Results 2016/17

North Oxford lost to Old Wulfrunians 1-2 at Wolverhampton 08/07/17:

S.Cooley & K.Hird lost to S.Simmons & A.Husselbee 1-2 (8-12, 13-11, 6-12)

G.Hoskins & A.Mitchell lost to M.Yates & P.Bullock 1-2 (12-11, 5-12, 1-12)

A.Bishop & S.Nowinski beat J.Price & R.Pye 3-0 (12-3, 13-12, 12-5)

The Studs Superleague campaign may still be ongoing - semi-finals this week - but the official North Oxford ended at Wolverhampton on Saturday with a friendly match against the always hospitable Old Wulfrunians. In many ways the season finished in typical North Oxford style, with the standard late(ish) withdrawal from Spencer, a fine pre-match lunch complete with enormous cake and then a narrow on-court defeat (the last two elements possibly not unconnected). It was NOEFC club president Andy Bishop's birthday - and a big one to boot - and what better way to celebrate it than with a pilgrimage to the Black Country Fives mecca that is Wolverhampton Grammar School. APWB did break with NOEFC tradition slightly by relying on Mrs B for the baking, but that was probably a good thing as far as the rest of the team were concerned, with Jane delivering a majestic coffee and walnut. The only disappointment at lunch was the resemblance of a Wolverhampton salad to an actual salad this time, with not a hash brown or other fried item in sight unlike our last trip to this neck of the woods, Stefan stepping into the Chapman role off court by lunching on the green stuff. On court it was Shrewsbury Monday club legend Andrew Mitchell who took Spencer's place, becoming the latest in a long line of distinguished Mitchell siblings to represent North Oxford. He and Gareth teamed up at second pair where they got off to an impressive start, pinching the first game 12-11 from beneath the noses of Mark Yates and Phil Bullock. Sadly for the North Oxford pair, either the cake wore off or the Wulfrunian noses were put slightly out of joint by the loss of the first game, as the home pair raised their level and the North Oxford pair failed rather to trouble the scorers much thereafter. Meanwhile birthday boy Andy and evergreen marathon man Stefan were showing the Wolverhampton youngsters a clean pair of heels, beating John Price and Robert Pye in straight games, with the 13-12 win in the second decisive, despite being a combined three times older. The fate of the match rested on the shoulders of national champs Karen & Seb at first pair. Later starters after the tardy arrival of Andy Husselbee, Karen & Seb looked down and out at 8-12, 4-10 down to Andy and Sid Simmons. Seb does have some gears to go through, however, and he engaged a few of them with Karen in support to level at 13-11 and then establish a 6-2 lead in the third. The canny Husselbee and the impressive Simmons managed to turn the tide, though, coming from behind to win the third 12-6 and claim the win.

North Oxford beat Charterhouse School 4½-1½ at Charterhouse 18/06/17:

A.Knight & C.Austin beat J.Black & C.Pethick 2-0 (12-7, 12-7)

G.Hoskins & E.Osen beat H.Platt & R.Elston 2-0 (12-6, 12-9)

C.Davies & K.Hird beat M.Platt & S.Harvey 2-0 (14-13, 12-7)

R.Pattison & R.Scott drew with J.Nelmes & F.Mclellan 1-1 (12-13, 12-6)

M.Barnes & W.Seath lost to J.Troy & C.Turner 1-2 (12-6, 12-13, 4-7)

H.Asquith & F.Kerr beat A.Witherspoon & S.Troy 2-0 (12-3, 12-1)

The hottest day of the year so far greeted another welcome addition to the North Oxford fixture list with a six pair friendly against Charterhouse School at the invitation of NOEFC legend Jonny Nelmes. There was some useful warm weather training for those heading to Artignosc in August for the Paume Artignoscaise world championships with the temperature up around 30°, although it has to be said that some coped better than others with the extreme conditions. The Charterhouse team was a mixture of schoolboys, staff, coaches and OCs who combined to take on the usual eclectic North Oxford mix. Impressively, the North Oxford side divided neatly into a 50/50 gender split against the 100% male home team, and it proved to be a triumph for mixed Fives with North Oxford winning four of the six pairs and drawing the other, a possible six pair win only thwarted by one of Charterhouse boys having to leave early and Mandie and Will losing a short third game shootout. Highlights included the soon to be EFA Chairman playing through injury and a heavy Saturday night - no-one was quite sure which was causing the more difficulties - and Faye Kerr getting a maiden NOEFC win under her belt in fine style alongside Harry Asquith. The best of three games were then followed by some more informal mix and match games, cold showers all round and then a delightful barbecue in the Charterhouse sun that was the main reason half of the team had turned up in the first place. With over 50 fixtures played and over 60 players donning NOEFC colours this year - both records - all that remains of the 2016/17 season is an early July trip up to the Black Country to take on the Old Wulfrunians.

Rosie & Mandie show the men how it's done

North Oxford beat Old Edwardians 1½-½ at Ludgrove 14/05/17:

G.Hoskins & K.Hird drew with P.Scholey & R.Morgan 2-2 (12-8, 8-12, 11-12, 12-9)

S.Chapman & A.Bishop beat R.Scholey & M.MacGeoch 3-0 (14-11, 12-4, 12-3)

This year's unusual courts fixture ended up being a scaled-down version of the six-pair extravaganza at KES that had originally been envisaged; that match is still on the cards once the KES courts meet the school's H&S standards so watch this space. The alternative was a two pair friendly on the splendid courts at Ludgrove School, courts visited briefly by NOEFC on the 12 courts in one day marathon in 2014 but otherwise not graced in a full fixture by the players of North Oxford since April 2007. There was a slightly delayed start due to a Scholey (R) roundabout/motorbike/lost bag scenario and a late train and some adventurous navigation around Wokingham from certain others. Once play finally got underway, the matches generally lived up to the long and distinguished history of this fixture; Gareth and Karen took on Pete and Ralph (on traditional supersub duties, this time for the crocked Si Purkis) in a rollercoaster match with both pairs playing some good stuff at times, some indifferent stuff at others and momentum swinging wildly from game to game. The first two games were shared, both to 8 before Gareth and Karen somehow contrived to lose a 10-2 lead in the third in positively Wilsonian style before coming back to level in the fourth, despite a nervy finish. With the time already 2pm and appointments with a pub lunch and later on with the Marlborough Fives club imminent, a draw was agreed on - probably a fair result in the circumstances. At second pair, Spencer and Andy had to work extremely hard to see off the resilient Rob Scholey and Mike MacGeoch 14-11 in the first game, before romping away with the second and third in fine style, Spencer celebrating with a goldenberry Andean superfruit bar. The alfresco lunch proved to be worth stopping at 2-2 for and the fitter/more dedicated/dafter members of the group headed off to Marlborough for a second helping of Fives in the evening.

North Oxford 2 beat Old Citizens 1 2-1 at Highgate 29/04/17:

N.Shaw & K.Hird beat N.Gill & C.Ballingall 3-2 (12-15, 14-12, 15-10, 8-12, 12-6)

G.Hoskins & H.Asquith beat R.Morgan & B.Dovgyy 3-1 (12-4, 4-12, 14-11, 12-4)

C.Davies & J.Staley lost to B.Friedman & S.Kelly 2-3 (12-10, 12-8, 8-12, 5-12, 10-12)

While Pete and Fergus were round the back, putting the finishing touches to a glorious Division 1 campaign, the North Oxford rank and file were taking on the Old Citizens in the final Division 2 match of the season, looking to score the two points that would guarantee second place in the table behind St.Olave's. The ins and outs described below were finished early on Sunday morning as Harry came back into the starting line-up late on after Spencer was rather unexpectedly up all night giving birth. The two sides looked fairly evenly matched on paper and a great deal of thought went into the pairings, all of which was abandoned two minutes before the start as the Citizens moved Bobby Friedman - one of their top men - down to third pair, a move which was counteracted by Karen moving into first pair, Harry moving up to second and the maestro slotting in down the order to neutralise the dangerous Friedman. By and large, the plan worked: all three pairs had excellent matches, with both first and third pair going to five and second pair to four. First pair in particular was a humdinger, with Nick and Karen up against Nick Gill and Chris Ballingall. The first three games were all set with the North Oxford pair hitting a well-timed purple patch at the end of the third to win it 15-10. They lost the fourth to 8 but once again refound their best form when they really needed it, racing out to a 10-1 lead in the decider. Regular readers of this column (there must be someone, somewhere) will remember the Ballingall fifth game comeback heroics earlier in the season against our third team in the colours of Lancing OBs - Jon Staley certainly does - and when Karen and Nick couldn't find a quick finish, Citizen hopes were briefly raised, only to be dashed again as the NO pair applied the coup de grace to win the last game 12-6. In the second court, Gareth and Harry started and finished strongly against Ralph Morgan and the big-hitting Bogdan Dovgyy to overcome a second game setback and a tense third game to win in four. Last to finish were the maestro and Staley at third pair against Friedman and Stephen Kelly. There was a certain ironic sense of justice at play here as Bobby was in a hurry to leave - and thus about to claim the first game due to lateness - when Mr Lost in Highgate finally turned up at 10:59am, one minute before the cut off deadline. Bobby's mood was then not improved by the inevitable lengthy five game battle that ensued, although a full on Bercowesque hissy fit befitting the subject of one of Bobby's recent books was avoided thanks to the Old Citizen pair coming back from 2-0 down to win 12-10 in the decider, despite a late rally from Chris and Jon. Nevertheless, the overall result was another good one for North Oxford, putting us on 21 points and in an uncatchable second place in Division 2 to add to our third place finishes in Divisions 1 and 3. A tremendous result at the end of a 34 match league season, the highlights of which were digested over a leisurely lunch in The Bull, complete with the traditional Scholey frère springtime bread offering. Time now for our May friendlies and the latest attempt by the Thoroughbreds to claim Superleague glory...

North Oxford 1 beat Old Millhillians 1 2-1 at Aldenham 05/03/17 & Highgate 29/04/17:

P.Roper & R.Wilson lost to V.Bhimjiyani & J.Patel 0-3 (9-12, 8-12, 7-12)

P.Scholey & F.Imrie beat S.Tailor & W.Seath 3-0 (12-9, 15-12, 12-8)

Old Millhillians 1 conceded third pair

The Division 1 season was finally brought to a close on Saturday at Highgate with the final pair of a fixture with more ins and outs than the hokey cokey. First pair had been played a while ago at Aldenham with Rob & Phil going down to a narrow defeat. Three dates were offered to the Old Millhillians to play the other two pairs, but only the third one seemed to work. Arrangements were made, negotiations concluded, a later midday start time for third pair agreed to accommodate one of the OM players and ten NO players in total lined up to play at Highgate before OM secretary James Hutcheson broke his arm while out jogging (me, neither) on Friday afternoon necessitating yet another reshuffle and the banishing to the sidelines of President Andy and Harriet (temporarily - see above). With third pair thus conceded and in the North Oxford bag, it was down to Pete and Fergus to take us to 24 points for the season, exactly half of the available total, and consolidate our third place in the table. They were faced with the tricky proposition of the classy Sunil Tailor and his partner Will Seath, an improving player playing against NO for the third time in quick succession - the new Ronald Pattison? - but a very inexperienced one at this level. In the end, Pete and Fergus were able to do enough to stop Sunny dominating too much and came through in three tight games to finish off a fantastic third season for North Oxford in the top flight with by far our highest ever points total and by far our highest finishing position. Some of the credit must go to the new lad, who probably did enough to earn a contract extension for a second year, but the whole squad can feel proud to have put together such a strong showing. Well done everyone!

North Oxford 2 beat Old Etonians 2-1 at Westminster 19/04/17:

G.Pulsford & N.Turnbull lost to P.Roper & T.Kirkby 0-3 (12-14, 11-14, 10-12)

Old Etonians conceded second and third pairs

The Old Etonians have been something of a disappointment this season, unable to produce any pairs at all for the original fixture and only one for this rearranged date. While Spencer stayed at home wondering if he could include a theoretical walkover in his win percentage stats, Gareth and Karen got some practice in with Riki Houlden and Emily Scoones on the next door court for this Sunday's mixed tournament and took the opportunity to cheer on Grandad and Nathan. Once Nathan had finally finished his tourist's walking tour of Central London and actually managed to locate the Westminster courts, he and Graham found themselves up against familiar foes in the form of NOEFC Division 1 team mates Phil Roper and Tom Kirkby. This was just one of a number of nice subplots bubbling away under the surface - who would win the battle of next year's Oxford and Cambridge captains? was Graham older than the other three players put together? - as a tight and exciting match developed with the North Oxford pair comfortably holding their own. Grandad was cutting superbly - by his own admission - and Nathan was taking a leaf out of the Houlden playbook with his speed and energy around the court. Both of the first two games were set at 11-11 but sadly the North Oxford pair were unable to find the killer instinct to win either time, with The Power in fine form in and around the buttress at the crucial moments. The third game was another story of what might have been as Graham and Nathan glided majestically into a 10-5 lead, raising hopes of a stirring fightback, before letting the advantage slip in Wilsonian style to allow the Etonian pair to get something out of the evening. Much to Karen's relief - and pretty much everyone else's - Graham missed the opportunity to tell the website story to a new audience in the Sanctuary afterwards but did appear to be confusing Riki with his next door neighbour for a while. Maybe the nurse hadn't fed him the right tablets at lunchtime. Anyway, the two points gained due to the opposition's inability to find any Etonians in the London area who know how to play Fives mean that North Oxford's position in the top three now looks assured, completing a splendid hat-trick of top three finishes across the three divisions, with just the Old Citizens to come in a couple of weeks time to finish off the season.

Who says the youth of today have no social conscience? Phil, Nathan and TK do a spot of voluntary work for Help the Aged

North Oxford lost to Aldenham 1-2 at Aldenham 16/04/17:

R.Wilson & N.Turnbull lost to A.Rennie & R.Malik 0-3 (5-12, 11-13, 6-12)

G.Hoskins & K.Hird lost to R.Tyler & M.Blundell 1-3 (9-12, 7-12, 12-9, 10-12)

A.Lumbard & C.Ballingall beat P.Lyndon & M.MacGeoch 3-0 (12-2, 12-6, 15-12)

Sunday saw a narrow defeat for NOEFC at the hands of Aldenham but more importantly witnessed the creation of a new North Oxford tradition. This friendly match with our close associates has moved up and down the fixture list in recent seasons but a combination of factors meant that this year it was played on Easter Sunday as a bit of an experiment, which turned out to be a roaring success, proving that a sufficient number of Fives players are a) irreligious and/or b) desperate to find an excuse to get away from the family by the third day of a four day holiday weekend. Indeed one or two participants were even heard suggesting a companion fixture on Christmas Day or Boxing Day. Food for thought. The Fives was as enjoyable as always with some solid traditions of friendly Fives upheld, such as the forcible dumping of the keen youngsters into first pair where they proceeded to run about very energetically for a while; in the end the Aldenham pair of Andrew Rennie and Rubel Malik did so to slightly greater effect than the RGS duo of Robert Wilson and Nathan Turnbull, although there was time for Robert to do his increasingly regular trick of losing a game having got miles into the lead, in this case the second game from 9-2 up. On the grounds of being last to arrive, Karen was made to play in the golden oldies court at second pair, teaming up with captain Gareth Hoskins to take on Richard Tyler and Mark Blundell, still a strong pair, but somewhat less formidable than they would have been in 1987 rather than 2017. Having taken the time to admire Aldenham's North Oxford style approach to player recruitment - one Tuesday night appearance from Tyler and he's in the team - Gareth and Karen got off to a slow start but then took the anti-Wilsonian path, fighting their way back into contention before losing to 9. They also lost the second but were playing increasingly well and with Karen in particular hitting top form they won the third to 9. The fourth was a slight cause of frustration with a lot of good North Oxford play against quality opposition undone by a few sloppy errors at crucial times. With Blundell in particular beginning to flag, Gareth and Karen would have fancied their chances in a fifth but lunch was calling and with Ashley and Chris having got a North Oxford win on the board in fine style against Phil Lyndon and Mike MacGeoch everyone headed to the Round Bush for a slap up lunch, notable for some Hughesian tactics from Tyler, stealing Chris's lunch and forcing him to wait for an extra 15 minutes and some impressive pudding consumption even by North Oxford standards. Proceedings finished with an agreement that Easter Sunday was the natural home for this fixture and that we would be back for more next year.

