Docklands captain Mark Baechli

London Lynx 2 London Docklands 3

Coach Andy Hopper believes Docklands’ return to winning ways was vital, as they continue to hunt down a promotion spot.

Following last weekend’s surprise 3-0 defeat to Danes Watford, Hopper’s side’s chances of a return to the Super 8’s division appeared slim.

But, following Sunday’s five-set triumph over their London rivals at UEL SportsDock, the Docklands coach believes his side are now firmly back on track.

“It wasn’t pretty, but at this stage of the season we needed a win,” said Hopper.

“When it mattered we did what we had to do and sometimes you just have to take the win and move on.”

Docklands faced two former players – Miroslav Gospodinov and Richard Shittu – and, in the first set, both returned to haunt their former club, producing several winners against an ineffectual Docklands’ block.

Docklands found themselves 20-14 down and, although they made a mini-recovery, could do nothing to stop a 25-22 Lynx win.

However, Hopper’s men maintained some of their better form from the end of set one to race into a 4-0 lead in the second set.

Shittu halted Docklands’ run and then applied subtle service pressure to tie the set at 4-4. But his former team reacted confidently and good net play by Alessandro Galli and Platon Vogiatzoglou helped drag Docklands into a 22-16 lead.

They completed the second set win 25-19 and sprinted into a 6-2 lead after the change of ends.

As the pressure increased from Docklands, errors started to creep into Lynx’s play and a disciplined performance by the visitors saw them take the third set at a canter, 25-12.

The home side took the game to their opponents in set four. Outside hitter David Amah started to gain significant success with Docklands unable to cope against his high jump and speed.

It was Docklands’ turn to start making unforced errors and Lynx grew in confidence to take the match into a deciding set.

The shoot-out to 15 started evenly with Docklands 6-5 up. But three quick-fire Lynx points on the back of Andy Bignold’s serving saw the home side sneak into an 8-6 lead.

After a Docklands time-out the extended break seemed to affect Bignold’s concentration as he put his next serve wide.

Then captain Mark Baechli led Docklands’ charge to the line and tough serving and clinical blocks by Tom Wenzel, Galli and Vogiatzoglou kept the pressure on Lynx.

Two consecutive aces by Baechli and another block by Wenzel was enough to clinch the set 15-9 and the match.