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 | Fixture Details | |  | | |
Home | Return to Division Fixtures
| Nom | Home Player | Nom | Away Player | Result | Games |
| 1-2 | Lee Greenwood | 1-5 | Kevin Saunders | 3 | 0 | 9-1, 9-0, 9-4 | | 1-3 | Oliver Noye | 1-8 | Scott Bailey | 2 | 3 | 7-9, 3-9, 9-5, 9-4, 6-9 | | 1-9 | Ian Smith | 1-9 | Slade John | 3 | 2 | 8-10, 9-7, 9-0, 7-9, 9-4 | | 1-16 | Gabriel Rosser | 1-12 | Daniel Humphrey | 0 | 3 | 6-9, 6-9, 2-9 | | 1-18 | Alisdair Shapcott | 1-15 | Jack Peel | 3 | 0 | 9-0, 9-7, 10-8 | | | | | | | | | | | Games: | 11 | 8 | |
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| | | Bonus: | 5 | 0 | |
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| | | Result: | 16 | 8 | |
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| Report: | Both sides looking for their first win inevitably meant a match that went right to the wire, with the 3's probably not aware in the midst of their 5-setter that it had all come down to them in the meantime.
First on were Ollie and Scott. Ollie has been on court twice in the past two weeks, and not for two years before that! It showed somewhat as Scott's pace of game and general retrieval had Ollie struggling after about 6 points. Complacency on Scott's part, plus some good winners from Ollie, lead to the first being very tight, Scott shading it. The second was more straight forward with Ollie clearly struggling and Scott taking his chances very well. The third threw up a twist, Scott seemed to tighten up a bit and Ollie saw a combination of line and length and a few outrageous winners see him over the line. An early call against him in the 4th seemed to rattle Scott a bit and Ollie took full advantage of some errors and his own ability to hit some good nicks. We might have wondered whose game it was to win from here, however it became clear it was Scott's to lose after only two points. Ollie was clearly feeling the strain, and to be fair had put in an heroic effort, and had to take a medical time-out - in order to throw up somewhere not on court! Scott from there closed it out well to take a thoroughly enjoyable (if not always for the right reasons) encounter.
Meanwhile Alisdair and Jack were on the other court in a battle of the juniors. I didn't see a lot of this but Jack clearly took some time to get going and went down in the first very quickly. The second I saw none of but it sounded close. Alisdair took a commanding lead in the third, 7-0 up before Jack clawed it back. Credit to both for their efforts in the final game but Alisdair saw it through 10-8, with an exceptional (if not high-percentage) volley-drop-nick on match ball.
Next on Dan and Gabriel. A close one in the early stages, Gabriel seemed to unsettle Dan a bit with his slightly erratic style of game. Dan's coached percentage game was very clear however and despite Gabriel running around like a dog on heat, Dan was able to close out a relatively comfortable victory despite a close first two games.
Abandoning chronological order, Lee and Kevin went on next on that court. Didn't see any of that as I was marking next door (more of that personal pleasure later) but it seems it was fairly straight forward for Lee, not sure if an injury was in play or not.
Meanwhile, the joy to mark that was Ian and Slade. Fortunately, Lee managed to mark the first so I missed that one but his "thank god for that" remark as I took over so he could play told me I was in for a treat. Lo and behold, some ludicrous/debatable/nailed-on no-lets/lets/strokes ensued for another 4 games so I had a beer on the slate in payment.
In between all that a competitive game of squash broke out. Slade snuck the first befor Ian levelled up with an equally tight second. Slade seemed to drift off in the third but Ian's long-then-short game was clearly causing problems. Ian seemed to forget this in the 4th and it was tight all the way, a couple of mistakes late in the game allowed Slade to shade it. The 5th was actually quite enjoyable (I'd taken to no-lets by this point, bloody run for it), it hung at 2-2 for ages before Ian edged a couple of points in front, this seemed to do for Slade and the length of the match perhaps took its toll. Ian took the 5th and the match.
Some really good squash played tonight, from 5's and 2's in particular. 3's take note!! |
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| Author: | Si |
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