North Oxford 1 beat Team Westway 1 3-0 at Eton 08/04/17:

R.Wilson & A.Wellesley beat G.Chapman & D.Patel 3-0 (14-12, 12-10, 15-10)

W.Ponsonby & F.Imrie beat M.Street & A.Abrahams 3-1 (12-5, 10-12, 12-2, 12-8)

G.Pulsford & C.Davies beat F.Rowe & C.Wheeler 3-0 (12-3, 12-2, 12-2)

Saturday's intended Eton extravaganza was somewhat scuppered by the morning cancellations from Westway 4 and Old Westminsters 1; the Division 3 match was replaced with a friendly but there wasn't enough time to do the same for Division 1 so the plan of having 17 different players (with one lucky person doubling up morning and afternoon) in league action for NOEFC in one day never quite came to fruition. On the plus side the three points gained from the Westminsters defaulting meant that a maximum from the afternoon fixture against Westway 1 would almost guarantee a third place finish in Division 1 - a fantastic achievement after two seasons of manfully striving to get off the bottom rung of the top flight ladder. Westway 1 have been the whipping boys of the first division all season and were also struggling for numbers for this fixture; even Sunderland have Jermain Defoe, however, and Westway were able to put out captain Darshan Patel and experienced campaigner Guy Chapman at first pair. In the absence of Seb Cooley, disappointingly not committed enough to come back from the south of France for this game, the men tasked with tackling them were Robert Wilson and Arthur Wellesley, the last of the Oxford Etonians to grace the ranks of the North Oxford Division 1 side this season. Robert & Arthur got off to an absolute flier, playing some irresistible Fives to go 11-3 ahead. Anyone who had seen Robert & Phil Roper lose a similar lead in the first game two weeks ago against the Salopians would not have been counting their chickens, however, and somehow the North Oxford pair almost contrived a repeat, going 11-12 behind before finally getting over the line 14-12. That brief spell aside, however, this was a tremendous performance. Robert provided his usual classy, insouciant touches along with some terrific reflexes and some unexpected power at times, while Arthur was a revelation, his attacking volleying fast and precise and his cutting probably the difference between the two sides in the final analysis. Another wobble at 11-7 in the second was again withstood to win 12-10 and go 2-0 up and the third was nip and tuck all the way to 10-10 before the North Oxford pair took control and charged to the finish line for a splendid 3-0 win. Westway were missing a few regulars in pairs two and three, but Oxford captains past and present Will Ponsonby and Fergus Imrie still had to work hard to overcome the challenge of Martin Street and the fast-improving Alex Abrahams, which they duly did, grinding out a workmanlike victory in four games. Grandad and the Maestro have played together twice this season and have conceded only 10 points together in six games. Either they really are that good or they've been closely studying the Chapman pair selection playbook. So a 3-0 win it was, and thankfully Freddie didn't take the Westway/Sunderland comparison any further by threatening to slap anyone. At least not within my earshot anyway.That meant a magnificent six points in the day for North Oxford 1 and with just two pairs against the Millhillians to try and arrange, the mighty NOEFC leapfrog the Old Cholmeleians by half a point into third place in the table. Glory Days indeed.

Oxford captains past & present and the more "experienced" members of the side cruise to victory

North Oxford lost to Windsor & Eton+ 0-3 at Eton 08/04/17:

J.Staley & H.Asquith lost to C.Cooley & R.Pattison 1-3 (12-14, 12-1, 5-12, 12-15)

A.Bishop & J.Ryde lost to I.Mitchell & D.Cooper 1-2 (10-12, 12-8, 13-14)

K.Hird & A.Platz lost to W.Seath & E.Peppitt 0-3 (8-12, 2-12, 6-12)

Westway 4's cancellation on Saturday morning was Windsor & Eton's gain as the local club - augmented by Charlotta Cooley and Ronald Pattison - stepped in to provide Bishop's Buccaneers with some friendly opposition. With three uncontested league points in the bag to finish the season and guarantee a top three finish for the third team, the players were able to relax and enjoy themselves on a gloriously sunny day at Eton. Harriet Asquith and Jon Staley were the North Oxford headline act, with a bucket of sawdust on hand to mop up the blood afterwards as the two North Oxford players who spend the most time on the floor partnered each other for the first time ever against the canny opposing pair of Charlotta & Ronald. This was a slightly schizophrenic performance from the North Oxford pair with sublime passages of dominance - especially in the second game, which was won 12-1 - buttressed by spells of chronic inconsistency. A five-setter looked on the cards for a while, but the other pairs finishing and heading down the pub for lunch was sufficient motivation for Charlotta to grasp the initiative at 10-10 in the fourth and guide her pair home and then quickly down to the Christopher for some fluid replacement. Talented newcomer Jake Ryde made his NOEFC debut - and his first appearance on any court away from Summer Fields - in tandem with skipper Andy at second pair. Once Jake had got over his surprise that not all courts are indoors and had sourced a wearable pair of gloves, he and Andy shot out to an 8-3 first game lead before being reeled in by the W&E pairing of Ian Mitchell and David Cooper, the only man in Fives who makes uberveteran Cox look like a neophyte. Andy & Jake responded well to win the second and level the scores but David's matches never proceed at a particularly fast pace and with the other pairs rattling through the games, the third was always likely to be the decider, especially when it went all the way to 13-13 and sudden death, the home pair nicking the last point to win 2-1, despite Andy & Jake scoring more points overall. Third pair saw a rematch between Anna Platz and Will Seath, following their first meeting at Charterhouse a few weeks ago on Anna's NOEFC debut. Anna won that on that occasion but this time she and Karen found themselves up against an much steadier Will and a stronger partner in fellow Old Newburian Ed Peppitt. The first game was close and Karen & Anna almost got into a position to win it, but once the two former St.Bart's boys got in front they were hard to shift and the North Oxford girls had to settle for playing well and contributing much to an entertaining match. With Karen & Charlotta both possessing German mothers, the presence of Anna meant that the fixture featured 50% of a putative German Fivesnationalmannschaft der Frauen, giving rise to speculation about a future international match (can you win Fives matches on penalties?) and maybe a need to resuscitate the old Dusseldorf & Rheinberg courts to host the away leg. Food for thought there.

Anna's poised to strike in pair three as Harry takes aim in pair one. Jon may need to duck...

Jake learning a new trick or two on his NOEFC debut

North Oxford 1 beat Old Westminsters 1 3-0 at Eton 08/04/17:

Old Westminsters 1 conceded all three pairs

North Oxford 3 beat Team Westway 4 3-0 at Eton 08/04/17:

Team Westway 4 conceded all three pairs

North Oxford 2 beat Old Ipswichians 1 2-1 at Highgate 04/04/17:

N.Shaw & G.Hoskins beat C.Lyle & S.Christopher 3-0 (14-13, 12-4, 12-3)

G.Pulsford & K.Hird drew with T.Gregory & J.Levick 2-2 (8-12, 12-9, 12-7, 13-15)

S.Chapman & D.Bloor-Young drew with P.Boughton & C.Cooley 2-2 (12-7, 12-8, 13-14, 13-15)

Remarkably, cancellations and postponements, along with the vagaries of the fixture list, meant that this was North Oxford's first outing in Division 2 since the 3-0 win back in November against Berkhamsted at Aldenham. Our matches against the Old Ipswichians are usually good ones and this was one of our most enjoyable league matches in a long time. The pre-match warm up mainly involved the thrust of Graham talking us through his first pair win with Seb last weekend and the parry of Spencer reminiscing about the time he took a game off Tom Dunbar in the Barber Cup earlier in the year. Tom's partner that day was Nick Shaw and Nick - fresh from celebrating a Division 1 title win with the Harrovians - was back in a North Oxford shirt and reviving memories of the Kinnaird Cup glory days of the Hoskins/Shaw partnership at first pair, where they found themselves up against a couple of young OI whippersnappers, Durham University pair Cameron Lyle and Sam Christopher. SamCam (where was Dave?) as they must surely be known, put in an inspired performance in the first game, as the North Oxford pair struggled to control the ball and the rallies as they would have liked, making errors just when they seemed to be in a position to forge ahead. Nick and Gareth got to 11-9 but were pegged back to 11-11 and then found themselves 12-13 down. It took a couple of good hands of gameball cutting and some steely nerves before the NOEFC pair managed to nick the game 14-13. This proved to be the crucial phase of the match: the youngsters' heads dropped a little having got so close but not won the first game; Gareth and Nick also got the run of the ledges at the start of the second game, and having established a lead and finally gained the control they had been looking for, they went on to play something close to their best in the next two games, reducing the error count to a minimum, keeping the ball in awkward areas for their less experienced opponents, dominating the set piece and taking the opportunities to hit winning volleys on a regular basis. There was a rare outing at second pair for the Pulsford/Hird partnership - after nearly 200 matches for the club between them, this was only the second time they had played together. The first, ironically, was also against the Old Ipswichians when they inflicted defeat on Tim Gregory and Nick Bunyan, and this time it was Gregory again providing the opposition alongside OI stalwart John Levick. After losing the first game to 8, Grandad and Karen began to hit their stride, winning the next two to 9 and 7 and getting their noses in front in the fourth. With the winning line tantalisingly close, however, Gregory and Levick proved that they are tough nuts to crack, taking the game to 10-10 and going on to win 15-13 to level things at 2-2. With the clock already close to 9:45, there was no time to play the fifth and the draw was agreed, thus maintaining Graham and Karen's unbeaten record as a partnership. Recent returnee Duncan Bloor-Young was in the starting line-up again this week, back on Highgate home turf and getting a real taste of life as an NOEFC player by having to partner Spencer at third pair. For the first 90 minutes or so, all was going swimmingly against a tricky-looking OI pair of Peter Boughton and Charlotta Cooley - Spencer and Duncan won the first two games to 7 and 8 and at 10-4 up in the third, with DBY in particular showing some classy touches, it all looked done and dusted. A couple of nervy misses at match point up later, some inspired cut-returning from Charlotta dragged the OIs back into contention and Spencer and Duncan suddenly found themselves in a dogfight, when they were mentally already celebrating in the pub. Peter and Charlotta won the third 14-13 from nowhere and with time again a factor, the fourth game became make or break. This time, it was nip and tuck all the way, with 10-9 to North Oxford becoming 10-10, then 12-10 to North Oxford becoming 12-14 and then 13-14 before Peter and Charlotta completed a remarkable comeback to claim the draw at 2-2. Who knows what would have happened in the fifth games of pairs two and three, but overall sharing the points from those two matches seemed like a fair result and both teams (well 11 out of 12 plus the entire crowd - thanks, Michèle) headed to the Bull for some well-deserved refreshment. It was a sign of changing times in OI Fives that the table in the pub was covered in a wide variety of soft drinks, much to the dismay of Miss Cooley, who played a lone hand in insisting on a more traditional Ipswichian post-match pick me up. The 2-1 win takes us up into second place in the Division 2 table, and although St.Olave's look like they might be uncatchable at the top, the runners-up slot would appear to be within our grasp with two games to go.

Spencer & Duncan collapse in a heap while Grandad & Karen stay unbeaten but lose their 100% record

North Oxford 1 beat Old Salopians 1 2-1 at Eton 26/03/17:

S.Cooley & G.Pulsford beat T.Cox & R.Worth 3-0 (12-11, 12-7, 12-3)

R.Wilson & P.Roper lost to S.Welti & H.Lewis 0-3 (11-14, 6-12, 12-14)

G.Hoskins & P.Scholey lost to C.Hughes & N.Turnbull* 2-3 (8-12, 12-9, 11-12, 12-6, 6-12)

*ineligible player

The Old Salopians have been something of a bogey team for North Oxford over the years and we've been on the wrong end of a few heavy defeats, so it made a nice change to score a first team win at Eton on Sunday to consolidate fourth place in the Division 1 table and maintain hopes of a top half finish. The NOEFC cause was helped by the Salopians only having five players - we were able to provide Nathan Turnbull to make up their side but it meant that the third pair point was in the bag right from the start. The second major factor in our favour was the willingness of Seb to come back down to Eton from Shrewsbury having just spent a week there for the Schools' championships. Impressive commitment. Friday night was Comic Relief night but with Spencer playing in the hastily arranged next door friendly after the postponement of the third team game against Westway, the comedy Fives was all elsewhere for once. Seb definitely did enter into the giving mood, although his charity of choice was not Comic Relief but rather Help the Aged, as he made an old man's wish come true and fixed it for Grandad Graham to fulfil his lifelong - well season-long at least - ambition to play at first pair alongside the pro. This was not necessarily an easy assignment, either, as they were up against Tom Cox and Rex Worth, recent Kinnaird Cup conquerors of third seeds Ant Theodossi and Ryan Perrie and tournament quarter-finalists. The gamble looked like it may have backfired initially as the Salopian pair went 11-7 up in the first game, but at that point Seb began to go into overdrive and with Grandad clinging on to his coattails, the NOEFC pair stormed back to win 12-11 before going on to dominate the next two. The Sanatogens were on Graham back at the nursing home in celebration afterwards. In contrast, Phil Roper and Robert Wilson got off to an absolute flyer in their second pair match against Sam Welti and Henry Lewis, racing to an 11-2 lead before the Salopian pair had got their bearings. Henry and Sam are both fine players, however, and somehow managed to haul Phil and Rob in before going on to win 14-11. It takes a while to recover from a loss like that, and the second game also went the Salopians way, but Phil and Rob recovered well in the third, which the Salopian pair again edged 14-12. This was a strong performance from the North Oxford pair, who can consider themselves unlucky not to have taken the match to four or five games or even to have sneaked a win. Third pair, inevitably given that it was the one that didn't actually count, was the one that did go to five games. Chris Hughes showed plenty of classy touches as befits a player of his pedigree, but lacked the consistency to finish off Gareth and Pete, who hung on in well and looked in good shape at the end of a fourth game that they had won comfortably, before rather running out of gas in the fifth as Chris and Nathan turned the screw to win in five. An enjoyable morning's Fives was followed by the first outdoors post-match lunch of the season, with a rare excursion into Windsor and a pleasantly sunny riverside berth at The Boatman. All that now remains for NOEFC's Division 1 campaign is an Eton double header in a couple of weeks time against the Old Westminsters and Team Westway. With Seb in France it will be a test of our resources to see if we can win enough points to maintain fourth place in the table and finish the season in style.

