Tendring Beat Bottom of the League Pompy

Tendring 3 - 1 Portsmouth

25-17, 27-29, 25-17, 25-21

Match Report by Neil Masters

Tendring gave a sigh of relief as they won a scrappy battle with bottom of the table Portsmouth. Portsmouth who were effectively relegated already had nothing to lose and only an upset on their minds. To make things trickier for Tendring was the availability of one of Britain’s all-time
best players and a professional for 15 years, making only his second appearance of the season for Portsmouth.

The first set was tight and Tendring had to create their own rhythm in order to show their dominance. At 16-13 in Tendring’s favour the realism of being in an awkward match was hitting home. This match was supposed to be a lot easier according to the league table. Tendring thought they had broken the spirit of Portsmouth and ended the set comfortably, mainly due to fine receiving by Liam Chinnery and excellent blocking and attacking from Stuart Dove. Tendring sealing the set 25-16, after Joe Cook’s excellent service run.
Set 1 dealt with and Tendring dominance was easy to see the rest of the match became a psychological test for Tendring. Again the set was close at 16-15 to Tendring, but a run of absurd referee decisions and good play from Portsmouth led to them gaining a 3 point lead on Tendring. With temperatures rising Tendring started to bite and lost focus on their game plan. The re-introduction of Captain Sebastian Widlarz led to an excellent come back. But as the set got to the business end it was Portsmouth with the upper hand. Tendring avoided set points, but could never manage to gain the advantage and with the 2 clear points rule lost the set 29-27.

This now made the third set crucial for Tendring. Ben Wilson and Spencer White-Overton played a large part in this set and after Portsmouth’s  persistent changing of their players and system, setter Nick Davies found it easy to break Portsmouth’s block and defence down and Tendring rushed into an 8 point gap. Tendring’s own British representative Alex Porter led the way with high level attacking and blocking skills. Portsmouth however gained a little momentum towards the back end of the set which unfortunately carried on into the fourth set.

The fourth set was not pleasant to play or watch and when the set got tight Tendring lost their cool. With refereeing decisions going for the  home side Tendring were incensed and began arguing with the officials and each other. Player coach Neil Masters called a time out and  re-focused the Tendring team. The time out appeared to work, but Tendring still had a lot of work to do. Portsmouth held a 3 point advantage, and knowing that the final set was generally a lottery Tendring had to drag this set back in order to keep their title ambitions alive. At 19-17  down and with yet another dubious decision Tendring were close to losing direction, Masters subbed himself onto court and combined with Davies to calmly convert a much needed point. This brought Tendring strongest line into front court and with Sonny Chaney shutting out  Portsmouth attacking options Tendring realised their quality and drew ahead for the first time in the set. With a 2 point lead Tendring just had to convert one more point which was delivered by Janice Porter Award winner Stuart Dove.

You can see your Tendring Volleyball Team in action this Saturday at Tendring Technology College, Frinton Campus starting at 11.00.