Time to play last Season's champions Clifton A and surely they don't come tougher than this? Another match, same old story of being underdogs. Their average grading of just under 192 exceeded ours by a huge 22 points but this time we were only out-graded on five boards; Nigel and Ian Pickup were over 30 points adrift and myself and Ian Ponter just under that.

In the circumstances, we accredited ourselves quite well, with the first games to finish lasting well past the two hour mark. Ian Pickup seemed to have equalised but then faced a tactical sequence which would have picked up his queen and this forced resignation. Ian Ponter played nicely, but then fell dramatically behind on the clock with predictable consequences. Martin was performing well in a blocked type of position, managing to gain a slight advantage at one point, but then with an exchange of pieces the game drifted back to a draw. So it was 0.5-2.5 down with 3 to play. This wasn't an ideal start to proceedings – but it could so easily have finished 3-3 had the rest of us taken the precious one chance that fell to us (admittedly in time scrambles) in some competitive duels on boards 1,2 and 4.

Nigel went a-pawn up in a complicated opposite-colour bishops late-middle game position. Although the computer assesses it better for Cobb, James had only 2 minutes on his clock (Nigel having about 30) meaning that he inevitably missed some chances. Nigel played very well indeed under constant severe pressure although at the end he needed just one more good move which would have undoubtedly avoided the draw and won. A draw seemed a fair result though. I got into a terrible position from the opening and was virtually forced to give up a piece to escape a massive bind. Gareth returned the piece later, by which time I was already short of time. I missed an easy draw and then finally blundered with seconds remaining. Michael's game seemed to produce chances for both players – with our captain advancing-pawns in front of his King for an attack – but towards the end, under time pressure, the one move that would have given him victory sadly passed by. Other days, we might well have drawn the match.

Having so far played all of the teams at the top of the division, we'll be hoping for some easier matches after our month's break in the fixtures.