North Oxford drew with Ronald Pattison's All Stars 2-2 at Charterhouse 19/03/17:

R.Morgan & C.Ballingall lost to M.Platt & A.Abrahams 1-2 (11-13, 12-0, 11-12)

K.Hird & H.Asquith lost to S.Woolfries & J.Nelmes 2-3 (6-12, 7-12, 12-8, 12-6, 6-12)

I.Mitchell & E.Osen beat R.Pattison & R.Smart 3-0 (12-10, 12-9, 12-5)

G.Hoskins & A.Platz beat W.Seath & O.Avery 3-1 (9-12, 12-5, 12-6, 12-10)

The second instalment of the now annual friendly fixture at Charterhouse against a Ronald Pattison All Star team (an eclectic mixture of Brigands, Carthusians and Royal Holloway students) took place yesterday with honours even on court and an excellent turn out for lunch afterwards, where the numbers dining exceeded the numbers playing, impressive even by NOEFC friendly Fives standards. There was the traditional late withdrawal from Spencer Chapman, who missed out on the dual opportunity of a stats-boosting win plus the "super grains salad" option in the Stag and Ashley Lumbard was reduced to a watching/eating role due to her thumb injury. Nevertheless the two sides managed to recruit 16 players between them and once it had been decided who was playing for who - the decisive factor being whether Jonny turned up wearing Charterhouse or North Oxford kit - there ensued four well matched and entertaining matches. Chris Ballingall and Ralph Morgan were thrust in at first pair by dint of turning up last and ended up with one of the more unusual scorelines you will see - losing the first 13-11 and the third 12-11 but winning the second game to love. Having gained a 2-1 lead, the RPAS pairing of Mark Platt and Alex Abrahams decided that it was definitely a best of three match and bailed out so that Mark could go and pick his daughter up; a more ruthless interpretation of the match rules and regs would have awarded victory to the North Oxford pair, who were confident that they would have gone on to win in five. Thanks to Jonny's wardrobe, Elana Osen made her NOEFC debut, partnering Ian Mitchell against Ronald Pattison and Rod Smart and showing herself to be capable of playing Old Man Fives with some of the masters of the art as the Salopian/Westminster pair won in straight games. Club captain Gareth Hoskins was partnering another debutant, Old Stoic Anna Platz, who has been making great strides since starting to come to Summer Fields on a Monday night earlier in the year. They were up against the fast-improving Royal Holloway students Will Seath and Ollie Avery, and it was the students who took the first game to 9, playing some solid Fives and making fewer errors. Anna settled down in the second, however, and began to pick her game up significantly, making far fewer errors, playing much more solidly from the back, returning well and firing in some powerful cuts. With Gareth keeping the ball in play in a supporting role, Anna was able to take control of the match and led the North Oxford pair to a well-deserved victory in four games. At this point the majority of the group headed off for lunch, leaving the one remaining pair to finish their seemingly never-ending match. Karen and Harriet had lost the first two games against Simon Woolfries and Jonny Nelmes, but the thought of the ignominy attached to losing in three to Jonny spurred the NOEFC pair on to a revival in the third game, which then led to a levelling of the scores at 2-2. Your correspondent was too busy ordering his roast beef to see the fifth game but apparently Jonny pulled the dodgy back injury scam, feigning disability and taking a lengthy time out to lull his opponents into thinking the match was all but over before producing a Lazarus-like recovery to get back on court and win the decider 12-6. All in all this was a most successful occasion and a showcase for friendly Fives at its best. Here's to next year's match!

Photography courtesy of Ashley Lumbard

North Oxford 3 lost to Team Westway 3 0-3 at Westway 14/03/17:

K.Hird & D.Bloor-Young lost to D.Patel & T.Thurnham 0-3 (1-12, 4-12, 6-12)

S.Nowinski & E.Scoones lost to W.Gibbons & C.Wheeler 0-3 (2-12, 7-12, 11-13)

M.Millership & H.Meakin lost to M.Street & T.Wainwright 1-3 (8-12, 10-12, 12-8, 6-12)

The North Oxford third string came up against a very strong Westway 3 team at Westway last night and despite going down to a predictable 3-0 defeat, managed to give a good account of themselves and come close to producing a shock or two. In the absence of team supremo Bishop, Captain Karen took on leadership duties and played at first pair with a welcome returnee to the North Oxford fold in former OUEFC player Duncan Bloor-Young, making his first appearance in a North Oxford shirt since 2009. Duncan was predictably a little rusty and the opposition was pretty tough in the form of Division 1 regulars Darshan Patel and Tim Thurnham, but Duncan showed enough improvement and quality alongside Karen to show that he will be a more than useful addition to the NOEFC ranks as long as we don't have to wait until 2025 for his third appearance for us. Stefan Nowinski and Emily Scoones followed the Hird/BY pattern by improving in each game against Will Gibbons and Chris Wheeler and came within a whisker of winning the third game and going on (probably anyway) to win in five. Top performance of the night came from Michael Millership and Hugo Meakin at third pair, who did manage to claim the third game in their match against the experienced Martin Street and his partner Tom Wainwright, but whose hopes of a stirring come from behind victory were dashed by the Westway pair in the fourth game, thus maintaining Michael's winless streak for NOEFC, which stretches back to 2007, when he and club captain Gareth Hoskins took down a pair of St.Olave's schoolboys at Orpington by breaking one of the player's glasses so he couldn't see. Maybe it's time Michael got that tactic out of his locker once again?

North Oxford lost to Oxford University 1-2 at Eton 12/03/17:

G.Hoskins & R.Wilson lost to T.Kirkby & S.Oppenheimer 2-3 (10-12, 11-13, 12-3, 12-7, 9-12)

F.Imrie & S.Chapman lost to W.Ponsonby & B.Harrison 0-3 (4-12, 8-12, 9-12)

C.Davies & C.Lloyd beat J.Flowers & T.Critchley 3-2 (8-12, 12-9, 9-12, 12-10, 14-11)

The scores in recent matches between the two Oxford sides suggested that the EFA Trophy semi-final clash was going to be close; in the end it took nearly four hours of Fives to separate the two teams with the result in doubt right up until the last few minutes. It was the University - marginal pre-match favourites - who got off to the stronger start, going a game up in all three pairs. There were signs of things to come already, though, with Gareth Hoskins and Robert Wilson at first pair clawing back an 11-4 deficit to 11-10 before going one down to Tom Kirkby and Sam Oppenheimer. Spencer Chapman and ex-OUEFC captain Fergus Imrie at second pair also began to fight back in the second game against two players with strong Summer Fields/NOEFC connections in Barnaby Harrison and Will Ponsonby, but were never quite able to take the initiative and went on to lose in three games. With Gareth and Robert also going two down, losing a tight second game that they could and maybe should have won, things were looking bleak. The turnaround then began with the Chrises at third pair. Veterans of many an EFA Trophy campaign - the maestro having won this competition twice before his opponents were even born - Chris D and Chris L turned on the style in the second game to level at 1-1 and kept going even at 1-2 down, showing remarkable stamina, resilience and staying power (not to mention a fair amount of quality) to level at 2-2 and move into a fifth game. Third pair was progressing more quickly than first pair, where the rallies were long and intense and every point was hard-earned in the first two games. News of the Chrises' fightback inspired Gareth and Robert to up their game and with the North Oxford first pair's set piece game improving and Robert beginning to turn his control of the rallies into more winning attacking shots, the NOEFC pair began to get on top. The University pair's level dropped under the pressure being applied in game three, which Gareth and Robert won comfortably and although Tom and Sam were beginning to get their game back together in the fourth, Gareth and Robert remained in control and levelled at 2-2. At this point the news came through that the Chrises had done the business in the fifth game against Jack Flowers and Tom Critchley, winning 14-11, and were already in the ice bath, rehydrating on whatever potion Spencer had going spare in his water bottle and awaiting the arrival of the team masseur to get themselves back into shape for a potential final in the afternoon. Or expiring in a heap in a corner somewhere, secretly - or not so secretly - hoping that Gareth and Robert didn't quite manage to finish the job so they didn't have to play again. One or the other, certainly. With a good sized crowd now watching, Gareth and Robert kept their noses slightly in front for the first two thirds of the final game but as the match clock ticked towards and then past the three and a half hour mark, the North Oxford legs began to get a bit heavier and crucially the cut returns began to dry up. The North Oxford pair were still cutting well themselves and it took Tom and Sam quite a while to edge their way ahead and on to victory but Gareth and Robert were just unable to find the couple of good returns that might have taken them over the finishing line themselves and in the end had to settle for heroic failure, much to the relief of the Chrises! Despite not reaching the final, we did have a large say in the final destination of the trophy as the epic first and third pair matches had taken a lot out of the University pairs and they were no match for a strong Aldenham side - including Grandad Graham - in the final. It is pretty safe to say that had North Oxford made it to the final, it is unlikely that we would have had much left in the tank to challenge for the trophy. Nevertheless, this was a fine performance from the team and a strong end to another excellent EFA Trophy campaign.

Pairs one and two come up short...

...while the Chrises demonstrate how it should be done

North Oxford 2 beat Highgate School 3-0 at Aldenham 11/03/17:

Highgate School conceded all three pairs

Sadly Highgate were unable to raise a side to face us in Division 2 at Aldenham on Saturday morning, allowing us to bag the three points but rather disappointingly leaving the eager NOEFC team without any opposition and depriving Stephen Thatcher of a seasonal debut (although allowing him not to have to get up to catch the 4:40am train from Colwyn Bay!).

North Oxford 3 beat Old Citizens 2 2-1 at Aldenham 05/03/17:

K.Hird & C.Austin beat R.Morgan & B.Dovgyy 3-0 (12-7, 12-7, 12-3)

G.Hoskins & A.Bishop beat R.Pattison & S.Kelly 3-1 (12-8, 4-12, 12-5, 12-9)

North Oxford 3 conceded third pair

What should have been six pairs playing in Division 1 and Division 3 became a rather disjointed affair at Aldenham on Sunday; the OMs were only able to provide one pair for the first division fixture but President Bishop was having similar problems getting out a full side for the North Oxford third string to take on the Old Citizens 2. At a loose end due to the Div 1 cancellation, Chris Austin and Gareth Hoskins took the Chapmanesque opportunity to bolster the ranks (and try and improve their season's stats) against the Citizens, although the third pair still had to be conceded. The Harry Potter and Hermione Grainger of North Oxford Fives waved their respective wands at first pair, producing a dazzling array of magic to disarm Ralph Morgan and the hard-hitting Bogdan Dovgyy and win in straight games. Club captain and president teamed up at second pair, reprising the first ever pair on an official NOEFC teamsheet over 13 years ago, and found themselves up against a familiar foe in the evergreen Ronald Pattison and his sidekick Stephen Kelly. Gareth and Andy won the first game without any difficulty, almost trying hard to keep the scoreline respectable for the opposition, but suffered in the second as Ronald and Stephen picked up their game significantly while the North Oxford pair were still playing as they had in the one-sided first. Suitably stung into action, the North Oxford pair picked up the pace in the third, some fine volleying by Andy in particular keeping the scoreboard rattling along. The fourth was a cruise to 9-4 before a sloppy passage of play from Gareth, as Andy - on the post-injury comeback trail - began to tire, led to things levelling up at 9-9. With the Citizens playing with renewed vigour and Andy's body language making it clear that he would very much prefer not to have to play a fifth game, the North Oxford duo took a deep breath, returned a couple of cuts and took the subsequent chances to win the match and help take North Oxford 3 to a clear second place in the division.

North Oxford 1 trail Old Millhillians 0-1 at Aldenham 05/03/17:

P.Roper & R.Wilson lost to V.Bhimjiyani & J.Patel 0-3 (9-12, 8-12, 7-12)

The Old Millhillians were disappointingly only able to put out their first pair against us at Aldenham on Sunday in the return Division 1 fixture. The other two pairs may be rearranged for a subsequent date but we currently trail 0-1 despite a valiant performance from Phil Roper and Robert Wilson, who pushed Vishal Bhimjiyani and Jitesh Patel in all three games without quite ever managing to get their noses in front at the business end of any of them. Perhaps the best chance came at 8-8 in the second game, but two cuts out of court quickly snuffed out the half opportunity and Phil and Robert were subsequently unable to get themselves into a winning position.

North Oxford lost to Oxford University 0-2 at Iffley Road 24/02/17:

R.Wilson & P.Scholey lost to A.Wellesley & W.Ponsonby 2-3 (9-12, 14-13, 12-9, 12-14, 7-12)

C.Lloyd & S.Cass lost to B.Harrison & T.Critchley 2-3 (12-6, 9-12, 6-12, 12-7, 6-12)

A third local derby of the term and the best and closest yet, despite ultimately ending in a 2-0 defeat for North Oxford. The students were looking for some tough match practice before next week's Varsity match and both sides were looking ahead to the EFA Trophy semi-final clash between them the week after, where several of the same players will be back in action. The usual collection of Etonians (do they have a collective noun? - suggestions on a postcard, please) plus a token Old Westminster in Tom Critchley took on two strong and well-balanced NOEFC pairs, with youth and experience in both pairs and plenty of quality. The Fives was excellent throughout, with the pairs evenly matched and both matches going to five games. Rob Wilson and Pete Scholey at first pair came within a whisker of winning in four, losing the fourth game 12-14 while 2-1 up; Simon Cass (finally getting a close match for North Oxford after one resounding victory and one resounding defeat) and Chris Lloyd at second pair did it the other way round, coming from behind to level at 2-2, before both fifth games finally went the way of the student pairs, who included North Oxford's own Will Ponsonby and Old Summerfieldian Barnaby Harrison in their ranks, which makes it practically a win for us anyway. While OUEFC have their own little diversion next weekend against Cambridge, NOEFC eyes now turn to the cup semi-final at Eton on the 12th March as we look to get our hands on the EFA Trophy for only the second time in our history.

