The Men’s Badminton 1sts got their league form back on track after a comprehensive 6 – 2 away win against fellow relegation contenders Manchester University 2nds.
The result never really looked in doubt and it was a much-needed win for UCLan.
Captain Adam Spence opted to change the partnerships in hope it would inspire his team to victory and it seemed to work. Mike Hubbard and new partner Graham Hollingsworth comfortably won their first doubles game 21 – 8, 21 – 5, whilst Adam Spence and Adam Rowan consolidated the good start with a 21 – 14, 21 – 15 win.
James Pickard and Jamie Allen were now UCLan’s singles players and they had two tough encounters. Firstly, Pickard lost 16 – 21, 18 – 21 after a hard-fought match; whilst Allen came from a game down to win in three games, 15 – 21, 21 – 18, 21 – 12.
As the matches turned around, Hubbard and Hollingsworth picked up where they left off dispatching their opponents 21 – 17, 21 – 17 in a slightly closer affair. Spence and Rowan also made it two out of two winning 21 – 14, 21 – 18. By this time, the score read 5 – 1 in favour of UCLan.
Pickard and Allen re-took to the court with nothing to lose. Pickard made up for his earlier defeat by winning in straight games. The first game went right down to the wire with the UCLan man prevailing 22 – 20 after some long rallies, but come the second game, Pickard had tired his opponent and managed to win easily 21 – 7. Allen, on the other hand, couldn’t get past the other Manchester singles player losing 15 – 21, 13 – 21, clearly suffering after a gruelling first match.
It didn’t matter though as UCLan ran out deserved winners, 6 – 2 the overall score. This result now lifts the side out of the relegation zone and captain Spence was all smiles at the end of the game:
“It was a good all round team performance and re-arranging the team seem to pay off.
“Hopefully this will put us back on winning form.”
UCLan next entertain Lancaster University at Foster Sports Centre on Wednesday where they will look to build on this impressive win.