Match report: Saxmundham vs Framlingham men's 1st teams, played on Monday 7th March 2022 by Matthew Last, Saxmundham team captain
Three consecutive wins have allowed Saxmundham Men's 1st team to clinch the Division Two title in emphatic fashion, winning 22 of the final 24 sets available and beating Woodbridge 1st team 8-0, Adastral Park 1st team 7-1 and Framlingham 1st team 7-1!
After winning our final two home games against Woodbridge and Adastral Park, we went into tonight's away game against Framlingham, and our final game of the season, knowing we were already champions. With Anthony missing his first game of the season, it left only Matt to be the only ever-present player for this season's campaign.
Sax's newfound success was clearly attracting outside interest, with a strong away team fan base making the 15-minute drive cross country, with both of them braving the freezing wind. Thanks to Sue and Ciara for the support, and well done for sticking it out for two sets before retreating to the warmth of the clubhouse.
Tonight saw the returning partnership of Ewan Threadkell and skipper Matt Last who flew off the blocks buoyed up by this season's highest fan attendance. Very quickly they found themselves 5-2 and 40-15 up, only for the wheels to dramatically fall off and crumble to a tiebreak loss!
Not ones for making life easy for ourselves, as usual, we again shuttered in the second set after a strong start. Although, this time we just managed to get over the line and win 6-4.
Ian Portal paired-up with Chris Hirst for a first time outing being paired together. It didn't take them long to gel with a fantastic 6-0 set, though this wasn't as straightforward as the score suggests, with four deuce games going their way. The strong Fram pairing started to click more in the second set and became much more aggressive, which allowed them to push Sax all the way but ultimately just fall short, with a score of 7-5.
Being 3-1 up going into the second half didn't make the team complacent; both pairs raced away to a 6-0 win. For Matt and Ewan, it was probably collectively their best set of tennis of the season with everything clicking superbly; aggressive but error-free tennis throughout.
The second set saw more resistance from Fram, but Matt and Ewan kept solid and clinched the set 6-3. Ian and Chris would clinch their final set 6-0, again making for an impressive night.
This signalled a tremendous end of the season for our team - and it also means this squad will make history next season by being the first Saxmundham men's team to play in the top division.
So, now for a bit of a break before we go again in the summer league, where the Sax Men's 1st will be aiming to make it three top-place finishes in a row!
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