North Oxford 3 beat Lancing Old Boys 2-1 at Aldenham 11/02/17:

K.Hird & D.Cox beat A.Lumbard & A.Abrahams 3-0 (12-9, 12-2, 12-9)

J.Staley & E.Scoones lost to R.Black & C.Ballingall 2-3 (12-5, 8-12, 7-12, 14-13, 13-14)

Lancing Old Boys conceded third pair

The final act of an epic day's Fives was the reappearance of Bishop's Buccaneers, who swashbuckled their way to a 2-1 Division 3 win over Lancing to go second in the table. The only disappointment was that Lancing were unable to produce a third pair, leaving Charmin' Dharmin and Harry Asquith kicking their heels on the bench and preventing us from playing the full ten pairs in the day. With El Presidente currently gone in the fetlock, David Cox and Karen Hird reprised their successful partnership from earlier in the year at Orpington and produced a convincing victory over Ashley Lumbard and Alex Abrahams at first pair, David going a Chapmanesque 3 and 0 in his North Oxford career and Karen returning to winning ways after a couple of tough matches in the top flight. David cunningly managed to avoid another long match after his five-setter in the morning; Jon Staley, on the other hand, was heading for the full ten games in a day as he and Emily Scoones - no doubt who wears the trousers in that on court partnership - settled in for a long one against Chris Ballingall and EFA Chairman and five set specialist Richard Black. In a repeat of his morning pattern, Jon's pair won the first then lost the next two. This time, though, the fourth was tight all the way and ended up at 13-13. Match points were saved before Jon and Emily took it 14-13 and into a fifth. With Richard beginning to flag and Jon showing impressive stamina in his tenth game of the day, the North Oxford pair looked to have it all sewn up, heading out to a large early lead and getting to 11-4 up. Watching on in the snow, team captains Hoskins and Lumbard were only watching with half an eye assuming that it was all done and dusted. However, with Staley in the Crisp role and Scoones as Richard Pitman it was suddenly like watching the 1973 Grand National play out on a Fives court and with Chris Ballingall as an inspired Fives version of Red Rum charging at the finish line it was the Lancing pair who pulled it back to 11-11, then 13-13 and who then won the crucial final point to take the game. An epic end to an epic day.

North Oxford 1 beat Old Cholmeleians 2-1 at Aldenham 11/02/17:

G.Hoskins & C.Rennie lost to J.Marks & M.Kovar 0-3 (4-12, 2-12, 10-12)

R.Wilson & C.Austin beat A.Pavitt & D.Davis 3-0 (12-8, 13-10, 12-10)

P.Scholey & G.Pulsford beat N.Gill & R.Morgan 3-0 (12-7, 12-8, 12-9)

The afternoon Division 1 match produced another selectorial reshuffle and a change in fortunes, with a dizzying fifth win of the season taking the team's points total to 14 and consolidating fourth place in the table for the time being. Lunch in between matches proved to be especially productive, with the invention of a whole new foodstuff - cheese and onion crisps soaked in tomato juice (with a dash of worcester sauce), the proper initiation into NOEFC of Jon Staley and David Cox as they listened to Grandad Graham recounting the Karen Hird website story over a glass of red, the rediscovery of the original website itself and subsequent deleting of an internet search history and a rare and entirely coincidental sighting of the lesser-spotted Peter Talbot, who sadly didn't have his gloves on him, and who promised to make a Monday night comeback at some point. Well his wife promised he would anyway. Whatever the source (or indeed sauce), inspiration was duly taken as a revitalised North Oxford, with skipper Gareth now finally arrived and further reinforcements on the way in the shape of Robert Wilson and Chris Austin, prepared to take on the Cholms. Further confidence was taken as the Cholmeleians arrived minus captain Jonny Ho and with one or two other key men missing. Gareth and Carl led the line in the afternoon with a tough assignment - even in Jonny's absence - as they took on Joe Marks and Matt Kovar. Sadly neither of the North Oxford players managed to get going until it was too late - indeed at times Carl must have felt like he was still playing with Spencer - although a late rally in the third game restored a little pride and almost took the match into a scarcely-deserved fourth. Second pair was a tight one, with new arrivals Rob and Chris up against Alex Pavitt and Dexter Davis. The wand was not blazing forth magic as it sometimes does, but Chris was solid (very solid some might say) and the difference was made by a man of the match performance from Robert Wilson who played with a delightful combination of flair, power and control to take the NOEFC pair through to a straight games win. After their morning heroics, the vets were bumped back down to their more usual habitat at third pair and they produced a typically efficient - if slightly post-lunch in nature - performance to see off Nick Gill and Ralph Morgan, not touching the heights of their game win against Toop and Prior but always doing enough to stay in control and win another precious point. Next up are the Millhillians in three weeks time as we look to gain revenge for probably our worst performance of the season so far at Mill Hill in January.

Rare photographic proof that Chris does sometimes use his right hand. Robert watches on, poised to finish off the point

North Oxford 1 lost to Old Olavians 0-3 at Aldenham 11/02/17:

G.Pulsford & P.Scholey lost to J.Toop & J.Prior 1-3 (0-12, 13-10, 5-12, 8-12)

S.Chapman & C.Rennie lost to C.Self & K.Nwuba 0-3 (6-12, 10-12, 8-12)

C.Davies & K.Hird lost to H.Wiseman & J.Lawrence 0-3 (8-12, 12-13, 6-12)

While Messrs Cox & Staley were doing the business next door in Division 2, the Division 1 team were getting off to a tough start in the first part of their Aldenham double header. The pre-Christmas traffic curse struck again as captain Gareth Hoskins was delayed by nearly two hours due to an accident on the M40, meaning there was an earlier start than intended for Karen Hird - in the Ralph Morgan supersub role - and a hurried reshuffle for the arrival of the Old Olavians. The OOs were beaten 3-0 on their home turf at the start of the season by NOEFC and were out for revenge with last week's Northern Tournament winners James Toop and Howard Wiseman both in the line-up. North Oxford's selection was beset by difficulty, however, with a major OUEFC/Old Etonian Fives match and dinner taking out the student contingent, Phil "The Power" Roper still unavailable and Seb Cooley also unable to make it to Aldenham, an absence for which your correspondent offers three explanations in increasing likelihood of probability - 1) he was dropped unceremoniously after losing on Thursday, 2) some stuff and nonsense about "work" commitments or 3) the need to avoid having to listen to a lengthy discourse from S.Chapman esq about what it takes to win a set off Tom Dunbar. You can make your own minds up there but frankly I can't say I blame him. It was therefore left to possibly the oldest first pair in the history of the first division to take on the mighty Toop and partner Joey Prior and if we draw a discreet veil over the first game, a mighty fine job they made of it too. A thunderous 13-10 second game win to level the scores forced Toop into taking more and more of the shots himself in order to see off the inspired veterans, who were rolling back the years in fine style and playing at the top of their game. Having generally avoided Division 1 selection this year in order to protect his win percentage stats, Spencer was finally forced into action and partnered Carl Rennie at second pair against schoolboy Kosi Nwuba and student Chris Self. Carl and Spencer got close, especially in the second game, but the Olavian youngsters always had the edge and won in three. Supersub Karen paired up with the maestro at third pair and they put in a strong performance against Olavian skipper Howard Wiseman and his erstwhile school partner Jeff Lawrence, playing some impressive Fives at times, but ultimately making too may unforced errors to get a game on the scoreboard. The main upside was that the matches finished in plenty of time for the NOEFC contingent to head to the Round Bush for a major rest and recovery session in preparation for the afternoon matches.

North Oxford 2 beat St.Olave's School 1 2-1 at Aldenham 11/02/17:

First two pairs played at Eton 16/10/16

J.Staley & D.Cox beat N.Preston & P.Sathiyamoorthy 3-2 (12-2, 11-13, 10-12, 12-4, 12-7)

As part of North Oxford's attempt to play ten league pairs in one day at Aldenham on Saturday, the morning round of games saw the completion of the match against St.Olave's School 1, the first two pairs of which took place at Eton back in October. With the tie delicately poised at 1-1, the big guns were called out in the shape of the big-hitting Jon Staley and the tallest man in Fives David Cox. They found themselves up against an unlikely pairing in promising young schoolboy Prajeeth Sathiyamoorthy and veteran Old Uppinghamian Nick Preston. Cox and Staley were in imperious form in the first game, cruising to a 12-2 win. What happened next is tricky to explain - complacency maybe? the opposition finding their feet? the NOEFC boys just enjoying themselves and wanting to spend as long as possible on court? - but somehow David and Jon managed to lose the next two games narrowly to find themselves 1-2 down. At this point, with Nick beginning to tire, the North Oxford pair refocused and rethought their strategy, going round the walls into the buttress more often and generally tightening things up. The rewards duly came with a return to form in the fourth game and then a comfortable win in the fifth to get the NOEFC second team moving back up the Division 2 table after a long hiatus since the last match.

North Oxford 1 lost to Old Harrovians 0-3 at Harrow 09/02/17:

S.Cooley & C.Rennie lost to T.Dunbar & R.Wijeratne 0-3 (3-12, 8-12, 10-12)

G.Pulsford & P.Scholey lost to R.Bryan & R.Tyler 0-3 (9-12, 9-12, 2-12)

S.Cass & K.Hird lost to N.Shaw & H.Collins 0-3 (2-12, 1-12, 3-12)

The Old Harrovians are flying high in Division 1 this season and are involved in an exciting two horse race with Berkhamsted for the league title. Playing them away was always going to be a tough task and we were unable to come away with any points despite a spirited and determined effort. We were able to call upon the services of star signing Seb but immediately the Harrovians were able to counter his six Kinnairds with twelve of their own as Tom Dunbar appeared at first pair in a rare match against his usual partner. Sadly, James Piggot was unavailable as this would have been a great test for the hitherto unbeatable Cooley/Piggot partnership but Carl Rennie stepped up manfully and after a slow start in the first game, Seb and Carl got into the match in the second, with OH manager and seasoned observer Graham Dunbar beginning to look concerned on the sidelines. In the end, the small things made the difference in the second and third games - home advantage, Tom and Rahul Wijeratne's greater experience of playing together and a slight extra sharpness in and around the buttress from the Harrovian pair - and the home side came through to win a a high-class contest. The success of the OH team this year has been founded on a settled side with great strength at second and third pair. Richard Tyler and Ross Bryan would be a passable first pair combination in most teams and it is to the great credit of Pete Scholey and Grandad Graham that they pushed them so close in both of the first two games before falling away finally in the third. The unavailability of some key personnel meant promotion to the big league for Karen Hird and Division 1 debutant Simon Cass at third pair. Coming up against Nick Shaw and Henry Collins was a baptism of fire for Simon but both he and Karen put in a gutsy performance, whose quality was not necessarily reflected on the scoreboard. All good experience! There was the usual post-match debrief in the Castle followed by the increasingly traditional post-post-match debrief over some late night fast food at Beaconsfield services as the troops rallied and regrouped ready for Saturday's double header at Aldenham against the Olavians and the Cholms. With all four matches now out of the way against the top two, there should be some opportunities to pick up more points between now and the end of the season as we aim to finish in the top half of the table for the first time ever.

North Oxford 1 beat Team Westway 1 3-0 at Westway 28/01/17:

P.Roper & R.Wilson beat D.Patel & J.Black 3-2 (12-4, 7-12, 12-6, 8-12, 12-3)

G.Pulsford & C.Austin beat J.Saunders & S.Warren-Thomas 3-0 (12-5, 12-9, 12-1)

P.Scholey & I.Mitchell beat J.Shaw & T.Thurnham 3-2 (4-12, 12-8, 13-10, 9-12, 12-10)

A return to Division 1 winning ways against current whipping boys Team Westway on Saturday means that NOEFC have now made double figures in the top flight for the first time ever, with nearly half of the season still to come. True to the spirit of a modern day FA Cup weekend, the match was won with some key players rested for future games with Seb up in Shrewsbury and the students also unavailable in the absence of the skipper's taxi. Our strength in depth was tested but we were certainly not found wanting as Phil Roper and Robert Wilson held their nerve over five games against Darshan Patel and Julian Black, taking a firm grip of the deciding game early on and accelerating away to win it comfortably. The magic wand was barley required at second pair as Chris and Grandad cruised to an easy victory, leaving Pete and Ian Mitchell - playing his first Division 1 match of the season - to try and make it a full house. Spurred on by a posse of supporters, some staying for the long haul (Mandie) and others heading for the Westway cafe in disgust at the length of time it was taking (Vanda, Jana) Ian and Pete had to dig deep throughout a three and a half hour epic against the impressive Tim Thurnham and Justin "turncoat" Byam Shaw before finally prevailing 12-10 in the fifth. Impressive stuff indeed, and a result which consolidates our comfortable mid-table position and once again raises hopes of a possible top half finish.

North Oxford beat Oxford University Peppers 2-0 at Iffley Road 26/01/17:

S.Cass & J.Staley beat R.Badiani & J.Greenhouse 3-0 (12-2, 12-0, 12-2)

S.Nowinski & D.Naik beat R.Parr & H.Pritchard 3-0 (12-4, 12-8, 12-4)

North Oxford paid a second visit of the season to Iffley Road last night and came away with a convincing win against the University's second string. All local derbies have a little bit of friendly edge to them and with the EFA Trophy semi-final clash between the two clubs looming in the background, Jon Staley and new Monday nighter and NOEFC debutant Simon Cass were ruthless in dispatching the hapless Rushab Badiani and Jacob Greenhouse. This really was a tour of the highways and byways of the Fives world with the four players having learned to play at Wellington, Ipswich, QE Barnet and City of London respectively. The other court had a more Salopian feel to it with Berkhamstedian Dharmin Naik the only non-OS on display. Charmin' Dharmin and Marathon Man Stefan Nowinski were up against the University Ladies first pair of Hannah Pritchard and Rosie Parr and the girls gave a good account of themselves in the freezing cold conditions, despite going down in three games.

North Oxford 1 lost to Berkhamsted 1 1-2 at Berkhamsted 22/01/17:

S.Cooley & J.Piggot beat G.Campbell & C.Nicholls 3-0 (12-6, 12-5, 12-3)

P.Roper & T.Kirkby lost to R.Perrie & J.O'Neill 1-3 (4-12, 5-12, 13-12, 0-12)

G.Pulsford & G.Hoskins lost to D.Foster & A.Rattan 0-3 (7-12, 5-12, 13-14)

The North Oxford first team were back in action over the weekend and managed to earn another valuable Division 1 point away against league leaders and defending champions Berkhamsted. Seb Cooley and James Piggot were back in tandem at first pair, looking once again to be far and away the best top pair in the league this year, as they breezed past the regular Berkhamsted first string of George Campbell and Charlie Nicholls for the loss of just 14 points. As in the home fixture against the same opposition before Christmas, Phil Roper and Tom Kirkby were up against some tough opposition in Ryan Perrie and Jeremy O'Neill. TK was at least fully fit and firing this time round and after a slightly underwhelming first two games, the North Oxford pair really hit their stride in the third game, getting in front and staying there (just) to win it 13-12 and raise hopes of a stirring comeback. Sadly, they couldn't sustain the level that had got them back into the match and the Berkhamsted pair raced through the fourth game to win 3-1. Captain Gareth Hoskins had been expecting to spend the afternoon watching and cheerleading, but the late withdrawal of Carl Rennie meant that he had to hurriedly strap his gloves on and get on court with Grandad Graham at third pair against former Kinnaird semi-finalist Doug Foster and Cambridge half-blue Alex Rattan. Gareth and Graham had some good spells in the first couple of games but Doug and Alex cut better and were more consistent in taking a fairly comfortable 2-0 lead. The North Oxford pair got off to a great start in the third, leading 7-1 and managed to hold off a Berkhamsted fightback to take the match to 11-11. Berkhamsted got to foot gameball first, but Gareth and Graham levelled again and had a chance to take the match into a fourth game. It came and went, however, and it was the home pair who took the game 14-13 and the rubber 3-0. This was a decent effort from NOEFC against excellent opposition, with a spectacular first pair performance and some dogged defiance from pairs two and three earning a point that keeps us right in the mid-table mix and in contention for a top half finish with the season now at the halfway point. Next up are Team Westway on their home courts next weekend in what promises to be a tight battle.

