Fetcham Cannons, a team of pitiful nomads with nowhere to call a gym only six weeks ago, showed amazing resilience to open their first season in Godalming with a 64-62 home win over Cranleigh Ravens.

Dy Gunasekara hit 27 points and Phill West hit four three-pointers in his 22 points in close game in which no quarter was won by more than two points.

Cannons began 10-4, but were pegged back by two threes from Cranleigh’s Jason Butler, a pattern that was to be repeated like the motif on the wall of an Indian restaurant.

Cannons’ biggest lead in the first half was just 34-29, in the second quarter, after a run of eight points in 10 from Gunasekara.

In the final quarter, a free throw from the oddly-bearded Sri Lankan opened a 56-51 lead, only for the visitors to again equalise.

A three-point play from West and a free throw and a two from Gunasekara wrested the lead back before a single free throw from former scourge of referees Mark Walls completed a Cannons victory made all the sweeter by no one getting locked in the changing rooms afterwards.

Despite many of the team showing the strain of having to read all that crap in papers and online about the credit crunch, they nonetheless fortified their efforts with reassuring thoughts of pinstriped bankers being forced to buy dogs and beg outside south eastern mainline rail terminals.