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Match Report 20th Oct 2021 Whitecraigs LT&SC away v Dumfries (Div 1. West of Scotland Squash)

October 21, 2021 broadberrysports Leave a comment

It was the dreaded Dumfries away trip last night, but I’m not sure why everyone complains about it (and tries to get out of it by going to the footie) coz it’s actually good fun, all travelling together and the banter in the car. Last night the M74 was shut for quite a serious accident, but the diversion only caused us a 20-minute delay, despite the fact that there were hundreds of blue flashing lights on the motorway, so I hope everyone was OK.

When we arrived the at Nunholm Squash & Cricket Club, you wouldn’t know that world gas prices were skyrocketing, as the courts were more like saunas! Ollie (Millen) and Keith (Gristwood) went on first at No.4 & 5 respectively – Ollie had something to prove this week, but when he was 1-0 down to ‘Cumbrian Joe’ (where did you come from, where did you go?) it didn’t look like he was going to do it. But Chris went down to talk to him in-between games and the main advice was “don’t serve out 5 times per game”! Whatever else he said must have worked because at 2-2 it looked like we were in with a good chance. When Ollie came off, he looked like he’d been sitting in the sauna for an hour, but he also had a big (gormless) grin on his face and his Harrow racket was intact, so I knew it had gone well and we’d have to put up with his chat all the way home!! A great 3-2 win to kick things off for the team. Keith on the other court won the first, with incredible drops from all over the court and his opponent Mike ‘Service’ was looking bamboozled. But after that, Mike moved well up the court to cover all the shots. Did this deter Keith? Absolutely not! So we were treated to either a stunning drop winner from Keith or (more often) Mike getting the ball back. Unfortunately, Keith couldn’t find enough winners and normal ‘Service’ was resumed and Mike took the match 3-1.

I went on next against Callum (Neil) and it was immediately obvious that he was carrying an injury and struggled to get to the front. So being the nice guy I am, I just had a length game against him and we had a great run and a 3-2 ………… well that’s what would have happened if I was a nice guy! But I’m not so I played lots of drops and won 3-0! (Mind you, if I had played a length game, I would probably have lost – judging by Callum’s bullet forehands and great slow length on the backhand).

Cammy (Colquhoun) at No.3 and Chris (Murphy) at No.1 went on last and Cammy was back to his old tricks of stringing his match out to 5 games! To be fair his opponent Robin ‘the Riddler’ Ridley did make him hit lots of errors (including more shots into the sauna roof than I think I’ve ever seen!). However, the bottom line was that Cammy could cover 99% of anything Rob hit and so just needed to keep the rallies going, against a guy two and a half times his age! Eventually Cammy got the message ….. and got Robin tired, to bring home the 3-2 win (Ollie was watching and hoping Robin would take the fifth game so he could take-the-piss all the way home!).

Chris, on the other hand, was ruthless against Chris McCutcheon and it was obvious early on, that this would be one way traffic. Ollie told Chris off, for showboating in the third, but if you’ve got it…flaunt it, I say (I would……. if I had it!). Good to have Chris back in the team (he even stayed awake the whole way home! That’s a first!!)

So pizza and chips for dinner (even a veggie one for me and Mike) and the Dumfries lads were great hosts. Back up the, now opened, M74 and home just in time for the club closing! So no pint of Erdinger at Whitecraigs, to celebrate the 16-7 team win! Must get the bar opened longer on a Wednesday night – it’s a Wednesday tradition – everyone knows Wednesday is squash night in the West don’t they?!?!?

Categories: Uncategorized Tags: 2021/22, West, West Squash, West Team Matches, Whitecraigs LT&SC

Match Report 6th Oct 2021 Whitecraigs LT&SC v Hamilton (Div 1. West of Scotland squash)

October 7, 2021 broadberrysports Leave a comment

West of Scotland Squash Leagues are Back!!!!! 2021 has given us some
competitive squash at last – and thank **** for that!

So last night was the first match of seasons starting in this new decade!
And Hamilton came along to Whitecraigs LT&SC to kick things off.

An early start meant Ollie (Millen) was probably the first West Squash
player to hit a ball in anger, in the new season, as he took on Norman
(Patterson) at No.4. Hamish turned up unnaturally early (for him) so he marked.
Ollie won the 1st game and everything was going well for us! Just then Kenny
(Boyle) arrived, so we left to nab Court 1 and really cash in on the early
start.

We played the No.1 string match and I (Jason Broadberry) lost the 1st game
9-11, but surprisingly felt I was in the match against the whippet that is
Kenny!! Anyway we came off court after the 1st to see Norman looking jubilant –
and claiming he’d won! Well, that must have been the quickest 1-3 ever I
thought, but apparently it was the quickest 2-3 ever!! (2 was also the amount of
rackets broken apparently!)

Ho-hum! I’d leveled things up at 1-1 in my match, but it would be safe to
say that Kenny’s squash looked under-cooked (or should I say under Boyled!),
but he stepped it up in the 3rd to win 4-11 then lost concentration to lose the
4th ……… and so to the 5th!! When I got back on court Kenny had quite
obviously changed the ‘double yellow-dot’ for a ‘blue-dot’ and it was so hot I
could hardly touch it. I hit a drop shot that flew into the nick at the back of
the court and I knew I may be in trouble. In the markers chair, David “the
Pink Panther” Macaleese tried to hurry me along in case the ball made it
down to 99 degrees and I had any chance of playing anything in front of the
short line, but unfortunately all my drops were gone and Kenny could easily
pick up anything I could hit and so he ran out a 2-3 winner. So 0-2 down in the
match and no justice! Or was there?

Young Hamish (Buchannan) went on next at No.3 and was up against David
Heffernan. Hamish took the 1st game, but was lucky and I knew David would go
into overdrive in the 2nd (which he did) and leveled things up. However the 3rd
and 4th games saw Hamish really get into his stride and he ran everything down
and his shot selection was much better. David just didn’t know where he was
going to get his winners and I thought it was not only a great match
performance, but also great maturity from Hamish.

John-Boy (Howie) took on Dave ‘The Pink Panther’ (Macaleese) at No.5 next
and it was a dominant performance from John. It would be fair to say that
Maccer didn’t really get into his stride last night and made a few
uncharacteristic mistakes, but John was always going to be a tough nut to crack
and his experience gave him a 3-0 victory (having said that there must have
been over a 120 years of experience on that particular court! At least!).

So it was all down to the No.2s as Cammy (Colquhoun) took on Keith (Martin)
and I know what you’re thinking, this has got 5 games written all over it! But
no! Cammy took a 2-0 lead with some unbelievable retrieving (and an amazing
backhand drop to win the 2nd).

I know what you’re thinking, this has definitely got 5 games written all
over it! But again NO!! Cammy screwed the nut and won this big 6 pointer to
bring home the match 3-0 for the team!!

I know what you’re thinking, “You’re lying Jase! Cammy never won 3-0
surely?? Surely he just strung it out to the 5th??” – But really Scouts’
Honour ……. he did it in 3! …………………….. I know!

So we all retired for burgers & chips (the food of athletes) at the
famous back bar …… well at least it wasn’t pizza! Ollie had pint of Joker
(fill in your own punchline!) and Cammy took home the M.O.T.M. for my vote and
it would have to be Norman for Hamilton (although secretly I think I played
pretty well! As did Hamish……. and John).

A great 16-7 victory to kick things off and looking forward to Dumfries next
……….. Away! I hope they’re doing match dinners!