Wednesday 29 February 2012

Mini-league 5 Results archive

Activity levels dropped off a bit last month - a few injuries have taken their toll and disappointingly a few people did not manage to play their minimum 2 games, so are not with us this time. Let's see if we can get the tempo back up again for this last winter league. It works best if everyone makes an effort to get games organised - please make sure you respond if someone contacts you.

The die is now cast for Minileaguer of the Year awards - winners will be announced on club finals night- Fri, Mar 30 7-9pm.

For new joiners, the rules are on the noticeboard - just organise your games by phone or email, book online and get playing! Please play a minimum of 2 games to keep your place. Any questions, let me know.
Enjoy your games!
Dougie Brown

Tuesday 28 February 2012

GRG1s Vs ESC2s (28 Feb 2012)

A seasons best for the GRG1s this week however was still not enough in a closely fought battle with the Sports Club 2s

Event: East Open 2011/12, Round: 15, Division: 1, Match Date: 29/2/2012
Last Modified: 29/2/2012, By MyMatrix Logon: Pete Cockburn

Home Team: Grange 1Away Team: Edinburgh Sports Club 2
PosPlayerRubbersGamesPoints PlayerRubbersGamesPoints
1Kevin Moran1327Chris Gray0018
2Allan Hamer1343Grant Gray0232
3Will Kerr0011David Gladwin1327
4Richard Van Lienden0124Ross McHoul1332
5Nick Wood0229Matthew Bain1337
Total29134311146


Monday 27 February 2012

The comic strip presents...



Ladies 1's & 2's on the move... Watsonians lose home and away

Anna Gaskell at #1 was just too deceptive in a hard fought victory
(3-0) over Jill Easton. Karen Kennedy beat Sandie, sister of Jill 3-0. Dawn MacBrayne beat Norma Kerr 3-0. Alex Stewart beat ex-Grange Captain Sandra Lennie 3-0.Caroline Burns(pictured) lost to a surprisingly strong opposing #5 (0-3). Overall 17-5. Food was sandwiches washed down by delicious home-made mushroom soup. Enjoyable away match, 3 wins on the spin for GRG L2.
Ladies 1's won 4-1 hosting Watsonians to extend their unbeaten 5-match run, but at a high price with Lottie Fulton(pictured) conceding at #2 after further damaging her injured knee. Donna, Jackie(3-1), Georgie & Jules(3-1) all had fairly routine wins for a 17-5 overall score.
Next week is the crunch against the C. L.A.S.S.ies with 2 of our stars having crocked knees.

I'm sexy an I know it ::::: I WorK OuT

____________________________________ Who am I?



LMFAO <---------------------------......... -------------------------->Grange Squasher

Grange 4 vs David Lloyd 1 - or 'NOT Everybody Loves Raymond'

This week the match report is a little late. I thought it best to calm down before putting the proverbial pen to paper. As you can see from the title, this game wasn't quite the normal friendly game we have with David Lloyd ...

The team this week was Andy, Richard, Mike (me), Brian and Colin Williamson making a cameo appearance in Oscars week. First up were Colin and I.

Warming up, my opponent was joking about and commented that it was Division 4 after all - so a light hearted game was anticipated. WRONG. Yap, yap, yap , yap, yap. Every ball and every call was an argument with the ref. The first was nip and tuck to 5-5 before he put a little run together to close it out 5-9. In the second I went 6-0 up before being pegged back to 6-6 and then 7-8. I defended 3 game balls, mainly by running around like a madman before taking it to the tie-break. Another save at 8-9 and it was soon 9-9. At this point the game exploded. I hit a rubbish boast that he couldn't put away and I won the point to take the game. He argued a double hit (although only after the point was lost)but the ref was happy. He argued. And argued. And argued. Eventually I offered to play a let. He argued. I pointed out that I was being pretty fair playing a let when the ref had given me the game. He argued. I gave him a count-down to claiming the game. 3. He argued. 2. He argued. 1 - okay, he'd take the let. I won 10-9. The next 2 games I won 9-4, 9-6 mainly by ignoring him - apart from the time I asked him to stop talking as he was giving me a headache. As I came off, he went to remonstrate with the ref.

Meanwhile an epic encounter was on the other court. In the first, Colin was 0-5 down before pulling it back to 6-5 but losing 6-9. In the second, Colin tightened up and began to get some length for a 9-3. The third was nip and tuck to 6-6 before it slipped away 6-9 and the fourth seemed to be going the same way with Colin at 6-6 quickly finding himself 6-8 down for match point. But an excellent trademark forehand got back the serve and he brought up the tie-break which he won 10-8. Into the fifth. This was a tight game between two well-matched players and we saw 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6 and 7-7. With both players dead on their feet, the game slipped away 7-9 for a 2-3 loss. 1-1.

