The final match in the Welsh Cup for Clubs between Penarth & Monkstone took place today at Creigiau PC. After last weeks opening rounds a win for Monkstone would see tham crowned champions but a win for Penarth would almost certainly eliminate Monkstone and possibly Penarth themselves on countback.
The singles got underway under leaden skies with light rain still falling. Roger Green comfortably won his singles to give Monkstone a good start but then Bernard, Roger Griffin and Mike Jones (filling in as Tony Smith & Peter Kensett were unavailable) all succumbed to give Penarth a 3-1 lead. The ladies then pulled things out of the fire when Jayne won 13-7 and, in a nail biting finish, Vickie pulled off a 13-12 win to bring Monkstone up to all square with 6 points going to each team.
The weather had improved by the start of the doubles with the rain having stopped. First blood went to Roger Green & Sean with a very comfortable 13-1 win. Things were looking good for Monkstone with Mike & Bernard leading 9-1 and then 12-4, when the wheels fell off and they went down 12-13. Roger and Vickie lead for most of their mixed doubles game but never by more than a couple of points. The club that won this game would have to win only one of the triples but the loser would need to win both the triples. Suddenly things were looking precarious when Penarth moved into a 12-11 lead. Some magical pointing by Vickie led to the final 2 points being taken on the next end for a 13-12 win taking the overall score to 12-9 in Monkstone’s favour.
So it was on to the two triples with Monkstone needing one wn to secure the title – the weather had really cleared, the sun was trying to burst through but more significantly the pistes were drying fast making it a totally different playing surface. Roger Green, Sean and Jayne faced Scott Murray, Tim Howard and Pat McCarthy in the first game whilst on the other piste Roger Griffin, Bernard and Vickie were facing Jean-Yves Robic, Celia Scott and Valerie Falconer in the mixed triples. In the mixed game there was a very cagey start from both teams with the score going up in ones until with the score at 4-3 to Monkstone they realised that the other game had finished. Fearing the worst, they were delighted, if not amazed, to learn that Monkstone had taken the game 13-0, This took the pressure off the mixed triples team and playing a much more relaxed game they ran out 13-4 winners taking the overall score to 22-9 to Monkstone.
Despite some very good play by all members of the team the honours for the day must go to Roger Green who only conceded a total of 3 points in in 3 games and new boy Sean Smith who only conceded 1 point over the 2 games he played.
As well as the honour of winning the Welsh Cup for Clubs, Monkstone will be invited to compete in the EuroCup Qualifiers at the end of July 2019 at an, as yet, unknown venue somewhere in Europe.
The full Monkstone team for today’s match was:
Roger Griffin (c), Bernard Adshead (vc), Mike Jones, Roger Green, Sean Smith, Jayne Dunn and Vickie Adshead.
