldn’t find any sort of rhythm. Michael pulled off some great shots and motored away to a 2-0 lead 15-8, 15-6; In the third Amir decided to change his serves and played the ball to the front of the court more, this change of style seemed to do the job as Gibbs started missing key shots and not reaching the ball, Hosny focussed more and kept his eye on the ball and had to work to claw it back to 2-2, 15-9, 15-6. Gibbs must have gave himself a good shake after the fourth game as a more polished performance in the fifth won him the game, Hosny’s head didn’t go down but an improvement from Gibbs won 15-9 and 3-2.
Tony Elliot 3-0 Adam Hill
Reivers top seed Elliot – who went the entire previous season unbeaten kept going where he left off; although Hill fought valiantly Elliot was just a class above and didn’t have too much trouble seeing off the City Veteran 15-6, 15-2, 15-9.
“We all performed well, this as a tough opener as Colinton castle have just been relegated from league 4 and are one of the strongest teams in our league. It was a good team effort and hopefully this can spur us on for the season.”