Petts Wood 4 were always up going to be against it after turning-up with just two players for Wednesday night’s Tom Fuller match with Sidcup 3. With defaults on Boards 1 and 4 Sidcup needed just half-a-point to win the match. On Board 3 Peter Houching soon had his opponent in trouble and had reached a dominating position after just ten moves, which he soon converted into a win. Meanwhile on Board 2, Petts Wood’s Phil Wheeler found a back-rank mate to gain sweet revenue for his recent Harvey Cup loss to Lee Brockwell. But by the end of the evening Sidcup 2 ran out comfortable 3-1 winners, good enough to take them through to the next stage of the competition.

David Gilbert