Published 24/01/2019 at 13:43:27 by David Wackrill.

STEVE GETS THE JOB DONE
 

I first met Steve Jordan 50 years ago when I was a regular in the St.Albans Inter-League team playing in the Herts County League (Barbara Peters, a teenage sensation at the time, was a fixture in a rampant Watford team in that same competition) and the esteemed town selectors, Mr & Mrs Crake, threw in this young kid as my team-mate for a match against Welwyn Garden City. In their infinite wisdom, they wanted to give the talented but raw lad, barely out of short pants, some experience ‘at the next level’. Shambles' star man Steve was that kid, of course, and although a sparkling representative career never materialized he still has a mean forehand attack which was always going to be too good for his handicap. Steve’s ‘on the table’ return was an excellent 66 points won against 80 lost, which included a 21-17 win as he duly walked off with the ‘man of the match’ award.
 

However, any chance my Topspin team had of winning the match were scuppered when our only other player Mervyn Kelly pulled out with illness, leaving Russell Penn and myself a man down and a mountain and a half to climb against the division 3 team, fellow losers in the first round of group matches, who needed just 19 more points to take victory once the handicap (150) and Mervyn’s lost points (126) had been loaded up in their favour. The tie was all over in the first set of the night. We still had some good games of course and it was a very enjoyable match all round. The amiable Paddy Patel and Venance Kolley made up the Shambles side.

So, it's no wins in all 11 Cup matches Topspin have played since our formation. I guess that we are just not a Cup side.