First on was Jason (Lang) v Garry McIlree at No.5. This was a tight match that went one way then the other. Jason took a tight 1^st game, Garry a good 2^nd, tie breaks in the 3^rd and 4^th went both ways – and so to the 5^th!

To see David Lloyd Renfrew match reports click here

To see David Lloyd West End match reports click here

Cont’d ……… Jason had been going for a lot of shots all match (missing a few too many for my liking). The 5^th saw him go for less, but he was finding it tough to finish the rally as Garry was able to dig the ball back time after time. At 8-2 Garry forced Jason back to his short game, which gives both fabulous shots and tins in equal measures. The score quickly became an unassailable lead of 10-4 and as the last rights were read Jase was piped 3-2. He’ll play better than this no doubt, but a good performance from Garry certainly put him in line for MOTM.

Next up were the No.1s Kev (Moran) v Martin Woods. This has been a tough match in all but the last outing and with Kev just back from Manchester (from the British Nationals) it was interesting to see how he would react after a tough Tournament. Well the answer was positive as he won the tie, but Martin pushed him all the way. The 1^st looked comfortable for Kev as Martin made quite a few uncharacteristic mistakes (must have been the video he set up making him nervous!?). But the camera shyness didn’t last long as Kev got involved in a bit of banter with the ref at the wrong time, causing a loss of both concentration and the 2^nd game. Leaving the court Kev made a mistimed comment that saw a change of ref for the 3^rd and a pirate (with his timbers shivered) demanding to know if he was being called a cheat – he wasn’t). Kev was soon back on track winning the 3^rd, but Martin evened things up with a good fighting performance in the 4^th. I missed the last one, but Kev won 5 points on the trot at 7-7 to win the match 3-2.

I was on next against Ross (Red) Lawrie at No.3 and although I’d had the better of our close encounters of the 3^rd line(up), they were always tight and the 1^st game was no different at 10-10. I knew this was the time to baton down the hatches, cut a good serve or two in and hit the back of the court. I managed to do this and 11-13 was the result (Sean was on hand to give some good advice about keeping it off Ross’s volley). The match carried on in much the same way in the 2^nd and 3^rd, but I managed not to leave it too late in these games and 8-8 became 11-8 in both. I was very pleased with the way I played; the strings on my Fury racket were still ‘cutting-up’ the ball ……………………….. like a ned in a XR3i.

Sean (Norris) was on next against Lee Frazer. Sean had won the last match 3-1 and he set straight to work chasing down everything Lee had to throw at him to take the 1^st 11-6. Unfortunately in the 2^nd he wasn’t tight enough and Lee ran him into every corner…….. lots of times. But the battle started again in the 3^rd and at 7-7 it was anyone’s, unfortunately anyone was Lee! I thought Lee may tire and Sean may edge his way back into the match and I was absolutely right as Sean went 3-0 up! Then Lee got back into his stride and took the game 11-5 and the match 3-1.

So at 2-2 in the match who was gonna take the 5^th rubber and the bonus points?

Chris ‘the pirate’ Patrick lined up against Dougie ‘Straight as a Harrow’ Kempsell. The pirate was expecting to lose and at (pieces of) 8-3 down he was doing just that. Dougie took the 1^st comfortably and was 7-1 up in the 2^nd before Chris decided to fling himself about a bit. He took the next 4 points (lost 1) and then another 5 in a row which gave him confidence to close the game out 11-9. So 2-2 in matches and 1-1 in the final one, what a great finish! Chris went 3-1 up in the 3^rd game; could he pull of a magnificent win? Could he overturn the under 19 National Champ?? Could he produce a miracle??? No!

Dougie went on a match winning run just at the right time to take the next eighteen points to Chris’s one and eventually sailed home to win the match in style.

A feast of soup, sandwiches, pizza & Houston Ale for dinner was scoffed back by me and a very interesting conversation started when we all had a massive debate about things you shouldn’t do on the day of a match. Needless to say anyone who’s dad may or may not have been there was very embarrassed (vague enough? Probably just as well!)

Good chat with the Gryffe lads and the pirate challenged me to a squash duel at high noon on Friday.

To say that Kevin Moran (David Lloyd Renfrew/Scotland) got a tough draw in the British National Championships is putting it mildly as he lined up against No.1 seed (and PSA World No.2) James Wilstrop.

