Broadberry Sports

Wednesday 25th September 2013 – 2nd Team
So I missed a couple of the games last night and Kenny kindly volunteered to type up a report on the first two matches to build up the tension and I will be followed by Part 2 shortly:
“As I entered Parkland’s Country Club and wandered through the “bowels” of the Club looking for the Squash section to play Giffnocks fifth team, in what was the 1st game of the Season for the 2nds, my fears started to surface….Am I fit enough? Have I put in the training over the summer? Will I remember the basics of whats been drummed into me by Jason? Will I stay injury free? Have I got enough KT Tape in my bag?….All these questions where about to be answered over the next 2 hours…Realising that I must have walked over 200 yards from my car to the viewing gallery, I was pleased to know that at least the “warm up” was complete and all I have to now is play. At the gallery I was greeted by the Giffnock number 5 who with pen in hand, was about to mark the 1st game of the night, asking where everyone else was, he told me “its only you and I at present” and I thought I was late….
As I peered over the balcony in what can only be described as a “black hole” the Colonel was finishing his warm up against a chap who from my vantage point, had a passing resemblance to Arthur Scargill and fittingly enough also wore some sort of head device….not a “headlight” although given how dark these courts were I wouldn’t have blamed him…asking the Marker when the lights come on, he said they are on…These Courts must be the only “White Walled Courts” that need to played with a White Ball…I wouldn’t say these courts were dark but Stephen Hawkings was in the corner rewriting the “Big Bang” theory…anyway enough of this preamble and on to what actually happened.
Now it has to be said that the Colonel hasn’t been seen much around the D.L.squash section of late, indeed when I last spoke to him he was still a Corporal however, all I can say is that a Squash Player appears to have entered his body..playing some great legnths and deft drops the Colonel was soon 1 up, and moving Scargill around with same aggression of the Yorkshire Police breaking a Miners picket line….wearing his best Rupert the Bear shorts and some dodgy holiday t shirt the Colonel was soon wrapping this one up in jig time. Jim Kerr 0 (“Dont you forget about me” dont worry we wont) The Colonel 3.
Next up was Neil Ross. Now Neil by his own admission is “Playing Pish” and going through what can only be described as a “crisis of confidence” so getting off to a good start was imperative, and that’s exactly what he did. winning the 1st game convincingly. Neil continued to play with purpose and poise and was soon up 2-0 The wobble manifested it self in the 3rd game with Neil losing it narrowly to Stewart however, with some wise words from his team mates like “sort it out” Neil then went back on court and closed the last game out in style. Stewart Hamilton 1 Neil 3. Well done Neil you can build on this performance, going forward. PS I love the “Fame Adademy” look so 70s.”
….so 2-0 up so far. All we need is one more match to do what we struggled so much to do last season…stay tuned for part 2!
…so after a short intermission, onto part 2 of the match report:
As with 2 in the bag JT was up next and he was up against it with a very tricky badminton player and a woeful marker(me!). He was against, the difficult to read, Paul Geri. I had played him last year and knew this one would be a toughie! Right from the word go Paul was playing the most obscure flicky shots and John was struggling to force him to play “real” squash. A body check about 5 points in almost floored JT and to be honest was a bit OTT(suddenly wished i hadn’t volunteered to mark this one). After that incident John never really got a look in this game and a few poor drops, but John’s standard, left him one game down(15-6). A bit of novice advice from me for John to cutout the drops and keep him at the back and we were onto the 2nd game…much better from JT and he should have had this one wrapped up but unfortunately took his foot off the gas and ended up just being caught(15-13).
Onto the third game and the marker really came into his own in this one….had a few howling decisions which included not only some incorrect calls(hindsight’s a wonderful thing!) and a score mixed up…unfortunately all of this and a few wayward serves from John let to the final game going to Paul as well(15-12). Disappointing especially since John is a much better player.
I missed most of Kenny and Derek Hanlan’s game thru marking JT’s game i’m afraid (maybe Kenny should have covered that one in his match report too) but from what i did see he was continuing to play well, as he seems to have been the last few months. I did notice that the lights on their court went out mid rally but, as Kenny mentioned, the courts were so dark anyway that they just carried on Kenny got off to a flier in the first and was never in any danger, closing out the first 7-15 but he did take his eye off the prize in the 2nd game….maybe his KT tape needed reapplied…and Derek pinched it 15-13. After that though he “screwed the nut” and with a few of those “piper, papper, crombie” shouts(i know that is wrong but what the hell is it and what does it mean!) he won the next two (8-15, 5-15) in true style and took the match 1-3 and the tie with it…
So just me to cover and there was plenty of shouting from my court and it was all me! I felt i was moving well but as usual the shots just weren’t there. Ali Martin, my opponent, had the better of the 1st game and when he was 13-11 up i feared the worst. However i did what i usually don;t do and slowed down and kept it to the back – managed to get a run of 4 points and i’d literally stolen the first game. Loads more shouting in the 2nd but in all honesty i was happier with the way i played and won the 2nd comfortably (7-15). After this Ali’s head went down and in the 3rd i was 8-14 up…took my foot off the gas and nearly paid for it but won 13-15. 3-0 win and a great win for DLWE 2(5-15). Fingers crossed we keep this up…
MOTM to Graham for getting us off to a flyer and having a more convincing 3-0 win than myself. Paul G probably their MOTM but still think John T will get him in the return leg.
Myself, Neil and Kenny went back to Giffnock for Lasagne and bread. Jim Kerr was quite persistent in trying to get us to come back and tried his best to convince JT to come back but even an explanation that it was only 5 minutes in that direction was met by a response of “I’m still not coming back” with a cheeky smile – hahaha, love it.
To be fair, the scran was actually superb, i have to say…and that is not just coz we are comparing it to DLWE!
Great win guys….let’s keep it up DLWE2.
Summary of Scores:
1.) Paul Geri vs John Turner : 15/6, 15/13, 15/12 – 3-0 Loss
2.) Ali Martin vs Kevin Cameron : 13/15, 7/15, 13/15 : 0-3 Win
3.) Derek Hanlan vs Kenny Lumsden : 7/15, 15/13, 8/15, 5/15 : 1-3 Win
4.) Jim Kerr vs Graham Sanders : 8/15, 12/15, 8/15 : 0-3 Win
5.) Stewart Hamilton vs Neil Ross : 11/15, 6/15, 17/15, 11/15 : 1-3 Win
MOTM – Graham Sanders & Paul Geri
DLWE2 Win 5-15.

Wednesday 25th September 2013 – 4th Team
so we started new season. 4th team sharp as the knife, fast as a wind and so on. We hosted 3rd team of Whitecraigs LT&SC and we were focused like never before. Concentration was never disrupted by the girls going back and forth from yoga! We even decided to stick to court No. 3 as the only interesting bit there is gas meter.
We were early, we were warmed up. We were there. We got pumped (this phrase I have learned from many previous match reports). We tried hard but we were trashed. Our morale gone with the wind and then suddenly I saw what it’s all about. This is not about winning or losing because we are losing. It is about having great time. In our team there were great fighters and I saw in their eyes sadness of being beaten badly. If you are in the 4th team you need to have high hopes for winning and thick skin (or better hard ass) to accept loss. Enjoy time spent on court playing players you may never meet again, what may be good overall
I saw Fraser’s look when I started talking about different clubs and the food there – I knew I had disappointed him.
Always looking for brighter side, as we were told new regulations for this season says the winner team is responsible to put the score into the system. We don’t need to bother with this crap.
Good night all – rise and rise again until lambs become lions
Piotr
PS – 15-2 we lost

Wednesday 2nd October 2013 – 2nd Team
SSRC3 are strong candidates to win this division this year even though they are newly promoted – but then again we should be right up there too, so big match tonight. My turn to drive this week, So an opportunity for Neil to get a few beers and since he was first up there was the potential for sampling the vast array of beverages that SSRC had to offer especially with a long night on the cards (3 homes teams playing at SSRC between 4 courts).
No.5
Neil was playing David Tennent and given his impressive win last week and his current form he was in with a great chance. The 1st game was close enough but Neil’s temper got the better of him and he missed out (15/10) but mostly due to unforced errors. It wasn’t till the 2nd game that we seen the infamous racquet throw…but this time it nearly ended up out of court and marginally missed us spectators on the balcony…quite entertaining and followed but a quick apology. Unfortunately he let that 2nd game get away(15/5) and but the time he really got into the game in the 3rd it was all a bit too late(15/12). A good effort and a sign that we were up against a tough side who are on a 22 match unbeaten run.
No.1
Whilst watching Neil on court, Sara was upset to hear that her opponent at No.1 had not showed yet – however she was glad to hear that the person she heard that from (me) was misinformed and quickly went from “gutted” to “ecstatic” when she realised she was on next. Sara was looking sharp on court and after the first few rallies against here opponent(George Allan) it as clear that this was going to be a great match to watch. George can really hit the ball but Sara was more than equal to him and was retrieving everything on the SSRC boiler room…first blood to Sara(13/15)…edge of the seat stuff. I was so jealous of Neil able to kick back with a beer and enjoy(draft pint to start with i think…)
2nd game Sara stepped it up even more and won this one even more convincingly(10/15) – although still not seen a drop shot as yet. Onto the 3rd and it was a beauty….George was pulling out all the stops to try to hold on to this tie and with game points for him and match points for Sara the 3rd game could truly go either way. It had to go to 18/20 before Sara managed to close the match out and with a performance like that was a clear WOTM match performance.
No.4
Graham timed his arrival perfectly and was up next against Nick Allan, who had earlier been commenting to me on the improvement in Neil’s game since last season…that was before he nearly got hit on the balcony with a harrow mind you! I went to get changed at this stage so missed the first game which Graham
narrowly lost 15/10. In the 2nd it didn’t seem like Nick had that much that Graham couldn’t handle but just didn’t seem to be chasing down shots they way he usually does and Nick was that bit more clinical and wasn’t really in danger(15/6). Onto the 3rd and Nick just had too much of the momentum at this point and took the match with a 15/10 win.
No.3
Kenny was up against Maggie Farrell at No.3 and this was another cracker. Nothing between the two in the first and it went to 16/14 in the end with some great shots from both but in the end the game was pipped by Maggie. In the 2nd Maggie had the better of the exchanges although to be fair Kenny wasn’t doing much wrong so was pretty unlucky to be go 2-0 down (15/11)
The 3rd game had plenty of questions from both Maggie and Kenny to the marker but Kenny didn’t let it affect his game too much and managed to claw one back(10/15). Onto the 4th and Kenny was moving maggie around the court well to level it up (12/15).
A great final game, and with match points for both on multiple occasions there was quite a crowd! Collisions, Arguments with marker & many opportunities to close the match out and we were at 16-16. 17-16 to Kenny, 17-17 all, 18-17 to Maggie…..finally Maggie closed out the match at 19-17….great game and WOTM to Maggie. Fantastic effort by Kenny and some valuable points.
No.2
It was after 10pm and it was finally my turn to go on court(god knows how many beers Neil was on by this point but pretty sure it was an IPA). Thankfully the injury(Tendinitis) that had had meant i was a 50/50 the day before had subsided and in the warm-up i felt pretty sharp, unfortunately though i was up against a triathlete – Tom Dunn!
The 1st game I’m not sure i could have played much better but even still i found by self 1-0 down(15/13). Frustration started to get the better of me in the second and with some shouting, hitting racquet off the wall and a final kick of the wall…i found myself masking the fact that i’d actually hurt my foot quite badly…thankfully the adrenaline got me thru to the end of the match but could barely put weight on it this morn! In any case Tom had sussed me in this game and realised that i was overrunning everything and had the engine to more than match me(15/9).
A bit of advice from Kenny to step forward and i got off to a great start in the third but soon my impatience and over-running got the better of me and despite my very best efforts and couple of decent drops i lost the match(15/12).
So disappointing 15-5 loss but i don’t think we will get a much better team than that this year and frustratingly we could have maybe nicked the win – looking forward to return leg of this one.
It was Pies and beans afterwards with the usual awesome selection of beer. Unfortunately there were no beans left when i went for my pie at 11pm but the bottle of St Mungo’s washed it down nicely.
Great effort guys, but we can’t win them all…..i guess.
Summary of Scores:
No.1) George Allan vs. Sara McDonald : 13/15, 10/15, 18/20 : 0-3 Win
No.2) Tom Dunn vs. Kevin Cameron : 15/13, 15/9, 15/12 : 3-0 Loss
No.3) Maggie Farrell vs. Kenny Lumsden : 16/14, 15/11, 10/15, 12/15, 19/17 : 3-2 Loss
No.4) Nick Allan vs. Graham Sanders : 15/10, 15/6, 15/10 : 3-0 Loss
No.5) David Tennent vs. Neil Ross : 15/10, 15/5, 15/12 : 3-0 Loss
Overall 15-5 Loss
WOTM – Sara & Maggie

