Home > Uncategorized > Match Report 22nd November 2023 v Hamilton (away) – West Squash Division 1

Match Report 22nd November 2023 v Hamilton (away) – West Squash Division 1

November 23, 2023 Leave a comment Go to comments

Off to Hamilton tonight to take on Lanarkshire’s finest – and also to visit the leg-end, ex-team mate & pal, Barry Sutherland, who is propping up the curling-rink bar these days (he even got me an Erdinger in for dinner later – above and beyond big yin!). Just as well he wasn’t playing tonight or the result may have swung.

Well the team arrived together and as we walked in Angus said “I’m not bloody going on last this week!”. So inevitably we were then immediately greeted by Tigger (Chris McCutcheon) and Callum who told us the No.5 would be late! So Angus was first to mark! The good news was that we had two courts tonight, which was just as well as there were a couple of long matches. First on was Chris (Murphy) v Calum Philip and by the time I’d changed, Chris was already 1-0 up. This game had lightning quick rallies, with Calum pummelling everything as hard as he could and Chris defending the onslaught and then taking the opportunity to try something equally outrageous! It looked like both players were having fun and both found the funny side of Chris returning a serve on the backhand with disguise and top-spin (and he ordered Calum a ‘taxi’ at the same time!). Calum got closer by the end, and the last game was 12-10, but ultimately Chris was just too good tonight and won 3-0.On at the same time was ‘2 James Singhs’ v Joe Broadly (up from Carlisle). This was the opposite of the match on the other court and was still in the first game when Chris and Calum had finished! James looked dominant and his game plan was working a treat as he went 2-0 up. I only saw bits of this as I had to go on, but when I saw James was 10-6 down in the 3rd and the punishing rallies were getting longer, I thought James may be in trouble. Chris won the 3rd game, but James immediately turned up the pressure and controlled the 4th (although Angus threatened to give James a punishment for hitting one of his drops into the floor!). So 3-1 to James at No.1.As I mentioned, I was on the other court as much of James’s last two games were being slugged out. I was playing Chris McCutcheon (Tigger to his mates) at No.4. This was ultimately a win for me and I was delighted to take the points against a man who normally beats me. Tigger is difficult to read as he throws out all kinds of strange shots and seems to have stealth movement, popping up where you least expect him. So I was delighted that my serves were high and my drops were low and I hung in the 3rd game to squeeze home 13-11.

Next up was Harry (Flash) Anderson v Chris McGeady and this turned out to be an epic five setter. Chris got the first two and Flash made an impressive comeback to get the next two. I was marking and was being thoroughly entertained with loads of Harry’s fantastical shots! In fact every time I laughed at one of Harry’s entertaining flashes, I put a smiley face on the marking sheet :-). By the 5th game both men were pretty tired and so one last push would decide it. When Chris was 8-4 up it looked all over and equally when Harry got back to 9-10 the crowd were on the edge of their seats! Unfortunately, for us, ‘The Flashman’ was pipped 11-9 in the 5th and Chris was delighted to get off court with the win (MOTM to both men for a great match).

While all this was going on Angus (Forester) was on at No.5 v Colin Towers. As I was reffing the other court, I didn’t see any of this match and this meant that, unfortunately, I didn’t get to see Colin’s 30 year-old racket in full flow! The match result was 3-0 to Angus, but he confessed that he probably would have lost if it had gone into a 4th or 5th, as he was gassed!So a quick shower and lasagna for dinner – and “two helpings Murphy” looked like he hadn’t been fed in a week (where does he put it!). The Hamilton lads got me a massive salad, although apparently on their group chat earlier a pack of Cheese & Onion crisps was also put forward!! Probably by Barry!

A good 17-4 win for the team and as we traveled back to the club the banter was in full flow, with Angus handing out punishments for all sorts of things and James saying the first inappropriate thing that came into his head! Great fun, and the competition carried on in the back bar, with Angus beating Chris at darts and Ollie & Hamish making guest appearances (guess which one of them broke a racket this week?!?!?!)

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