But he fought through two qualifying rounds to get this match, so should have relished the opportunity to play the world’s best. Unfortunately James managed to beat Kev today, but Kev got a game before losing the tie 11-3  9-11  11-4  11-4 so he must have a number of positives to take from that match.

Stuart Crawford (Scotland’s ‘Assistant National Coach’) also fought his way through the qualifying rounds to meet the No.9 seed Robbie Temple in another tough 1st round draw. Again he wasn’t able to progress, as he lost his tie 3-0 (11-5  11-5  11-5).

Congrats to both players for making it through.

To see the main draw click here

First on at No.5 was Jason (Lang) against The Mugger (Graham McAinsh). A real tough ask of the youngster here, but Jase caught Graham cold and won the 1^st game 11-6. However a bit of complacency set in at this point and I think he didn’t realise that the Mugger was only just warming the joints up, so the was duly mugged in the 2^nd and the 3^rd games. Graham looked like he was cruising to victory at this point and Jason was wondering what had gone wrong. But of course nothing had, the momentum had just shifted; and it needed shifting back, and fast! …………..

To see David Lloyd Renfrew match reports click here

To see David Lloyd West End match reports click here

Cont’d…………… Graham played well to get to match ball in the 4^th and it looked like ‘lights out’ for Jase, but he wasn’t done just yet! A 10-6 deficit became a 10-10 tie break and each player had chances to win, but with the away crowd cheering him on, Jase crossed the finish line just in time. And so to the 5^th – Jason played really well in this one and was always ahead, Graham was what I can only describe as like the wheels on a bicycle (two tyred! Yeah I know) and Jason took full advantage to storm home to a thrilling 3-2 victory (he also upped his win stats to 60% and his thoroughly deserved MOTM awards!)

Could this be the break we needed to beat the No.2 side in the Division?

Next on was Sean with the nigh-on impossible task of beating Stuart (Boy) George. Everyone had told me how much Stu had improved, but this is the first time I’d seen him in full flow. He stuck Sean’s first serve in the nic and then cruised around the court for the rest of the game, winning easily. Sean needed to focus more on his own game and that’s what he did in the 2^nd and 3^rd games and he played much better. However it’s fair to say that Stuart was not at full throttle and he did what he had to do to win the match 3-0.

I was on next against Owen Hadden and after getting crunched in our last encounter I was expecting much the same tonight and I wasn’t disappointed (apart from the fact that I was!). Owen minced me in the 1^st game, made me look stupid in the 2^nd and if it wasn’t for the fact that he must have got a bit bored he would have done much the same in the 3^rd. As it happened I got a thoroughly undeserved few points to spare my blushes, but it was a humping none the less. Having said that Owen looked very sharp and missed nothing (and there were no doughnuts on show!).

Next on at No.2 was Dougie (Kempsell) v Doctor Tennant – no not that one. This was a great match-up with Dougie playing powerful pressure squash and doing plenty of chasing to boot; Iain was moving the ball with a great fluidity, dropping with precision and both players were volleying well. I can’t remember who won which games, but the pattern for the first 4 games were much the same i.e. Dougie needed to keep the tempo high early on to make the later stages of the game more successful. He managed to do this in two of the 4 games, but not in the other two. And so to the 5^th! Iain got a great lead and played the game really well to do so. Dougie was giving 100%, but just wasn’t getting the breaks he needed. At about 9-4 Iain’s lead was looking unstoppable and not only was it looking that way it was, but Dougie still didn’t make it easy and Iain had to fight for every half point. However his dander was up now and he crossed the finishing line with a dead weight shot to the back to win 3-2. It was a great game to watch. Dougie was really giving it everything he had at every moment with great pace, whereas Iain’s speed was deceptive…..he’s slower than he looked! Only kidding – in fact I can’t believe Iain didn’t get MOTM, but………………

Last on were the No.1 strings with Kev (Moran) playing Chris Ferguson. Both men were desperate to win and you could see the pain on their faces if they lost any rally. Chris’s face was the most contorted as Kev won the 1^st game 11-4 with all the focus of a Ford Focus dealer focusing on selling all the Focus’s on his car lot!* (*the format of this gag was nicked from Blackadder!). Chris looked even more annoyed after the 2^nd as Kev kept up the pressure. It’s fair to say that (up to this point) this is the best I’ve ever seen Kev play. His long game was fast and straighter than ever, his shots were tighter than ever and his determination (and focus) were excellent – also his speed was even quicker than I’d imagined it could be and he really showed me that developing this game could make his squash career move a good few steps forward. He looked set to win the 3^rd game and even had a couple of match balls. But talking of determination Chris wasn’t for giving up. He wrestled back the 3^rd game on the tie break and then seemed to really get into his stride. His shots to the front backhand were unbelievably tight, again and again, and his movement and retrieving were dogged and improving by the rally. Chris got a good lead in the 4^th and Kev knew there was no coming back so he threw the end of the game and prepared himself for the 5^th. There were some great exchanges at the start of the game with both players moving well, however Chris was inching ahead rally by rally and you could see the confidence course through his game. Chris stuck to his plans, Kev looked increasingly frustrated and the match slipped away from us 3-2 (MOTM has to be to Chris for the great comeback).