Wednesday 9th October 2013 – 1st Team
Another tough night in the West 1st Division, as DLWE (sponsored by Paul Hannah Solicitors) lined up against Western 1.
The number 3s played early and I missed this one, but apparently Captain Cantlay had another hum-dinger. He played Andy Phillips at number 3 and just like last week was 2 love up and just like last week got reeled in and eventually lost 3-2. In an inspiring speech Richard declared “It’s easy to get 2 points in this position” and that’s what he expected from the rest of the lads! I’d like to thank Andy for giving him a two game start. The cheque’s in the post Andy!
Sean was on next against a brand new player from Singapore called Earnest. He looked a bit handy to say the least. He’s got a strange game with loads of lobs and drops and he’s also really quick to the front. Sean played into his hands to a certain extent giving him easy volleys, but I think Earnest is going to be a real handful against many players. So 3 love to Western.
Big David Craig went on next against Peter Robson at number 5. David is a different player this season as he is actually warming up before the match and this is proving massively effective as he’s now winning early games. He took the match to Peter and played really well to go 2 love up. But there’s always something to improve on in sport and now Dave needs to be able to finish a match. He started to tire in the third and Paul started to play better and this carried on all the way to the 5th game when a shattered David finally lost to an ever improving Paul. However both players put a good shift in and will sleep well tonight (in fact Paul had a quick kip behind the courts later on, while watching the No.1s!).
As that game was finishing I went on at number 2 against Peter Halliday. Now I knew in my heart of hearts that Peter was too good for me these days, judging by some of his results, however I went on fully expecting to compete and who knows maybe even sneak a game or two. But the reality was I was somewhat off the pace and Peter was just too quick for me (note to self “must get quicker”). I tried changing tactics a number of times, but nothing really seemed to work. I felt a bit frustrated with the whole match as I thought I should have been able to compete better, but it’s a tough league and number 2 will provide a lot of ups and downs for me I guess this year. So 3-0 down.
And talking of which, last on was Doug Macmillan at number 1 against Steven Halliday. Now Steve is a very experienced player at number 1 and I didn’t expect Doug to win this one (and he didn’t!). Steve hit’s a great length and volleys across his opponent really well, so you’re always turning and confused when playing him and tonight was no different. Doug came off after each game very frustrated as he just couldn’t get into the game (I know exactly how he felt tonight). Steve controlled the match and Doug just wasn’t straight enough or deep enough against a player of this quality. It was a tough one to take for Doug, but Steve is an excellent player so he shouldn’t be too disappointed with the result. So another 3 love to Western and 5 nil in the match (although we did get 4 points via Richard and Dave).
Doug disappeared for a training session in punishment for how badly he thought he played, whilst I consoled myself with a pint!
Earnest was amazed by how windy it is in Glasgow compared to Singapore, but the rest of us just looked confused when he said that (just wait for the winter big man).
David was just basking in the glow of getting the team 2 points when his opponent Paul started telling us about the 4 day bender he’d just been on. Which included a stag weekend and the works away day/booze up!
Still you’ve always got to take some positive from these matches and Doug was very pleased with how neat his handwriting was on the marking sheets for David’s match – so it wasn’t all doom and gloom!

Wednesday 9th October 2013 – 3rd Team
Thriller
‘Darkness creeps across the Land the stench of death is near at hand’
Arriving late at Bowfield far from the city lights I looked forward to the impending contest.
Having never played at Bowfield I was not aware the courts were Grade 2 Listed and had been installed initially for real tennis and used by the Stuart Monarchs.
As a few of our team, Mr Mazzucco comes to mind had played in that initial tournament, they were able to advice me of the peculiarities of the courts.
Both courts were available and both David and Piotrek were in action.
I flitted back and forth to observe.
David at 3 was playing a guy called Ronnie. From what I saw he always looked in command so I am surprised the scores were close (I missed the fourth game). He just seemed to have more nous and after last week when he was unlucky
had a deserved win 3-1 Scores 15/11 10/15 15/7 17/15
Piotrek at 5, wearing a rather fetching (If I can say garish) two piece number that showed of his curves ,was playing Blair the grown up son of their number one. Despite having a home marker in David Maz, Blair was up against it.
Piotrek looked pleadingly at a stone faced David at times but no mater Blair was nae mair . A win 3-0 Scores 17/15 16/14 15/7
Me at 4 had a chance to wrap things up. I was playing Gill and inspired by the first two matches promptly played a stinker. I did have chances but Gill realising I liked to hit back to her mid court easily put my cross shots away.
After losing the second I got advice from David , don’t hit hard , placement make her run etc . Did I listen ,no I promptly lost 8 points in a row . Still no serve outs ! A loss 0-3 Scores 9/15 12/15 5/15
That left the Mazzucco boys to take home the bacon . Both went on the court at the same time.
I watched mainly Sandro’s game because he mirrors my game ! all power with finesse. Sandro ,while never totally in command won his first two 15/11 18/16 and meanwhile David also won first two 15/11 15/12. I was looking forward to my pint.
As an aside Piorek who was marking David took great delight in giving a point to his opponent Brian, touché as the say in Warsaw.
The Mazzucco twins then suddenly decided they wanted to give the squash public a treat by making a game of it and both promptly lost the next two games. The deciders , to win the match we needed one win , were to say the least exciting … I could
crush a grape ! Both went into significant leads and suddenly we had in both courts both Mazzucco’s winning 14-11 ,then incredibly in both games it was 14-14 , my ticker couldn’t take it . Both then had match points against them, David succumbed 16/14
and on all went on our young hero Sandro. Point followed point, David who was marking gave a fair let to Sandro even his opponent Russell agreed .Then as Bonnie Tyler went looking for a hero he arrived and Sandro won 19/17. A great match.
David lost 2-3 Scores 15/11 15/12 10/15 11/15 14/16
Sandro won 3-2 Scores 15/11 18/16 8/15 6/15 19/17
Overall won 14-9
In the Country House atmosphere of the bar we looked forward to a menu which seemed to show Haggis . Pasta Bake it was but chat was good and Sandro had his third MOTM ,maybe now two squash players in Mazzucco household !
Iain

Wednesday 23rd October 2013 – 1st Team
Well this match against Glasgow University was always going to be a real 6 pointer! And it was away as well which means we had to play on those really strange courts. But what do you know the courts have been refurbished so all my excuses were out of the window!
I was on first this week against a fit looking bloke from Hong Kong called Alfa Au (where do teams pick up these guys from, out of nowhere?). He was wearing bright orange shoes and a luminous yellow top so I thought “If you’ve got the bottle to wear that you must be a decent player!” and as our number 5 said ‘He has the best knock up I’ve ever seen!’. But I know I can be quite a handful to play against if you’ve never seen my game before (don’t laugh that’s very rude!!).
I was able to move Alfa well, especially to the front and this gave me the advantage in the 1st game as all my drops were tight. So first blood to me but I felt far from confident as Alfa looked like a really dangerous player. The second was even tougher and I had to move much quicker has Alfa was reading my drops now. But hang on! He was now wearing red shoes!?! Maybe he had some traffic light system going on? I managed to sneak the second game, but needed to concentrate hard to do it.
I was now fully expecting Alfa to be wearing green shoes in the third game; maybe it was a distraction tactic! The third was another tough game and once again I really needed to focus. Alfa didn’t speak much English, but when he tinned an easy drop at 8-6 up he certainly knew that s**t was the correct thing to say! Fortunately I managed to shore things up just at the right moment to sneak back into the game and then win the match 3-0. I was delighted with this win as I think Alfa will be a real handful when he gets a bit fitter (especially if he works my game out! Stop laughing!!)
Next on was our number 5 Jason (Grinton) against Oli Blackmore. A bit of a tough one to say the very least at number 5 and I wasn’t expecting too many points here. But what do you know Jason only went and won the first game! So was he really in it or would Oli react and up his own game? Unfortunately for us it was the latter; Oli came storming back and really put the pressure on. So as the pace got higher and the rallies got stretched Jason tired and Oli was able to make a great comeback to win the match 3-1 (great point for us though!)
Next on was David (Craig) at No.4 v Mhairi Charlton. The last time these two played Dave came off second best, so it was looking good for the university. However Dave really dug in the first game and ran Mhairi very close, unfortunately Mhairi was catching him out a bit too often and the 1st game was hers. David tried to wear her down in the 2nd and it was close, but unfortunately for us Mhairi, once again, was too precise with her shot making and David couldn’t keep the rallies going long enough to play into his style of attritional squash. The 3rd saw David get off to a terrible start and Mhairi was never going to let a lead like that go, so she finished him off 3-0 and it was well deserved.
Next up in the battle for Ireland was Sean (Norris) against Paul Donnelly. This was the best I’ve seen Sean play this season as he was really scrapping for everything and up to 7-7 in the 1st game he was right in it, however Paul manage to sneak the 1st. Sean put in an even better effort in the second game and he had Paul playing much more negatively, as he was generally in a points lead and was able to generate pressure. This match style suited Sean’s game much better than Paul’s and he got to go ‘game ball’ first and was able to eventually convert this to 1-1. Game on!
The next two were also very hard fought but Paul was able to tire Sean with a very nice two wall boast and some good shot play. And this was the difference; in fact one rally saw Paul play this boast three times on the trot and each time Sean made a massive effort to get the ball, so after that he was spent for the rest of the game. So a good effort from Paul but a good comeback from Sean and it looks like he’s finally got the bit between his teeth. By the way I’ve finally realised why Sean asks for crazy lets and strokes! He’s trying to get his breath back – and there was me thinking he was clueless all this time (and during the 5 ridiculous decisions he asked for tonight!!!).
Last up at No.1 was Dougie Macmillan v Liam Dickson. I’d heard that Liam was playing very well so although I didn’t expect Dougie to win I thought this would be a really good tussle – and in the main it was. Both players made a lot of mistakes in the 1st game; Liam on the volley and Doug on the boast, but as the match progressed Liam started to tighten his shots up and become more confident in his shot making. Dougie was excellent when he hit the ball to a length, but the opportunities he went for we’re more than often covered by Liam. This meant that the shot he had to retrieve, made things very difficult for him – as Liam hit amazingly short or fantastically long.
Dougie looked like he’d been plugged in at the neck when he came back on court, but I soon realised it was actually just a hickey! I say ‘just’, but fair play to Doug!!
I was very keen to see Liam tested physically and for Dougie to really work every rally. However often Doug would play 90% of the rally really well, but for one reason or another Liam would usually finish things off. Liam won the first two games and I think Doug felt he was out of it by the 3rd (I didn’t).
At the start of the 3rd Sean arrived on the balcony and shouted down “Come on!” to Dougie and “Don’t lose to an old man!!” for which he got some appropriate sign language back from Liam! Liam put the pressure on Doug in the 3rd game and ended up winning it reasonably comfortably; I can’t help but think that Doug isn’t too far away from really taking the match to Liam – if he can just lengthen the rallies and use his physical fitness.
So a 4-1 loss against the University and there was nothing else for it but to go to Ashton Lane for a couple of beers. The University 2nd team arrived to tell us all about the match against our 3rd team. It seems that the Uni have the bragging rights today, but as Arnie once said “We’ll be back!”
Great that Subway are open so late don’t you think!

