Colinton Castle 7 versus Grange 5 – Friday 2 nd December 2011

A much changed side assembled for this attractive fixture, a Friday night at Colinton Castle.

With people keen to be elsewhere we started right on time with Bill Marshall and Rocco Pannozzo playing at 5 and 4 respectively.

Bill was playing Mark Fairbairn and the first set was a close affair with Mark edging it 9-7, the second set followed the same pattern with Mark keeping his nose in front and closing it out 9-7. We weren’t prepared for what happened next, perhaps it was Mark’s recent 4 week visit to Thailand catching up with him or that Bill was suddenly hitting every shot a millimetre above the tin, but the result was sets 3 and 4 went to Bill 9-1, 9-0. We were eagerly awaiting the final set, was it to be Bill closing out another quick set or Mark refinding his touch from the earlier in the match. Unfortunately for us Mark got back on top and took the set 9-4 for a 2-3 loss for the Grange.

Meanwhile Rocco was taking on a familiar adversary in the form of Bob Baikie on the court next door. The first set saw Rocco having chances to impose himself on the game, but in many cases after setting up the point to apply the deadly finish, the ball somehow found the tin. First set to Bob 9-2. The remaining 2 sets followed a similar pattern with Rocco tinning regularly from strong positions. Bob taking sets 2 and 3, 9-3, 9-5 for a 3-0 loss for the Grange.

Remarkably both games finished exact at the time and this brought myself and Dean on court playing at 3 and 2 respectively. I was playing Adam Hill and to keep with the theme of the Evening Adam was keen to get things over with as the kids were home alone. Adam raced out of the blocks and was quickly 8-0 up in the first and I eventually got on the scoreboard and preceded to get the game back to 8-8, after a few handouts, I was unable to close the set out and Adam went on to win the first 10-8. My generous spirit continued in the second and Adam took it 9-2. A bit of a revival in the third saw me edge in front 6-4 only for my opponent to take the set 9-6. After a couple of wins for teams it was back to familiar score of Neil Love Love, 3-0 loss for the Grange.

Meanwhile Dean was playing Jamie Davidson on the other court and proceeded to take the first set very comfortably 9-2. Little did we know that this was the worst thing to do, as Dean was thinking about not beating Jamie too badly, he forgot to play any squash and lost sets 2 and 3, 9-1, 9-1. The die was cast in the 4 ^th set and Jamie was finding his range and regular nicks, Dean couldn’t find his mojo from the 1 ^st set and lost the 4 ^th 9-3 for 3-1 loss for the Grange. Dean was found to be wandering around the corridors muttering “I hate winning the first set too easy and how did I lose that one” A trip to the sports psychologist couch appears to be in order or some words of wisdom from our all-knowing readers.

Last but not least was Tom playing Derek Barr at number 1 and a close 1 ^st set was edged by Derek 10-8. The remaining sets saw Derek taking control and despite some strong running from Tom he was unable to turn things around losing them 9-3, 9-4, 3-0 loss for the Grange.

Match results including ref points was 20 -5 to CC7 and overall a disappointing result for the 5 ^th ’s.

The people who stayed were treated to Tuna pasta bake, Dean was able to get the vegetarian option from CC4 who were hosting Dean 1 and talk turned to the terrible start of the season that CC7 had endured and how strong the top 3 teams in the division are, a quick look at the fixture list reveals that the 5 ^th ’s next 4 games are against the top 3 with an away trip to Dunbar for good measure.

A bit of a challenge if I ever saw one.

Match report by Neil Love

Editor's comments:

Bill Nil no more
Neil Love no more
Dean, whats the score?
Play the whole game mate!