Next up was Brian playing an opponent who had beaten him 3-0 earlier in the season. In the first Brian was 6-3 up before a slip in concentration brought up 6-7. But order was restored and he closed it out 9-7. In the second Brian assumed control for a bagel and was 6-0 up in the third and looking for a double bagel. But his opponent had other ideas and it was soon 7-7. But Brian drew on all the coaching he's done with Mr Moran and held on for a 9-7 to make it 2-1 to Grange.

On the other court, Richard was also in an epic. The first two games were exchanged 9-3, 5-9 as both looked for a way to get on top. And the next two games followed a similar patter with Richard taking the third 9-5, before losing the 4th 4-9. Once again, into the fifth. This was tight at 0-0 for ages before Richard got himself into a 2-1 lead. But a run on 6 points on a single serve was just too much and the game was lost 4-9. Match score 2-2.

Last up was Andy claiming to be a bit rusty from lack of practice. He quickly got himself into a dominant position in the first and was 8-5 up. After losing 2 game points he began to move his opponent around the court and had a simple drop to win. Tin - would you believe it? But soon he had another game point and a simple overhead down the forehand - Tin - this is becoming a nasty habit. But being Mr Cool (or should we now call him Tin Man), Andy held on to take the first 9-6. In the second, the rust began to show and Andy was quickly 0-6 down before rallying brilliantly to 8-7. But the rusty bits came back and the game was lost 8-10. The next two games just weren't the Andy we know and the missed volleys and dropshots were just too much and the match was lost 6-9, 4-9.


So the game was lost 2-3, but a creditable 11 points (plus 2 ref points) should be enough to ensure the 4ths end the season mid-table. A special thanks to the guys at Accies for letting Andy's game finish - it was well past 10!

It was back to the Grange for the usual pizza fair and some excellent company.

Friday 24 February 2012

The ladies teams celebrate with a mid-season meal...

... or at least one they haven't cooked themselves.

Back L-R: Fiona McLaren, Jo Petty, Carole Morris, Jules Lutte, Catherine John, Karen Kennedy
Front L-R: Dawn MacBrayne, Jacque White, Lottie Fulton, Caroline Burns, Jennie Guise, Georgie Jamieson
working on pre-season tactics at Henderson's, Stockbridge in January

Thursday 23 February 2012

More animal (f)rights

One to show that our coverage of Will is balanced. The second?
Never work with animals, they say. So what does the club champion go and do?
Captions?
Post a
comment
below

GRG2 Vs Linlithgow 1 (22 Feb 2012)

The 2s were hosting Linlithgow's 1st team last night. A sever hiding was dished out in the first half (by them) so we were looking to pick up a few more points to make amends!

Gordy was up first against new dad Simon Lamb. Similar styles noted as it kicked off with long and fast rallies. The first game lasted for ages, both players taking turns to edge ahead. It was Simon who edged the furthest taking the first 9-6. Gordy never really found another gear as Simon started to get more confident on the Granges courts and begun to play some tight boasts and good kills up the front. 9-3, 9-3 to take it 3-0. Not the Sloan mans best this season.

Allan Wallace took on big Andy McClearnon at 5. Andy is a bit of a seasoned Linlithgow vet - Defo got the skills! Wee Wallace got the running and chased like a mad man! Unlucky not to take a game as he lost the second 10-9. A long match but unfortunately still no points for the boys!

Ian Forbes at 2 against Jem Shayler. Jem very cooly destroyed Mr Stokes is the first round, unbeknown to Ian. Watching on the gallery I was slightly concerned Ian would get the same treatment. Not so! His lack of Franco's pizza this season has left him with bags of energy and fully vitalized!! Ian pushed Jem working his usual tight boast routine. Unfortunately Jem was moving Ian well and seemed planted to the "T" meaning the boasts only lasted so long. Great effort from Ian versus a class player. 0-3.

Stokes was on at four versus Hawaii five-o Rob Purdie. Clearly dazzled by Rob's shorts Stokes never really got going against the big hitter. 0-3

Nothing on the board as I went on at 1 against John Smith so nothing really to lose! Quickly 0-6 down in the first, somehow clawed back to 7-7 only to quickly throw it away again 7-9.

Lost the next 4-9 but felt I was getting into the game at least. Down in third but managed to get back in. Finding some decent length and was managing not to arse up my volley drops -cheers Kev! Snuck the third 9-7 and then proceeded to go on a bit of a roll in 4th. Was about to hit 5-0 up when I crack a backhand volley into the back left corner. So confident it was a winner I didn't bother to check if John was getting it. Standing on the "T" I heard Stokesy from the balcony shout "Pete run!" The ball all of a sudden came over my head, hit the front wall and landed in front of me. I kinda flicked it into a corner where John promptly boasted into the tin. Both of us were standing a bit bemused. John asked for a let based on some interference from the balcony that directly influenced the match . "yes let" and i suppose fair enough. -Pair attention!

