Uphill Badminton Club’s A team stretched its unbeaten run, going back nearly five years.

UPHILL Badminton Clubs A and men’s A teams have been in action.

The A team were away to Frys A team and won by nine rubbers to nil. The team have now won 50 consecutive league matches since their last defeat in November 2008. The team of Ellie Jewell, Paul Edwards, Christy Langford, Matt Cole, Becky Halfpenny and captain Mark Edwards had to work hard to win all their rubbers with four of the nine rubbers going to three games.

Uphill got off to a good start by winning the first two mixed rubbers comfortably in straight games. The Frys pair of Viv Nash and Jamie Baker then gave Mark and Becky a wake up call by winning the first game 21-14, but the Uphill pair changed tactics to win the next two games.

The ladies’ rubbers followed a similar pattern to the mixed with Uphill winning the first two in straight games before Christy and Becky lost the first game to Ann Lawry and Viv Nash, but then won the next two.

Paul found himself in the unusual position of having both his men’s doubles going to three games. First with Matt against Pete Wrigglesworth and Matt Waldron before winning and the second with brother Mark, which they won. The final men’s rubber was won in straight games.

The men’s A team were home to Winscombes A in Division 1 of the North Somerset League for their first match of the season and drew three rubbers each.

The team of Brian Hadley, Luke Morgan, Paul Wright and captain Ian Gilmore had a great evenings badminton against a good Winscombe team, headed by past Uphill junior Matt Heal.

Four of the six rubbers went to three games that were shared two each. Uphill started well, when Brian and Luke beat Matt Heal and Steve Dowden in three sets. Winscombe won the next rubber in straight games and followed this up with another win when Heal and Tom Broom beat Brian and Paul.

The next was won by Uphill in straight games and they followed this up with another win when Brian and Ian beat Heal and Chris Homer for Uphill to take a 3-2 lead with just the final rubber to play.

The final rubber proved to be a nail-biting affair with Winscombe’s Steve and Tom winning the first game 21-12, before Luke and Paul fought back to win the second game 22-20, before running out of steam and losing the last 14-21 to end an enjoyable evening with the teams drawing.

This friendly club always welcomes both juniors (five to 18-year-olds) and seniors as new members and organises a variety of social events throughout the year. Anyone interested in joining the senior club should visit the website www.uphillbadminton.co.uk or phone Paul Edwards on 07866 946422 and for junior membership Caroline Poole on 01934 418120.