So with all those 3-2 matches things could have easily gone our way, but unfortunately they didn’t and we ended up losing 7-17. Chilli for dinner, so no veggie food for me: I therefore had to take matters into my own hands at this point and steal all the nan! I left soon after and what do you know there was a curry and a beer in the fridge waiting for me at home. Thanks the wife!

The University this week at home so we were expecting a strong performance as the Uni are struggling in the league at the moment.

First on was our new regular No.5 Jason (Lang) and he was up against Ollie Blackmore. Jason was into his stride from the word go this week and was playing a good length mixed in with some positive stuff to the front (or occasionally crazy stuff to the front as us old-boys would have it!) to win 11-6 and much the same in the 2^nd to also win 11-5. However Ollie staged a good come-back in the 3^rd as Jason’s positive shots to the front became positive shots into the tin once too often for my liking (crazy I say!) to lose this one 9-11. However he managed to screw-the-nut for the 4^th and round off another good performance (11-5) to take the match 3-1 and another MOTM for me.

To see David Lloyd Renfrew match reports click here

To see David Lloyd West End match reports click here

I was on second and for the second week in a row I managed to dominate the game. I was playing Blair Paton at No.3 and all my shots were coming off and Blair wasn’t really able to get me off the ‘T’. Blair confessed to being a bit out of shape (you can’t say the same about me however because ‘round’ is a shape!) and I’m glad as if I’d have had to chase his booming forehands all over the place he may have seen just how out of shape I was!

Next on was Sean (Norris) against Mairi (?) Charlton at No.4. Sean had a tough one against Mari (??) last half winning 3-1 and I don’t think he was relishing another tough encounter. And this was evident as Marry (???) took the 1^st game 11-7 with some great retrieving and excellent length. Sean wasn’t quite as focused as I’ve seen him recently and so he needed to really get his ‘match-head’ on if he was going to make any inroads into this tie. Fortunately he did exactly that and really dominated the next two winning 11-3  11-4. But Ma(dbuth)arry (????) was far from finished and another great retrieving game saw her tie things up (11-9) at 2-2. And so to the 5^th. It couldn’t have been tighter all the way to 6-6 and this was when Sean found a few reserves (or lucky shots off the frame and a bit of ass out-blocking!) to nick the game 11-7 and the match 3-2. WOTM was again Mhairi for me for another gritty performance (mind you who else could have got WOTM???? Sean maybe?).

Next on was Dougie (Kempsell) against Dave Lyons. Dougie is getting stronger and stronger each week and he’d win a lot of matches at No.1 so Dave was always going to struggle here. The match was 3-0 to Dougie and he almost handed Dave a ‘haggis’ (normally a doughnut, but changed for Burns Night only!) in the second 11-4  11-1  11-4. I advised Dave to play more rolling-nics in the 3^rd game and he initially took my advice to go 2-1 up, but unbelievably he completely ignored my advice for the rest of the match!

Kev (Moran) was on next against Liam Dickson at No.1. One of our club members said “Isn’t Liam the one who was eating chips in-between games last time he was here playing Kev?” and he’s was correct it was Liam last season – gotta be famous for something! Liam played really well and it was very interesting to see two players with similar games fighting it out. Things were really tight in the 1^st and 3^rd games especially, at 9-8 and 7-7 respectively, but cometh the hour and all that (!) and Kev managed to sneak these 2 games and win the 2^nd more easily 11-9  11-3  11-7.

So some good points for the team here and we retired to the bar for a Burns supper, but unfortunately it was just tatties and not a haggis in sight!