Wednesday 23rd October 2013 – 3rd Team
“The tide is high but I am holding on
I am going to be your number 1”
For aficionados’ of the 80’s and boys with high hormones Debbie Harry was all the rage .
I for one in my student flat mused that if only she would fly over the Atlantic to Edinburgh and meet me ,
(preferably she would buy the drinks), and hey presto I would then bowl her over with my Scottish charm.
As life now tells you not all expectations are realised .
On the basis of naive optimism I looked forward to our match with Glasgow Uni seconds. Surely a bunch of
just out of nappy students would not halt our progress to promotion.
On arrival I found the fourths also at home playing Strathclyde Uni.
The brain power assembled was formidable but fortunately myself and Raymond from the fourths were also present.
Iain Irvine appeared first and I marked him at number 3 against an action boy called James. I have not played Iain before but at training he
has all the shots and if a manual is written by Jason on correct stance etc Iain would be your man ,I would be the contrast. Saying that
in the match James basically would not let Iain settle and took the first two 15/9 15/10. Iain responded and in a tense third, won I thought
a deserved game 15/13 . We had a least one student angry as an expletive was launched at the end of the game so well done Iain.
In the fourth a roused James would again go back to running everything down and won the game and match .
Scores- Lost 1-3 – 9/15 10/15 15/13 5/15
Piotr and Fraser then went on adjacent courts at the same time.
For Fraser at five he was up against a slip of a girl with long limbs by the name of Rebecca. I saw most of one game and thought
Rebecca used her reach well to nullify Fraser’s bustling style. Even this early in the season you can see improvements in peoples games and Fraser
fits this category as he gets used to team squash. Scores – Lost 0-3 – 4/15 8/15 5/15
I saw little of Piotr’s game as I was on court by then . All games based on the scores were fairly tight but as Piotr commented ,younger fitter legs.
I think we might have a chance when they have had a couple of months of boozing behind them at the student refectory !
Scores -Lost 0-3 – 9/15 7/15 10/15
I was playing at no 2 against a first year fresher Neil who was debuting . Lambs to the slaughter etc ….if only
I should have guessed by the English county squash tee shirt he was wearing . I was able to get him running around for first two games, but again not
helped by serving out at times, and Neil proved too strong. Disappointed in the third as I gave away cheap points Scores Lost 0-3 -8/15 7/15 2/15
Last on court playing No 1 was Paul against a post graduate student from Japan nicknamed Nobby. I saw the whole of this game and it was a good game to
watch. Nobby (Would you have that nickname in the Rugby Club ?) while quick, also had a languid style round court and used all corners for unusual drops etc.
Our Paul stuck in and also used lobs and length to good effect. Each game contained long rallies and swings in fortune. Paul did comment after winning the fourth
dripping with sweat “Jason don’t ask me again” but he will be back . Paul tired in the fifth and lost the match but a great effort and given MOTM.
Scores Lost 2-3 – 11/15 15/13 7/15 15/13 4/15
Pasta bake as usual and the students competed to see who could get the most free beers in one hour. Paul found out his opponent was studying Law so I think
that made him feel better losing to a fellow Shark. Chat ensued until kicked out at 10 for the students to go back and study
Overall Loss 3-18
The Tide is High but we are holding on

Wednesday 30th October 2013 – 1st Team
Sorry this report is late but I was away on business then had the RASTA racketball tournament to organise (and play) on Saturday – all that and the Squash on telly to watch, so it’s all been a bit hectic. Anyway last Wednesday saw us match up against Western 2, who are just one place below us in the 1st Division. In fact they (and we) are the division’s strongest teams as we’re holding the rest up!
I arranged a 6.30pm start for me at No: 2 and also for the number 5s, so I was amused, but not surprised, to see that the first pairing to arrive at 6.45pm were the number 4s! Typical!
We did start early though and I played David Kelly first up. Dave is looking like he used to 15 years ago, ‘lean and mean’ and moving around the court really well. Fortunately for me I’m also moving a bit better these days (at 2.5 stone lighter) and I was able to keep him chasing and won quite a few rallies……………….
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………………….with my short boasts and by the time Dave had got to grips with this tactic I was one game up. In the 2nd game Dave had to move up the court to cover my boast, so I was able to hit him to the back with more success. The match was physically quite a tough game and many of the rallies were very tiring, but I tended to be in control of most of them and so won the match 3-0.
The number 5s were on next and we had Sara McDonald against Tony Gibson. This was a very interesting game to watch as Sara’s classic squash style was matched against Tony’s badminton game. Sara won the first with great lengths to the back, but Tony came steaming back with a much better pace to upset Sara’s rhythm. And this continued throughout the match as the game ebbed and flowed until inevitably we got to the 5th game.
David Craig was also on at the same time at No: 4 against Steve (my name is) Luker. Steve won a very close first game 11-13, but Dave made a great comeback in the 2nd and 3rd games with dominant performances by using his pace and retrieving to keep him in every rally. And these days he’s also added some very effective short volleys and drops to his game, which has made him a very much more dangerous opponent and he was 2-1 up.
As I watched both David and Sara at the same time on adjoining courts, I was amused to hear Sara’s score being called 10-9 match ball at the exact time that Dave’s score was called 10-5 match ball. Both Sara and David converted both match points at exactly the same time and both doors were also opened for the players to come off court at exactly the same time. Amazing? Or was it inevitable that it would happen at some point? Whatever the mathematical or philosophical answer is, it’s probably a bit too complex for a match report! Great wins for both DLWE players though.
I marked the next one, which was Sean Norris against Borja Alcalde at number 3. Now Borja comes out as “War Horse” on my voice recognition ‘thingy’ and that’s not too bad a description of this Spanish gladiator! And with Sean’s game to play against, it made for a very interesting match-up.
Sean was suffering from a bit of a bad back, but you wouldn’t know it as he was scrambling around the court at his usual pace and he managed to win the first 2 games, but “War Horse” was not to be beaten so easily and he had a great charging performance in the third – winning that one 11-7. And the fourth was the closest of them all, but at 13-13 Sean just managed to get his nose ahead and with his own blinkers on he brought the match home 15-13!
Last up were the No:1s – Doug Macmillan against Graham Dunes. Now on paper Doug (who comes out as “Dog” on my voice recognition doofer) should probably have stormed this one, but in reality Graham was a very tricky opponent.
It often amuses me that when you have a close match, but such a large age difference, the younger player thinks he can bring out all the shots against the more experienced guy. This happened quite a lot during this match and Graham punished Doug every time, with some fabulous short play and really good length to back this up. The net result of this tends to be the younger guy getting very frustrated and it was no different during this encounter. Doug thought he was playing badly, but in fact it was often because of the shots he was given to chase.
Having said all that “Dog” chased well and won the first 15-13 and the third, so was 2-1 up. The fourth was again a tough affair at 9-9, but Doug managed to sneak home the advantage and win the match 3-1.
In retrospect it was great to see the old guard playing so well and I would certainly give man of the match to Graham (and probably W.O.T.M. to Sara for our team – although David C and Sean N were also excellent).
So our first 18 points as we retired to the bar for an early finish and some good chat with the Western lads before I had to dash off for a late night drive to Sheffield for an 11am appointment the next day and then onto Wales. Now that’s team commitment!

Wednesday 30th October 2013 – 3rd Team
It felt like the beginning of an episode of Knight Rider as Iain pulled up in his BMW. The only thing missing was the red flashing lights at the front of the car and in the end……….a DL victory.
David Lloyd 3rd V travelled to Ayr on Wednesday night to take on Citadel. The road was long and winding, especially if you went via Greenock.
Ayr were beaming with experience and gave a warm welcome to Iain, Alistair, Sandro and myself (Fraser). Missing was Peter who preferred to take the long winding road. He arrived at the end of the session to play Ivan, a tattooed gentleman from middle England. Peter was unable to force his way into the match. Although running Ivan close in the 3rd game, Ivan took victory 3-0.
Seeds 5 and 2 respectively took to the courts first. My opponent, a staunch Ayr United fan, was an advocate for Total Squash and dowsed any attempt at challenging for victory, 3-0. The golden boy of Glasgow Academy and DL squash, Sandro, was up against a chap who seemed to pop up everywhere on the court without moving much. Although taking his opponent close, Citadel put another 3-0 victory in the bank. However, Sandro’s endeavours were enough to take man of the match on the night.
Alistair took to the court and showed some great exchanges with his opponent who had allegedly played on the pro tour the previous season. Neutral spectators would never have known as Alistair took his opponent, Robert, to the wire in every game but Citadel again took another 3-0 victory.
Iain B was up against George. A gentleman who has perhaps seen every squash court in Scotland. For all the fantastic shots Iain played, George had an answer for each one and again Citadel took the honours making it a clean sweep of victories on the night.
The team were surprisingly in good spirits after the match but only until the soup and sandwiches were served. For as well as Citadel played, the food did not reflect their sterling performance. So DL set off into the Knight in Kit the car and will be hoping to improve in their next fixture.

Wednesday 6th November 2013 – 1st Team
It looked like it was going to be a tough match last night against SSRC away and as I searched for my “Paul Hannah Solicitors” sponsored team top, I found it festering in the washing pile I thought this was a bad omen.
As I arrived at SSRC I noticed immediately a brand new carpet throughout the lounge, which is a light brown/creamy colour, so I gave my shoes a good wipe as I didn’t want to be the first to make a mark, but you’ll never guess who threw their drink over it later!
Sean Norris was on first against Chris Holt at No.4. Chris is No.1 in the over 50’s Masters age category so this was going to be a tough match for Sean. Like us, SSRC also had newly sponsored t-shirts (although not by Paul Hannah Solicitors!!) and after they had some team photos – which Sean somehow managed to get in (?) – we were off.
It was interesting to see 2 teams playing in all white shirts – old school! Sean was playing well again this week and he was using a great 2 wall boast to the front, but Chris was also playing well and was looking quick about the court and was also hitting straight particularly well. After the first 3 points Sean had asked for a couple of ‘fisher-lets’ and was given them, so I thought we may be in for a long night. However the games were all tight and although Sean was in them all Chris had just that little extra at the business end of the game and so we were 3-0 down.
I went on next against a young guy from Crieff called Rory Stewart who is ranked 2nd highest junior in Scotland (click here to see the Matrix). Well Rory was probably wondering why he bothered coming all the way from Crieff as the game was over too soon for my liking. I have to say that I think Rory is a real talent as he is not only quick, but has a tonne of shots and reads the game really well. Well he read my game really well and all my shots were dispatched easily. I tried to straighten up as the match went on, but even thought I had more success doing this, it was only a matter of time before Rory won the match. So we were now 6-0 down and needing to win all the other 3 ties.
Next on was David Craig v someone from SSRC. Eventually David McCormick was told that he was No.5 this week and he seemed genuinely surprised that he wasn’t in the 2nd team (he also must have forgotten which team he was playing for after the match as he watched the 2nd team match and had dinner with them as well!).
I can’t really remember who won what game, but for the sake of a quicker report let’s just start at the 5th game shall we! So 2-2 (surprise) and both David’s continued to play their own idiosyncratic games in the decider. Our Dave with his cheetah-like retrieving and his hankering to:
1. Try and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the early stages of a match
2. Try and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in the latter stages
And their Dave with his left handed ability to hit a 200mph ball back at you at 400mph! The 5th was a great game that went to a tie break and our Dave eventually managed to:
1. Serve to the (lefties) backhand for the first time in the match – at match ball!
2. Control the ball to a good length just at the right time, to force a couple of errors and win the match.
So I saw the Big Man a few minutes later with a massive grin on his face and his usual mantra of “Why win in 3 when you can string it out to 5!”
Next on at No.3 was our hapless Captain (I can say this as he never reads these!) Richard Cantlay against Brian Robertson (over 45’s No4). I didn’t expect us to win this one and we didn’t! But I also didn’t expect Richard to play so well – up to 9 points in every game. He was hitting a really hard shot to a good length and Brian was floundering and making lots of errors. Unfortunately Brian seemed to dig well at about 9-9 and Rich seemed to tie up a little. So this was the difference in all 3 games and we lost, but if Captain Cantlay get a few more games under his belt he could be a handful on a Wednesday night.
Last on was Dougie Macmillan at No:1 (ranked 3 on the Junior Matrix) against another of SSRC’s new signings in Jamie Henderson (ranked 3 on the Senior Matrix and originally from Thurso). This was going to be a tough one for Dougie – and so it proved! Jamie moves himself and the ball really well so it didn’t surprise me to see his ranking or his results this year (click here to see them). It was the middle of the 2nd game when I arrived back from the shower and Doug was on the end of a few big rallies; although he was still his normal lightning quick self to the front. It did, however, amuse me to see a rally with about 7 back-wall boasts, as Doug got more and more tired! A good fighting performance from Doug, but was always looking like 3-0 to Jamie.
So off to the bar to sample some of the now infamous SSRC “Beers by George” – that’s George Allan not ASDA. As I took a careful look through the selection and spent ages carefully choosing the right one Captain Cantlay marched over had a good look at all the great beers before ignoring them in favour of the traditional can of Tennents. Mind you it was better than Sean who went for a orange juice and then didn’t even drink it; instead he just spilled it all over the new carpet!

