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| Report: | Park Langley's "Youth" team took to the courts for the first game of the season against a strong Cascades team that we'd had a couple of ding dongs with during the summer season. PL sporting a new line up after an off season of closely contested position jostling!
First on was Clubman Adam vs Tony
Apparently these two go way back, reciting clashes "from way back when..." That's where the pleasantries ended really, I didn't see much of the game due to playing but I certainly heard it! Questions whether they were playing squash or declaring war. The upshot of it was Adam won a keenly contested 3-0, with form that was refreshing to see as Adam appeared to redisvocer his shots.
On court 1: "Captain inconsistent" Rich vs Chris
Having played Chris last year when he was still on the Cobdown books, and having no less than 2 hours sleep I certainly wasn't looking forward to this match up. Feelings vindicated as Chris robbed the first game with a string of pressured play and good retrieval shots, followed up by a thumping in the second. A quick change of rackets (never a good sign) and change in approach and Mr. Inconsistent lived up to his name and produced some tight squash to pull back the 3rd and then return the 9-0 drubbing in the 4th to set up a 5th. Tight all the way through but Rich did just enough to force Chris into mistakes at the end. Great game, PL 2 up on the night.
"Slap-a-nick" Nilen vs. Alan
Having been suffering with an injury, Nilen was intent on displaying some of the most unorthodox footwork you're ever likely to see on a squash court, but was up against a wiley opponent in Alan. I didn't see much of this due to playing at the time but what I did see Nil was firing the ball into all corners and forcing too many mistakes out of Alan to really ever be under any pressure, closing out in 3 and winning the tie for PL.
"Prodigal son" Rob vs Craig
Having promptly dispatched all of his team mates during the off season Rob has been moved up the order, and with regular no. 1 Paul away (dropped?) he was thrust into the lions den against Craig. What followed could not have been predicted by any of us... Craig, thinking the order was suspicious came out in second gear and met a buzzing Rob who promptly dispatched anything loose to take the 1st game 9/3. The question being could he keep this up and was Craig about to unleash an unforgiving lesson on young Robbie? Sure enough a few trademark through the leg shots and tight boasts came in from Craig but Robbie dug in and kept his head, retrieving as well as ever and forcing mistakes from his opponent to take the game into a tie break. Both players worked up by some frustrating calls from the marker (sorry guys), a temperous few hand in/outs followed but Robbie eventually took the game 10/9. With Rob's "lungs burning", he took to the court in the 3rd looking to try and maintain the pace and concentration, which is exactly what he did, as a few more errors started to appear in Craigs game and Rob closed out for 9/1 and 3-0. Scarily good start for Rob, and 4-0 on the night.
Finally "Slow start" Tom vs. Ash
True to his name, Tom didn't get going in the first, or maybe Ash started particularly fast, either way the first game was over in the blink of an eye, Ash taking it 9/2. Some words of advice from Nickalls snr and his watching team mates, Tom appeared to reverse the flow in every sense of the word, stepping up and taking the game to Ash to take it back 9/2 and level the score at 1-1. The next game became a comedy of both players hurling abuse at themselves, the walls, their rackets and (occassionally) the marker... In amongst it all though was some great squash being played, eventually bringing us to 8-8 and a cheeky set 1 being called! No fewer than 10 changes of serve but eventually Tom forced 2 mistakes in a row out of Ash to go 2-1 up and, somewhat unfortunately Ash couldn't continue due to an old achilles injury. A shame as it looked to be a good match.
So a good start for the PL boys, hopefully a "start as you mean to go on" type display going into the cold winter months... Well played to all Cascades players. Good laugh in the bar afterwards.
Note: None of the cascades players appear in the drop down menus |
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| Author: | RM |
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