Nick beat James Wilstrop in an excellent 85 minute final by 3-1   (8-11  11-9  11-5  11-7)

Have a look at the 5 minute highlights package by clicking here and playing the Squash TV Final Round up

In the Ladies final Natalie Grinham thoroughly justified her No.1 seeding as she thrashed Dipika Pallikal 11-4  11-3  11-3 in just 25 minutes to win her first TOC title.

(below is a great clip from the Shabana v Rodriguez match at match point!)

Draw is available here

Draw is available here

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Newlands tonight and the bad news was that we were without Kev at No.1, but the good news was that it wasn’t Newlands 1^st team!

So first on was our new No.5 Colin (Richards) v Gary Nicholson and what a start Colin made after initially going 1-4 down! A great come back saw Colin lengthen the rallies and play some great stuff to get to game ball.

To see David Lloyd Renfrew match reports click here

To see David Lloyd West End match reports click here

cont’d ………… But Gary wasn’t beaten and he took the game into a tie break at 10-10. However Colin was having none of it and he finished Gary off to win the next two points and take the game 12-10.

Gary obviously wasn’t happy with this and he didn’t take a break instead preferring to knock up with himself for 90 seconds. The 2^nd was level pegging all the way to 5-5 with both players making some great shots and mistakes in equal measure, but Gary went on a game winning 7 point run to take the 2^nd game 11-5. Once again he stayed on the court knocking up with himself and at 7-2 up in the 3^rd this was looking like the difference! Colin made a valiant come back but was up against it and lost the game 11-7. Again no between-game rest for Gary and another great lead was taken at 5-0. Colin made a valiant come back to 6-8, but again it was just too much to ask as Gary won the 4^th game 11-6 and the match 3-1. MOTM to Gary, for turning this tie around.

Dougie Kempsel was on next at No.1 against a much improved James Singh (judging by recent results!), but Dougie had been warned. Still it didn’t stop James playing some excellent stuff at the start of the first to get to 4-4. He volleyed well and played some great drops making Dougie dig deep. But dig he did and despite a good effort from James, Doug took the 1^st game 11-8. James kept the pressure up in the 2^nd and was in it at 5-6, but again Dougie kept the pace up and it was soon 11-6 and 2-0 up. Doug was looking fresh and fit and James was looking like he’s already put a shift in! Not sure what happened in the 3^rd as I went on court, but Doug handed James a doughnut to complete another solid performance and win the match 3-0.

I was on against Stewart ‘the dog’ Brunton, and I was hoping to get a match that didn’t involve a lot of running! I’d treated myself to a new racket and what a difference it made to my game, the balance felt great and the Ashaway strings were cutting like Frankie Boyle’s tongue. Well Stewart wasn’t on form, but I played some precision stuff (even if I do say so myself!) to keep him under pressure and so was delighted with a 3-0 win. MOTM…. me – I was bloody great!!

Sean ‘trawler man’ Norris was on the next court (Sean has begun taking fishing to a whole new level) against Pete Cumine at No.3. I missed most of the 1^st game as I was on court, but Sean won 11-9 and Pete was annoyed to have hit the tin twice just at 9-9. The 2^nd game saw Sean take control of the match and keep himself in a dominant position throughout the game. Again Pete hit a couple into the tin at the sharp end of the game, but even so Sean deserved that one. The 3^rd was a different matter though and it was nip-and-tuck all the way 4-5 & 8-7 to Sean, but Pete took it to a tie break and got the first game point 11-10. Pete was far from happy at a call he got at 12-12 and as he remonstrated with the marker probably lost a bit of focus (and breath). Sean went on to take the game 16-14 and the match 3-0.

Anyone seen Grumpy Old Men on the telly? Well John Singh was a prime candidate for a role on the show tonight. He was not happy about anything at all, anywhere, at any point. Mind you he was getting frustrated with hitting a few tins (I’m being nice here, it was actually a few floors!). He played Jason Lang at No.4 and Jason was doing his best to stay out of the way of his wrath. Jason was able to hit a better length than John and this was the main difference as he took the 1^st game 11-8 and the 2^nd 11-7. John had a real tantrum in the 3^rd as he got more frustrated with his game and I was wondering if Super Nanny would have put him o the naughty step if she was there! Anyway Jason managed to let John implode and he took the last game 11-7 and the match 3-0 (John soon cheered up after the game as was on good form in the bar).

So a good 16-3 win without our No.1 and the best I can come up with for Quote Of The Night was from Gary when he said “A couple of drinks at lunch time really seemed to help my game!” (I paraphrase!)

