Mission Impossible

Coq Sure

Week 14 Mission Impossible:

as you can see 4 teams (half the comp) can deny us the finals. How bloody close can it get?

Mordialloc  61/2 points ahead. We play them and MUST win by 8-0 and deny them any points. 7-1 and we sneak in maybe??

Glenhuntly  1/2 a point ahead and play the bottom team. They have to have a result worse than ours. They win 8-0 and we're toast.

Mentone a half point behind must be one game better than us. We in 8-0 then they're eliminated.

Parkdale 41/2 ahead would have to really tank to not make the finals. Possibly week 1 opponents if we get through.


So what happened?

This week's match report by team wordsmith (and possibly the only one that can write in English) Alan:

Match Report 25.02.12

It was always going to come down to this. The last round. 

Last chance to secure a place in the finals. Something of interest to all players; a cause of sleepless nights for Skipper Yuri. 

It was all so simple. Consider recent history: Captain Hinneberg’s team: finalists. Captain Balicki’s team: finalists. Captain Worontschak….? All would be revealed. 

But omens were disturbing: this was, after all, the end of the week in which Captain Ponting (wrong sport, but analogy still applies) had felt the axe.

So. Saturday. Hot. Ridiculously hot. Had it not been comp, nobody would have even contemplated playing. 

Deano arrived and starting muttering about deckchairs for the change of ends. Partner Dennis, meanwhile, was distracted. This was his birthday – 27, we believe – and what did he get as a pressie? At least 4 sets in relentless sunshine. Little did D and D know that their colleagues Nick Black Caviar and Alan Taramasalata (ask Dennis) had selflessly set them up, boosting their confidence by allowing them victory in an intense Thursday-night practice session.

 

Spectators thin on the hot ground. Not surprising, given conditions. So applause, please, for Brian B, who turned up for (he said) 10 or 15 mins and stayed for an hour or so, which says something about the awesome display he witnessed – or perhaps lack of anything happening in the table-tennis world. 

Congrats also to Doctor Vic, who arrived after first two rubbers bearing water-melon. Cool water-melon. Thanks too to Rebecca, seeking tips for women’s giant-killers, and Zo – with grapes as well as water-melon and burning looks for the Birthday Boy.

What’s that? Results? You’ve probably already seen it on Fox Sports or in the Sunday papers. With Captain Yuri watching – and causing the odd diplomatic incident with his applause – The Job Was Done. Four rubbers. Four straight-set victories. Maximum points. Against last season’s premiers. Very solid. But will it be enough? The Worontschak phone and abacus have been running hot. We await the ruling of the tennis gods. And while speaking of tennis gods, someone ask Nick his thoughts on what it’s like to have his own partner call one of his first serves OUT when it was, in fact, IN. As even the opponents conceded. The offender, cleverly remaining nameless, has two weak excuses. 1/ Old age. (He can’t even remember 27.) 2/ Sun-stroke. 

Or perhaps hallucinogens being administered by Nick himself, who claimed they were Tennis Vic-approved electrolites. Which is what Contador said after the Tour de France.

Well done lads. (Nosti? Who’s he? Off driving his Merc somewhere, it is believed….) And oh yes – anyone know how Neil spels his name?

Now the Skipper awaits his fate. Tough gig, this one…

As it turned out (thanks to Leon) Glenhuntly beat Black Rock 6-2. Close but no cigar. An 8-0 victory effectively knocks out Mordi and Mentone.

SO WE'RE IN THE FINALS FOLKS.

Next Saturday -3 v 4 Parkdale (TBA) at Dendy Park. Winner plays loser of 1 and 2.

Practice again 6.30 Thursday.

Congratulations to the four champions for getting us over the line.