Sat 11th Sept, Moira; Sun 12th Sept, Nottingham
The East Midlands AC leagues are usually contested by four clubs, but this year Ashby and Nottingham were the only clubs able to raise teams of three, so the ‘leagues’ were instead arranged as two head-to-head fixtures on consecutive days. The Ashby team picked itself for both events, as Mick, Richard and Andy were the only AC players available.
The 14-point at Moira on the Saturday was played as three rounds of 3 singles games, i.e. all-play-all. Nottingham were 2-1 up after the first round, but Ashby fought back to win all three in the next round. Mick and Richard won their final games, giving Ashby a 6-3 victory overall. There were some close games, and everyone won at least one game. Only four of the games were pegged out within the 1.5-hour time limit.
The 26-point at Nottingham on the Sunday consisted of a doubles and a singles game, followed by three singles. All of the games finished well within the time limit (3.25 hours), with Ashby emerging as 3-2 winners. Richard continued his good form from the previous day, winning both games, although faced a tough test against David Eckford in a closely-fought game which could have gone either way, and Mick played well in his singles game against John Filsak. As a result, both Richard and Mick earned a handicap reduction to 11 and 10 respectively. Ashby now qualify for next year’s Secretary’s Shield national AC inter-club competition.