The Artemis Sponsored ‘Edinburgh Open’ will be on between 26th and 29th of Jan to showcase some of the worlds biggest names in squash.

To see the draws chick:

Here for the Men’s BSPA Draw

and

Here for the Women’s WISPA Draw

Hope to see you there to watch some great live squash.

Happy New Year! Well it’s good to be back after the holidays, but having eaten too much and put on about a stone I thought I was in for a thrashing against a tough Western side, but of course you always forget that it’s not just your team that hasn’t played much and has eaten all the mince pies! Anyway I was inspired to greatness by watching the Squash on TV this weekend (What a fantastic match; amazing shots and wonderful movement, which doesn’t resemble my game in any way!)

I was on first at No.3 against the legend who is Kevin Lawlor. Beating Kevin for the first time is still one of my best ever matches (back in the day!) and so a healthy amount of respect is due every time you play him.

The first was a tight one at 5-5 and any time Kevin had a volley he comfortably tucked me away, fortunately……… (contd below)

To see David Lloyd Renfrew match reports click here

To see David Lloyd West End match reports click here

I realised this quickly and managed to keep it away from him with some good straight hitting to the back and then following up on the volley/drop to win the first game 11-6. The second game went all my way and Kevin never really got into his stride (11-4). But then there was a change of fortunes and suddenly the old K.L. was back on the court. He put me away on the volley and if I was able to scrape anything back I was sent the wrong way at the front with some brilliant holds. To be honest I wasn’t sure where the ball was going for most of this game and was gubbed 2-11. So it was time to realise that if I didn’t chase much better, hit straighter and volley I was likely to get thrashed again

I got my between game instructions from Guru Ray and also got my feet moving much better. And on top of this got a good run of early points to go 8-2 up, which as it transpired was good enough to take me over the line 11-6 and take the match 3-1. Relief!

Next up was Sean (Norris) against Steve Luker at No.4 and I missed the first two games as I was on court, but Sean was up 11-8 11-6. Steve took the 3^rd game 7-11 with some good retrieving and when Sean questioned why a shot wasn’t a stroke (which it quite obviously wasn’t) the only reply was, “Because that’s the rules Sean!” Normal service was resumed in the 4^th as Sean got back to winning ways to take the match 11-7. (MOTM to Steve)

Jason Lang was on next against Paul Whitley at No.5 and was looking for his 2^nd win for the team. He had a very shaky start and Paul raced to a 3 points to nil lead with Jason hitting quite wayward. However as soon as he got into his stride he started to get the ball much tighter and drop well to take the 1^st game 11-5 and in the 2^nd game Jason took full control and won 11-3. So Paul was going to have to find a different way if he was to get anything out of the game, and what a difference! Suddenly Paul turned into the lob/drop specialist. He was floating the ball about like a balloon and the lack of pace completely confused Jason, who gave away about three strokes in a row and was now scrapping for his life. Paul got a 9-5 lead; Jason pegged him back to 9-9; then it was neck-and-neck all the way to 13-13 with Paul getting 2 game balls and Jason getting his own match ball. Fortunately Jason managed to stumble across the finishing line 15-13 and looked mighty relieved to do so (Paul left the court muttering that the ball had hit Jason on the way to the front wall and he seemed a bit aggrieved, but I certainly saw no change in the flight, Jason felt nothing and Paul’s team mate didn’t see anything either, but Paul felt it was the turning point none-the-less!). MOTM to Jase for a good win.

Kev (Moran) took to the court at No.1 next against Peter Halliday, with Peter saying that he wasn’t looking forward to it.

“Don’t worry,” I said “just run round at top speed for an hour and hit lots of nics!”

“Five minutes if I’m lucky!” was the reply.

I didn’t see much of this match as I was marking, but Peter seemed to be in the rallies especially in the 1^st and 3^rd games and had a lot to hit (and chase!), but Kev’s speed around the court stopped him getting many points. Kev won comfortably 11-6 11-3 11-5.

Last on was the brand new (as of Monday!) 2012 Scottish Junior Open Under 19 Runner-up Dougie (Kempsell) against Jamie Henderson, who also played the tournament and finished in 10^th place – click here for the full results.

Dougie was out of the blocks like a whippet with his new Harrow Power Spark racket and raced to an 11-2 win in the 1^st game. The 2^nd saw Jamie get right back into it with some powerful hitting to go 6-4 up, but Dougie was soon flying again and took the 2^nd 11-6. The pace was very high and both under 19s were flying about the court; it reminded me of when I was under 19…..last millennium…..with a single yellow dot………….. and a wooden racket!!

