Broadberry Sports

Giffnock are 2nd in the Division so this was going to be a tough one tonight and so it proved!

When I arrived I met Stuart Pitt who said we were playing each other tonight as he munched a box of pasta. Obviously carb loading for a tough 5 setter against me as he’s heard about how fit I am (I’m only one vowel away from being ‘fit’!)

Talking of which, the battle of the heavyweights was on first, as Ollie (Millen) took on Mark Coyle at No.5. Mark obviously loves the home courts and Ollie got involved in playing his game a bit too much early on to lose the 1st game. However, when he slowed it down, he had much more success and maybe should have picked up a team point right there. Unfortunately, Ollie narrowly lost the 2nd game 13-15 and the match slipped away after that 3-0 to Mark and a good performance.

I was talking to Garry Blanchflower and Kenny ‘penalty point against ‘ Hardy in-between games and as the insults were flying and they told me I was rubbish, I told them both, “I used to be Jason Broadberry you know!”

I went on next and Stuart had obviously changed his mind about playing me, as I was now up against Ben Mazzucco at No.2. I remembered that he liked to boast (a lot), so I thought, ‘be ready for that!’ Unfortunately, I didn’t reckon on how well he did it, as well as the great drops (and many other shots). The bottom line is that he was far too good last night and won 3-0. I think I’d have to play him a few more times just to work out what the hell was going on! Mind you he’s not lost many in the league this year, so what can you do!

Next up was Chris (Murphy) v James Singh – a lot of tough matches for Chris this season against guys that are playing full time. However, Chris is so difficult to read on court and he can always create problems in every match. This time it was game 2, when at around 8-7 you could see that Chris could sense the finish line! Slightly helped by a 50/50 game-ball ‘call’, he walked off court at 1-1 leaving James to argue the call with the ref….. Ollie! (Nae chance!!).

Normal business was resumed after this (although the 3rd was close) and James won the next 2 games to take the match 3-1

At No.3 Cammy (Colquhoun) and Stuart Pitt claimed the court next. Hamish was a bit annoyed about this as he’s turned up especially early (for him) tonight at 7.20pm!!! So he used the time to nip home and get a change of clothes and a towel, which he hadn’t brought with him! (Ollie’s influence is definitely rubbing off on him).

Well Cammy and Stu would obviously be on for about 2 hours anyway, right? Wrong! Tonight was Stuarts’s night and he had a point to prove on his home courts. Cammy tore around the court as usual, but Stu was in control to take all 3 games (3-0). Cammy needs to regain his determination for not letting the opponent dictate too much, but after he conceded that he was ‘happy with the run’, he asked if I’d meet him in the park and throw a frisbee for him to chase sometime!

Hamish (Buchanan) and Neill Morris were on last at No.4 and this was a great ‘age v youth’ contest (Naill is really old!). Hamish upset Nial’s momentum to take the 1st game, but the experience was turned on in the next 2 and so Hamish found himself 2-1 down. However a great determined performance in the 4th and 5th games turned things on it’s head and Hamish played an absolute blinder to win the match 3-2. The whole team, and travelling support, were impressed and we all agreed that this was the best he’d ever played, so we bought him a pint to celebrate (and the fact it was the first time he was ‘legally’ allowed a pint!). Lovely pizza and chips for dinner (posh ones obs as we were at Giffers!) and they even had Erdinger for me! But it was not long, before we were on our way back to Whitecraigs for a game of darts to commiserate our loss (and to be regaled with Ollie’s chat; that only got him in trouble a few times!) ……. Hamish’s team won the darts as well!

Last match of the first half and Strathgryffe came calling.

I got the early start this week and the flashing squash racket of Ross ‘Red’ Lorry awaited me. It was all out attack from point one and I had to implement “anti-serve return status” immediately, after Ross dispatched the first few into the nic! This was destined to be a quick match, with short rallies and so it proved – I think I was fortunate that Ross went for so much, as he also made a few mistakes and I managed to keep the lead in the individual games to win 3-0

Next on at No. 1 was Chris (Murphy) v Dave ‘Laminator’ McCormick – at first sight this looked a bit of a mismatch, but Chris was slow to get going and Dave played really well, so a tight 11-8 to Chris was followed by an even tighter 10-12 to Dave. However, after that Chris moved up a gear (from 1st to 2nd! 😊 ) and finished the match off 3-1. Really good point for Dave though.