North Oxford beat Old Westminsters 3-0 at Westminster 17/01/17:

P.Roper & M.Roper beat C.Shawcross & E.Levy 3-0 (12-10, 12-8, 12-5)

K.Hird & O.Lawton beat W.Illingworth & R.Pattison 2-1 (12-2, 7-12, 12-4)

H.Asquith & E.Scoones beat A.Jackson & N.Williams 3-0 (12-8, 12-10, 12-9)

With the January fixtures coming thick and fast, North Oxford were back in action last night at Westminster with a young side - with a 50/50 gender split - recording a strong 3-0 friendly win over a decent OW outfit. The Power had "roped in" brother Mighty Mike for a rare outing and they teamed up at first pair, banging in the Fives equivalent of consistent ton plus scoring with the occasional bullseye to see off the seasoned pairing of Ed Levy and Conrad Shawcross in three increasingly comfortable games. Captain Karen teamed up at second pair with Oli Lawton against former Cambridge skipper Will Illingworth and the ubiquitous Ronald Pattison, doing his usual trick of playing against us for as many different teams as possible (when not playing for us, obviously). A rather iffy second game from the NOEFC pair was sandwiched between two comfortable winning games before the siren call of post-match refreshment became too much. The NOEFC ladies at third pair triumphed in their "Battle of the Sexes", with Emily continuing the fine form she showed at the EFA Trophy on Sunday and Harry beginning to hit her stride after an extended break during December and early January. They combined well together and held their nerve at crucial times to win three tight games to 8, 10 and 9 to complete the win.

EFA Trophy at Eton 15/01/17:

North Oxford A finished 3rd; North Oxford B finished 9th

North Oxford A: R.Wilson, S.Chapman, K.Hird, J.Staley, C.Lloyd, C.Davies

North Oxford B: A.Lumbard, E.Scoones, C.Ballingall, S.Nowinski, A.Bishop, H.Asquith, A.Backhouse, B.Porter

An heroic effort saw North Oxford qualify for the semi-finals of the EFA Trophy yesterday, against the odds. For most of the day, the A team of Spencer Chapman, Rob Wilson, Chris Davies, Chris Lloyd, Karen Hird and Jon Staley were fighting hard but looking likely to finish just outside of the top four in the nine team round robin. There was always a chance that things might change, as all of the teams were beating each other and dropping pairs here and there. With Rob Wilson leading the line impressively and with some canny pair selection from Captain Chapman - powered by his phytonutrient rich Superbar with active greens - North Oxford always won at least one pair in every match to keep the scoreboard ticking and keep in touch with the leaders. With three rounds to go, it was time to make our move, starting with a vital point against top dogs Oxford University as the evergreen Chrises ripped the student second pair to pieces. The penultimate round - against a tricky St.Olave's team - started well with the Chrises maintaining their form and winning 12-11 and Spencer and Karen at third pair winning comfortably. With Rob and Jon struggling at first pair and 1-7 down, there was a sudden stroke of luck (although not for poor James Tate) as one of the Olavian boys slipped badly, banging his head and having to concede the game. With Chris Ballingall and Alfie Backhouse simultaneously pulling off just about the result of the competition in beating the Monday Knights second pair to 5 for the NOEFC B team, the door was suddenly open, meaning just one point from the final round would ensure qualification ahead of the Monday Knights, the Old Ipswichians and the Old Wulfrunians. It was far from job done, however, as the final game was against the other joint top qualifiers Aldenham, who were looking to consolidate their place at the top of the table. The Chrises hot streak finally came to an end as they went down 12-10 at second pair and Rob and Jon were unable to knock out either of the Aldenham first pair this time, but Spencer and Karen did the business at third pair, defeating Oli Lawton and Richard Dennis to 7 to get us to 15 points and third place overall. The B team, led by President Bishop, did ultimately come 9th out of 9, but can take huge credit for the way they performed, scoring some valuable wins and giving some much more highly vaunted opposition a real run for their money. It was also good to see last year's schools U14 champions, Old Summerfieldians Alfie Backhouse and Ben Porter, impressing after a tough start on their NOEFC debuts. We hope to see a lot more of both of them in years to come. The semi-finals are at Eton on Sunday March 12th and see us up against local rivals Oxford University in a repeat of last year's final.

North Oxford drew with The Brigands 1½-1½ at Eton 12/01/17:

C.Rennie & A.Bishop drew with P.Roper & N.Higgins 2-2 (3-12, 13-12, 5-12, 12-6)

S.Nowinski & D.Naik lost to M.Powell & R.Pattison 1-3 (2-12, 12-9, 7-12, 6-12)

The Brigands conceded third pair

A fighting performance and some feebleness from the opposition gained North Oxford a hard-earned draw in the annual friendly against The Brigands at Eton on Thursday evening. The original three pair fixture was reduced to two as a couple of the Brigands decided that a couple of centimetres of snow was too much for them, pulling out at the last minute. Unfortunately Rosie Scott (no irony there...) and Ronald Pattison had to be stood down late on, although somehow Ronald resurfaced a couple of hours later playing for the Brigands rather than against them. The brave souls who put Fives ahead of their own personal safety were rewarded with an excellent game, an equally convivial post-match meal in Cote and a late arrival back home in some cases. Partners on Tuesday against Mill Hill, Carl Rennie and Phil Roper found themselves on opposite sides this time, with Phil a regular Brigand. Club President Andy Bishop found himself playing alongside Carl at first pair and once the nose bleed had gone he acquitted himself extremely well with some canny old man cutting and more importantly by convincing Carl of the new gameplan following a heavy first game defeat i.e. Carl should take as much as possible and the ball should be hit as far away form The Power as possible. There followed a turn around in the second, a wobble in the third as the gameplan temporarily went out of the window and Nick Higgins found some cut-returning form and a glorious flyer at the start of the fourth to level at 2-2. At this point, the vote went 3-1 in favour of food & drink over a deciding game - the benefits of playing a friendly - with Higgins the lone dissenting voice and a draw was agreed. With third pair conceded and second pair won by the Brigands this produced a most satisfactory overall draw. Charmin' Dharmin and Stefan Nowinski at second pair had also had a close match, also coming back to level at 1-1 after a heavy first game defeat at the hands of Martin Powell and Ronald with Stefan on fire with his unorthodox cut returns and Dharmin firing in a stream of back court winners. Martin and Ronald are hugely experienced players and pretty wily, however, and varied their cuts enough in the third and fourth games to give themselves the advantage and come through to win 3-1.

North Oxford 1 lost to Old Millhillians 1 0-3 at Mill Hill 10/01/17:

C.Rennie & P.Roper lost to S.Tailor & V.Bhimjiyani 0-3 (4-12, 5-12, 1-12)

G.Hoskins & C.Austin lost to J.Patel & A.Rennie 0-3 (8-12, 4-12, 4-12)

P.Scholey & N.Turnbull lost to O.Sander & C.Plummer 0-3 (1-12, 4-12, 5-12)

A return to competitive action at Mill Hill last night saw the NOEFC first team slump to a rather lacklustre 3-0 defeat at the hands of a strong Mill Hill outfit. Carl and The Power at first pair were probably the best of a bad bunch in performance terms, the quality of their play at times not necessarily reflected in the scoreline as they lost in three to the impressive Sunil Tailor and Vishal Bhimjiyani. At their best, Gareth and Chris might have fancied their chances at second pair, but after losing a scruffy but close first game the NOEFC captain soon realised that playing on four consecutive days was perhaps unwise for a man his age while his partner was coming to the conclusion that not playing for several weeks was perhaps unwise for a man his age. There may be a common theme there but it rather eludes me for now. Suffice to say that the second and third games were fairly undistinguished and won't feature in the end of season highlights reel. With Pete Scholey at third pair also suffering with post Ipswich tournament recovery issues, coupled with a dead arm having been convincingly cleared out of the ruck by opponent Oli Sander - a pretty solid unit - in the first game, it was left to Nathan Turnbull to provide the best bits for the North Oxford third pair as they were brushed aside by Sander and Charlie Plummer, a pairing who have already proved themselves to be high quality operators this season. The result was dissected and then quickly consigned to the rubbish bin of history in the Three Hammers - an appropriately named pub given that all three NOEFC pairs did indeed get hammered - where we scored our only win of the night with a 4-3 triumph. Next up in Division 1 is a big away game at Berkhamsted, when hopefully some of the superstars will be back in action. And Graham.

NOEFC struggle to get going in 2017

North Oxford 1 lost to Old Salopians 0-3 at Westway 29/11/16:

C.Rennie & C.Austin lost to E.Taylor & G.Thomason 0-3 (5-12, 6-12, 7-12)

G.Pulsford & P.Scholey lost to C.Hughes & H.Lewis 1-2 (13-12, 7-12, 6-12 timed out)

R.Wilson & K.Hird lost to T.Cox & G.Williams 0-3 (3-12, 3-12, 3-12)

With sixteen matches to play in Division 1 this year, the games come thick and fast and North Oxford had the misfortune to come up against a full strength Old Salopian side at Westway last night. With Seb unavailable and The Power suffering from a dislocated finger, North Oxford were hit further by the unavailabililty of captain Gareth Hoskins, less for his on court performances and more for his taxi-driving and student-herding skills. In their absence, the team put in a highly creditable performance, making their opponents work hard for their points. Carl and Chris at first pair tried to summon up the spirit of Mill Hill at first pair against Ed Taylor and George Thomason but had their work cut out against a quality pair. Carl did his best to push for another 11pm+ finish by not turning up until after 8 o'clock thanks to an interesting early evening on the highways and byways of West London and after the inevitable slow start, the North Oxford pair played pretty well, with Carl taking on Ed at his left-handed volleying game and getting the better of him on occasions and Chris producing the shot of the night as the wand worked its magic to send a left-handed round-arm forehand from the back of the court pinging beautifully back over the buttress, leaving Thomason chasing fresh air. The old firm of Grandad and Pete have been in fine form in recent weeks, producing a series of league points from the engine room of the team. They started in fine style last night against Chris Hughes and Henry Lewis, winning a marathon first game 13-12 before eventually running out of steam (and time) at 1-2 down after three games, three balls and two and a half hours. Third pair saw a welcome reappearance in a North Oxford shirt of Robert Wilson, back at the Westway scene of some of his former Aston House Stud glory days. Robert was a little rusty having not played for a while and he and Karen were unlucky to come up against a third pair of the quality of Guy Williams and Tom Cox. Nevertheless the NOEFC pair fought hard and hopefully we will see more of Robert as the season progresses.

North Oxford beat Cambridge University 2-1 at Cambridge 27/11/16:

G.Hoskins & S.Chapman lost to Sudhir Balaji & B.Merrett 1-2 (8-12, 12-9, 9-12)

K.Hird & R.Morgan beat J.Remo & N.Walker 3-0 (12-5, 12-3, 12-2)

J.Knight & S.Nowinski beat E.Day-Collins & P.Wilkinson 3-0 (12-1, 12-3, 12-5)

North Oxford Ladies beat Cambridge University Ladies 2-0 at Cambridge 27/11/16:

K.Hird & L.Rymell beat P.Ball & G.Hoskins 2-1 (12-9, 12-5, 11-12)

F.Turnbull & C.Farquharson-Roberts beat A.Calderbank & R.Shiels 2-0 (12-2, 12-6)

The annual day-long NOEFC Fives-fest at Cambridge proved to be another great success, with a heavily Light Blue-tinged North Oxford team playing two pairs against the CU ladies in the morning and then three pairs against the men in the afternoon. The Cambridge ladies were only able to produce 3 players for the morning session, but with a strong North Oxford team it allowed Gareth to guest for the Cambridge side to level up the standards. Gareth partnered Pippa Ball, who has only been playing for just over a year but is making rapid strides and she held her own well against Karen Hird and Louise Rymell, making her NOEFC debut having flown back from Australia the day before. Karen and Louise won the first two games, with Louise's excellent cutting the biggest factor, before Gareth and Pippa edged the third 12-11, profiting from the traditional Hird 11-11 sudden death policy. In the second court, Francesca Turnbull and former Cambridge player Charlie Farquharson-Roberts - whose husband and children provided three-quarters of the crowd - were too strong for Rhonda Shiels and Annie Calderbank, winning the first two games easily before swapping partners for a much more close-fought third, won 14-11 by Charlie and Rhonda.

Lunch in between matches this year was taken at the Blue Lion in Hardwick, rather than the Red Lion in Grantchester, an excellent addition to the NOEFC dining rota. The only tricky decision was what to do with the aubergine and cashew nut kofte with quinoa tabbouleh that had been pre-ordered by Spencer, who then didn't make it to Cambridge on time. A few brave souls took the odd nibble to supplement their Sunday roasts and there was even time for a round of crumbles and brownies, much to the delight of certain North Oxford players (no prizes for guessing who!).

The crumble did seem to be lingering slightly heavily on the North Oxford captain in the initial stages of his first pair match with Spencer against Ben Merrett and Cambridge captain Sudhir Balaji (a second Balaji in two days for NOEFC) and they rather staggered to a 12-8 defeat. Better was to follow with a 12-9 second game win and at 9-6 up in the deciding third game, all seemed well. Consistent cut returns had been a problem for the North Oxford pair throughout, however, and they deserted them completely at this point. Ironically, Gareth and Spencer's cutting and general play during this phase of the match were as good as anything they had produced at any stage but they were simply unable to buy a return, allowing Ben and Sudhir to slowly crawl their way back into the match - it took a while - and eventually over the line for a 2-1 win to the home team. The other two Cambridge pairs were rather weaker, with a few names missing (including young Turnbull who blotted his copybook severely by choosing girlfriend over Fives), and Ralph and Karen at second pair and Stefan and Joss - making a welcome reappearance in NOEFC colours - both won comfortably in straight games to secure the overall win.

