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| Report: | Sometimes there are questions over the validity of fixtures from two teams at the same club, but no quarter was given at Burbage Road as the 1st team entertained the 2nds [who incidentally had derailed the title challenge with an upset in the Summer]. The temperature may have dropped a notch outside but the heat was up on court.
First up Tim took on Jamie, who started a little slowly and then rattled off a few quick winners to take the first. The swash buckling squash continued in the second as Tim tried desperately to Contain things, managing to batten down the hatches and level things up. Some desperate retrieving the third, helped by a timely side-wall nick, and Tim control of everything bar the rallies to eventually get home in four.
Across the way, Will was back on court having recently moved out from London. It may be East Kent rather than West Africa, but it still takes time to find some regular squash and Gordon took full advantage. A punishing first, saw Will pull things back from 4/10 to 10/10 but the exertion took its toll and Gordon snuck it 12/10. The second was another tough one with neither player wanting to show any signs of Weakness, but again it was Gordon who won the final point before pushing on to win the match level the tie at 1-1.
The first team’s Florence Nightingale Lauren then stepped up steady the ship easing through to take the first 11/3, but Will N had other ideas and pegged one back with delicately annoying cross-court drops! The thirds was tight, but Lauren edged it and then as she had Will run corner to corner he started to shows Symptoms of fatigue, and succumbed to things in four.
Paddy started solidly and looked to be setting up a deciding rubber as he moved 2/0 ahead against Antonio. However, the latter is renowned for his gritty determination and started to hit thE bola to the back of the court with a bit more conviction. This coupled with a few errors from Paddy’s racket helped him back in to the match and pulled it back to parity. However, Paddy regrouped and put in enough solid rallies early on in the fifth to step up the win.
So to the ending everyone except the first team wanted, with Jim taking on Chris. Playing for the Lansdowne in the Bath Cup they know each others game well and the early exchanges were cagey and probing. Jim edged the first, Chris the second. They then shared the next to set up a thrilling climax. Chris seemed to just have the edge in energy and coped with lights going out to get to 10/7 but some high risk shots from Jim paid off as pulled it back and tension reached Fever pitch as he got to 10/10. A tin gave Chris another chance, but a mm perfect drop got it back to 11/11. Jim got his first sight of match ball! A possible stroke to him and then a potential one for Chris, that both ended in lets, saw things crank up another notch. A final frantic rally saw Jim scrape the ball up before hitting a random overhead cross-court that fooled Chris as much by the shot selection as the quality of execution and the match was over. 3-2 to the first team. Just.
Late night pizzas were enjoyed by those that stayed, before an Outbreak of panic as last trains had to be caught. A fantastic match, look forward to the return, at the same place!
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| Author: | TG |
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