Visitors Vantage brought in Greg Norden from Div 2 for this one to accompany Tony Ardis and Sue Lewis. This is the first time that Greg and Sue have operated at this level though Tony is an old Premier hand from yesteryear.
 

I was flat as a pancake at the start of the match or Tony was on  a roll, hitting winners from everywhere, depending on your point of view. I nearly left it too late to turn the set around, trailing by 2 games and 4-1 in the 3rd before hitting a golden streak of 14 consecutive winning points which took me to relative safety as I also managed to gain a 5-0 lead in the 5th. Straight games wins over Greg & Sue were straightforward after that fright.
 

Joining me on a maximum was in-form Mervyn Kelly, his wins never in doubt as he carried on where he left off last week to claim back to back hat-tricks for the first time in his 41 matches for the team. Russell Penn continues to struggle, going down to Greg, an old Hydra team-mate, but looked a lot sharper when winning his other sets.
 

For the 2nd week running Mervyn and I lost the doubles. We had 2 match points for a straight games win and then blew a 5-1 lead in the 5th too. Not good for us but well played to Tony & Sue as they were always tenacious.

Tonight’s 8-2 match victory puts Toppin top of the table for the next 48 hours at least and I’ll settle for that.