Photos courtesy of Colin Turnbull

North Oxford 3 lost to St.Olave's School 2 1-2 at Orpington 26/11/16:

D.Cox & K.Hird beat Sachin Balaji & S.Gupta 3-2 (9-12, 12-7, 12-7, 8-12, 12-9)

J.Staley & E.Scoones lost to Y.Bleunven & I.Jochim 2-3 (7-12, 11-14, 12-1, 12-5, 9-12)

A.Bishop & W.Carling* lost to T.Liddemore & L.Duffin 1-3 (6-12, 12-6, 5-12, 4-12)

*ineligible player named in advance

Bishop's Bucanneers headed to Orpington on Saturday for a top of Division 3 clash and came away with a narrow defeat after an exciting see-saw contest that only just finished in time before the traditional caretaker-imposed St.Olave's deadline. David Cox - Old Ipswichian and Radley College maths department colleague of El Presidente - came in for his first NOEFC appearance since the EFA Trophy of 2010 after a successful Monday night re-emergence a few weeks ago. He partnered Karen Hird at one in a pair with the largest disparity in height between the two players since Seb last played (with pretty much anyone) and after losing the first game to their schoolboy opponents, they began to hit their stride, taking the next two games to 7. A fourth game loss proved to be merely a blip as they proved themselves too strong in the fifth game, winning 12-9 to clinch a well-deserved point. Jon Staley and Emily Scoones decided that they were going to win second pair the hard way, promptly losing the first two games 7-12 and 11-14. In the third, however, Jon seemed to get over his initial surprise at being bossed around by his partner and things began to click with a 12-1 win in the third followed by 12-5 in the fourth. All seemed set for a fine comeback victory but the poor start came back to haunt them, as with no margin for error they allowed the fifth to slip away 9-12. With a sixth player hard to come by, Wendy Carling admirably stepped into the breach at third pair despite being ineligible and partnered team captain Andy Bishop. Wendy played with her usual exuberance and tenacity, and Andy had a hot streak in the second game with three successive points won with shots into the hole, but at 1-1 the momentum switched irreversibly towards the school pair, who went on to win 3-1. There was a 5-0 post match win for NOEFC for lunch at the Royal Oak afterwards, once Karen had remembered which pub she was taking everyone to, and the point gained consolidates North Oxford's position in the higher reaches of Division 3.

North Oxford drew with Oxford University 1-1 at Iffley Road 24/11/16:

N.Shaw & C.Rennie lost to J.Piggot & B.Harrison 1-3 (12-10, 1-12, 3-12, 9-12)

R.Griffiths & P.Scholey beat T.Kirkby & S.Mehta 2-1 (11-12, 12-8, 13-10)

A rip-roaring Oxford derby finished with honours even at Iffley Road last night as North Oxford took on the students for the first time this season and for the first time since the final of last year's EFA Trophy. The ties between the two clubs have been made a lot stronger this season thanks to the inclusion of several of the top student players in the NOEFC squad; that, plus the presence of two former Cambridge Half-Blues in the North Oxford line-up and two good quality and well-matched pairs gave this friendly a nicely competitive edge. The first issue was the need to remove the OU triathletes from the courts in order to get the match started due to a booking error (we've been there before at Iffley Road...) but once things got started Nick Shaw and Carl Rennie got off to a strong start against James Piggot and Barnaby Harrison, winning the first game to 10. At that point, though, the wheels came off for the NO pair, as they began to struggle with the ball losing its colour as well as the increasing dominance of Piggot, who seized control of the match, taking the University pair through to a 3-1 win, despite a spirited comeback in the fourth from Carl and Nick. Second pair featured an exciting and long-anticipated NOEFC debut for Old Salopian Rory Griffiths, now teaching at Cothill prep school near Oxford and an occasional Monday nighter. Rory and Pete Scholey narrowly lost the first game to Tom Kirkby and Sacha Mehta, but as the rust began to be shaken off Rory's gloves, he and Pete began to combine to better effect, winning the next two games to win 2-1, with the match reduced to best of three due to time constraints. Triathletes, lacrosse players and other users of the Iffley Road Fives courts permitting, there will be further derby matches next term - hopefully they will all be as exciting as this one.

North Oxford 1 lost to Berkhamsted 1 1-2 at Aldenham 20/11/16:

S.Cooley & J.Piggot beat A.Theodossi & R.Perrie 3-0 (12-8, 12-5, 12-8)

T.Kirkby & P.Roper lost to A.Joyce & C.Nicholls 0-3 (5-12, 9-12, 8-12)

P.Scholey & S.Oppenheimer lost to D.Foster & M.Skelton 2-3 (12-7, 10-12, 12-10, 8-12, 10-12)

Sunday at Aldenham featured a first in the annals of North Oxford - playing two league matches at the same time with both first and second division matches against Berkhamsted. The Berkhamsted first team are a formidable force - defending league champions and coming into this match with six wins out of six and eighteen points out of eighteen so far this season. It was to NOEFC's great credit therefore that we became the first team to take a point off them this season and came within a whisker of taking the tie overall. The win was provided by the first pair of Seb Cooley and James Piggot who are rapidly proving themselves to be the most feared first pair in the league after a third consecutive straight games win together. Berkhamsted's skipper George Campbell was absent for this fixture but they were still able to field Kinnaird semi-finalists Anthony Theodossi and Ryan Perrie at first pair; they were no match for the master Cooley and his impressive apprentice Piggot who, after a slightly slow start in the first game, soon got into their rhythm to dominate the match with the highlights the awkward left-handed cutting of Piggot and a remarkable - even by his own standards - fingertip retrieval from Seb, who due to a sudden change of direction happened to be fully horizontal on the floor at the time. Rumour has it that similar shots were being pulled off in every other rally by Messrs Pulsford and Davies on a nearby court, but they just don't like to boast about it. Second pair looked like an interesting one on paper with The Power playing alongside Tom Kirkby. TK was rather under the weather but responded manfully, especially having had his nice Sunday morning lie-in disturbed by the NOEFC captain and Oxford taxi driver tooting his horn outside St.Anne's college at 9am. They were up against the classy Andrew Joyce and Charlie Nicholls - still at school but already a seasoned Division 1 veteran - and ultimately came up just short in a high quality encounter. With everyone else finished well before 1pm, third pair turned into the must watch game (especially for the Berkhamsted contingent as it featured their minibus driver). Ironically, but perhaps not unsurprisingly, NOEFC debutant Sam Oppenheimer - the latest new recruit off the Eton/Oxford conveyor belt of talent - was the one person playing to a deadline, in his case a family lunch in London, but he put all thoughts of disappointing Mrs Oppenheimer aside to concentrate on playing his part in a classic match. Sam and veteran Pete Scholey were up against Berkhamsted's other school first pair player, Milo Skelton, and the experienced former Kinnaird semi-finalist Doug Foster and it was the NOEFC scratch pairing who got off to a flying start, winning the first game 12-7. The next two were long, close games and eventually shared, with tempers flaring towards the end of the third as Pete and Sam took a 2-1 lead. With most of the North Oxford contingent in the pub by now, or at least huddling together in the only available free corner by the dartboard, Pete and Sam continued to fight hard. They lost the fourth to 8 and were always playing a frustrating game of catch up in the fifth - never far behind but never quite able to get their noses in front. After three hours plus it was the Berkhamsted pair who eventually clinched the decider 12-10 - and an overall points count of 53-52 in their favour - to maintain their team's winning league run by the smallest possible margin. It has taken three years to find the formula, but the addition of a sprinkling of Cooley stardust to the strengthened NOEFC/OUEFC alliance has now produced a squad capable of taking the fight to the best league team in the country and of more than holding their own in the top flight.

North Oxford 2 beat Berkhamsted 2 3-0 at Aldenham 20/11/16:

C.Austin & G.Hoskins beat J.Skelton & J.Hawkes 3-0 (12-4, 12-9, 15-13)

G.Pulsford & C.Davies beat T.Ross & A.Pemberton 3-0 (12-1, 12-1, 12-1)

H.Asquith & F.Turnbull beat E.Mann & S.Wiggill 3-0 (12-3, 12-7, 12-10)

While the glamorous summer signings and Oxford University youngsters (plus Pete) were doing their thing on courts 1-3, it was left to the more familiar NOEFC mix of old lags and the cream of ladies Fives to take care of business in the second division fixture. The result was a second 3-0 win of the week, which - temporarily at least - has catapulted North Oxford 2 to the top of the Division 2 standings. The chat in the pre-match team huddle was dominated by one of the more remarkable examples of nominative determinism you are ever likely to see, as Grandad reported for duty wearing a very fetching tweed flat cap. Presumably he left the matching slippers in the car but for a minute there it was if the ghost of Clive Dunn had turned up to play for North Oxford. Unfortunately for Berkhamsted, late withdrawals meant that they ended up fielding a very inexperienced second pair, who most certainly didn't like it up'em and Graham could probably have got away with playing like Clive Dunn and still won. Thankfully Grandad and the maestro didn't panic, easing through their three games with the minimum of fuss. Fresh from their excellent Black Cup performance last weekend, Harry Asquith and Francesca Turnbull were in control of their match against Emily Mann and Sarah Wiggill right from the start. The Berkhamsted pair played better as the match went on and the the third game in particular was pretty close, but the North Oxford pair kept their cool at the critical moments and got the 3-0 win. The first pair match followed a similar pattern in some ways, with North Oxford getting off to a strong start and winning the first game comfortably before having to hold off increasingly threatening opposition as the match progressed. Chris Austin went straight into the game having only just finished his previous match against the Old Millhillians - at least it felt like that - and he and Gareth started off fluently, dominating the set piece in the first game to win to 4. James Skelton and James Hawkes came back strongly in the second and third games, however, and while Gareth and Chris continued to return cut well (as well as demonstrating a superior knowledge of the laws of the game), they struggled to cut the Berkhamsted pair down consistently, giving both pairs plenty of opportunities to score points. A well-timed run of returns from Gareth at 8-9 down in the second put the North Oxford pair into a 2-0 lead and there was just enough magic in the Austin wand to clinch a tight third game 15-13 and with it the match and top spot in the division.

North Oxford 2 beat Old Millhillians 2 3-0 at Mill Hill 15/11/16:

C.Austin & C.Rennie beat O.Sander & C.Plummer 3-2 (10-12, 3-12, 12-6, 12-7, 14-12)

S.Chapman & O.Lawton lost to V.Bhimjiyani* & H.Gibson-Leitao 0-3 (3-12, 7-12, 10-12)

G.Pulsford & C.Cook beat J.Hutcheson & A.Holmes 3-1 (9-12, 12-5, 12-4, 12-7)

*ineligible player

North Oxford v Old Millhillians fixtures, especially in Division 2, have had a habit of producing some absolutely epic first pair matches over the years and last night's was no exception, in fact it may even have laid claim to the record for the latest ever recorded finish. First pair has required five games to separate the teams in five of the last six seasons but at 0-2 down, having lost the second game to 3, things were looking pretty bleak last night for Chris Austin and Carl Rennie, up against the hard-hitting Oliver Sander and schoolboy prodigy Charlie Plummer, son of the éminence grise of Mill Hill Fives, Steve Plummer. At this point, Chris and Carl had a long discussion between games to try and work out how to turn the match around. The masterful tactical strategy they came up with was simple - to try and be a bit less rubbish. This turned out to be highly effective, surely putting them both in line for the job as Australian cricket coach in the not too distant future, as the Austin magic wand began to splutter back into life and Carl began to find his cutting and volleying length. With the time well after 10pm and the match poised at 2-2, there were clearly discernible mutterings from the watching Mrs P about her son's bedtime on a midweek schoolnight but into the fifth they went, with some cagey Fives leading to 4-1 and 8-5 leads for the OM pair before a run to 10-8 took North Oxford into pole position. The Millhillians pulled it back to 10-10 before a couple of fine back court volleys from Carl, a couple of errors from the home pair and an epic final rally saw the North Oxford duo finally hit the winning shot at 11:05pm, before hobbling back to the car park exhausted but extremely satisfied (presumably with various members of the Plummer family staring daggers at their backs for a variety of reasons). Second and third pairs suffered a delayed start due to more London traffic nightmares (Wembley football, M25 chaos) but thankfully both managed to finish rather earlier than first pair. Captain Chapman stepped up to partner Oli Lawton at second pair against another schoolboy in Hal Gibson-Leitao and the high-class Vishal Bhimjiyani, who is named in Division 1 this year so was playing as an ineligible player, meaning the league point was in the bag before the start. The North Oxford pair gave Vish a bit too much respect in the first game, going down 12-3 without really making much of an impression. They stepped it up significantly in the second and third games and by the end Vish was having to work pretty hard to cling on to a win in the third and avoid the start of another five game North Oxford comeback. Spencer's traffic issues meant that Charlie Cook had had to avoid having his collar felt while loitering suspiciously for half an hour with a holdall outside Mill Hill Broadway's branch of M&S earlier in the evening. Thankfully they made it in the end and Charlie teamed up with Grandad at third pair, with both players having points to prove - Graham wanting to continue proving his fitness after the freak cat/food/back incident of a few weeks ago and Charlie looking to get his season back on track after a couple of disappointing recent results following his flying start. Despite losing the first game to James Hutcheson and Alex Holmes, this proved to be an inspired pairing as Graham's court craft and shot selection gave Charlie the opportunity to play his own game and grow in confidence as the match progressed. Courtside witnesses even claim that a fleeting smile crossed the Cook face at one point in the match, although that was soon wiped off afterwards as the NOEFC contingent had to listen to the Pulsford cat-feeding story again while attempting to support Carl and Chris in their never-ending match. At least Charlie was spared the Karen Hird website story, although he will have to sit through the full length version of that at some stage if he wishes to become a fully fledged NOEFC member. The end result of the evening's efforts was a splendid full house of three league points, sending the second team flying up the table before this weekend's eagerly anticipated Division 1 and 2 double header against Berkhamsted at Aldenham.

With thanks to Spencer and Chris for contributions to the match report.

Richard Black Cup at Eton 13/11/16:

Group Stages: beat Highgate 2 3-0, Cambridge University 3-0, Shrewsbury 3-0, Westminster/Olavians 3-0. First in group.

Semi-Final:

North Oxford beat Ipswich 2-1

K.Hird & H.Asquith beat C.Cooley & S.Frost 2-0 (12-7, 12-6)

R.Scott & I.Watts lost to E.Carter & N.Mason w/o

M.Barnes & F.Turnbull beat E.Longhurst & L.Rendell 2-0 (12-2, 12-0)

Final:

North Oxford lost to Highgate 1-2

K.Hird & H.Asquith beat P.Bracken & A.Reimer 2-1 (12-9, 11-12, 12-7)

I.Watts & F.Turnbull lost to A.Lumbard & E.Scoones 0-2 (3-12, 1-12)

North Oxford conceded third pair

For the fourth successive year, North Oxford's women made it into the final of the Richard Black Cup and for the fourth successive year they came up just short against Highgate in the final. The NOEFC sextet of Karen Hird, Harry Asquith, Izzy Watts, Rosie Scott, Francesca Turnbull and Mandie Barnes demolished allcomers in the morning group stages, breezing through without conceding a game or even looking like it. The first stumbling block came after lunch as Rosie sadly had to pull out, leaving the two remaining NOEFC pairs needing to win their semi-final matches against Ipswich to make it through to the final. Mandie and Francesca had no problems beating the inexperienced Ipswichian youngsters at third pair, but Karen and Harry had plenty of work to do as they took on the formidable pair of Charlotta Cooley and Sarah Frost. This was an impressive performance by Karen and Harry, who won 12-7, 12-6 with a fine display of cutting, returning and volleying that never gave their opponents a look in. They then carried their form into the final, gaining revenge for their defeat in last year's match at the hands of Phoebe Bracken and Amira Reimer with another excellent win, despite being made to go to three games after a gutsy 12-11 win from the Highgate girls in the second game. Ultimately, though, the North Oxford pair were faster to the volley, a bit more clinical around the court and found their best cuts and returns when it mattered most. Sadly, the cup itself was long gone by that stage as third pair had to be conceded and Izzy and Francesca found themselves up against sometime NOEFC player Emily Scoones, playing for her alma mater alongside Ashley Lumbard as the two of them looked to get meaningful match practice together for the season. Izzy and Francesca fought hard but were unable to make much of an impression on the scoreboard, leaving North Oxford to collect the runners-up chocolates again and begin to plot a way to make it fifth time lucky next year.

