Unfortunately it was not the double we hoped for, with both Ashby 2 and Ashby 4 being beaten at home by Syston 2 and Heathcote Arms 2 respectively.
The Ashby 2 result was something of a disappointment as, apart from board 1, we outrated our opponents on every board, although it was marginal on boards 2 and 3. A win for Paul Gibson on board 4 and the predictable draw for Chris Tipper on board 5 was all we had to show for our efforts as we went down by 3.5 - 1.5.
Ashby 4 were without Ric Dawson, who was in hospital, and Steve E., who was suffering from a major bout of man flu. Nick Wyld and Neil Roberts stepped in to fill their places on boards 1 and 4, but were both unable to contribute to the score card, and neither was GM Mick Brown on board 2. On the bright side, IM Ian Maskery ended his recent run of losses with a good draw on board 3 against a higher rated opponent, thus avoiding the team the ignominy of a whitewash.
Next Thursday sees our final fixtures of 2025, with both Ashby 1 and Ashby 5 away at Anstey 1 and Anstey 8 respectively, while Ashby 3 entertain Heathcote Arms 1.