Dean's version of Events 03.11.09

Thanks to Ron and Ross Anderson for their report.

Dean lost 4-17 last night, but put in great performances when missing 4
players from our usual team and taking on probably the best side in
division 5. (Al's italics) Not much wrong on the night that a few Sunday sessions won't
sort out.

5. Andy vs. Will Henderson

Saw just the last 2 rallies, thought that they were rallying fairly
evenly. The scores show that Andy must have had the worst of it, though.

Perhaps at this level Andy needs to be able to straighten the ball
slightly more, and push his opponent into the back corners when he gets
a chance. That will come, though. 0-3.

4. Derek vs. Pete Young

The usual sublime squash that we have come to expect from Pete, where he

makes a mockery of opponents' superior speed and fitness with
well-chosen,. well-executed strokes. Derek fought very well in the first

game (which I refereed); but I was still most impressed that he managed
to take a game subsequently, as Pete has run a few of us all over the
court in the past few years. A very good point for the team. 1-3.

3. Ronnie vs. Neil Love

Ronnie played the most controlled squash of anyone in the Dean team,
despite a late call-up and being dropped in at #3 instead of #5. Neil
was very comfortable attacking anything that was short in the court,
even fairly tight balls, and played a lot of outright winner. Ronnie was

getting his measure as the match progressed, and putting a bit more pace

on the ball to force his opponent to take it deeper in the court. The
fitness advantage and modified tactics saw Ronnie's score ramping up 1,
3, 5 - but he ran out of games before he could get to 9. 0-3.

2. Mark vs. Andy Whitelaw

Andy's drops were even more accurate than those we usually see from
Nick, as long as he had time to play them. Mark shook him a bit with
some powerful, tight driving; but the most controlled squash we saw from

the Grange side all night proved just too tough a task. The driving game

on the backhand side from Mark was very similar to the game that Craig
often plays: just needs a little more consistency, and a couple of
attacking options so that his opponent doesn't have the luxury of
sitting deep in the court. Managed to take it to a tie-breaker in one
game, I seem to remember. 0-3.

1. Craig vs. Mark Dutton

A determined performances from Craig, and an almost as determined
performance from Mark. Think it was finally won with a tie-breaker in
the 5th game. As usual with Craig, some superb tight drives on the
forehand, and some slightly slower but equally accurate drives on the
backhand. Fitness may have been an advantage, with Mark not chasing some

drops towards eh end that weren't exactly outright winners. The
corkscrew serves from Mark probably tipped the balance: they are not yet

"bankers" for him, to put it mildly. Great resolve from Craig to avoid
the 5-0 defeat.

Overall I think we can be pretty pleased not just with taking that many
points against far more experienced team players, but also with the
quality of the squash our team played. Stuck to the basics well under
pressure, and never gave up. (Report: Ron Todd, thanks)