John Reynolds reports:

Westminsters 1 squeaked into second place (having played three games more than league title holders Olavians 1) with this win over the Cholms on their home turf. 

Universities champion Laurie Brock travelled down from Cambridge for his first-pair debut and coped well with the pace of the game, keeping pressure on the home side by pushing up from the back of the court and retrieving doggedly when under fire himself.

Vishal Bhimijiyani and Joe Coakley mounted an obdurate comeback in the third and even took a 14-10 lead but couldn't clinch the game in the face of some nerveless foot cutting from the Westminster players. Bhimjiyani's ability to generate pace in the attack and determination to chase down shots when on the defensive confirm his emergence as a player to contend with in the first division.

Second pair was a rematch of the Westminsters-Cholms clash earlier in the season, and in-form Cholm captain Guy Chapman was keen for the chance to avenge himself of that defeat. In a fluctuating game which saw flashes of quick-fire exchanges, Chapman and Nick Gill fought back from two-nil down but ran out of time to complete their comeback against Giles Coren and Ed Rose. 

In third pair, Merlin Goldman (making a welcome return to court for the first time in six months) and Paul Jefferys couldn't match the visitors' pace or power, despite Foster's ankle injury which saw him taking a rest from the heat of first-pair Fives.

Finally, a couple of intriguing questions. Mill Hill produced both the Cholms' first-pair players – but when was the last time a pair raised on that school's courts played first pair in the first division? And does this mean that the burgeoning Millhillians might be gearing up for a tilt at the top flight themselves?