Ollie (Millen) pulled rank on Hamish and stole the court next, to play Craig Wright at No.5. This was another good match up and although Ollie won the first 2 games they were both close. Craig got the vital lead in the 3rd with some great determined play and good volleying and snuck home, but Ollie took control of the 4th to bring home the match 3-1 on fitness! (no really!)

Hamish (Buchannan) finally got the court to play Scott Adams at No.4 next and at 23-23 in the 1st, he didn’t want to let it go! What a 1st game this was! Both players were feral in their desire to hammer the ball and win the game, but Scott just held on to win 25-23. Hamish changed his game to be in control to win the 2nd and Scott did much the same in the 3rd. Unfortunately for us it looked like Hamish didn’t believe he could win the last one and so lost 3-1. Entertaining match to watch however & M.O.T.M. to Scott!

Last up was Cammy (Colquhoun) v James Dare at No.3. Cammy looked in charge of this match and James looked a bit tentative going forward. However, when James was on the ball, he had Cammy doing quite a few court sprints (but then Cammy loves doing court sprints, so he was happy to chase and chase!!). In the end a reasonably convincing win for Cammy 3-0, but I could see a that he was disappointed that the match didn’t go on for an hour!

So up to the bar to find the rest of the team (doing not very much) and after a coldish shower we had chili & rice for dinner with a large triangular crisp thing which was excellent. So a 16-5 win and around a mid-table finish to the 1st half.

Happy Christmas and Hogmanay when it comes and looking forward to seeing the 2nd half (and the other half!).

An away match last night and Western are like a box of chocolates….. you never know what you’re going to get!

Martin Woods was there to greet us and he was playing No.4 tonight (yeah I know!), so he went on first v Ollie (Millen) and I went on at the same time at No.1 this week (no Chris) v Robert Adam. I’m not sure what happened in Ollies game except to say he got dispatched 3-0. He seemed to be playing better by the 3rd game, but no points this week. 0-3 down.

On the other court Robert and I were having a right old ding-dong. We’d largely decided to mark it ourselves as both of us agreed to disagree with a few of the decisions on offer. This made for a very pleasant game. Robert seemed in control in the 1st & 3rd games, and I nicked the 2nd & 4th on tie breaks to take it to a 5th (when I got out of the court after the 4th their No.3 (Ben) was waiting to go on assuming I’d lost! Bloody Cheek! 😊 ). However the last game was a step too far for me, so Robert won 3-2.

When I got back to the other court – gently fuming! – Cammy (Colquhoun) was 0-2 down against Scott Hay at No.2. I hadn’t seen the game, so I just told him what I would do against Scott and hoped for the best; bish-bosh he won the next two games, although with the scowl on his face that made him look like he lost them both! So between games, I told him to “bloody cheer up, as the match is yours to win……… and if you don’t win I’m taking your new Harrow Vapor away!” Another epic battle ensued, and Cammy still has his Vapor! (and the match cheered me up as well!)

I went for a shower and so missed the start of Hamish (Buchanan) v Ben Ramasubbu at No.3, but Hamish was 2-1 up and playing great when I returned. However, the very stylish Ben R used all his experience with 12-10 thrillers in both the 4th & 5th games to clinch victory from the jaws of defeat! Tough to take from Hamish, but I’m not sure he did much wrong, Ben just tied both his shoelaces at just the right times (for about a minute each time!) to give himself enough breath to sneak it! 3-2 win for Ben.

Last on at No.5 was our debutant Dave Simpson against veteran Kieran Pole. Nerves were a factor early on as Kieran took a 2-0 lead, but Dave was motoring by the end of the match and could easily have sneaked the 3rd game. If he had, he may well have ‘done a Cammy comeback’ – however Kieran just had enough to stop Dave using his hard-working game to gain that crucial foothold. 3-0 to Kieran.

