New Shoes, New Shoes, repeated one of the more unpleasant characters in the wonderful Twin Peaks. Debut appearance for my pristine Pumas up at the Sidegate Lane Community Centre this evening, giving me (if anything) too much grip. So much so that I initially went 8-0 down to their Richard, himself having mislaid his own trainers while decorating today. I rallied, though, and fought through the pangs of pain emanating from my little toes. Help, we're squashed!

Rob took that difficult number 2 spot and slogged out a underperforming five-ender win v. their Jim, whose night it very much wasn't, losing 11-0 to me in our first singles. Ouch. His night descended further into the gutter when he was dispatched by Killer Kev -- grrr! -- returning from a month's (mostly) voluntary rest while Team Defiants gleaned some staying-up points. Nice one, Kev, who also came very close against similarly styled Martin.

With Ed winning all three (praise to the Pumas), the self-imposed pressure was on Red Bull Rob to slay his personal demon by beating Richard, thereby gaining revenge for our first-half meeting. Our Man starts well, Richard seems disinterested, but slowly the tables turn, Richard topspinning his returns and sending Rob to a bad place. Game can still go either way ... and it does, Their Man coming out on top. Good scalp for Richard, bad hair day for Rob.

Score at 6-4, same as last time, still doubles to play. Kev, the Duke Of Diplomacy, claims his rightful place, leaving Ed and Rob to toss a coin for that coveted spot. Heads, calls Rob. It's tails, and Ed's in.

Games 1 and 2 to us. Games 3 and 4 to them. Like a badly written script, it goes to deuce. Then 11-11, 12-12. They've got matchpoint at 13-12, things are looking bad, and Kev whips out an audacious backhand piledriver down the line. Quality with a capital Q. 14-13 to them, another rally and Jim's return looks to be going wide before it scrapes the edge. That'll be their doubles, then. Still, best ever performance by the Ed/Rob/Kev formation.