Steve O'Hare started the match playing 5 tonight against top side Prestbury 2.  O'Hare kept the ball tight and took his chances well playing good drop shots.  His speed around court was superb and the Prestbury man was stuck flat footed too often to be much of a threat.  O'Hare played really well and gave Knutsford an early lead 1-0.

            Next was Steve Costello against Stuart Melia at 1.  Steve started with purpose and was 2 up in no time. To the home support's horror Steve then let Melia draw level, his experience proving too much for Steve who got trapped into boasting deep whilst Melia covered the front court.  However in the 5^th Steve got a good start and went back to basics and made more effort to hit the ball tight and straight and cut out any fancy antics, (9-7) to Steve and 2 up for Knutsford.

            Nigel has been in good form this season and he had the run of play in the opening game against Rupert Richards at 4, taking it comfortable (9-4), he played the ball deep and picked his winners at the front.  In the 2^nd Richards fought back and his attacking play pressured Nigel and mistakes cost him the game.  Game 3 went to Nigel, again taking the fight to Prestbury by hitting the ball tight to the side wall and creating opportunities for good winning drops.  Then disaster struck!  Nigel 2-1 ahead pulled up with pain in his right calf, after a quick assessment it was obvious he couldn't play on and conceded the match, 2-3 to Richards.

            David Waring stepped on court against Paul Bartle. Bartle used his strong build to get forward and strike the ball early down the backhand. He won the 1^st game (6-9) although David was showing good signs that he was not beaten. In the 2^nd David continued to apply his game and started to find winners with his b/h drop shot.  Then he threw in some b/h c/c drop shots which left Bartle chasing a lost cause, (9-6 to David). In 3 the home supporters could taste victory,  David now under less pressure was able to play c/c drops and combined them beautifully with deep b/h lengths. Bartle did more chasing but couldn't get back into the match and David went ahead 2-1.  The 4^th  game was going the same way when Bartle ran into trouble with his leg. After an stop for injury he came back to play a few more points before conceding the match.

            Next Greg Marshall played 3^rd string Paul Maher. Despite Maher being an experienced left hander Greg won the 1^st game (9-2) Greg was light on his feet and ran down any rallies challenged for by Maher. In the 2^nd game Greg continued to dominate (9-2) taking a 2 game lead. In 3 Maher made a good comeback hitting harder c/c shots and stepping up the depth on the f/h serve (9-10).  In game 4 Greg did some re-thinking and floated the ball high over Maher forcing some errors from the hard hitter and winning time to recover the T creating more winning angles. He took the match comfortably (3-1).   

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