8:20am Saturday 10th May 2008
HATFIELD Peverel A became this year's Handicap Knock-out Cup champions after beating third division Bocking 5-4 in a thrilling final.
The second division side of John Gagg (playing off 65), John Webber (65) and John Parodi (64) looked to be heading for victory, leading 4-2.
However, it was the seventh encounter which produced the most dramatic match of the evening and Richard Jennings (65) gave his team a lifeline by scoring his third win, a last-gasp 21-17, 15-21, 23-21 success against John Webber.
Gordon Fairchild (51) levelled the scores by beating John Parodi 21-18, 21-15 - but in the last game of the evening John Gagg used his considerable experience to hold off Garry Fryatt (55) 21-11, 22-20 to seal victory for the Hatfield Peverel Club.
You have to feel some sympathy for Richard Jennings on this occasion. He won all three of his games the hard way - 23-21, 23-21 against John Gagg, 23-21, 13-21, 21-19 against John Parodi, as well as his success against John Webber, yet ended up on the losing side.
ECC regained the Mixed KO Cup, a trophy they had last won in 1998 with a dominant final display against Chelmsford.
In a match which was played in a different order to the Scorecard - Lucy Wang, Essex's top Lady Veteran player, produced a sparkling performance to beat 15-times Chelmsford Ladies Singles champion Julie Vansertima convincingly, 11-4, 11-6, 11-2.
David Cole added to the ECC lead by beating Adrian Pitt 11-6, 11-6, 11-8 and Steve Kerns avenged his recent 3-0 defeat to Bradley Hudgell in the Braintree league men's singles semi-final by giving ECC a 3-0 lead, with a well-executed straight-sets victory over his young rival.
There was no way back for the Chelmsford team. ECC ran out convincing 5-0 winners.
Lucy Wang and Steve Kerns both made it a treble cause for celebration as they added to their successes in the Open and Mixed KO Cups by beating Elmtree Graphics 5-0 in the Veterans Knock-Out Cup Final.
Elmtree were unable to field their top player John Holland.
Lucy Wang's 11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8 victory against Ev Lucas, Steve Kerns's 11-8, 11-2, 11-2 success over Phil Smith and Keith Spicer's 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8 win against Rod Maclennan represented the singles succeses which enabled ECC to run out 5-0 winners.
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