North Oxford 3 lost to The Abbey 1-2 at Westminster 10/11/16:

K.Hird & C.Cook lost to A.Benson & A.Vinen 0-3 (4-12, 5-12, 5-12)

A.Bishop & S.Nowinski lost to C.Koksal & H.Young 0-3 (9-12, 9-12, 4-12)

E.Scoones & H.Asquith beat D.Gore & R.Chen 3-1 (6-12, 12-6, 12-10, 12-5)

Sport, indeed life, sometimes throws up some rather interesting symmetry. Just over ten years ago, North Oxford played their first ever league match against The Abbey, winning 3-0. Fast forward a decade and the second meeting between the clubs featured the North Oxford third string and the Westminster schoolboys playing the day after NOEFC's first team had taken on the Old Westminsters first team in Division 1, an OW side captained by Laurie Brock, who played for The Abbey in that intitial fixture back in 2006 (a certain A.Bishop appeared for the North Oxford team that day as well). Not only that, but both matches this week ended in 2-1 wins to the home team, with North Oxford's strength in depth coming to the rescue both times with third pair wins. There the similarities end, however, as Wednesday's first division point was won by the old men of the team. Last night's winners were the girls at third pair as Harry Asquith and Emily Scoones mounted a storming comeback to win in four after losing the first game to 6. This time NOEFC3's old men were at second pair as Stefan Nowinski and Captain Andy tried to demonstrate the value of experience to their callow opponents. Sadly, a late arrival after a long traffic-delayed journey - another theme of the week - and Andy nursing an iffy hamstring* meant that they never quite got going in a match that they could possibly have won playing at their best. Karen and Charlie had the hardest gig of the evening as they faced up to a strong school first pair and they duly came second, without perhaps playing their best Fives either. For Karen - as with Emily and Harry - it was good tough match practice before NOEFC's assault on the Black Cup this weekend and the match provided more good experience for Charlie, whose early season run of victories has been followed by a couple of tougher defeats recently, but who continues to improve - it's only a matter of time before the wins start flowing again from the Cook gloves!

*someone needs to tell the club president that the hockey has to go...

North Oxford 1 lost to Old Westminsters 1 1-2 at Highgate 09/11/16:

G.Hoskins & C.Rennie lost to L.Brock & R.Houlden 1-3 (15-14, 4-12, 5-12, 4-12)

B.Harrison & N.Turnbull lost to M.Lewin & I.Salim 0-3 (6-12, 9-12, 8-12)

G.Pulsford & P.Scholey beat G.Coren & W.Capstick 3-0 (12-7, 12-6, 12-9)

North Oxford's first team were without their Division 1 superstars for the away match against the Old Westminsters at Highgate last night, but the slightly makeshift line-up - minus messrs Cooley, Piggot and Roper - put in a strong performance, deservedly coming away with a valuable point, taking the total to 7 from four matches, an excellent start to the season and a far better return than in our first two years in the top flight. Gareth and Carl took the responsibility of moving up to first pair on their shoulders and found themselves faced with formidable opposition in the shape of Laurie Brock and Riki Houlden. Gareth was unrecognisable in the first game from the player who tamely lost against the Harrovians on Saturday, cutting strongly and not giving anything away; with Carl returning well and pushing forward from the back to volley in the mid-court to great effect, they matched their highly rated opponents point for point, finally taking the game 15-14. The North Oxford pair continued to play well for the rest of the match, making the Westminsters work hard for every point, but with Riki in particular producing some terrific cut returning and fast hands around the buttress, the class of the OW pair gave them the edge and took them to a 3-1 win in a high-quality match. Second pair was a battle of the youngsters with four teenagers on court as London University students and former school partners Matt Lewin and Ismail Salim took on North Oxford's Oxbridge combination of Nathan Turnbull and Old Summerfieldian Barnaby Harrison. This was another excellent match with the North Oxford pair putting themselves into positions to win games - especially the second - but not quite being able to "seal the deal", as the advantage of having played more together and the greater recent competitive match experience of the Westminster pair took them through to a hard-fought win. Luckily for North Oxford, the old men of pair three were on hand to show the rest how it should be done. Pete Scholey had also recovered well from his Saturday shocker and began to hit his stride alongside Grandad Graham, back from his feline-induced back ailment (see below for details), and easing himself back into competitive Fives against another OW teenager in Will Capstick and the undoubted best swearer in Fives Giles Coren (even playing on the adjacent court can be challenging at times and requires constant concentration and focus!). The North Oxford pair played well and were in control of the match pretty much from start to finish, to make sure we didn't come away empty-handed from a second successive match. NOEFC then impressed again in fine style with a 5-2 win in The Bull afterwards, with Laurie and Riki only coming because we made them. Luckily the fresh-faced Brock - significantly closer to 30 than 20 and about to get married - had some ID on him to allow him to get served. Without Graham to treat us to stories we've all heard several times before, we resorted to one of our own, demonstrating to Riki the importance of being slightly wary when receiving an email from his illustrious team mate before crossing our fingers that the traffic getting home would be rather better than the journey most of us had to get to Highgate in the first place. Next up for the first team is the big game against league leaders Berkhamsted in a six pair Div 1 and Div 2 double header at Aldenham on Sunday week.

North Oxford 1 lost to Old Harrovians 0-3 at Eton 05/11/16:

T.Kirkby & J.Piggot lost to T.Dunbar & R.Wijeratne 0-3 (7-12, 8-12, 7-12)

C.Rennie & P.Roper lost to R.Tyler & J.Fleming 1-3 (9-12, 3-12, 12-4, 11-13)

G.Hoskins & P.Scholey lost to N.Shaw & H.Collins 0-3 (7-12, 3-12, 6-12)

North Oxford's third Division 1 match of the season saw a third successive 3-0 away win on Saturday; sadly, this time North Oxford were the home team and were unable to hold off a strong Old Harrovian side as second took on third in a battle between unbeaten sides. Unsurprisingly, the absence of Seb Cooley was keenly felt at first pair, and while North Oxford were missing their multiple Kinnaird winner, the Harrovians fielded theirs. The neutral fan was denied the fascinating prospect of Seb and Tom in direct opposition for a change and it was up to James Piggot and his Universities tournament winning Oxford partner Tom Kirkby to take on Dunbar and top Harrow schoolboy Rahul Wijeratne at first pair. The Oxford duo put in an impressive performance and made the Harrovians work hard for their win, but ultimately Dunbar's quality shone through and the Harrovian pair won in straight games. The second pair match was a classic game of up and coming youngsters against established stars and the young NOEFC pair of Carl Rennie and Phil "The Power" Roper came within a whisker of causing a significant upset to the traditional order. Carl & Phil started a bit slowly, losing the first two games to Richard Tyler and Jamie Fleming but suddenly came to life in the third. Carl began to find his cut return and some good lines into the buttress from the back while Phil - full of confidence after his win last weekend in the Midlands tournament - found his cutting range and began to dominate the top step battle with some fast reactions and fierce left-hand volleys. The North Oxford pair raced through the third game and with 9-4 and 10-7 leads in the fourth it looked like it might just go to five. Unfortunately the North Oxford pair couldn't quite close it out at the crucial juncture and Fleming and Tyler produced some fine Fives when it mattered to level at 10-10 and then go on to win the game 13-11 and the match 3-1. In this fixture last year, Gareth Hoskins and Pete Scholey played just about the perfect match to win second pair 3-0 against Tyler & Oskar Denby. Their third pair rubber against NOEFC's own Nick Shaw and another strong Harrow schoolboy in Henry Collins looked on paper as if it might be a tight game, with the chance of a North Oxford win if Gareth & Pete could refind their 2015 form. Sadly, they didn't get close, failing to get out of second gear and never really troubling the OH pair, who breezed unchallenged to a convincing 3-0 win.

The North Oxford Division 1 winning streak comes to an abrupt end

North Oxford 1 beat Old Cholmeleians 3-0 at Highgate 27/10/16:

S.Cooley & J.Piggot beat J.Ho & M.Kovar 3-0 (12-5, 12-5, 12-8)

W.Ponsonby & P.Roper beat D.Mew & O.Hallam 3-1 (12-10, 13-15, 12-4, 12-7)

G.Hoskins & A.Knight beat J.Marks & T.Lethbridge 3-1 (10-12, 12-2, 12-9, 12-9)

Goldfinger said, "Mr Bond, they have a saying in Chicago: ‘Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, the third time it's enemy action.’"

As a distinguished Old Etonian, Ian Fleming will undoubtedly have spent a certain amount of time on the Fives courts. When writing "Goldfinger", the future North Oxford Division 1 campaign of 2016/17 was probably not the first thing on his mind but what better analysis could there be of the first two games? A first ever 3-0 top flight win against the Old Olavians could easily be dismissed as happenstance; a second at Highgate last night could possibly be considered coincidence, although it is maybe not a coincidence that both matches have featured the new lad playing at first pair. Seb and James Piggot set the tone once again at the top of the order at Highgate last night, showing that when we can get them on court together they are going to be a match for any first pair in the league. Their victims this time were NOEFC alumnus Jonny Ho and Matt Kovar, who were dismantled in imperious fashion in three straight games. Maximum points require more than just a fancy dan first pair, though, and the NOEFC middle and lower order needed to prove they were more Ben Stokes than Gary Ballance against a strong Cholmeleian line-up. Phil "The Power" Roper was back in action at second pair alongside Oxford University captain and erstwhile North Oxford Monday-nighter Will Ponsonby, making a long overdue club debut. They were up against Highgate coach and Kinnaird semi-finalist Dave Mew (the must-have accessory for every Division 1 club this year is a pet Olavian) and the dangerous Oli Hallam. The first two games were shared with the North Oxford pair getting used to playing together as a combination for the first time but holding their own against the home team. The match turned in the third game, however, as "The Power" - continuing to rise to every challenge set - and Will began to get on top and once there, they stayed there, ripping through games three and four in fine style to win 3-1. Skipper Gareth Hoskins was at third pair with another debutant in Alex Knight, whose brother Joss has racked up a fair few NOEFC appearances over the years, and who was playing as part of the NOEFC/Old Etonian Div 1 tie-up. The North Oxford pair got off to a poor start in the first game, going 6-0 and then 8-1 down. They couldn't quite pull it back, but the second half of the game showed the way forward, with better cutting and returning supplemented with some serious "old man" Fives - the slower and more dibbly dobbly the North Oxford pair played, the more the Old Cholmeleian pair of Joe Marks and Tom Lethbridge struggled to know what to do with it and the majority of rallies longer than four or five shots eventually ended with the Highgate pair hitting the ball down or out. The second game was won 12-2 and a the third 12-9 after another slowish start; an excellent 6 point hand from the skipper at the start of the fourth game set up an 8-1 lead and the match seemed to be in the bag, but the OC pair finally rediscovered some fight at this stage with the Marks cut finding the fizz it had been lacking all night and the Lethbridge cut return making some inroads into the NOEFC lead. Gareth and Alex had to hold their nerve and were grateful for a couple of handy edges and ledges to take them from 8 to 10 and into a position where they were able to close things out for the win, which was celebrated afterwards in The Bull before the late night trek back to Oxford, Birmingham and Shrewsbury - a much more palatable prospect with three points under our belt. The Old Harrovians are next up at Ian Fleming's alma mater on Saturday week - one can only imagine that Mr Dunbar and co must be very worried indeed about the prospect of some serious enemy action...

North Oxford 2 lost to Old Salopians 2 1-2 at Westway 19/10/16:

N.Shaw & S.Chapman lost to T.Cox & T.Gerrard 0-3 (7-12, 1-12, 5-12)

K.Hird & C.Cook lost to B.Alderson & C.Hughes 3-1 (0-12, 1-12, 2-12)

C.Davies & S.Nowinski beat B.Cooke & J.Macfarlane 3-0 (12-2, 12-7, 12-8)

In recent seasons the Old Salopians have struggled at times getting full sides out and have often been near the top of the list at the end of the season in terms of penalty points conceded for defaults. This rarely seems to happen when they play North Oxford, however, and the NOEFC second string who turned out in the Division 2 fixture at Westway last night found themselves up against a formidable top four. Nick Shaw made a welcome appearance at first pair and he and Spencer took on the Toms Cox and Gerrard. Again not for the first time in NOEFC's short history, a player we've helped to develop came back to bite us as Old Summerfieldian Cox played some very classy Fives, especially at the set piece, helped no doubt by his couple of seasons playing in Division 1 for North Oxford. With partner Gerrard also looking solid, Nick and Spencer had their work cut out. Nick is still a bit short of a gallop this season and not yet hitting peak form while Spencer was suffering from the inevitable comedown after his Barber Cup heroics at the weekend (he took a game off Tom Dunbar - has he mentioned that?) and although the scoreline flattered the Salopian pair a touch, they won pretty convincingly. After four wins out of four at the start of his first full league season, Charlie Cook came down to earth with a bump at second pair as he and Karen found themselves up against a pair who had played first pair the week before and who would not be out of place at second pair in Division 1, let alone Division 2. Chris Hughes and Ben Alderson were simply too strong for the North Oxford pair and raced to victory in double quick time, but this will all be good experience for Charlie and no doubt he will be a much better player if he comes up against them again in the future. The Salopian third pair were a lot more inexperienced and easy prey for the experienced North Oxford engine room, as the maestro Chris Davies - another on a fine early season run of form - and partner Stefan Nowinski - himself an Old Salopian - dominated from the start to secure a valuable point from the evening's Fives. Unusually, and much to the credit of the Salopians, North Oxford were outnumbered 6-3 in the Garden Grill afterwards with Nick, Spencer and Karen keeping the North Oxford end up - Karen regaling the crowd with tales of her American travels and Spencer talking everyone through his third game win over Tom Dunbar (I assume; I mean I wasn't there but I can't believe it went unmentioned). The early season league tables (CLICK HERE) show that NOEFC have made a strong start to the year with the third team leading the way in Division 3, the second team comfortably in the pack in Division 2 and the first team off to a flyer with that memorable 3-0 away win in Orpington. The Division 1 side are in action again at Highgate next Thursday then there are an amazing 11 league fixtures across the divisions in November. Please do take a look at the fixture list and try and make yourselves available for as many matches as possible!