Wednesday 6th November 2013 – 3rd Team
Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti….
.. I bless the rains down in Africa

Pasta bake as usual , chat about old days when Lions roamed, our Bison put enough salt on his Pasta that your average West of Scotland male would have been appalled, it was that much! After the watering hole we departed back to the Serengeti

Wednesday 13th November 2013 – 1st Team
When I looked at this fixture couldn’t see a win for us. If we played a blinder maybe a 2 3 results could be on the cards along with some valuable points.
The normal Wednesday squash situation happened again this week with Strathgryffe having numbers 1 and 4 available and we had numbers 2, 3 and 5 ready to go! Any statisticians out there? What’s the percentage chance of a correst pairing turning up first to a squash match? Answers on a postcard please!). So the first pairing who were ready to go were the number 1s and so Douglas Macmillan took to the court first against Martin Woods.
The was a classic coach v up and coming player scenario and both men new each others game to a certain extent. However the coach I want taking things lightly and wanted to make sure that he controlled the game, which to a large extent he did.
Martin was generally a few points ahead which gave him a good buffer zone and on top of that he moved the ball and his opponent about well so Dougie was doing most of the chasing. The tactic for Doug had to be to run Martin into the ground, but unfortunately he just couldn’t achieve this and lost the game 3-0. A good fighting performance though and Doug should have Martin in his sight for the future.
Next on court was Sara McDonald against Struan Grant at No.5. Struan is huge these days and now looks like the honey monster with loud shorts being his trade mark! Sara was looking the total opposite of Struan and also great in her new all-black kit (no Haka though!). This one was all about Sara’s control against Struan’s retrieving and hard hitting and I’m glad to say that style won with sara taking all 3 games (despite a close 3rd).
David Craig was on the other court now against Lee Fraser. Now I’ve had some close ones with Lee over the years, so I didn’t think David would win this one, but hold on he won the first game! Could there be an upset on the cards? Would Lee buckle under the pressure?? Would Dave be victorious???? No! Lee started to take control and won the next three! A good point for Dave though.
I went on next against Jason Lang and I don’t know what they put in the water in Strathgryffe, but he’s massive these days as well (although it would be fair to say in a ‘slightly’ different way the Honey/Beer Monster!). I didn’t rate my chances too highly tonight judging by Jason’s results recently, but I knew that to have a hope of winning I needed to take my chances – and I did just that although to do it I also made a lot of errors Fortunately for me Jason did as well; that is up until I got to 9 or 10 when he stopped making any errors and completely shut up shop. This resulted in some additional squash and lung busting rallies, but I managed to sneak across the finishing line (with not too much to spare). I’m not sure I’ll beat him much longer, so I was delighted to take this one.
Rich Cantlay was on last against James dare and having played Richard at the weekend I thought he would have a good chance against james, but it wasn’t to be. James dominated the match and although Richard had some good phases, James was always looking like the victor.
So a loss, but 8 points none the less in our fight for survival.
Good banter with the Strathgryffe guys and Doug asked me to get my report in earlier from now on, as he had no idea how he played until he read the report!

Wednesday 13th November 2013 – 3rd Team
Wonderwall – Oasis
In the mid nineties as Brit Pop swept the land ,the chat was were you an Oasis or a Blur fan or for those stuck in the 80’s did you give a …
Rivalries are particularly good in sport we have for instance Barcelona – Real Madrid or the Glasgow Derby – Thistle against Queens Park.
In Western Squash leagues the saliva spittle’s out at the thought of DLWE vs DLRenfrew or maybe that’s the pint after
So it was when the thirds played our deadly rivals DL Renfrew 2’s on Wed
I turned up to find Sandro on court at three playing Paul McConnell. The first game was tight and probably Sandro should have clinched it.
However I think John was a bit more streetwise and won it 16-14 . Thereafter Sandro went into a bit a tailspin and the Red Baron finished him off.
The previous three in a row MOTM’s a distant memory
Scores Loss 0-3 14-16 10-15 7-15
On at the same time was our Polish Bison Piotr who is now rapidly picking up Sandro’s baton against Matthew Norris . In the first game with Piotr winning and serving at 6 -4 I nipped out
for a pint in Paisley and on my return the score had moved to 6-5 . Piotr always looked in control and although I missed the last game a well deserved second in a row MOTM.
Scores Won 3-1 15-9 15-9 7-15 15-11
I went on court at roughly the same time as Alastair who was playing 2 against a Stuart Ward so did not see much of the game . I saw Stuart win fairly comfortably the first game 15-6 so feared the worst.
While playing in the adjacent court I heard Stuart employ language a Liverpool Docker would have blanched at . I surmised either Alastair had won a game, Alastair had hit him , Alastair had dropped his shorts
or he was injured. Sadly it was the later and he retired hurt . Alastair did say later he was beginning to turn the screw so no doubt…we would have won anyway
Scores Won 3-1 6-15 retired injured
I therefore playing at 4 had the chance to tie the match up ,without relying on the Colonel . I had been on such a losing streak of four losses in a row that I was beginning to think I played
for our first team. I would have said fourths but they won last week. Obviously fired up in the Derby atmosphere I raced into a lead of 2-0 the taste of victory was close . Paul Scarff my opponent
was vulnerable like most good players in the backhand (Include myself) so that was where to hit. However even with Captain (I don’t want to be Captain) Bairds advice I kept on doing the wrong things
and went into a Sandro spin . Transfer to first team required for serial loser
Scores Loss 2-3 15-13 15-12 8-15 9-15 7-15
That left our dear Colonel facing Paul Rogan at 1 to clinch the victory. Sadly it was not to be, Graham played well and in the second game had 4 yes 4 game points but could not convert. This proved crucial as at 1-1
he would have been in the match .
Scores Loss 0- 3 11-15 14-16 11-15
Overall Loss 8-18
Our rivals may have a better lounge a better bar a better team a better facility but what have the David Lloyd done for us – Pasta Bake
Scampi and chips went down well and we will beat them on our turf …. come on Thistle

Wednesday 20th November 2013 – 1st Team
Playing at Newlands this season is almost like a home tie with all those teams in one Division! And not just in Division 1, as tonight we had 6 Newlands teams (numbers 2,3,4,5,7 & 8) all playing at home on 5 courts (one off which was also being used for a spin class) so with 0.8 courts per team it was looking like it could be a long night!
Sean (Norris) was on first at No. 5 against David Fallis and with the length of the rallies they were having, we expected this to go on for hours. However at the business end of each game David was in charge and he took all three of them. Good fighting performance from Sean and with a back problem as well, but David was just too difficult to put away.
I was on next and this tie was probably one of the few matches I thought I’d have a good chance of winning at No.2 (v Brendan Forrister). However after a massive 1st rally I was thinking the opposite and things didn’t get any better as Brendan wrestled the 1st game away from me.
A few magic words from Sean, of all people, in-between games and the plan was becoming clearer. Brendan in the meantime was getting his own magic words from Mark Ford from the 2nd team on another court (I used to like Mark!). So I had to step up the court and become a bit more aggressive with my volleying and also take some chances. The problem with taking chances is that you miss some as well, and this can lead to frustration. However while the plan was working, I was “happy” to take a few hits. And the plan seemed to work in the main, although not without quite a few close ones with Brendan digging and digging; especially in the 3rd game for example when I was 8-4 up, then moments later 9-8 down! But I did manage to take control and by the end of the 4th game I dominated the court well to win 3-1.
So another massive improvement in Brendan’s game and it was a real pleasure to play someone as determined, yet fair, and we both were happy to play ‘lets’ when there was a disagreement. It’s what Wednesday squash should be all about.
Next up were the No.1s; Doug Macmillan for us against Christian Donelan. Another over 35 for Doug to contend with this week and a very tricky player. It’s the first real time I’ve seen Christian play and I was suitably impressed! He’s got a great serve (and return) and fabulous short game and a very dangerous backhand volley and forehand kill (which is pretty much every shot covered!). It took Doug a few points to work out what he was likely to have to chase, but when he did, he played really well.
The 1st was close, but Christian edged it 11-9 and the 2nd was closer, but Doug took this one 13-15 in an epic tie-break; where I reluctantly had to give a ‘stroke’ to Doug at game ball – I was enjoying watching the game.
Doug was doing a lot of chasing and this was evening things up fitness wise, but make no mistake this was very close to going to 5 and then maybe Doug would have been able to use his fitness to an even greater effect. Unfortunately Christian won the next two 11-8 11-9 (with another reluctant ‘stroke’ on match ball).
Next on court was Captain Cantlay v David Morrison. This was a great game with David taking the 1st with some good hard hitting and then Richard really winding up the power to not only compete, but to take the game head on. And the main difference in the power fest was that Richard hit straighter and so managed to get the ball behind David and then dominate the rally better. With this new tactic there was no stopping Rich and he won the next 3 to pick up his first win of the season. Great effort from the big man.
So 2-2 and all to play for (I’ve missed saying that!).
Next on at No.4 was David (Craig) v Alan Susskind for the big 6 pointer! Now this was a tough one for Dave as Alan was playing really well. The first was tight at 11-9 to Alan and the rallies were all close, but Alan dominated the 2nd to go 2-0 up.
See if you can picture this one. At one point in the 3rd Dave drove across court (from almost touching distance from the front wall) and Alan returned with a quick boast that went the wrong side of his opponent (who was also now facing down the court!). So as the ball skimmed Dave’s shins he had to do a quick turn to play a winning drop. I’ve never seen that and the crowd found it amazing and funny all at the same time! The rest of the 3rd game was the closest of all, with a tie-break the only thing to separate the two gladiators, but unfortunately for us it was 12-10 to Newlands and so also the match.
Alan was really in form tonight and I know Dave was disappointed with the way he played, but sometimes the other guy deserves credit for his performance and quite often making his opponent feel like he played worse than he did.
Never mind, a good fun game and a great atmosphere at Newlands and they’ve got also Erdinger! Which I inspired Christian to sample when he saw me marking with a pint!

Wednesday 20th November 2013 – 3rd Team
‘Are we human or are we dancer
My sign is vital my hands are cold
And I’m on my knees looking for the answer ‘
The Killers
Usually my musical quotes have little or no relevance to our Squash but I think the above fairly expresses the state of the third team at the moment.
From mid table obscurity we are heading south on our knees
Last night we played Western 6th’s who came out shooting for us.
I arrived as usual 10 mins late to find Sandro at three already on court limbering up to play Neil Craig. I only saw bits of the game, as I was marking Alastair but it seemed close with the youthful running Sandro coming up against the sage like Neil. For readers who feel teenage kicks were a distant memory the good news is sagacity triumphed.
Scores lost 2-3 9-15 15-11 10-15 15-10 7-15
I marked Alastair playing at two against Brian Dunn. The first game went to Alastair 15-6 in a breeze and I could not see how he would perturbed for the remainder of the match.
Alastair indicated to me it could be a false dawn and indeed Brian started to play a bit. As a result the games got tighter and tighter. Alastair took the second lost the third and then sneaked
the fourth to clinch victory. Overall I thought Alastair played well and a valuable three points.
Scores won 3-1 15-6 15-13 10-15 15-12
Next up was David Wilson playing at five. David has been away for a few weeks so was a bit ring rusty and was definitely not helped by playing a young Michael Ward who was full of lucazade and could not stop running. It was pointed out later the strength of their team this week was such that the previous week Michael had played at one.
Anyway Michael proved too strong, albeit I thought David had chances to win a game in the second and possibly the third.
Scores lost 0-3 7-15 12-15 10-15
On with my game against Alison Hamilton at No 4. This ended up quite a match I was staring down my 6th loss in a row, yes six, so could I answer the challenge maybe aye maybe no.
I lost the first two games, but after good advice from Alastair and having a loan of Kev Cameron’s Duracell battery began to wear Alison down and took the next two. The final game was close but no cigar and the winless run continues.
Scores lost 2-3 11-15 8-15 15-5 15-11 14-16
Graham played at one against Alan Mowat. I saw as little of this game as the UK Growth for the last five years a big fat zero. All I can report is that Graham said he played okay and had chances but didn’t convert and the scores bear out the close match.
Scores Lost 1-3 9-15 16-14 13-15 11-15
Overall Loss 8-16
Pasta Bake was well appreciated by ….no one
Chat was good and while we might be on our knees the sign is still vital

