|
|
 | Fixture Details | |  | | |
Home | Return to Division Fixtures
| Nom | Home Player | Nom | Away Player | Result | Games |
| 10 | Tony Davies | 8 | Pascal Dowers | 3 | 0 | 9/1 9/0 9/0 | | 16 | Dan Sweeney | 10 | Garth Lochner | 3 | 2 | 9/2 7/9 7/9 9/6 9/2 | | 21 | Ross Beaumont | 12 | Jim Barry | 0 | 3 | 5/9 6/9 8/9 | | 23 | Graham Edwards | 13 | Stephan Dowers | 3 | 1 | 9/5 9/3 2/9 9/4 | | 25 | Alan Leffen | 19 | Richard Hailston | 2 | 3 | 9/1 9/6 6/9 0/9 4/9 | | | | | | | | | | | Games: | 11 | 9 | |
|---|
| | | Bonus: | 5 | 0 | |
|---|
| | | Result: | 16 | 9 | |
|---|
| Report: | The night got off to the usual chaotic start as some visiting players turned up to the wrong venue and were seen on their mobiles franticly trying to find out where they should be. Don’t these people check before they leave home?
The match got under way with the number 4’s, Graham and Stephan (an old New Eltham junior apparently). From the warm up I could see that Stephan was a stylish squash player from all that coaching. However, he must have been missing the day they spoke footwear because he was wearing what looked like cycling shoes. My suspicions were backed up by the heavy clunk, clunk sound as Stephan tried to move around the court. In spite of Stephan breezing into a 4-0 lead in the first, Stephan’s inability to get around court meant that Graham got back to 4-4 then went onto win the game 9-5. Second game was dominated by Graham as Stephan was unable to turn his cycling shoes quick enough to get to any shots that involved a change of direction. By now Stephan was also suffering from a thigh injury (probably caused by his inappropriate footwear). Stephan did manage to win the third, but in the fourth Graham returned to moving Stephan around and won the game to win 3-1. Graham was pleased that his recent practice sessions had reduced his “Serve Out” ratio this week to 2 serves over 4 games. Obviously more practice still required.
On the other court were the number 5’s, Alan and Richard. I was marking the number 4’s so only caught glimpses of this, but in the first two games Alan could do nothing wrong and played some tremendous cross court volley drops and front court drops whilst looking in the other direction just to confuse Richard even more. At 2-0 up this was dream land for Alan and could be heard humming that Honda advert tune – “To Dream the Impossible Dream”. However, the dream turned into a nightmare as Richard started to get a grip on the match and Alan’s drop shots started to hit the tin. Richard took the third game and won the fourth 9-0. In spite of a brave fight back by Alan in the fifth, Richard won the match 3-2. Still, an impressive display by Mr Leffen and 2 valuable unexpected points.
On next were the number 3’s, Ross and Jim. In spite of looking the more accomplished player, Jim could never quite consistently deliver the finishing shot and allowed Ross to keep in the rallies. However, Ross was equally as profligate as he kept playing the ball back to Jim instead of burying it. Jim won the first 2 games but not without ending up on the floor on a couple of occasions when he simply lost his balance and fell over (pissed again). In the third, and serving for the match, once again Jim fell over but this time injuring himself. Seeing that Jim was struggling on one leg Ross fought back from 4-8 down to level it a 8-8 at which point Jim selected one point for the tie-breaker. From here Ross snatched defeat out of the hands of victory as he hit the tin to give the one-legged Jim back the serve and then tinned again to give him the match.
So at 2-1 down in matches Pascal and myself went on as the number 1’s. In the warm up I sensed that this could be a difficult game as Pascal practised his high lobs and deft drop shots. Early rallies in the first game went Pascal’s way as I struggled to pick up his low hard drives. However, I got the measure of his game and went onto take the first 9-1. During the second game the nights injury tally rose to three as Pascal ran his knee into the back of my calf. (I thought it was a non-contact sport).After some time out I went back on court and won the second 9-0. (You’ll have to find another way to stop me Pascal). During the third game when I was about 4-0 up, the nights injury tally rose to four as Pascal pulled his groin or abductor muscle as he was trying to retrieve a straight drive. Some would say it was poetic justice. but I just turned to the marker and said “I didn’t touch him ref”. Needless to say I went onto win 9-0.
So at 2-2 in matches on went the number 2’s, Danny and Garth. As I hadn’t had much of a match myself, I stayed on court for some practice so didn’t see any of this, but I had earlier thought that Danny would have to play very well to beat the South African. Typically Garth started the slower allowing Danny to take the first game. However, Garth started to get to grips with the northern hemisphere atmosphere and took the next two games both 9-7. But Danny wasn’t to be out done and playing his best squash for a long time came back to level it 2-2 and then went onto win 9-2 in the fifth as Gareth tired and made some unforced errors. As always when you beat a South African you can’t help but break out into Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.
So two wins out of two. At this rate it’s going to be a tough call for captain Phil to allow both Sick Note (Neil) and Mr Menopausal (Ali) back into the team.
|
|---|
| Author: | Turkish - Deputy Captain |
|---|
| |  |  |  |
|