North Oxford 2 are tied with St.Olave's School 1 1-1 at Eton 16/10/16:

F.Imrie & K.Hird lost to B.Belsham & T.Gallagher 0-3 (2-12, 4-12, 8-12)

C.Davies & C.Lloyd beat V.Shetty & C.Plews 3-1 (7-12, 12-3, 15-12, 12-4)

Third pair to be played 11/02/17 at Aldenham

Following on from impressive 3-0 wins from the NOEFC third and first teams, the second string took to the courts of Eton on Sunday looking to make a convincing statement of their own against the St.Olave's School team. One of the Olave's pairs had to pull out due to a rugby injury the night before so it was down to two pairs on the day. The third one will hopefully be played next February when we take on the Olavians in Division 1 (and go for a hat trick of consecutive victories); if not, the point will be ours by default. The missing pair meant that captain Gareth took on a supporting role while Spencer stepped down to help himself recover from the shock of taking a game of Tom Dunbar in the Barber Cup the day before. Incidentally, if you would like a full account of this game and have a couple of hours to spare, Spencer will happily talk you through it shot by shot. After his crushing defeat at the hands of the awesome Cooley & Piggot Fives machine the day before, Tom Gallagher was back with revenge on his mind and he partnered Billy Belsham against Fergus Imrie and Karen Hird. Tom produced some classy touches and it is also probably fair to say that he had some gears left unengaged, but this was a frustrating performance from the North Oxford pair, who played some fine Fives, returned plenty of cuts and created innumerable chances but simply too often failed to convert them and let the Olavian pair back into the rally. Former Oxford University captain Fergus was a bit out of practice to start with in his first game of the season, but improved significantly as the match went on and he will hopefully be an important player for us across all three divisions this season. It was therefore over to the old hands at second pair as the Chrises went head to head with Vish Shetty and Coby Plews, a talented but erratic school pair. The Olavians boys hit their straps early on to win the first game, but were unable to maintain their level as the maestro began to find his range and Chris L hit some fine shots of his own to dominate the second game. The third game was key to the match and was essentially the whole match in microcosm. Shetty and Plews were occasionally unplayable but the volume of unforced errors meant that the Chrises were always in the game. Despite the difficulty of not knowing what to expect from the opposition from one rally to the next, the North Oxford pair kept their heads and took the third game 15-12; predictably this induced a collapse at the start of the fourth game from the Olavian pair, and the Chrises saw it out 12-4 to level things up. A second post-match pub whitewash of the weekend for Oxford against Orpington withstood the shock of the Henry being closed for refurbishment (the Christopher came to the rescue), although it wasn't as great as the shock of Karen refusing a pudding for once, following an impressive tackling of the pudding sharing board alongside the team captain on Saturday. Normal service will presumably be resumed once the Henry reopens.

North Oxford 1 beat Old Olavians 1 3-0 at Orpington 15/10/16:

S.Cooley & J.Piggot beat P.White & T.Gallagher 3-0 (12-6, 12-4, 12-3)

P.Scholey & P.Roper beat S.Ranasinghe & S.Kundu 2-1 (8-12, 12-7, 12-8 timed out)

G.Hoskins & K.Hird beat J.Moore & R.Tudor 3-1 (12-4, 11-12, 12-4, 12-5)

"I was there..." said the legendary Max Boyce about his beloved Llanelli's 9-3 shock win over the mighty New Zealand in 1972 - one of the all time great sporting upsets. Well, the six-strong NOEFC line-up at Orpington on Saturday can substitute Orpington for Stradey Park and the Old Olavians for the All Blacks and say "I was there" themselves with equal pride as North Oxford set all sorts of new club records - a first ever away win in the top flight, a first ever 3-0 Division 1 win and a first ever Division 1 point for Karen Hird. Football clubs are often judged by how well they do their transfer business during the off-season and I think it's fair to say that NOEFC had a pretty good transfer window, acquiring the services of a certain Mr S. Cooley for nothing more than the occasional beer and regular opportunities to laugh at Spencer's cut return technique. If Sky Sports covered Fives I think it's safe to say that a few of their transfer deadline day reporters would have spontaneously combusted with excitement at the Fives equivalent of Lionel Messi* signing for Bournemouth. Seb - resplendent in his new North Oxford tracksuit - duly delivered, firstly by scaring away the Olavian big beasts with his mere presence in the line-up and then swatting away Pete White and Tom Gallagher in the company of Oxford University's James Piggot - without his forgotten shorts and modelling an interesting new Fives trouser - in the first sighting of a pair who could do some serious damage at first pair level this season when available. Hidden a long way further down the imaginary scrolling ticker tape feed of Sky Sports News Fives transfer coverage would be our second summer signing, but one which could be just as influential. Cranleighan Phil "The Power" Roper has been a familiar presence on and off in NOEFC line-ups over the past couple of years and his continued improvement was evident on Saturday with a terrific display alongside Pete Scholey at second pair. Up against tricky opponents in the Sanjays Ranasinghe and Kundu, Pete struggled initially to shake off the rust in his first match of the year and it was Phil who took the lead as the North Oxford pair came from a game down to level at 1-1. With an unexpectedly harsh caretaker-imposed finishing time suddenly on the cards, the match came down to a third game shoot out and with Pete beginning to find his feet and Phil dominating play on the top step, it was the North Oxford pair who took the game and the point. With several top Olavians absent, Gareth and Karen found themselves up against the relatively inexperienced third pair of Richard Tudor and Jamie Moore. There was a blip at the start of the second game - a 4-10 deficit resulting in an 11-12 defeat despite a strong comeback - but otherwise the North Oxford pair were in control throughout to win 3-1 and complete the whitewash. A celebratory lunch in the Royal Oak was also won 6-0 with Karen producing the words and music for "A Song of Fives " by AC Ainger, the closest we could get to our own version of the great Welsh bard's "Hymns and Arias". It was enough to have them dancing in the streets of Oxford in celebration on Saturday night, anyway.

*same height, less of the tax fraud (presumably)

North Oxford 3 beat The Emanuels 3-0 at Emanuel 12/10/16:

C.Davies & C.Cook beat T.Marwood & B.Theisger 2-1 (12-8, 8-12, 13-10 ret)

A.Bishop & D.Naik beat O.Wainman & E.Pretzlik 2-1 (12-4, 12-4, ret)

The Emanuels conceded third pair

The North Oxford third string - or "Bishop's Buccanneers" - stormed their way to the top of Division 3 with a resounding away win over the youngsters of Emanuel School. North Oxford's only previous experience of the Emanuel School courts was an impromptu post-EFA dinner knockabout a couple of years ago, memorable mainly for a nameless member of the NOEFC contingent turning one of her notoriously delicate ankles on a step before she'd even made it onto court. A couple of years on and it was the master/apprentice combo of maestro Chris Davies and Charlie Cook teaming up for a second win of the season together, overcoming a second game wobble against a very promising young pair to make it count at the business end of the third and as it turned out final game, Charlie nailing the final shot to clinch his fourth victory in four matches this season. It's perhaps not something one would wish on anyone, but could Charlie be turning into the new Spencer Chapman? El Presidente had spent most of the first half of the week frantically trying to piece together a full team; some deft recruitment work at the previous evening's EFA board meeting had netted the services of Brigand Martin Powell with Ashley Lumbard also ready to play if needed. Unfortunately two of the Emanuel boys came down with the lurgy on the day and had to pull out, leaving Captain Andy to take our latest Monday night recruit - Old Berkhamstedian " Charmin' " Dharmin Naik - under his wing at second pair, where they had too much nous for their young opponents, winning the first two games to 4 and 4 before the youngsters conceded the match in favour of splitting with Andy and Dharmin and learning a trick or two from the North Oxford pair.

North Oxford 2 beat Old Westminsters 2 2-1 at Westminster 04/10/16:

C.Rennie & H.Meakin beat A.Jackson & A.Benson 2-1 (12-7, 5-12, 12-8 timed out)

S.Purkis & C.Cook beat E.Levy & J.Sanderson 2-1 (12-10, 13-10, 6-3 timed out)

North Oxford conceded third pair

Derek Pringle and a letter; Dave Beasant and a jar of salad cream; David James and a TV remote control; Sam Torrance and a flower pot. To this list of sporting injury infamy can now be added Graham "Grandad" Pulsford, some wardrobes and a cat. Not since March 2008 had North Oxford suffered the indignity of a penalty point in the league but the circumstances surrounding Tuesday's fixture against the Old Westminsters meant that not even club skipper Gareth was able to get six players to Westminster to play the whole fixture. To recap...things were looking good on Sunday with a full team of six lined up and the luxury of leaving out Fergus Imrie as the seventh player to volunteer for duty. The situation began to get more tricky on Monday as Chris Austin called in sick with a football-related knee injury. What use is the magic wand without a leg to stand on? With Fergus now unavailable, it meant a late call-up for Karen Hird, fresh off a plane after six weeks in the States but prepared to play through the jetlag for NOEFC. Problem solved. On Tuesday, however, just hours before kick off, a whole day of shifting wardrobes up and down the staircases of various Oxford colleges (a man of his age - what was he thinking?) finally caught up with Grandad, for whom the final straw that almost literally broke the Pulsford back was not the furniture-related heavy lifting, but bending over to feed the family cat. Frantic phone calls to various members of the Heath club to find a replacement were unsuccessful. A Windsor & Eton v Lancing Division 3 match plus the Strawson memorial Jesters v EFA fixture were on the same night, taking out some possible replacements. Various Millerships were tried. Wendy Carling couldn't make it. When not even supersub Ralph was available to step into the breach, the towel had to be thrown in and third pair conceded. The next problem was trying to get hold of everyone necessary at short notice to let them know, a slightly haphazard and not entirely successful operation. Poor Karen had to bite the bullet and stand herself down from the team, having arrived at Westminster to pick up the pieces (sorry, Karen), leaving two pairs to try and salvage something from the fixture. This they did in fine style, with Carl Rennie and Charlie Cook continuing their excellent unbeaten starts to the season, partnered by two comeback kids - Hugo Meakin back in the side at first pair with Carl and Simon Purkis making his first NOEFC start since the 2008/09 season alongside Charlie at second pair. Both pairs had to work hard for their victories - Carl and Hugo had a second game wobble before reasserting themselves in the third while Simon and Charlie had to grind out a drawn-out 12-10, 13-10 6-3 lead against the canny "old man fives" of Ed Levy and John Sanderson - and neither pair finished their match before the lights went out, but crucially both were in the lead when time was called, clinching two valuable points for the Division 2 cause.

North Oxford 2 drew with Team Westway 2 1½-1½ at Westway 20/09/16:

C.Rennie & C.Austin drew with D.Patel & T.Betts 2-2 (12-9, 7-12, 11-14, 12-3 timed out)

O.Lawton & N.Turnbull lost to T.Thurnham & A.Ibbetson 1-3 (12-11, 6-12, 7-12, 9-12)

C.Cook & C.Davies beat M.Gwynne & C.Wheeler 3-0 (12-3, 12-3, 12-5)

The Division 2 season kicked off last night with a tough away match at the home of champions for the past two season - Team Westway. The question always asked of fancy dan prima donna footballers is can they do it on a wet Tuesday evening in Stoke; well last night's challenge was in many ways the Fives equivalent and the NOEFC team did themselves proud, coming away with a hard-earned draw. The performance of the night came at third pair where the huge wingspan and dominant volleying of the fast-improving Charlie Cook took control right from the start. With maestro Chris Davies as top quality back up, the North Oxford pair raced to a convincing 3-0 win and were in the pub with their feet up before the others had barely started. At second pair, Nathan Turnbull and Oli Lawton started strongly against the tough pairing of experienced Old Salopian Tim Thurnham and Westway coach Andrew Ibbetson, taking the first game 12-11. The Westway pair got on top in the second game, however, and despite a close finish to the fourth, Nathan and Oli slipped to a 3-1 defeat. The first pair match was a minor classic, with Chris and Carl taking on the hard-hitting Darshan Patel and Tom Betts. It took a while for the North Oxford pair to tune into the cutting power of the Westway boys but once they began to see the cuts, the returns began to flow and a strong finish to the first game gave it 12-9 to Chris and Carl. A disastrous early run in the second was nearly pulled back as Westway levelled at one-all before a titanic third game, full of cagey, probing Fives and high quality rallies. Chris and Carl got their noses in front at 11-9 but failed to convert thanks to some inspired game-ball cutting from Tom and Darshan; the chances came and went before Westway levelled at 11-11 then went on to claim the game 14-11. With only 25 minutes left before lights out time, the situation was critical if Carl and Chris were to get anything out of the match and they duly upped the pace right from the start of the fourth game. With Carl playing more aggressively and the "Austin wand spewing forth magic like an end-of-term party at Hogwarts"* the North Oxford pair raced out to an 11-3 lead, which was finally converted just seconds before the lights went out to claim an excellent ½ point.

*copyright C.Austin

North Oxford 3 beat Windsor & Eton 2-1 at Eton 13/09/16:

C.Rennie & O.Lawton beat N.Bunyan & N.Turnbull 3-0 (14-11, 13-11, 14-11)

C.Davies & A.Bishop lost to J.Lawrence & J.Hepburn 0-3 (2-12, 7-12, 10-12)

C.Cook & E.Scoones beat G.Kitteridge & F.Turnbull 3-0 (12-8, 12-2, 14-11)

The last time North Oxford played a match in Division 3 was back in April 2007, a game which confirmed promotion to Division 2 at the first attempt and which has subsequently led to three Division 2 titles, a third successive season in Division 1 and now three teams in the league instead of one. The first outing for the North Oxford third string - under the astute management of El Presidente, himself, Andy Bishop - got the year off to an excellent start with a 2-1 win over a strong-looking Windsor & Eton side on their home turf. With Nathan Turnbull and Nick Bunyan at first pair in the opposition ranks (nothing to do with us only just being able to find 6 available players, honestly) Carl Rennie was drafted in at first pair alongside fellow Aldenham club member Oli Lawton and they proved to have the killer instinct in an incredibly tight match, which saw all three games set and the North Oxford pair winning all three. Nick must have been very unlucky with the ledges as always, I imagine. The old guard of Andy and the maestro played in the engine room at second pair but found themselves up against Jeff Lawrence, an Old Olavian and a very canny operator. Jeff and partner Jamie Hepburn dominated the early stages, and although Chris and Andy got more and more into the match, time ran out before they could turn the tide permanently in their direction. Third pair was back to the youngsters as Charlie Cook continued to impress after some useful performances at the back end of last season, teaming up with Emily Scoones to beat Graham Kitteridge and Francesca Turnbull. Great credit must also go to Emily for dashing to Eton from a work trip to Southampton, completing the line-up and bringing home a well-earned point. That's the sort of commitment we need from NOEFC members as we embark upon a busy year of playing in all three divisions.