Wednesday 27th November 2013 – 1st Team
The big games just keep coming and coming for us, another 6 pointer last night against Giffnock 2. Could this be our chance?
Sara once again helped out the first team and she was on first at number 5 (looking fabulous in the all-black outfit that is fast becoming her signature!) against Patrick O’Sullivan; now if you look up some of the Patrick’s results this season you, like me, will probably be very impressed (he’s only lost one match – against his own 1st team, which is a great record for any junior to admire in Div 1 – in fact for any player at all!) so Sara was really up against it and so it proved. It was a good tough game however and Sara had Patrick moving up and down the court, but Patrick was more than happy to do the running and always had plenty in the tank. It was difficult to put the ball away against him this was ultimately the difference, as he won 3-0.
Next on was David Craig against another youngster in Stuart Pitt. I could basically right the same again for this one, as the Giffnock youngster just kept getting everything back. Dave was playing well enough, but when the rallies are never ending you try a bit too hard to end them yourself and this where the mistakes come creeping in. I though Big Dave played well, but sometimes you’re just got to hand it to your opponent and Stuart was very good tonight.
I went on next at number 2 against Mike Rogerson with whom I’ve had a few tussles over the years. Mike has a new shiny racket that he used to good effect to tonk the ball down the backhand side and he certainly had me on the run there. I felt a bit strange on court and wasn’t really timing the ball well so I was always a bit weary of going for my shots as I kept missing them when I did. Fortunately I generally managed to keep a good lead in the games and won the first two reasonably comfortably. Mikey really turned the screw in the 3rd, but I had just enough to wrestle back the initiative and win the match 3-0. The fight back for this match was on!
Captain Cantlay sauntered into the club late and was on next at number 3 against Captain Gary Blanchflower. Now Richard was just back from Aberdeen, so I put his poor performance in the 1st game down to the long 2.5 hour long drive – Gary was dominant.
The second wasn’t much better, but Rich did manage to stay in touch and sneaked an unlikely victory (12-10) in this one, as Garry lost concentration at the crucial moment, but what could Richard really do after sitting in a car for all that time? Gary regained control and won the 3rd easily and although I was frustrated with what I was watching, I do remember doing these long drives myself and they’re a bit of a killer.
The one thing that changed after that was that Richard got angry with his own performance and after chucking his racket to the floor and slamming the door (is squash the only sport you can slam a door on the field of play?) he turned up to the 4th game a different player. Thank god he managed to play himself into form after that Aberdeen trip as this match was crucial – probably to our whole season! Richard steamrollered the 4th game and took this momentum into the 5th ad won this as well. What a comeback!! – I was delighted at the effort this must have taken……… great performance I thought…………. right up until Richard told me he just remembered that he actually got the train from Aberdeen to Glasgow!
Muppet!
So it was 2-2 in the match and we were in the box-seat as Dougie Macmillan took on James Singh at Number 1. The excitement was palpable.
After a short intermission James eventually turned up at 9.20pm (?!?!) and it was game on. Doug won the 1st easily and it looked like the favourite was going to storm it, but hold on James took the 2nd and the 4th (and not only that, but he only narrowly lost the 3rd on a tie break, 10-12).
At one point Doug lost a particular rally and pointed around the court shouting “pish, pish, s****, pish” – and I thought that summed up his first 4 games quite well! So it was 2-2 and now and James was playing really well, so it was anyone’s game.
With only a few points played I could no longer watch from the balcony, so instead I left and listened to the 5th from outside the door downstairs – and I didn’t like what I was hearing either. As James got to match ball and I was really going through the emotional wringer; Doug made a mini-comeback, but eventually lost on a ‘stroke’ and so James took the match for Giffnock 2 and a thoroughly deserved MOTM as well.
It was a disappointing result, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles and sometimes you’re the pigeon and sometimes you’re the statue!

Wednesday 27th November 2013 – 3rd Team
“I’m on my way from Misery to Happiness Today
Ah Ha Ah Ha “
The Proclaimers
I have waited some time to use these Lyrics but the day has dawned.
Jason using all the cunning a man of his advanced age has, managed to get two new additions into the third team last night
namely Simon and Steve. Could these youngsters (relative to Bruce Forsyth) make a difference …read on
I arrived fresh from a trip to the granite city to find Sandro on court playing at 4 against John McTeirnan . I had missed the first game which Sandro had
narrowly won but witnessed Sandro dominating the second and third to win convincingly. He was not put off by what I thought were unlikely calls for lets by John.
MOTM seemed assured but it was decided Sandro had enough plaudits to date.
Won 3-0 16-14 15-8 15-8
I was on next at 5 against Peter Wynne. After a recent lesson from Jason I felt confident. I had discovered all that was wrong was my choice of Sport !
I then proceeded in the first game to play my worst game of the season , first serve ten foot out etc. However I then sorted myself out and despite almost throwing
away a 13-7 lead in the third won the match and on the way from…
Won 3-1 12-15 15-9 18-16 15-11
Meanwhile on court 2 Alastair at 3 was up against Tom Clark. I did not see any of this game bar the last couple of points. However Ian Irving and Bill Kennedy watching
informed me how difficult Tom was to play against ,all drops and short game. Tom obviously realising the strength of his opponent had invested in a 2.99 that’s right
2.99 racket he had picked up in a charity shop. This thrift was too much for Alastair who usually spends that much on his half pint or a first date and he lost to the
Dropper.
Lost 1-3 15-5 14-16 12-15 13-15
Simon at 2 then had the chance to clinch the match against Mike Dewar. Simon being new to the team did not realise it is a requirement to play badly in your first match
and instead proceeded to, while not completely dominate ,at least always keep ahead of Mike. I marked this game and was ably assisted by Mike who called out for lets
strokes and a babycham . His calling did not put of Simon ,albeit there were a few collisions mid court and in an entertaining game Simon clinched the bonus. As a result
he got MOTM, well done to the beginner
Won 3-0 15-10 15-11 15-10
Steve our other debutant played at 1 against Craig Jones . This was the first time I had seen Steve in action and he had a classic game ,all back with length and know when to drop.
Craig’s game was hit it hard and then harder so it was a good contrast. Steve later confessed he had to pick up his daughter at 10 so he was a man with a mission and although scores were tight
I always felt he had a bit more.
Won 3-0 15-10 15-12 16-14
It was just as well Steve won in 3 as we had the bar manager come up to us in the courts and say it was last orders. The good thing was he came up to tell us the bad thing was it was 9.35.
Maybe he was conscious schoolboy Sandro had a curfew or me my much needed beauty sleep but it did seem sharp.
Chat was good at meal . Pasta Bake not so good. Alastair a bit down in the dumps over loss but
“ My heart was broken My heart was broken
You saw it You claimed it
You touched it you saved it “
Sunshine on Leith
Overall Win 16-4

Wednesday 4th December 2013 – 1st Team
Well Hamilton are in 3rd place in Division 1 so I was wondering where the points were going to come from this week.
An early start saw Sara and I go on first and I didn’t see much of Sara’s match (v Colin McGeady at No.5), apart from one enormous rally where both players were getting everything back and playing great squash (the mis-match in the physical size of both players was amusing to see and if we took a photo of them I’m not sure they’d get both in the same shot!). However Colin won the tie 3-0 and seemed to be in control with his great reach and pace on the ball. Sara was disappointed at her own performance but everyone else felt the opposite and was quite impressed with her tenacity and court speed!!
I was on at the same time as Sara and was fully expecting to be out-run at number two by Kenny Boyle and in the opening exchanges I was. However as the match unfolded I managed to sneak a few cheap points and a few great length shots and then, what do you know, I sneaked the 1st game! Kenny turned the power on in the 2nd and won easily, but I was now more confident (we even got a marker at this point! Not that we used him much; we just made our own decisions and completely ignored Doug, much to his amusement. In fact when Kenny asked for a let in the 3rd Doug just said ‘Well what do you guys think?’).
However I soon found myself in the 5th game (I won the 3rd and Kenny the 4th). I say ‘soon’ but it was now about an hour later! The strings had gone in my Harrow Fury and Dread Vapor – so I was onto my Vibe (I must get 2 rackets that are the same – you’d think I, of all people, would have two rackets the same. It must be like when you’re a chef, but you never cook at home!). Anyway the 5th was another epic and at 8-8 Kenny and I were still going at it ‘hammer and tongs’. Unfortunately he had the hammer and I had the tongs so Kenny ended up winning 3-2. #guttedbutalsohappytogetto5
Next on was David Craig against Allan McKay and Big Davie had another great game this week, but unfortunately had nothing to show for it at the end. He was playing some great length drives at times and really had Allan moving, but Allan was no slouch himself and there were some brilliant physical rallies with both players throwing themselves about the court. Allan won the match 3-0 but I think Dave’s game is really coming on with performances like that.
Captain Cantlay was on next against Colin Towers at number 3 and I can either give you the long version or the short version of this one!
Long Version – A great start from the captain this week and he took a 2-0 lead and I thought this could be a crushing win for Rich. But the 3rd saw Colin come back and dig in (and Richard took the foot slightly off the gas) so games 3 and 4 to Colin with a determined look on his face. Now Colin likes his squash rackets like he likes his guitars……………. ‘classic’ so I wasn’t surprised to see him still wielding his 1980s Prince racket. But maybe he should have switched to the Les Paul guitar in the 5th because Richard managed to wake up and get himself going again. The 5th was a great fight and Rich sneaked home to win 3-2.
Short Version – Surprise surprise this went to 5. Richard was 2-0 up and woke up just in time to win the last!
Last up was Doug Macmillan at number 1 and I didn’t see this as I was marking and then showering. I hear it was a good hard match though against Andy McBean, but I was told that when the marker started changing his decisions from ‘let’ to ‘no let’ because of the constant barrage from Andy the match was all but over. Doug did however get a game and must have played well to do so, but I think he was disappointed not to be able to get a 2nd game.
So a good hard contest and could have been 3-2 in this penultimate Christmas match, but in the end 6 points to the tally. Veggie pasta for dinner and 3 platefuls for me! What an athlete!

Wednesday 4th December 2013 – 3rd Team
“I need a hero – I’m holding out for a hero ‘til the end of the night
He’s got to be strong and he’s got to be fast and he’s gotta be fresh from the fight “
Bonnie Tyler
The third team were facing a vital relegation match on Wednesday night and were looking for a hero.
Did they find one and are you aroused ……to read on
After Jason’s bad news feed that we were losing Captain Pugwash Alastair Baird to the seconds I arrived
at about 7pm fearing the worst. My trepidation was not helped that Fraser Thomson had already turned up ,played at 4 been beaten 3-0
and sent hame tae think again (He had to meet a Joiner). I did not see any of his match but the omens were not good.
Loss 0- 3 6-15 3-15 4-15
We were down to me having to play 1 (A Titanic situation deckchairs etc) when in walked Alastair to reveal John Turner had recovered.
A sight for sore eyes ,was Alastair the hero above….no . He played a decent game against Steven Archibald and took the first game.
Thereafter he had a stinker of a second, rallied a bit, but always chasing
Loss 1-3 15-10 3-15 8-15 9-15
Up next was David Wilson playing at five due to Alastair appearing and Fraser already played. David looked out for his opponent and
initially could not spot him. This was due mainly to looking at eye level. His opponent John Meehan turned out to be 11 (12 his birthday was
yesterday) and looked his age if not younger. Now Alastair pointed out this was a no-win situation but David gamely took on the task. I was
marking, expecting an easy ride. John immediately proved to be the best 11 year old in Houston and ran David around . The first two games
went John’s way and we were staring as a team at a crushing loss.
John for all his skill on court was not the most polite of players ie leaving the ball for David to retrieve etc and while David would not say
anything I think this roused him. He then proceeded to dominate and ultimately won 3-2 . John queried a few of my calls and had a bit of an early adolescent sulk. However, John overall could be pleased with his play and will be beating our Jason in a couple of years.
Won 3-2 8-15 10-15 15-10 15-10 15-7
I was on next at two against Craig McSporran. My lessons with Jason (very good, inexpensive and informative – … maybe get discount!) are I think beginning to pay off and I played a much longer game on Wed albeit some moments of madness. Even beginning to swing properly!
Anyway I won not exactly easily but I think always ahead.
Won 3- 1 15-10 15-12 12-15 15-12
Was I or David the hero no … he had to be strong and he had to be fast… yes it was Piotr . Playing at three, Piotr was playing Graeme Harris who
Alastair (Alastair has been playing leagues since the coronation of George V ) said was pretty useful so expectations were low. Our Polish hero
however played well especially on the backhand and gradually throttled the fight out of Graeme in tense and close games.
Even when he faced game balls against himself in the first two games he rose to the occasion superbly . Well done Piotr- who needs Batman?!
Won 3-0 17-15 16-14 15-13
Overall Win 13 – 9
Almost as good as the result was the food, athletes like Alastair, Piotr and I got stuck in to the pizza and pakora!
Great game, on to Tropical Hamilton next week.

