There's a tiny chink of light. Following last week's victory, Defiants require 16 points to catch up or 17 points to overtake those blinkin' Buzzards. That's over our final three games. T'ain't likely, but hey.

What doesn't help is that tonight's opponents are comfortably second in the league table and assured of promotion, very much unlike our good selves. Only a few weeks has passed since our last encounter, a tough 7-3 defeat. Facing us (again) are well-trained Rosemary, fresh from Clacton Mick and, a new old face, king-of-the-Manor Des. In brief:

• 2/3 for Kennedy, fantastically determined to fight back and beat Rosemary, ditto against Des, though falling to Mick
• 0/3 for Steve, sadly, despite playing really well and pushing Rosemary all the way
• 1/3 for Ed, losing straightforwardly to Des and Mick but somehow rising from 2-0 down against Rosemary to spin and win 3-2

Same old same old in the doubles, though Des and Mick were worthy winners. That'll be another 7-3 defeat, then, which, by my calculations, means that we need to scrape together a further 13 points in a double header against the Maidstones of Capel. Not over yet.