Broadberry Sports

A HOME match tonight against Giffnock 2nd team. I was first at the HOME venue, because it was at HOME and not away at Giffnock. Craig went to Giffnock!

First on tonight at the same time was myself and Joe (McDonald) against Matthew Stout and Mark Coil respectively. I didn’t see Joe’s match but he told me that Mark was just too quick and too good and he lost 3-0.

Matthew, my opponent, was also too quick and too good, but that didn’t deter me. Even at 0-2 down I was still desperately thinking of how to get myself in to a winning position. Fortunately for me, it was probably more to do with Matthew taking the foot off the gas than me playing amazingly (although I was quite pleased with my shots and change of pace) and I did sneak the 3rd game. The 4th was also close but Matthew always kept the lead and in retrospect I think I was lucky to get one game (and I strained my Achilles again! Sport hurts!).

From the way things went tonight I felt like I lived every match, but in reality I only really saw one other game which was Jason (Lang) v Patrick O’Sullivan at No.2. These two had the longest warm up in the history of squash, but eventually graced the court with their presence. And it was worth the wait and this was a real cracker to watch. The games ebbed and flowed and just when I thought Patrick was on top Jason came back at him again and again. Inevitably this went to 5 and by this time both players had put a massive amount of work and were looking pretty tired. However this did not stop either of them from giving everything again in the last game. It was very close and (from memory) Jason had a chance to go 10-10, however he tinned one just at the wrong time and Patrick cleared up the crumbs to win 3-2. I’d give Patrick MOTM tonight for his performance (pleasure to ref as well – from both men).

Craig turned up at last (via Giffnock) and with a damaged right hand, so we were treated to a very ‘Un-Craig-like’ performance from him as he lobbed and dropped his way through the match. I missed most of the match as I was marking Jason’s epic, but I joined it in the 5th! It was great to see Craig playing all the shots in the book and use the height of the court against Stuart Pitt at No.1. And it was a right ding-dong between them as well – Craig had the better movement which kept him in it and time and again he fizzed an unplayable shot to keep him in the match. In the end this went all the way and either man could have won it, but it was Craig who held his nerve and won 3-2 (MOTM to Craig for playing with an injury and winning!).

Doug was also on at the same time and he was playing Mark. I saw young Mark warm up and wondered if he had too many

Definitely not MOTM contenders! But wait til the night out til we come into our own!!

shots for his own good, but the answer to that was no! I only saw the last game and was also watching Craig at the same time (we had all 3 courts by that time) but Doug wasn’t able to get the ball behind his opponent often enough to use his strength. Having said that Mark was excellent and will be a top player in the future (still it’s always painful to loose to an apprentice welder 1-3 – it’s the goggles!).

A real good squash match tonight, very enjoyable even though we lost 17-7 (and although I lost I’m taking credit for winning at No.4 in the 2nd team with the advice I gave to spons Michael Jackson!) 

Read more…

Mohamed Elshorbagy claimed his second Qatar Classic, PSA World Series title with an 3-1 win over Gregory Gaultier in Doha, Qatar.

The 24-year-old Egyptian came into the final without dropping a single game, but it looked like Gaultier was feeling the effects of playing an extra three games.

Elshorbagy raced into a one-game lead after starting the match with a punishing pace. Things looked to be going from bad to worse for the ‘French General’ in the second as Elshorbagy doubled his advantage with relative ease. 

Gaultier won the 3rd and in the 4th built up another strong lead after Mohamed struggled to deal with the change of pace but the number one seed battled back to force the match into a tense tie-break and edge a hard-fought 11-5, 11-7, 5-11, 12-10 title. Read more…

First up today on Wednesday was me as I was greeted by a very keen Gavin (Picken) who was ready and raring to go. I was subsequently told that Gavin competed in Ironman events and had recently came 2nd in an impressive 105 mile competition (it was fortunate that no one told me this to start with as The thought of running round like a maniac all evening would probably have put me off).

Anyway as we were knocking up I was testing out a few shots to see how Gavin reacted and I noticed that every time I gave him an easy backhand volley he didn’t take it, interesting! So the plan was hatched. If he was going to stand back that far I would see if my boast to his backhand would catch him out. Master plan! The first two games sailed by with me in complete control. His teammates were down in between games trying to point out the problem and as I went on for the 3rd Hamish said in a stage whisper “….and if that doesn’t work resort to violence!”

Well Gavin came back on a changed man and he kept it deep on the backhand and started volleying everything and suddenly I was 0-6 down. Well I regained some composure and came back to eventually win the game and the match, before he was able to really work for me out. I must say he was lightning to any shots I played, so it was good to beat Ironman-105.

While I was playing I noticed this blond bloke on the balcony, but didn’t recognise him at all and assumed he was playing for Western 2. When he passed me to go on court I again assumed it was one of their team wearing the same colour shirts as us; then their No.1 Mhairi went on with him and it struck me that it was actually Craig!?! Well he certainly wins the master of disguise prize! Anyway he played Mhairi Charlton and after Mhairi’s epic performance against us a few weeks ago (winning 3-1 for their 1st team) she was really up against it tonight. Craig was just physically too strong and could get all of her, (brilliant) shots and then he could twist and turn her with pace and power. Mhairi battled really well, but it was inevitable that Craig could turn up the power at any time and so he won 3-0.

Next on was Jason Lang at No.2 against Hamish Foster. Jason also didn’t recognise Craig, but I did recognise the now familiar silky movement from Jason – and he doesn’t half whack the ball. Hamish was beaten for pace (he was also beaten for skill & movement!). It was a nice gentle run out for Jason and an easy 3-0.

Doug went on next at No.4 against ‘Dangerous Dave Kelly’ and this turned out to be the match of the night. It was obvious that Doug’s Head wasn’t really in the game tonight and Dave took full advantage of this. At 1-2 down Doug would have to pull something out to win this one. Fortunately, ‘cometh the hour….’ and all that rubbish and Doug was determined to make a fist of it. Dave hasn’t played many team matches this season and so he was tiring quickly. Doug must have sensed victory because he upped the pace and subtly changed all of his crosscourt thwackes to include some good straight driving. The tide was turning! And so to the 5th! Grim determination saw Doug through this match to win 3-2 and this must have helped as i’m sure I saw him smile after!

Joe went on at the same time as Doug so I lost I missed a lot of this one. He appeared to win the 1st reasonably easily (v Jon Moore) but then lost the 2nd. I watched the 3rd game and he played very well to dominate his opponent, keeping Jon on the end of every rally and tying him up at the back of the court. In-between games I went down and asked Joe how he managed to lose the 2nd as I had seen nothing to indicate he should have. So the (brilliant!) advice was as ever “Keep doing what you’re doing and don’t do what you did in the 2nd!” I then went back to watch the No.4 string and wasn’t massively surprised to hear that Joe had run out a 3-1 winner by getting an unassailable lead in the 4th (despite a mini come back from Jon).

So an 18-3 win for us which I think is our first this season this season. And loads of pizza from the newly opened Western restaurant (including a goats cheese and sweet potato one, no really it was actually quite nice – especially with chilly sauce and chips. The food of athletes!)

Read more…