NATIONAL ONE London Docklands 0 Malory Eagles 3 LONDON DOCKLANDS were made to pay for a critical lapse in concentration on Saturday as they lost important ground on National One league leaders Sheffield. After losing the first set 25-15, the critical pha

NATIONAL ONE

London Docklands 0

Malory Eagles 3

LONDON DOCKLANDS were made to pay for a critical lapse in concentration on Saturday as they lost important ground on National One league leaders Sheffield.

After losing the first set 25-15, the critical phase of the match began when Docklands went 22-14 up in the second.

With captain Alexis Blair helping Docklands into a strong lead with a service run and both Mohammed Sliti and Wayne Davies scoring freely at the net, it looked as though Docklands had recovered from their slow start.

In set two however, Docklands matched the visitors point-for-point until three kills in row saw them go 14-11 up.

Blair's run then helped Docklands pull further away but their game imploded as a 22-15 lead was slowly whittle away until the scores were tied at 23-apiece.

Docklands saved one set point but couldn't stop the inevitable 26-24 defeat.

The home side came out fighting at the start of set three with a Blair block on Mark Brown and an ace by Boris Halatchev taking them 4-0 ahead.

Some clever hitting by Darius Setsoafia saw Malory quickly back into the set and and errors crept into the hosts game once more as they trailed 21-15.

A run of Sliti serves helped narrow the gap to 22-20 but a concentration lapse saw Malory close the set out 25-21.

Docklands, who named Wayne Davis as man of the match, host Polonia Ealing at Bacon's College on Saturday.

Docklands: Uzunov, Davies, Vincett, Halatchev, Senatore, Blake, Sliti, Blair, Di Bella, Cottignoli.