So, Chinese takeaway for dinner and spicy noodles for me as the rest of the lads tucked into a about 20 other containers & bags. A strange seating arrangement at Western meant we all split up with our individual mountains of food, but we all thoroughly enjoyed the scran (and no one told me the result for the Merseyside derby so I was looking forward to seeing the footie when I got back. Although obviously not before a trip back to Whitecraigs for an Erdinger and Ollie regaling the car with all sorts of hilarious X-rated stories!)

So a 17-7 loss tonight, but a good hard match with three 3-2 results.

Well there were no fireworks tonight and the result was just as you thought it might be against a Giffnock team on top of the West Squash Division 1 table, but none the less it was a great night out.

First on at No.1s was Chris (Murphy) v James Singh. This was a bit of a rammy and the first blow was traded by James with a racket in Chris’s face and this was closely followed by lots of bumping and barging. Chris returned the favour, with ball driven into James’s leg (a tad unnecessary) in the 3rd game. Overall, I’d say Chris managed to shake things up well, because I expected to see an exhibition of straight drives, volleys and control from James, but this was not to be. Despite this James won 3-0, but Chris has to be commended for forcing his game plan on the match and making the 1st and 3rd games really tight.

Next on I marked Hamish (Buchannan) v Ben Mazzucco. Ollie (Millen) had missed this court as he was faffing about looking for the less essential parts of any players equipment like ………. a racket, kit, and shoes! However, he managed to find his racket (in the bar obviously) and discovered his unwashed kit from last week – or by the stench, maybe the week before that! (both teams thought Ollie had left a ripe stilton in one of the pockets and were less than impressed by the lack of Febreze!)

Back on court with Hamish and Ben, it was great to see my old team-mate (Ben Mazz) tonight and his undeniable attacking style helped him throughout the match. Giffnock’s Stuart Pitt said to me “Did you teach him to play a boast every other shot when you were both at David Lloyd’s?” and he had a point (as I remembered sessions Ben and I had on the backhand boast). Ben won the match, by attacking with the boast (among many great shots) so it was a lesson well remembered! 3-1 to Ben.  

By the time I made it onto the next court to see Ollie’s game, he was 2-0 down against Niall Morris at No.5. However, when I watched the 3rd game, Ollie was really getting involved in every rally. I thought maybe Niall was trying to get away from Ollie’s fermenting kit, but actually Ollie was sticking in the rallies well (although he was hitting cross-court far too much). Niall “what’s a drop shot” Morris was moving the ball around really well himself and there were some great (and long) rallies where you just didn’t know if Niall was going to slot in another good length, or if he was merely going to hit one to the back!! 😊  

Ollie played well to pinch the 3rd game, but he seemed far too happy with himself at this point, so Niall finished things off a bit too easily in the 4th for my liking. But a good team point from Ollie 1-3.

Next on was Cammy (Colquhoun) v Stuart Pitt at No.3. Although it was really Cammy Pitt v Stu Colquhoun as both players’ styles, were a mirror of each other! This definitely had 3-2 written all over it!! So after the first game and a half I thought, I’ll play my match and come back to watch the 5th!

I was up against an old advisory in Owen ‘Haddaway’ Hadden and although he’s been better than me in the last 15 or so years, there was a time that I could beat him! And tonight was reminder of those days, as I wrestled a tight 3rd game off him and was close in the 4th, but ultimately Haddaway remembered “What is squash? Baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me no more!” – 3-1 to Owen (it always hurts!).

Straight back to the 3-2 match next door and what do you know, it was the 5th game and match ball! Niall was regretting taking the markers chair as his muscles were in atrophy, and apparently Cammy had a big chance at 9-8 up in this game, but could only find the floor with his drop! So a good 2 points to the cause and time to hit the back-bar for burgers and chips.

Someone had put an old Man City game on the telly (the Agueroooooooooooooooo! one) which was played in 2012 ….. during the day …….. and James asked if it was on live! Stick to squash big-yin! Just then there was large ‘clang’ on the floor as Ollie dropped the biggest name he could with his ‘pint with Neil Lennon’ story. Everyone was gripped as they’d never heard it before, well not in the past 20 mins anyway! Match result was 18-5 but it was against the Division leaders so could have been worse.