Wednesday 11th December 2013 – 1st Team
With injuries and players missing there was no real chance of any points tonight against the league leaders who have only dropped 12 points in total so far this season. So no pressure!
Sean (Norris) was back in the team this week at number 4 v Owen Hadden and was chopped 3-0. It was funny to see him play down the lefties forehand side though and I especially liked his slow high shots down the middle! It was also amusing to see Sean arguing with the umpire for quite a while about whether a ball was out or not and just as the marker was about to give him the benefit of the doubt he said “Actually I couldn’t really see it; I was just trying to get my breath back.”
Just then I got a text from my nephew Matthew with the following gag: An Asian boy was talking to his father and said “Father I want to be an actor.” and the dad replied “No son, it’s pronounced Doctor!”
I went on next and was also got chopped 3-0 at number 2 v Doctor Iain Tennent. I decided to play only shots and lob serves tonight and I think this confused Iain……………. for about a minute. Fortunately in that minute I’d got to 5-0 so at least the granny was off. I did the same in the second and ended up with 9 points this time! No dice in the 3rd though.
After my match was over I saw a 2nd team member coming out of a spin class and asked him why he wasn’t at Broomhill. Apparently I hadn’t confirmed at 4pm that we still needed him from my 12pm text. But fair play he did rush over to Broomhill to join in and save my blushes (hope he won after all that). He was filling in for an injury and work ravaged second team that meant we were down to the bones this week. We even lost someone to the football, so a tough night for him as well! But the team were only 2 points off a promotion spot going into the match tonight.
Dougie (Macmillan) played Kev Moran at number 1 and was chopped 3-0. He did play well in the 1st two games though and kept Kev honest (7-11 8-11). But his opponent was too deceptive and Dougie just ran out of steam in the end.
On my way to the shower I noticed a guy trying to open the combination padlock on his locker and when I came out of the shower he was still at it. I asked if he was having a problem and he said that his wife had changed the combination to the anniversary date of when they met and he couldn’t remember it! “I think she did it to spite me!” he said. This is actually a true(ish) story and we had to get the bolt-cutters out to help open the locker (I thought of asking for another locker to be opened for me with the bolt cutters, but apparently you have to prove the locker is yours first!)
Sara (not amused at having to mark the number 1s first game, until I took over) McDonald was on next v Naill Morris at number 5 and although was beaten 3-0 she did get the 2nd highest tally of points on the night and played well. Great retrieving and spirit again – and good to see the lucky all-black kit back this week.
David (Craig) was on last at number 3 against Stuart George and the whole team gathered to see if there was still a team point up for grabs. At 8-11 4-11 it didn’t look like it, but then Big Davie really got into his stride and at 12-11 had his first game-ball, but couldn’t quite take it (by this time he’d already secured the team MOTM award for getting the most individual points on the night!) Then at 15-14 he only went and got a second game-ball! There was an epic rally for the Big Man to take the glory, but unfortunately Stuart wrestled the game back time and again and eventually brought home the bacon 16-18.
So as we finished at about 8.30 half the team headed for the Jacuzzi and the other half to the bar, before Veggie pasta for dinner and a chat about our chances of staying in Division 1……!??!! I think we’ll be second bottom when all the results are in, so it’s going to be a bit of a challenge – although with one Newlands side being demoted as well, we only need to move up 1 place. Can we do it in 2014??

Wednesday 11th December 2013 – 3rd Team
TO FOLLOW
LAST WEEKS AT http://wp.me/PH6xZ-1gh (AND ALL PREVIOUS REPORTS)

Wednesday 8th January 2014 – 1st Team
2014 eh! I wonder what the year will have in store for us? Well there’s the Commonwealth Games squash tournament (nice of them to go to all that trouble just for squash!?!?) and then there is that big team tournament in September, what’s it called again – oh yes the Euro Club Championships. And don’t forget the big vote that will decide our very future……. will squash get into the 2024 Olympics?
Anyway enough of the big questions – Wednesday West Squash is back! Ya dancer! And as ever we all turn up, having eaten and drunk too much over the festive period, dreading playing the first match and getting thrashed. That is until we realise that our opponent is thinking exactly the same thing!
Having said that a very thin and fit looking James Singh wished me a Happy New Year and it didn’t look like he’d enjoyed Christmas & New Year as much as me! I did win the 1st game though and quite comfortably as well – James was going for a winner very early in every rally and once I’d been beaten about half a dozen times I started to get wise to it! So when I got to the 1st attacking shot I forced a load of errors and eventually took the game.
The 2nd was much the same, but James played better and got a good lead, in fact he got to game ball first. A bit of digging was required and I managed to do exactly that and I won the tie break. The 3rd was exactly the same and once again I managed to pull back another game ball to nick the tie-break and the match 3-0, but I was fortunate and it could have been very different.
Next on was Sean (Norris) against Pete Cumnie. Pete’s standard is really coming on and he destroyed Sean in the 1st game; but Sean showed good signs of getting back into the match in the 2nd, despite losing this one as well. However the 3rd saw a total transformation in Sean as he dominated this game by digging like cwazy. This made Pete play much more negatively and Sean mopped up the rallies and won the game with some good squash. The 4th was a hell of a battle and the rallies were physically very tough; at 10-10 it was all about who had the most left in the tank and unfortunately (for us) Pete had one more turbo-boost to take the last two points and win the match 3-1.
I was chatting to one of the players about an injury he sustained over the weekend and he told me that he was in a lot of pain, right up to the moment he took 2 Paracetamol and 5 cans of Stella, then amazingly he felt much better!
Big Rich went on next, despite missing his train and not bringing any shorts to play in (so Dave leant him a pair and he was off and running). They obviously brought him luck in the 1st game as he took a storming lead against Mic Cockburn. However Mic then tightened up considerably to win the 2nd. There was an innocuous looking rally in the 3rd, which ended in Rich losing it tamely – so I assumed it was not a very important point, but then both players came off the court and it transpired it happened at 10-9 game ball to Mic (so probably the most important point of the game and maybe even the match!). I was trying to work out what to say to Rich when John Singh walked by and nonchalantly said ‘his problem is he’s too nice on court; does he think he’s playing a friendly?’ and I have to say that did sum things up quite well!
Rich went on in the 3rd with his ‘determined head’ on, but it was a bit too late now. It was a tough game, but Mic had the momentum and was much more confident – so 3-1 to Mic, but I have to say Rich did well to get a team point in the 1st game.
Dave (Craig) took to the court next against Stuart Brunton and it looked like Dave had forgotten how to play team squash in the first 2 games. Stu dominated and anything short & loose, or mid court was dispatched. “So don’t play short & loose or mid court I ventured!” What a difference in the 3rd! I think Dave would have beaten anyone in this game, his length was incredible, he moved Stuart about beautifully and won easily. The only question was could he keep this going. The 4th game was good, but not at the same dizzy heights as the 3rd for Dave and so Stu won, what in the end was a tough last game, to win the match 3-1.
Last on was Doug (Macmillan) v Mark Ford. Mark was up 10-1 in the first and we thought this was a bad start for Doug (which it was) until we remembered that it was 11-1 in the last fixture so maybe just a standard start! But Doug got a flurry of points, before the guillotine was brought down on the 1st game – so really an improvement!
Dave C went on to an empty court and sat right in the middle of the court and started stretching. I shouted over “That’s the closest you got to the ‘T’ all night big man!’. But it was nice of Dave to set me up with this sort of quality material!
Mark went on to dominate the first string match and looked impressive doing it! His trademark wonderful reading of the game and great movement was, as ever, a joy to watch. However Doug did put in a good shift and as I said he did better (points wise) than their last encounter – so an improvement!
And a 1 point improvement for the team as well, as we finished 6-15.
There’s nothing like a nice hot shower after the match and that’s exactly what we got……… nothing like a nice hot shower! Still pizza, chips and Erdinger for dinner and we were all pretty happy with that.
#loveWednesdays2014

Wednesday 8th January 2014 – 3rd Team
Very good. Sadly I saw little of tonight’s match, even my own game was a blur, so this will be disappointingly short.
At No 5 was I think Sandro who lost 3-0. At No 4 his Dad who showed him how to secure some purchase for the team, by losing only 3-1. Alastair Baird went down 3-0 at No 3. Their opponents were possibly Ian Colquohon, David Claxton and ???
At No 2 Neil Ross lost the first game against Fred Laing, but kept his calm and cool. Is this the new Rossy Boy? Indeed, he won the next few games for a 3-1 win! Well done.
Finally , on at No 1 was Me against young Cameron Colquohon, who won 3-0. But there were lots of long rallies, and I didn’t feel too bad after 4 weeks off; just that I didn’t win many of them.
Overall result lost 16 – 4. We would have had a closer match with the crowd that came to play our 2nd team. Well fed after.
Nite nite.
Col

Wednesday 15th January 2014 – 1st Team
Newlands again this week and this time the Newlands Foreign Legion 1st team came calling! And we were looking to do better than 18-2 result from the 1st half.
At No.5 Sara (McDonald) way was on first against Malky Watt (we’d strengthened the team this week by dropping Richard!). Malky was playing as well as ever and getting everything back (as ever) so this was always going to be a tough one for Sara. Malky took the 1st game, but then Sara got a really good lead in the 2nd game and managed to hold on to win this one. However after this Malky ramped the pace & pressure up and won the next 2 to win 3-1 (but already we’d done got a massive 1 point on the board!). So what could the rest of the team do to build on that; was the question? Well nothing – was the answer!
Dave (Craig) went on at the same time against Angus Woodward at No.4 and I didn’t see this one as I was marking, but it seems that the big man was given a torrid time of it by Angus who dominated the game from the start. I saw the last game and it was evident that Big Dave just wasn’t able to get into his rhythm and so lost the 3rd and the match.
Doug (Macmillan) was on against Scotland’s No.2 Greg Lobban. Well if the rest of us was up against it, it was x10 for Dougie against the Harrow man who is No.82 in the World Rankings by the way! The crowd were loving it however and Doug was practicing his court sprints for most of the match. And to be fair he acquitted himself well and gave a good show, but inevitably he Greg gave him the run around and then finished him off. So another 3-0.
I went on next against Paul Bell (up from Cumbria) and after the comprehensive chopping I got in the 1st half of the season I was reasonably sure that my standard hadn’t improved enough in the past 3 months to overturn this. But enough of the defeatist attitude! I had a great run last time and was looking for the same again.
If I put too much pace on the ball at first and Paul wasn’t even troubled with even my best shots, so I needed to slow it down a bit just to be able to stay in the rallies. However my main problems were:
1) Too much pace was not troubling Paul at all
2) Anything short was pounced on and put away
3) Anything across court and a telescopic arm came out and volleyed me away
Huuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!
Even the slower pace was eventually pounced on. So while I was trying all sorts of things, the match was slipping away and I was 2 and a half 0 down. Just then Paul decided he was going to play a few shots off anything; at this point I did have a bit of success as I got in front of him and volleyed short (which gave crowd the impression that I was in the match! Which I wasn’t!! But it did look good!!!). Eventually match ball came and despite saving a few, the inevitable happened and it was 3-0 to Paul.
Last up was Sean (Norris) against Vicky Bell (also up from Cumbria with her brother Paul). Sean looked like he was in this in the 1st and I think he may have even had a game ball (to get out much needed 2nd point!). But Vicky won that and then started to dominate the match. Sean was flinging himself round and generally making a nuisance of himself, but no dice here either and we lost 3-0.
So a 18-1 loss and thank god Sara was playing for the team point! There was a mountain of veggie pasta for dinner when Doug managed to embarrass himself and go the brightest red I’ve ever seen. After the Bell’s had left to make the trip back to Cumbria, he was slagging Sean for losing to Vicky (not realising that Greg’s girlfriend and World Ranked No.99 – Taylor Flavell – was sitting right next to him!) – donkey!

Wednesday 15th January 2014 – 3rd Team
A journey to Craighelen and surely the coldest courts in the West of Scotland.
On at No.4 was Dave Mazzucco against Tam Milne. In addition to marking this match I also took note of how many times the ball hit the back wall. With Dave dominating the match and cutting off most things and Tam unable to maintain any rallies the ball got colder and colder and Dave ran out a comfortable 3-0 winner – the ball got to the back wall twice in all 3 games.
Also on at the same time was Dave Wilson at No.5 against South African FC Du-Toit. I didn’t see much of this as I was marking the other match but Dave was up against it against a mobile left handed opponent who was definitely out of position in their team. Dave’s lack of match practice caught up with him and although the games were close Dave lost all 3.
Sandro and myself on next.
I managed to win fairly comfortably with the only real danger a truly awful marking decision by Neil when I had game ball in the second. My opponent hit the ball straight back to himself on the T with me standing ready behind him and Neil awarded a let. After looking up in disbelief (I may have said something who knows) Neil then changed his mind and said it was a stoke. I didn’t feel the change of decision on such a vital point was fair (daft) and we played a let and the game got to 14-14. I managed to prevail with 2 nice lobs which landed like a stone on the cold courts.
I didn’t see Sandro’s match but, as usual he made every effort to make things difficult in a desperate attempt to secure another MOTM nomination. Sandro won 3-1 with game scores in the 3rd of 23-25 and 4th on 14-16 demonstrating the lengths Sandro goes to. In the 3rd he served out on game ball (despite my detailed and extensive team talk when we discussed this very issue) and apparently in the 4th game when he was 14-10 up he hit 4 easy balls into the tin with his opponent ready to shake his hand on every occasion. Anyway good win and match secured.
Last on was Neil against Chris Moses. Unfortunately Neil tweaked his back in the first couple of rallies. He ran out winner in a close first game but his mobility was compromised and he was obviously thinking of quitting bearing in mind he was due to go skiing next week. However after a few well-chosen words of encouragement from marker Dave Mazz (“Man up Neil”) he bravely continued. Without his injury he probably would have won but struggling with movement he went down 3-1.
Anyway a good 13-7 win against a team at the other end of the table (near the top) to us. It has to be said they were struck with late call ups to their first team.
Sandro’s efforts were successful and he was awarded MOTM – what is the point of winning 3-0 I ask?

