Phyllis Court beat Colchester 4-2

[<<] [>>] by Christopher Roberts at Phyllis Court
15 Jul (GC - Federations' Shield)

Phyllis Court beat Colchester 4-2 in a close and long-fought match on the Oxfordshire bank of the River Thames today.

Playing to Advantage rules, Phyllis Court pair Pete Falle (3) and Julia Green (8) got their team off to a good start with a straight games victory over Colchester's Alex Wood (2) and Marilyn Wood (5), in the doubles rubber.

Patricia Mulcahy (4) took time to find her stride against Colchester Captain ChrisM Clarke (10) with the latter showing excellent positioning skills throughout their three games match.

Clarke won the first game but Mulcahy bounced back to win the next two for the match win.

In the other morning singles, Phyllis Court's Dee McKibbin (4) toiled long and hard with Colchester's Simon Bird (2) but their match had to be suspended after three hours with the score 1-1, to be returned to if necessary, as Phyllis Court took a 2-0 lead into a late lunch.

McKibbin lost in straight games to Marilyn Wood in relatively quick fashion, to bring Colchester back into the team match, but another straight games win for Phyllis Court's Falle soon after, recovered the hosts' two games lead cushion.

As the clock ticked past 1800, Clarke let a first game lead go when Green tied the number 4 match, and all eyes turned to the battle of the number 3's, where Mulcahy had won her first game and her second against Bird went to their final hoop.

Mulcahy made a crucial centre-ball clearance to hold position well, and then score the winning hoop on the next rotation, to give Phyllis Court an unassailable 4-2 lead.

Green and Clarke's rubber was halved, as was McKibbin and Bird's suspended morning rubber, in favour of Colchester setting out on their long drive home to Essex.

There will be a digest of results on Croquet Scores here soon -

Phyllis Court - Pete Falle (3), Patricia Mulcahy (4), Dee McKibbin (4), Julia Green (8).
Colchester - Alex Wood (2), Simon Bird (2), Marilyn Wood (5), ChrisM Clarke (10).

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Phyllis Court are through to the National semi-finals of the Federations Shield and next face Backworth (Northumberland) at and date and venue to be decided.