Linden Homes Winchester suffered their second defeat of the season recently in the home game against Portsmouth.

They had two players unavailable, so second team members Alex Crouch and Michael Bull stepped into the breach.

In front of a packed auditorium Crouch easily took the first game with a 9-1 win. Lamb came back to win the second, but Crouch's supreme fitness shone through as he went on to win the match 3-1.

Steve McLoughlin had a five set thriller, coming back from two games down to level before losing the decisive fifth. Mike Bull then convincingly won his first two games, dropping only five points. But his opponent hit back to draw level before Bull took the fifth to give Winchester a 2-1 overall lead.

Linden's number one player, Tim Vail, had a tough match against rival Pete Genever and was beaten 3-2 to level the match once more. It was only his second defeat of the season.

It was down to Winchester's Jon Foster to save the day in a two-hour finale. He lost a nail -biting first game 10-8, but took the next two before conceding the fourth. So it was all down to the final game. The lead constantly changed from player to player, and Foster reached match point twice, but was unable to take his opportunities.

With the score 8-8, Foster, thinking he had the upper hand, controversially asked the referee for 'set one.' With a full crowd and a tense atmosphere, the pressure was truly on. But Portsmouth's Ryan Jewer won the deciding game 9-8 to give his team the match 3-2.