Long, Dour Victory ‘eeked out’ against Stubborn Lenzie

It was a long and difficult day for Dundee teams in Lenzie last Saturday for their National League 1 games.  The men found the home side a difficult nut to crack as the much-improved side fought hard for every point and made life difficult for the weakened Dundee side.  It was Dundee who started better and were in front with scores from Rad Marinov and Kevin Chisholm.  A run of 8 points with only 1 in reply gave Dundee a 22/15 lead and they held on to win the set 25/19.  The second set was close as both sides traded points until Oz Dowie scored 3 points in a row to lead 21/19.  Marinov gave Dundee set point at 24/22. Lenzie levelled at 24/24, Craig Goldthorp and Marinov won set point again with a scoring ‘block’ but a service error and then 2 hitting errors gave Lenzie the set 27/25!

The home side had their tails up and raced to a 9/2 lead.  Despite clawing themselves back into the set, it was Lenzie who held on this time to win 25/23.  Dundee then found some momentum and turned the screw to lead 19/12, with the home side on the ropes.  A comfortable 22/15 lead looked to have secured the set for Dundee to level the match but the stuffy Lenzie fought their way back to trail 22/23.  A mistake gave away set point, but another service error gave the home side hope but Marinov again rescued the situation to win the set 25/23.

The final set turned out to be a bizarre affair with the home side winning the fist 6 points with aggressive play.  Dundee replied and levelled at 6/6 before taking a 12/7 lead.  Rad Marinov won 4 points and the tiring home side gave away 7 in errors!  At 12/9 Dundee won back the service, Dave Bonnar scored a service ‘Ace’ and Kevin Chisholm rounded off the game with a solid hit, beating the exhausted home defence to win 15/9.  This win keeps Dundee in third place in League 1.

(Game date 24/11/2018. Press report 30th November 2018)