Anyway back to the future and the 3^rd game saw Dougie take a 7-2 lead before Jamie had even woken up and it seemed that there was no coming back from that. Jamie did come back however to 7 (to Dougie’s 10 points), but it wasn’t enough and Dougie finished it off to win 11-7

So a good 18-2 win and we retired to the bar to listen to Sean’s New Year jokes, which resembled the Old Years ones………………… and the year before that!

To see David Lloyd Renfrew match reports click here

To see David Lloyd West End match reports click here

First up was Kev (Moran) against Peter O’Harrow (!) at No.1 – Was this going to be the year that Kev would make deeper inroads into Peter’s game? Unfortunately not, as Peter won the match 3-0 with some tight play to the back and the trade mark rocket to the front. I arrived at the end of the 2nd game and I thought that Kev let Peter dictate the pace a bit too much giving him a little too much to hit especially at the front of the court. Still all good experience and many have visited Newlands and come off second best to Mr O’Hara.

Ewen Urquhart went on next against Paul Bell from Carlisle at No.3 (yup, that’s right Paul Bell at No.3!) and he never really got into his stride. Paul was a little too experienced and Ewen was soon 2-0 down. Paul had an altercation with the marker in the 3rd game as he was expecting the call to be “Stroke to Newlands!” and was amazed when he didn’t get it. So in pique he started battering the ball as hard as possible; well like an alarm clock this woke Ewen up and he responded by also walloping everything at 200mph; suddenly the game came to life and Ewen was staging a comeback. Unfortunately it was a little too late and Paul’s lead meant that he was able to get the last couple of points needed, leaving Ewen high and dry; and I was left wondering if the clobberfest had started in the 1st game, would it have been a tighter game and how would Paul have responded??

Next up was me against Mark Ford at No.4 (I know – I wonder when the last time Mark played at No.4!). Anyway no surprises to hear that I got chopped 3-0 although I played quite well at times. I thought my length shots were working well and I volleyed well to boot. But when Mark realised that he’d have to get out of 3rd gear, he did and 7-7 became 11-7 in the 1st – I didn’t even get a sniff at the ball in the 2nd as Mark was almost trying at times and consistently sent me the wrong way – then in the 3rd he once again forgot that I could still hit the odd good shot and I almost sneaked a game, but it wasn’t to be and all I was left with was a strained Achilles on the down side and two pints of Erdinger on the up side!

Next on at No.2 was new Harrow signing Dougie (Kempsell) against England U19 No.4 Tom Ford all the way from Gloucester. Dougie had played Tom last year and been beaten 3-0 (in a Scotland v England Test Match) so it was going to take a gargantuan effort to turn that around; and a gargantuan effort is exactly what we got……………… from both players. Dougie took a very physical, tight 1st game, but Tom came back and took an exhausting 2nd and a lung-busting 3rd. Dougie won the 4th more easily and both players looked very tired going into the 5th, but none-the-less the match continued with its high quality shots and high-octane speed. Dougie was going cross-court from the front left too often for my liking (I know I’m a fine one to talk) and then having to do a lot of chasing to make up for losing the ‘T’. It was becoming a match about who could chase to the end and unfortunately although both players gave 100% it was Tom who prevailed and closed out the match 3-2.

Last up was Sean (Norris) against Malky Watt at No.5 (!). Bit of a tough one for Sean and 3-0 was tempered by the fact that he played well in the 1st to get 9 (ish) points, but it was always going to be a tall order to get a game, and a tall anything is not Sean’s strongest suit! Good effort though and anyway we discovered that (according to AP) Newlands weren’t really playing us tonight – they were competing against Giffnock! Ho hum.

I know it’s a bit vain to laugh at your own jokes and quote yourself, but then again I am vain, so with that in mind QOTN (quote of the night) was either:

No.1 from Tom Ford “The reason I took so long to get ready after every match is because I have to stretch and also have a couple of rehydrating drinks otherwise I suffer the next day.”

Reply from me “That’s very interesting as I also have to have a couple if rehydrating pints after my match!”

Or

No.2 from Alan (Newlands) Pearson “I remember once when we were celebrating a great victory we all went into that student Club in town, what’s it called? Oh yes Bamboo – and they let an old fart like me in, I couldn’t believe it.” Reply also from me “The only reason they let you in Bamboo Alan, is because you look like a Panda.”