Wednesday 22nd January 2014 – 1st Team
Western 1 tonight away and we got a massive 4 points last time so what could we do tonight?
The team got a 6.15pm start so when I arrived we were off to a flyer. The No.4’s had already finished and the No.5’s were 2 games in. Unfortunately this was as far as the good news went because Dave (Craig) had lost 3-0 at No.4 and Sara (McDonald) was 2-0 down at No.5. Mind you Sara was playing Dunsy (Graham Dunns) and so this was no massive shock as the big Grinch (Dunsey not Sara!) was moving well and putting good pace and length on the ball. Sara played well in the 3rd game I thought; Sean & I shouted encouragement whenever we could, like “Come on Sara, you’ve got him beat!” and “He’s flagging Sara!” – unfortunately he wasn’t flagging enough and despite Sara trying, unwisely, to go right through him on a couple of occasions, on her way to the ball, all she got for her troubles was a couple of bruises! Good effort thought and Dunsey knew that if he let up for a moment he was in trouble.
By the way how difficult is it to pronounce Sara??? Dave calls her “Sarah” and Sean calls her “Zara” despite me telling them every week! Must be an age thing on Sean’s part, not sure what Dave’s excuse is? By the way Dave didn’t want to talk about his 3-0 drubbing by Andy Philips, so I thought I’d bide my time and get the story later.
Doug (Macmillan) went on next against Steven Halliday at No.1 and as he’d got chopped by Steve at the home fixture (2, 6 & 2) I wasn’t optimistic for his chances. As I went to watch the start of the game Dave (in his kit), Sean (not in his kit) and Sara (in her kit) all passed me on their way to the changing rooms – all claiming to be on their way to change. So I arrived at the court and as no one else was there I started marking duties. About three minutes later Dave (in his kit), Sean (not in his kit) and Sara (in her kit) all arrived back on the balcony to watch the match (I’d been stitched up like a kipper!).
Back to the match and Doug played much better this time, all 3 games were much closer and he was right in the match at times. Don’t get me wrong Steve won 3-0 and the bottom line was that Steve’s length was better, but if Doug could just tighten up a bit there he’d be making a lot more in-roads.
I went on next against Peter Halliday (I feel that I should explain at this point that I’m Jason Broadberry, because a few people have said to me recently:
“Do you write that blog about DLWE matches?”
To which I generally reply:
“What the one on ‘Broadberry Sports’ with ‘Jason Broadberry’ prominently displayed on the home page? Yup, that’s me!”
“OK smart arse, in that case it’s rubbish!”
Anyway I was also chopped in the 1st half by Peter and it was no surprise to me that I couldn’t get near him in the 1st game. However the 2nd was a strange one, as Peter decided he was sufficiently good enough to play only shots and back this up with no running! Well I’ve got no delusions of grandeur, but I’m not that bad either. At 8-0 down Peter thought he’d better pull his finger out and try – and he very nearly managed it as well, but I used the lead to good effect and sneaked home.
Now I can’t remember who won the 3rd and 4th but we got one each and so to the 5th! Now I was floating the ball around like an old b*****d and Peter was generally trying to keep the pace high, so the contrast in styles made the contest interesting all the way to 10-7 game ball to me! At this point the tide turned against me as:
I missed a cross court nic attempt…. glory boy!
Got a stroke given against me (debateable I thought, and so I did! Well it wasn’t really a debate, more a petulant rant!) – and thirdly
Peter framed a winner (****)
So going into the tie-break I was feeling a bit sorry for myself and that’s ultimately where I lost it. Still 3-2 wasn’t a terrible result (although it felt like it for about 30 minutes after! And comments like “You should have won that” and “If it makes you feel any better you were lucky to get those two ‘fault’ calls.” didn’t make me feel better! But Peter summed it up quite nicely when he said “I feel massively relieved and you must feel massively annoyed”
The banter was flowing in the changing rooms when two guys were discussing their game and one said “Well I’m not making any excuses, but I did play golf already today” to which the reply came back “Are you any better at that game?” – that cheered me up! A bit!
Last on was Sean (Norris) against Peter Robson at No.3. Sean was hitting a ridiculous width in the 1st, with the ball going outside the width of the service box! So he go chopped 11-2. I decided that I didn’t need to tell him to stop hitting the ball down the middle and this must just be a blip – it wasn’t. Everything came down the middle in the 2nd game as well and again it was 11-2. So I wearily trudged down the stairs to give him my thoughts “Aim for the side wall not the centre line you Muppet!” was the advice and do you know it made a 350% difference! Not enough to win the game, but he got a respectable 7 points this time.
So 18-2! Doah! Well it was always going to be a tough one against the No.4 club in the division, but having played 2 of the top 4 clubs already, things can only get easier….. hopefully! Big clash against the Uni next week – let’s hope it’s exam time!
Chinese for dinner and Deuchars as well – class! Then I nipped home and watched highlights of Shabana beat Matthew at the ToC squash.
http://www.squashsite.co.uk/2009/toc2014.htm

Wednesday 22nd January 2014 – 3rd Team
One man on a lonely platform
One case sitting by his side
Two eyes staring cold and silent
Shows fear as he turns to hide
Ah – ah , we fade to grey(fade to grey)
Ah – ah , we fade to grey (fade to grey)
Visage
The thirds were at sweet home Alabama last night and were up against Bowfield 2 in a crucial
relegation threatened clash .
We perhaps did not have the range of All Stars or should that be the Avengers assemble (I will let the readers
decide who was the Hulk, Thor , Captain America , Mad Bastard ..okay I made that one up) of the second team but
we had a pretty formidable outfit plus David Mazz .
Captain Sanders had fired up the team with the e mail of Churchilian proportions that he wanted 18 points or else.
So it was that I played first at 5 against Len Macdonald. Not wanting to face the ire of young Graham I proceeded to
more or less demolish Len in three
Scores won 3-0 15-3 15-6 15-5
On at the same time was David playing at 4 against Gill Downie. Bowfield on seeing our line up would appear to have
moved players around. Gill who was down I think at three obviously fancied David albeit in a squash sense and took him on.
As both Sandro and I had been beaten by Gill previously and were eager for revenge David would be our stand in.
I only saw one point in this match but suffice to say David was not a happy bunny and Gill ran out the victor. Graham who
arrived mid coital gave David the look. David in return gave the look of a man on a lonely platform(see above).
Scores loss 1-3 13-15 4-15 15-11 3-15
I meanwhile was marking serial MOTM winner Sandro’s game against Lenny Wright at 3. Sandro loves to excite the crowd hence
all the MOTM awards and comparisons with George Best are obvious . His dad being Bobby Charlton. Just when you thought
George had beaten a player he tried to beat him again . So it is with Sandro he plays one point like our heroes in the first team the next point
Raymond in the fourths would not be happy with. The match had plenty of drama ,with serving out at game ball from Sandro (One of my tactics !) to
heads in hands from Mr Baird watching. David quite rightly kept on saying slow down, Sandro like sons all round the world ignored him.
Sandro however always had more and won the game …did he get MOTM I don’t think so, I am more a Bobby Charlton sort of admirer
Scores won 3-1 16-18 15-13 15-6 16-14
Speaking about our Bobby we had another look a like e’ in Alastair at 2 against Ronnie Barron . As Jason said old Mans squash but if it works don’t change.
Alastair played well and while his opponent stretched him never in real danger of losing the match and got the 3-0 win. My MOTM
Scores won 3-0 15-11 15-13 15 -11
The other contender for MOTM was Graham against Russell Forsyth at 1. To be honest both deserved it but I know Sandro will be annoyed if Alastair gets it.
Graham played well and had Russell running round like Dill the dog in the herb garden (For older readers) . Russell certainly competed but Graham had too much
and won 3-0
Score won 3-0 15-6 15-7 15-13
David was so cheesed off that to alleviate his spirits he challenged me to our league game. I therefore missed the pasta bake a sad loss.
I then won narrowly 3-2 with both of us having match balls ….. David…. fade to grey
Overall Win 16-4 MOTM Alastair Baird

Wednesday 29th January 2014 – 1st Team
Well this was a real relegation clash last night and with an injury and a missing player I was pretty sure that if the University had a strong team then our goose was cooked (mind you our missing player was Richard so really we were stronger than usual!). The Uni however seemed to have even more missing players than us! So with just 8 points separating the teams, could this be a season changer?
First on was Sara (McDonald) at No.5 v James McAllister. Sara was dominant this week and she controlled the match to the back of the court. James had trouble digging the ball out, with Sara’s trademark great length ™ so that’s where she put the ball every time. After winning the 1st game 11-5 one of the club members watching (Bob) turned to me and said:
“Oh yes, I forgot that you 1st team players aren’t fit enough to play up to 15 points!”
Sara’s rhythm wasn’t upset too much apart from getting clattered a couple of times and she ended up winning 3-0.
Doug turned up at this point and didn’t bother with “hello”, he just turned to Big Davie Craig and said:
“Wow! Dave what’s up? You don’t look like a tramp tonight, you’re actually looking quite good!”
On at the same time as Sara, was Sean (Norris) against Nobby (as everyone calls him). I said to him after the match:
“Why do they call you Nobby?” to which Nobby replied:
“I don’t know.”
“What’s your real name?”
“Nobuhide Ostudo.”
“Aaaaaah!”
I was marking Sara’s game so only caught the 3rd game, but Sean was in charge of this match and he played well to move Nobby around and keep him at arm’s length. Nobby retrieved well, but that’s also Sean’s game and he did it better. So our second 3-0 of the night.
Big Davie (Craig) went on next against Neil (McLean – I think) and on at the same time was the No.1 pairing of Doug (Macmillan) against Liam Dickson. Doug said I’m going to play ‘Jason squash’ tonight. When I quizzed him as to what that meant he said:
“If I get chopped, I’m going to make it look like I played well.” !?!?!?!
Back to the No.4 string match and Davie won the 1st game 11-6, but he never likes to play anything less than a 5 game thriller so I wasn’t surprised to see it 1-1 soon after.
Doug, in the meantime, was soon 5-2 down in the 1st game but came back to win it 11-6. That’s strange, I thought, Liam looks a bit pale; great point for Doug though, especially as he lost the away fixture 3-0.
On the other court Davie was now 2-1 up and cruising. His volleys and drops were moving Neil about well and he was now dominating the tie. Soon after he wrapped things up 3-1 and so the match and the bonus points were ours!
Back with the No1s and Liam was trying to play lots of shots, but Doug was getting everything back and therefore forcing mistakes. Doug was now dominating the latter stages of every game and he eventually converted the 2nd and 3rd games to take the tie 3-0. Great result for him as well, even if Liam was below par.
(Dave wasn’t happy with only 4 games so he challenged Sean to a hit straight after!).
Last up was myself (Jason Broadberry) against Mhairi Charlton. I’d seen Mhairi beat our players before so I was going to take no prisoners (especially after Doug’s beetroot comments two weeks ago!). I won the game 3-0, but Mhairi was ahead at the start of every game. She volleyed well and picked up lots of stuff I didn’t expect. It was a good match but I won it reasonably comfortably in the end.
So I couldn’t have predicted an 18-1 win! Ya dancer!
I also couldn’t have predicted macaroni cheese for dinner (after veggie pasta every week since October!).
But I could have predicted a bigger bar bill than normal with the students looking like they were getting ready to hit Ashton Lane!

