New Beginnings – September 24th, 2018  Hyndburn Sports Centre

 Accy Flyers A v Blackburn Seniors C     

 The newly named Accy Flyers played their first home match of the season against the rising stars from Blackburn Seniors C, namely Joe Lambert, Matt Shuker, Patrick Elnson, Ciara Hickey, Amie Gregson and the ever smiley Anne Masterson. Coming back from a broken collar bone in May (ouch!) Alex Bullock led the Accy Flyers comprising of  Denise Withey, Rachel Hillary, Anser Yaseen, Robert Brocklehurst and a very tanned Steve Grantham.

 In the men’s doubles, Robert and Steve faced the young pairing of Joe and Patrick, a handy left handed player. The Seniors gents played well but the cool heads of the experienced home pairing eventually saw them take both games. In the second men’s game, Robert at number 3 partnered Anser, with Patrick for Seniors playing with young Matt Shuker. There were some excellent retrieval skills by the young pairing, but Anser’s anticipation at the net and the court tactics of both the Accy gentlemen, brought them another double victory.

As the ladies knocked up, you could see that young Ciara for Seniors was definitely up for the challenge as she partnered Anne against the home pairing of Alex and Denise. With some excellent aggressive smashes down the centre court and great determination throughout, the Accy ladies battled hard against the Senior couple. Anne’s well-placed drop shot from a long serve, coupled with Ciara’s fierce determination to win, brought the youngsters their first game on the night in a match which went to setting. In the second game the home side took charge, however, romping to an easy win. The second ladies’ game saw Alex and Rachel for Accy Flyers face the still smiling Anne, this time partnering Amie Gregson in her first ever game in the league. Amie quickly proved herself to be a strong, able player with great energy and lots of potential. The tidy, organised tactics of the home ladies, however, proved too much for the away pairing and both games fell to the Accy Flyer ladies.

In the mixed doubles it was nice to see the traditional mixed format being adopted by all three couples as the experienced home side moved their youthful opposition around the tactics of the mixed doubles game. Steve and Denise at top mixed faced Joe and Ciara, still flushed from her success in the ladies. At second mixed, Anser and Rachel took on young Matt Shuker and the promising Amie, whilst the third pairing of Robert and Alex faced Patrick and Anne. What I will remember most about this fixture is the enjoyment shown by all three couples throughout the evening, that and the sporting way in which the match was played from beginning to end. I don’t know which player was given the most sporting player on the night – for me, Anser’s friendly call at the beginning of his games for a ‘good game’ could so easily be used as a summative comment on this fixture.