9 July - Phyllis Court reach National Semi-Finals with great come-back win at Sussex
A spirited come-back took Phyllis Court Croquet into the National Inter-Club Semi-Finals on Monday.
The Henley side were looking at a tough afternoon ahead, needing to win three of the four remaining singles rubbers in order to turn around the trailing lunchtime 1-2 score-line of their quarter-final tie against Sussex County, at Southwick (near Brighton).
Chris Roberts and Roger Goldring had lost their morning doubles rubber to the accurate centre-ball clearances of the hosts Liz Farrow and Richard Brooks 5-7, 3-7, and Phyllis Court's Helena Fensome had come second best to Chris Heath 4-7, 6-7.
However, confidence was gained by Raouf Allim's solid 7-4, 7-4 win over the Sussex captain Roger Sutton, and whilst he looked good for an afternoon success, the other rubbers had the feel of being too hard to call.
Once the second half of the fixture got under way, Fensome showed good fortitude after the morning's disappointment and rattled off a very quick dispatching of Sutton 4-7, 6-7 to level the match score.
Allim duly say off Heath 7-5, 7-5 which left the match hanging on the two senior singles rubbers with Roberts one game up in his but Goldring trailing.
Goldring pulled his rubber level as Roberts game approached its zenith with Farrow trading clearances and accurate ball placing with the Phyllis Court man.
It was inevitably going to come down to the odd error or loose shot in an increasingly high-quality ending which matched the high stakes.
Roberts was cleared three ties from the jaws of hoop 11 which would have sealed the game, rubber and match, but it was only when Farrow finally missed a crucial clearance at hoop 12 that Roberts ended the contest with much relief.
With the match result beyond doubt, Goldring's outstanding rubber was left as a tie giving a final score of 4.5 to 2.5 to Phyllis Court.
This now sets up a mouth-watering national semi-final tie for Phyllis Court at home to the very strong Dulwich club who will be led by Belgian captain Pierre Beaudry with team that are likely to all be ranked in the UK top 40.
PCC 'A': Chris Roberts (-1), Roger Goldring (-1), Raouf Allim (0), Helena Fensome (1)
Allim becomes a 'minus' player
Raouf Allim's four game wins today saw his handicap reduce to -1 for the first time which is due reflection of his increasing ability and familiarity with the GC game - Congratulation's Raouf!