As captain of our second team in London Division 4, it feels slightly odd writing a mid-season review so early in our season. A strange quirk of the fixture-list has meant we’ve only played two matches so far, with the latest being a full two months’ ago!
So, consider our progress thus far a mere amuse bouche, before we indulge in a veritable feast post-Christmas.
We started the season with a much tighter-than-it-sounds 5.5 -2.5 WIN against our Hammer 3 compatriots. Enjoying an advantage of around 30 points a board, it perhaps should have been a routine win on paper but in practice it was anything but. Tense struggles abound across the board-order and a couple of notable scalps taken down.
Next up was a difficult 3.5-4.5 LOSS to Athenaeum. This time our opponents matched us board-for-board and it truly could have gone either way. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be, and we were narrowly edged out. Athenaeum will be one of our main rivals for promotion this season and it’ll be no surprise to see them up near the table of the table when June rolls around.
Our early pace-setter is Brian Dodgeon who’s scored 100% from his 2 matches this season. He also ably stepped-in to captain against Athenaeum which I was forced to miss, so many thanks for that, Mr D.
I can’t wait to get our campaign started in 2020, and know we’ll grow stronger as we approach the business end of the season. We’re well capable of being promoted this season and that should remain our aim as a team. Let’s make a confident start in January’s double-header against Metropolitan (3 and 4) and then we can see where we land.
Hammer 2 have never been hungrier for success. Let’s make 2020 a year to remember. Another wafer anyone?
Dave