So Ealing now had to win 3 out of 4 of the afternoon Singles Matches, kicking off with the two top seeds, Hugh versus Bridget: a very determined Bridget played Clearance after Clearance against the precise positioning of Hugh to edge the First game 7-6 on a nervy Golden Hoop: Hugh ran away with Game Two 7-4, and looked to be back in control of the Match. On the same Lawn, Jane found her form against Frank O’Neill, winning two straight games 7-4: Ealing Two Hurlingham Two.
On the other Lawn Ealing were unexpectedly struggling, with both Tony and Charlie losing their first games 4-7 by missing too many opportunities to score. Come on Lads, get it together, which was exactly what Bridget was doing, blowing away Hugh 7-2 in the 3rd.game by changing tactics, and hitting some great Hoops. Ealing in front 3 to 2, but NOT for long as Charlie continued to struggle against Martin, going down 5-7 in the second game: 3-3 and all eyes on the last match, which very slowly unfolded in front of us.
Tony ground out a 7-1 second game win with Michael again struggling with his eyesight: he’d had a cataract Op. only 8 days ago, and couldn’t judge distances well. So he changed tactics, playing balls close to the Hoops, and forcing Tony into clearances repeatedly until he missed ! It worked, Tony took only 1 from the first five hoops, and had lost his accuracy. Determinedly Tony fought his way back to 5 all, with both players making seemingly crucial errors on critical shots: the pressure was definitely ON for both of them. 6-5 Michael after 10 minutes or more at Hoop 11, then 6 all after even longer on 12: Michael first to 13, but plays it short, advantage Tony with two on the Hoop, but he Jaws the shot, and is cleared by the back Ball, advantage Michael, who is cleared himself by Tony, advantage no-one with not one ball able to play a hoop running shot, and so it went on,…. and on,… till a vital 10-yard missed clearance by Tony leaves Michael the winning shot from all of 4 inches.
So Nearly, Ealing.
