The pre-match events were almost as exciting, if that is the right word, as the match itself; well they were certainly exacting! We had known for some time that we would be without Oli and the skipper but Mike had organized replacements in the form of Dave and Aron. Then, a few days before the match, Andrew C also found himself unavailable. We learned that Steve Williams, who had been in the Bristol Tournament at the weekend with Andrew M, was looking to play some league chess so we signed him up as cover since, by then, with the D-team also having a match, replacements were becoming decidedly thin on the ground.

Things got worse when our two Steves ran into problems very late in the day. Steve M became unavailable and Steve W miscalculated the journey time to Staple Hill. It happens to all of us occasionally and it was still good to meet him later in the evening. Now, two players short, I was thinking of asking Aron's dad to play but his mum brought him this time! Then Jack turned up - one problem solved. And just after that Bilal arrived - a full team after all!

That was the good news. The bad news was that North Bristol had pulled in some rarely seen players for what they obviously saw as a four-pointer. Chirag had missed recent matches but was available possibly because it was half term. Tom Thorpe had only played once and Tony Stannard not at all but here they all were, no doubt scenting blood, especially once they saw we were without Steve M.

At this very late stage there was no point in mucking about with the planned board order, so Jack and Bilal found themselves with Black on boards one and three. Good luck! And in fact they were the first to finish. A cursory early glance suggested that Bilal was holding on well, while Jack was using his knights in a very enterprising fashion. I just hoped one of them wouldn't become trapped. The other games were too close to call when Pete sidled over to scribble the first two results on the sheet. While Bilal had gone down to Tony, those knights of Jack had won a pawn against Chirag and I was delighted to see he had gained us a half point. How vital would that turn out to be, I wondered.

I felt I had a slight pull from the opening with Jonathan and probably needed to capitalize on it if we were to recover from being a goal down. And, looking next door all I could tell was that it was a very difficult position after Aron grabbed a pawn leading to complications where both of them could win an exchange on opposite sides of the board. And so they did and when the dust had settled Aron was still a comfortable pawn up.

With White on boards two and four, Andrew M had a difficult game with Tom while Dave, for once, was not in his customary time trouble against Alex. Both of these games were too hard to call. Then Jonathan opted to give up a bishop against me for a couple of pawns, some attacking threats and time on the clock. The question was whether I could convert the material advantage.

The first of the remaining games to finish was Aron's. All I could tell was that he was still a pawn up but when he wrote “0-1” on his scoresheet I was, in football parlance, “over the moon”! It had been a very steady and well-played game in what is becoming his trademark style. Then Dave finished but nobody told me how he had done. I had pressure so Jonathan gave up an exchange, meaning he was now a whole rook down but there was still work to be done.

Finally somebody told me Dave had won. I am sure we shall hear more about this over the coming days and weeks but he had handled the position very well with mostly best moves according to the engine and he also built decisive time pressure. And then Jonathan missed a trap which cost a piece so he resigned . Andrew had drifted into a pawn ending a knight down but once he knew that, against all the odds, the match was won, he too resigned.

I think we were a bit lucky to beat North Bristol the first time round with our full registered team but on this occasion the reserves all turned up trumps and contributed solid results when they were most needed. Any realistic chance of our being relegated can now, I think, be discounted and we can just concentrate on enjoying the remaining matches.

I must again pay tribute to Jack, Bilal and Aron for their efforts. And as if that were not enough, on the board to my right Toby was holding George Miller with Black in the D-team's trouncing of Keynsham A. After some disappointing results in the last couple of weeks, it had been a great recovery performance by the club and especially good for the juniors. Well done all!