Topspins' opponents have the dubious distinction of having the lowest number of points ever collected in a season (20 from 21 matches in the Premier in the last campaign) and have quickly sunk to 8th place this time, with only the 2 promoted teams keeping them off the bottom. Powers could yet still emulate Phoenix and finish bottom of Premier and Div 1 in successive years if their relegation rivals can raise their own standards.
 

I think in some ways the ‘approach’ of the two sides reflected the match score. Us Topspin boys turned up at 7.00 pm to practice hard for 30 minutes beforehand but the only Power player present from their 7-player squad by 7.30 pm was Sarah Hudson, unfit at the moment (get well soon Sarah), who had come to watch. Then as the match got underway we stayed focused while the Powers lads were a bit more casual and frittered away loads of cheap points.
 

In a quick match and a 10.00 pm finish the only sets that went to a 4th game involved our ex-Topspin pal Jiten Pitamber, who certainly forced Mervyn Kelly and me to move up a gear to cope with his excellent hitting. For the rest it was straight games defeats for Colin Munford and Mark Moore and a straight games hat-trick for Russell Penn with just one of his 9 games going to deuce, which makes him ‘man of the match’.
 

So Topspin head the table again, for 48 hours at least.