Wednesday 29th January 2014 – 3rd Team
“Holding back the years
Chance for me to escape from all I’ve known
Holding back the tears
Cause nothing here has grown
I’ve wasted all my tears
Wasted all those years
And nothing had the chance to be good
Nothing ever could yeah”
Simply Red
The thirds were away last night and were up against some of the sharpest minds in Glasgow… no not the fourths but Glasgow Uni 2nd team.
The Uni first team were also in action that night against our first team so it was a classic double header. Never having played at the Uni sports halls
I turned up expecting spotty kids hanging around facilities slightly spartan. Instead I found myself transported to the 6th floor where I found
various young ladies engaged in sweaty action … on the exercise machines. I did not see any guys there . Thinking I had won the Willy Wonka ticket I was
slightly disappointed to find the rest of the team hanging around the squash courts.
Realising the days of being a Lothario ( never had been)- were well in the past I concentrated on my game as I was on first at 5 against Mike an eager Medical student from Aberdeen
I won the match reasonably easily and even had the satisfaction of Captain Baird saying you served well tonight.
Scores won 3-0 15-10 15- 7 15- 6
On the other court playing at 4 was that other ageing Lothario David Mazz – what a combination we would have been in Cleopatra’s in the mid 80’s …. yes the classic wingman or possibly wing less
How did we ever get anyone to marry us ! Anyway I diverge ,David after playing the Colonel the previous night was a bit knackered even before the match (Twice a week is now too much surely!) so was not
really up the five game marathon he participated in . However holding back the years he won the fifth over the young guy Sagar and showed age can beat youth sometimes …. Jason did the same in the first’s match
Scores 3 -2 15-11 17-15 12-15 11- 15 15-12
Piotr at 3 was on at the same time as David was reaching a climax…in his game so I only saw some of his match. He played the lovely Becky, her of the long legs that Robert in the fourths drooled over in the home match.
Becky proving that the days of old fashioned sexism are dead and buried proceeded to play good squash and beat Piotr 3-0 . I saw most of the first game and Piotr played well and looked in command but it somehow slipped
out of his hands like an England slip catcher. I missed the second which Becky won 21-19 but Piotr again was leading 14-10.
Scores 0-3 10-15 19-21 7-15
This left the stage for either Captain America..Alastair or the Boy wonder Sandro to tie up the match. Both are serial MOTM awardees so I had Dickens like Great Expectations …They both lost
I marked Alastair at 1 against Tuukka from Finland . Alastair actually played well but had a flying Finn to contend with who was consistently good. A wee chance in the second came and went and our Captain went down
with the ship.
Scores 0-3 9-15 10-15 6-15
That left boy wonder playing at 2 against I think Simon. As I was marking Alastair I did not see the first two games but Sandro’s dad never one to mince words said Sandro was sh.te so it was all set for the MOTM
fight back . Sadly no from what I saw Sandro played pretty well in the third and at 13-13 was in it. I thought a bad stroke given against him decided it and he lost 15-13 . It meant for Sandro a silver lining as his Dad
was made MOTM I am sure Sandro was well pleased…holding back the years
Scores 0-3 8-15 8-15 13-15
Food at the Grosvenor in the VIP room was good.. not so good for Piotr on his diet unable to have a slice of Pizza. Another nice touch was the Uni players bought their opponent a drink. As a result David and Alastair
,whose opponents were late began to look like men who had not seen a drink since the war started. I got the call that the dog needed walking and away I went , so no doubt avoided the arrival of their first team
with first team tales of high jinks.
Overall Loss 14-6 MOTM David Mazz

Wednesday 5th February 2014 – 1st Team
The big relegation clashes just keep on coming and tonight I thought we had a good chance at home to Western 2, that was until I spoke to Big Davie on the way to the match and he told me we had no chance at home to them…… as it is an away match! (turn the car round!)
When I arrived Big Dave (Craig) was making his way onto court against Derek Manson at No.3 (due to stuffing Sean in a mini-league last week). However this looked like a position too far as he got cuffed in the 1st game and well beaten in the 2nd. The main problem was that Derek was all over Dave’s cross courts and controlling the match. The 3rd was much the same and at 9-3 down it was surely only a matter of time for Dave. “A good one to win!” was the best we could think of to say as it became 10-5 match ball.
But hang on Dave got the next point, and the next, and the next! And a few rallies later it was a tie break and then it was game to DLWE!
“Yeah I realised if I hit it straighter I was winning the point.” says Dave between games! Understatement of the night I’d say. Too many cross courts and Dave lost 90% of the rallies, but mostly straight and he won 90% of the rallies! With this information in his armoury Dave won the 4th game easily and so the 5th!
A much tougher game, but Dave was now physically in control as Derek tired. In the end Dave drove the points home from 0-2 and 10-5 down to win the tie! Amazing and I was pretty sure that secured him the MOTM award.
Sean (Norris) went on next against John Millar at No.4 – this was comfortable for Sean this week and he dominated the tie with his quick movement to win 3-0. However at 9-0 in the 1st game it looked like ‘the granny’ was on, but Sean actually managed to hit the ceiling at one point, which is an impressive thing to do, especially as he did it from the back of the court! with the ball on the way to the front wall!!!
After the match Richard commiserated with Sean and told him not to worry too much about it as it’s a tough league. Sean then proceeded to tell him the winning score and Richard just said:
“Oh OK, well done. I didn’t see the game, I just assumed you’d lost again!” (you’ve got to be able to take the banter in this team!)
Richard (ex-captain Cantlay) was on next at No.5 against Tony Gibson. The 1st was an easy win for Richard against the left hander and he looked like he was going to romp home.
As I arrived at the balcony to watch the match, Sean (from Limerick) was chatting to Davie (from Glasgow) so I walked up to them both and said:
An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman were watching Richard play squash and the Englishman said “Is this some kind of joke?”
Meanwhile back on court, Tony made an amazing come-back to take the 2nd game, with some great play on his forehand side (the left that is) (coz he’s a left hander). I went to chat to Richard in between the games and said:
“Ok first things first, I assume you know he’s a lefty?” Rich was wide-eyed; and with massive surprise on his face said:
“Is he? I hadn’t noticed”
Not that he used the new information for a while, but eventually when he pummelled the backhand side he secured the next two games, in a hard fought physical battle.
I went on next against Paul Whiteley at No.2 and I needed ear-mufflers in the knock up as Paul hit more tins than a drummer in a baked bean tin making factory! But come the game he was much more accurate, having said that he did go for absolutely everything and so this meant that he did make quite a few mistakes, but he also hit some blinders. It was a good run, but I won 3-0.
Our new captain, Doug (Macmillan) went on against Steve Luker whilst I was on court so I didn’t see the first two games. From the score sheet it looked like it was quite close up to about 5-5 and then Doug pulled away to win them both. The 3rd had an air of inevitably about it and although both players were moving around quickly Doug looked like he was in control as he won 3-0.
The banter was in full flow in the changing room as Dave Kelly (DK) asked me if I used Maple Syrup on my hair to make it so high! While another conversation went on like this:
“The floor on court 3 was like a skating rink” Doug
“It was fine when I played it” Peter
“That’s coz you don’t run fast enough to slide” Doug
“I don’t need to run as fast as you, I rely on skill!” Peter
Classic!
Also I was chatting to Hamilton’s Colin McGeady (they were playing Western 1 on the other court with only 4 players?!?!?! Obviously couldn’t get a 2nd team out then??). Colin seems to be fast becoming the new Frank Sinatra of West Squash this season, as he had to retire for the 4th time! (Frank Sinatra is a bit like Robbie Williams for all you youngsters out there!)
A Chinese meal for dinner and one player was talking about being NekNominated (NekNomination is a bit like a ‘boat race’ for you oldies out there!) and trying to top previous attempts. I hope he goes with his milk suggestion! Or maybe even this https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=x-wztJ4m6xE
Steve Luker was talking about losing to Vicky Bell in the Newlands’ match, he said:
“She’s terribly good isn’t she” I had to agree 100%, in fact when Sean played her, she was good and Sean was terrible!
As Rich and I walked out of the Western clubhouse we saw the (old) plans for the extension to the building which will extend all the way out to the road. Rich looked at the plans and said:
“Haven’t they done that yet?” to which I replied
“Do you not think you would have noticed it on the way in, if there was a new 50 foot structure you had to pass to enter the club?” Dobber!
All this and Colin Towers (from Hamilton) offered to play the Harp at our Charity Party on March 22nd (in support of the Food4Africa charity – the one that’s building a charity squash court – see http://food4africauk.org/2014/01/18/your-invitation-to-the-food4africa-ubuntu-party-22-march/)

Wednesday 5th February 2014 – ? Team
will follow

Wednesday 12th February 2014 – 2nd Team
NOCTEM HORRIBLIS
On a dark dank night in deepest Bridge of Weir, the 2nd Team were up against our closest rivals (Strathgryffe) for that coveted 3rd Promotion spot. Having been beaten by Newlands 7 last week this really was a must win.
I arrived to see Jason Grinton playing at 1, already on Court and deep into the 2nd game. From what i witnessed Jason was hitting the ball well to length and staying in most of the rallies and I believe, was 9-0 up in the 1st game only to lose it 15-13 however, the 2nd game slipped from his grasp as well, and he lost it 15-6. Girding his loins like a young Geordie buck heading into the Big Market on a Friday night Jason summoned the energy to take the 3rd game 15-13 a great effort. This seemed to spur his opponent on and indeed Martin won the 4th game and took the match 3-1 Point of note… Jason’s opponent has played for Strathgryffe’s 2nd team for most of the season and when he has played for their 3rds, he’s undefeated.
Meanwhile Graham Sanders playing at 4 was going head to head with Vic Louhglin in the other Court in what was a 5 game thriller. Graham lead 1-0 then was behind 2-1 only to square the match 2-2 The final game was a torrid affair with both men out on their feet like a couple of punch drunk fighters, and unfortunately Graham lost on a TKO losing the last game 15-9. Great effort by Graham and a big improvement from last week at Newlands.
Bairdhound was on next, playing at 5 against Peter Russell who would give an aspirin a sore head, and seems to have a strange grasp of the rules…anyway on to the match…Alastair came out of the traps like a greyhound on speed and was turning back the years in the 1st couple of rallies, with some impressive pick ups however, could he keep it up? While he was in every game we lost this one 3-0.
Next on was me, and this is where the headline becomes apt. not one of my better nights and I lost 3-0 playing at 3. So a quick update, we have gained 3 points so far , not what you would hope for giving we are promotional candidates.
Dave Ritchie playing at 2 was on last against Andrew Stuart who beat the Angry Elf at the start of the season 3-1 so a tough ask for Dave. Playing some good straight and cross court lengths, Dave was quickly 2-1 up only to be pulled back by Andrew and taken into a 5th game..this 5th game was going to be tight and indeed both players rallied as though their lives depended on it. there was one very long rally at 12-10 that should Dave had won it, I believe he would have closed out the Match however, it was not to be… Dave lost the 5th 15-10.. Fantastic effort by Dave and his 2 portions of Pasta could not be more deserved…

Wednesday 12th February 2014 – 4th Team
Home game against Glasgow University 3 who we last played in 06 November ’13 and came away with a narrow 12 -11 win. Both teams were a little different this time so Ian Monaghan was number 1 up against Mike Green who managed to slaughter me 3-0 in November. The first 2 games couldn’t separate the players, it began to turn in Ian’s favour after he took the 3rd 16-14. Mike was quick around the court and his height, his left hand approach and his remarkable ability to make shots off the back wall made Ian work very hard in the 4th to clinch the match.
Cameron Gauhl made his team debut as our number 3. Cameron, strongly influenced by his father’s (me) weekly performance strolled onto the court and was thrashed 15-2 in the first game by Josh Donovan. Cameron looked like a beaten man and in need of some professional coaching and a large helping of self-belief. I couldn’t help with either, just as well because Cameron didn’t need help from someone who hasn’t won a game yet, never mind a match! My worst fear was that Cameron would be destroyed in his first match, give up squash and waste his entire life as a non-squash player. Well, blow me down with a feather. Cameron charged himself up of his own free will and accord, went back on court disguised as Nick Matthew and steam rolled to a 3-1 victory. Poor Josh looked stunned following his easy first game win. Well done Cameron, performance of the night.
I got to play again despite my poor performances up until now and was up against Angus Clemente. Angus was beaten in 5 by Robert McNicol in our last match against Glasgow Uni. I gave it everything I had, wanting so much to win as I aspire to be like my son. However, Angus got me 15-13 in the 5th, so very close. I won my first 2 games though and I will treasure that until I finally win a match, and I will one day!
Louisa Etherson and Harriet Dymond played 4th and 5th respectively against our Andy McKeller and Angus Mackay. Andy worked hard and scored well in each of the three games that I believe he allowed Louisa to win. Despite the suggestion that he could turn the match in his favour by playing long (and he won his points by doing just that) Andy was unable to sustain his attack long enough to reach 15 before Louisa..
Angus played Harriet and came away with a convincing win. Experience on his side and lots of clever short boasts and drop shots more than compensated for his slow motion action replay style, and that was all that was needed to secure 3-0 victory.
You can never predict the outcome when up against these student people. You expect that the late nights, long days in bed, the binge drinking, bad diet and the world owes me a living kind of attitude will always kick in. However, as a team we agreed to abstain from all this prior to the match and it worked in our favour. An overall win of 14-8. Well done everybody!

Wednesday 19th February 2014 – 2nd Team
We had the pleasure of entertaining the Western folks this week and with the loss to Strathgryffe last week our promotion hopes were hanging by a thread, but who knows a good win tonight and other results going our way could start the ball rolling in our favour again.

MOTM – Dave Ritchie & Michael Ward