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| Report: | Both teams were almost at full strength and it was a competitive match.
1st up were Ben v James and it was James who started the steadier building a quick 4-1 lead. Ben rallied to almost level before James shot off again. Ben was feeding James on the forehand and as soon as James saw the opportunity he would drop it into the forehand court and Ben was often out of position following a loose shot. James took the 1st just as Ben started to claw his way back in to it. The 2nd started off with handouts galore as both players failed to play well when serving. James did manage to lead 4-2 but once it was pegged back the game stalled a little and 4-4 became 5-5 then 6-6. The rallies where long at times but Ben managed to play some tight drops to get ahead and move to game point but James held his nerve and levelled only to see Ben win out to level at 1-1 with some lengthy rallies. The 3rd was a walk in the park for Ben as James seemed to be suffering the after affects from the 2nd game and very quickly Ben was 2-1 up. The 4th saw James arrive on court with an new shirt and that did the trick as he took full advantage of Ben's loose play and was up 6-1 before Ben got going. Ben was now splizing (new squash term) at regular intervals and it paid off as he pulled it back to 6-6 and it seemed he was closing in for the kill. James however dug in and played some good squash to take the game from 7-7. The 5th set saw James continue to play well as Ben struggled to maintain his form but he clawed back from 3-0 down to level at 3-3 then a number of let's slowed the pace but at 5-4 up Ben seemed to be on course for a win again. James rallied again and 3 quick pints made him the favourite. Ben however kept up the commitment to level and got back to 7-7 only to see James close it out for a fantastic win.
On the other side Greg was playing Mark and this one started off well for Greg as he grabbed a lead in the early stages and whilst Mark did his best to close the gap Greg managed to keep ahead all the way and won the 1st. The 2nd was close to start with and Mark was ahead but Greg worked hard to level and move to 6-3 and looked like he was on course for 2-0. Mark however was not done and he gradually closed the gap with some good play and then moved ahead to reach game point. Greg was not ready to let it go and he pulled back level at 8-8 and after a few handouts and game points it was Mark who took the game to level at 1-1. The 3rd however saw Greg fully in control whilst Mark struggled to recover from the previous game and very quickly it was 2-1 to Greg The 4th saw a little more resistance from Mark but Greg was always ahead and in charge and sure enough he won it 3-1.
Next up it was Olly and Niall with Olly marching off sharply to 6-1 and it was looking ominous for Niall as he struggled to compete. However Niall got going and it started to turn around and in a blink of an eye it was 6-5 but Olly regrouped and some strong drives got the job done for the 1st game. The 2nd game saw Niall taking the lead and he was playing much better and in charge when at 3-6 up he suddenly lost concentration whilst Olly’s game began to find success again but at 6-7 down Olly still had work to do but he managed to get ahead and win a tough game to go 2 up. The 3rd was always going to be tough for Niall and he was struggling to compete again and very soon Olly had a commanding lead which Niall could not do anything about so Olly had it 3-0
On the other court Dave v Dave was order of the day with Dave looking for revenge from the match last year when Dave went on to win in 3 at Knowle Park. Dave was in no mood to let the same thing happen again. Dave started off well until Dave got going. Dave had too much for Dave early on and his volley drops had Dave scrambling. Dave was too sharp in the 1st and he built up a commanding lead which Dave could not recover from so it was 1 nil to Dave. In the 2nd Dave got himself going whilst Dave struggled to compete and the odd handout and point here and there was not enough from Dave to stop Dave from winning it and levelling at 1-1. The 3rd saw Dave feeling more confident and seemingly working out how to beat Dave. However just as Dave seemed to be walking away with it Dave made a comeback using his serve and volley technique to good effect but just as Dave was getting close Dave finished it off to go 2-1 up. The 4th saw Dave marching away to what seemed to be a solid win but just as the fat lady started to warm up Dave took the serve back and started a fightback that put the fat lady back in her seat and point after point went Dave’s way and then it was 2-2 and a 5th set. The final game saw Dave again marching off to a commanding lead and despite Dave’s attempts to make another comeback this time it was too much and Dave won it 3-2 and that clinched the match for Dulwich on the night.
After the match Mr Creek took Dave to one side and showed him the error of his ways with a number of diagrams illustrating how it was stroke and not a let as Dave had impeded Dave when on the T despite an almighty attempt to get away from the ball.
The final match was Alex v Will and these two were so well match that it could have gone on all night and it nearly did. The Tandoori arrived 30 minutes early just in time for the 2nd game but no one was interested in food with the 5th string boys on court in a dead rubber - oh no mrs! At 10:30pm the lights went off and the balcony were shouting "More! More!" at which point the squash gods said let there be light and so it came to pass that more squash was made available. Unfortunately Will won the 4th set within 10 minutes from the restart as we were all itching for a 5th set.
The curry was ably warmed up by chef Greg and it was wolfed down in short order.
Good luck to the Knowle Park boys.
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