East Dorset beat Southport to win the Longman Cup 4-3

[<<] [>>] by Mike Rice at Cheltenham
27 Sep (AC - Longman Cup)

The day was cold and overcast with fast courts.

The two finalists were also the two finalists in 2024 when East Dorset edged it 4-3. However, the Southport team was the same as in 2024, whereas East Dorset fielded a completely different team

Teams

East Dorset Southport

Andy Meikle 3.5 Bill Nicoll 7

David Williams. 4 David Venables 8

Steve Hogan. 9 Eddie Green 8

Andy Dochniak 10 Peter Williams 9

The morning singles were shared with Andy Meikle beating Eddie 26-10 and David Venables beating Steve 26-5. The closely fought doubles was the key match. Near the end the Southport pair of Peter and Bill were 16-12 up but a 4-hoop break by David Williams squared the match and after a tense few minutes it was left to Andy Dochniak to run the golden hoop to give East Dorset a lead at lunch.

The first three afternoon matches went 2-1 in favour in Southport.

David Venables beat David Williams. 26-16

Steve beat Eddie 26-9

Bill beat Andy Meikle 26-3

So, it was all down to the last match which went to time. Andy Dochniak beat Peter Williams 20-14 which meant that East Dorset retained the Longman Cup. So a first Longman win for 3 of the team but David Williams was a member of the East Dorset team that won in 2005.