SADDLEWORTH ‘B’ are maintaining a push for promotion from division three of the Oldham and Rochdale Badminton League despite suffering a couple of recent losses.
First they defeated Alpha Whitworth ‘D’ 17-1, their third victory of the season by that margin.
The impressive winning streak came to an end when they returned to Whitworth where they lost 17-1 to Alpha ‘B’ who had been relegated to this division at the end of last season.
Saddleworth ‘B’ had not lost their fighting spirit after the heavy defeat, even though they lost 10-8 to Edenfield in their next fixture.
The team is third third in the table behind Alpha ‘B’ and Shawclough ‘A’ and those three clubs have pulled clear at the top.
Saddleworth ‘A’ had been suffering a loss of form and confidence in division two as underlined by their 10-8 loss to Hayes.
When Saddleworth won seven of their first eight matches, a win had looked a formality.
However, tiredness set in and cracks began to show again as they won only one of the remaining 10 games that left a bitter taste.
Next up was Roch Bridge ‘B’ at home for Saddleworth ’A’. The captain decided to split the partnerships up and reshuffle the pack.
Andy and Neil Mills usually form a tight pairing but even they had exchanged cross words against Hayes so new-look partnerships tested the waters.
Tom Jones played with Neil Mills while Andy Mills dropped into the bottom pairing with Alan Lau.
Although the result was not emphatic, the shake-up seemed to work and Saddleworth took a hard fought 10-8 win and restored some faith in themselves.
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