21st September

Bridgend V New Forest

Our first triangular was a home tie against new side New Forest. We were without Vasilios for this weekend, so coach Andy stepped in to set (he dusted off the cobwebs and reread his setting manuals). It was a start for a couple of new faces, to go alongside the old guard.  

Pawel and Guy made their debuts, at positions 4 and 3 respectively. Will continued at 2; Steve in the middle with Paul and Gareth also at 4. Overall, it was a good, solid start from us and while New Forest didn’t offer a great deal of resistance it was good to see us keep our concentration as we took the match in straight sets: 25-10, 25-12, 25-16. 

Bridgend V Milton Keynes

The second match against MK would prove to be a sterner test for the home team. In previous years, Bridgend have played many close games against Milton Keynes with them all being 5 setters (Bridgend coming out on top mind!!).  

Milton Keynes were missing some key players, especially some tall middle fellas. Great serving and passing from us saw us control the game during the important points as we closed the match out again in straight sets: 25-14, 25-21, 25-24. 
 

12th October

Bridgend V Coventry and Warwick Riga 2 

On the 12th October, we played a single fixture for a change. This time we were against one of the new teams in our division, Coventry and Warwick Riga 2. 

We were hoping to make our home advantage count (playing at our home venue, Caerleon) but due to a somewhat typical twist of fate, we were lucky to get 6 players on the court. 

With Pawel in Poland (getting hitched), Gareth on holiday (Weymouth) and Jonny out with a broken leg … what else could go wrong? Our new recruit Guy twisted his ankle during the last training session. Who would now play in that much sought after (NOT!) middle position?  

Sweeping majestically like a cat that had got the cream (well, he did have his girlfriend in tow), in comes Benoit to save the day. 

Now to the match report … Bridgend got off to a disastrous start. I’ve rarely seen all 6 of us asleep at the same time but before we knew it, we were 0-6 down. Andy called a timeout which seemed to have woken us up. We finally caught Riga up and overtook them to take the 1st set 25-18. 
 

Second set and we were in full flow, great blocking from Steve and Vasilios, Ben and Roberto. We took that set 25-14.  

In the third, we eased up slightly but were never out of control as we took that 25-18 again. Paul and Will were hitting well at 4; great setting from Vasilios and super defence from Roberto.  

It’s a great start so far but judging from results it looks like another close tussle between us, Solent and fierce local rivals Bristol. Let’s see if we can get the whole team together next time!!!