I snuck that game in the end 10-8 to level things. the 5th was a bit of a ding dong with John finally coming out on top. Good game in the end. Pleased to get some points on the board although perhaps if I was a bit more used to winning games I could have closed out. Beers and pizza upstairs. Pleased to find a whole pepperoni still waiting by the time John and i made upstairs. Good chat with the LIN boys who were just to strong was us in the end.

Pete

Event: East Open 2011/12, Round: 14, Division: 2, Match Date: 22/2/2012
Last Modified: 23/2/2012, By MyMatrix Logon: Pete Cockburn
Home Team: Grange 2Away Team: Linlithgow 1
PosPlayerRubbersGamesPoints PlayerRubbersGamesPoints
1Pete Cockburn0234John Smith1343
2Ian Forbes0014Jem Shayler1327
3Gordon Sloan0012Simon Lamb1327
4Alan Stokes005Robert Purdie1327
5Allan Wallace0016Andy McLearnan1328
Total0281515152





dual Hockey & Squash players Tribute

Seve would never have treated his Mrs like this ;-)
Contribute a Caption - get them into the comments link below.

Another Ladies 2 team player who scrubs up well... except when on the pavilion... lol

Wednesday 22 February 2012

3's at Watsonians 3's (Tue, Feb 22)

Gavin Fulton at #5 was first on for us against Andrew Forrest, a flawless display from Gavin with NO unforced errors. 3-0. Will "Clyde" Henderson was on at #2 against Mick Hay, I was reffing on the other court so all I can say is Will went down fighting: 1-3.
Christy took on Gordon Fruish at #3, somehow never having played the man in 13 years of East squash. I started determined to get a good record against him, won the first only to almost get grannied in the second. Back to better length, closed out 3-1 including one peach of a skid-boast winner... and one embarrassing attempt at a back-wall boast from the T that had the gallery in fear of their lives, gulp!
Meantime Dougie Brown at #4 was up with Dave Gillon, Dougie was chipping away his volleys but somehow Dave was getting runs of points and got it. 1-3.
The tie was poised at 2-2, Moff was up with Ali Carruth for the bonus points and everyone gathered in the gallery. The 2 gladiators didn't disappoint with awesome retrieving and lung-busting rallies. Ali was steadier to take the first but Moff played scintillating drops to got 8-3 in the second with Ali bent double and puffing for oxygen. But it was a Djokovic bluff and he came back to take it. The 3rd was a long battle but Ali had the edge now. 0-3 which as sometimes happens does not reflect on Moff's levels of play.
Overall 10-15. Double servings of Lasagne, the chat at my end of the table was 1) Is Greece gonna come good after a bailout 2) The relative merits of Squash Matrix 3) "Painting a faded door is preferable to having to play Jim Dougal" ;-)

PosPlayerRubbersGamesPoints PlayerRubbersGamesPoints
1Stuart Moffat0018Alastair Carruth1328
2Will Henderson0118Mick Hay1328
3Christy Looby1328Gordon Fruish0122
4Dougie Brown0125Dave Gillon1328
5Gavin Fulton1327Andrew Forrest0012
Total28116310118
Competition Points813

Tuesday 21 February 2012

Who am I?

Clues
for 5 points: I am a Grange Squash member

for 4 points: I also play racketball

for 3 points: I may swear on court

for 2 points: I'm the most westerly Granger in terms of birthplace

for 1 point: I'm a sometime Barbarian and prolific tweeter

Free squash bauble for first correct answer: fill in comments
with your guess
and your name in the Name/URL part of the form#

(See here for the last caption competition result)

Monday 20 February 2012

Ladies 1's Grand Slam, 2's double up

Ladies 2's at Haddington scored their second win of 2012. Fiona McLaren 3-1 v Fiona, Alex Stewart(pictured), Capt. Caroline and Karen K(against Julie Pearman 3-0) all wonbut Anna Gaskell came up against Tyne's class act Katie Craig 0-3. Overall 17-9.
Food was at Waterside Tavern for pizza and bruschetta.

At Portgower Palace, Grange 1's completed the slam over all 4 opposition teams consecutively in 2012 with Catherine, Lottie, Jules and Jackie winning against Waverley but Donna was off form & lost 2-3 to Heather Spens (spoiling the run of consecutive 20-point tallies so far in 2012). Home baking from the Grange Girls so no feedback on the Franco's situation.
PosPlayerRubbersGamesPoints

PlayerRubbersGamesPoints
1Donna Cruickshank0223

Heather Spens1337
2Catherine John1327

Yvonne Ferguson006
3Lottie Fulton1328

Jo Watts0014
4Jacque White1335

Mary Murray0126
5Julia Lutte1327

Jean MacGilchrist0012
Total414140

1495
Competition Points17

4


Wednesday 15 February 2012

Waverley 4 v Grange 5


A hastily arranged lower order saw the "nil" twins, Bill Marshall and Mike Wagner take the court at numbers 4 & 5 respectively. Mike, who hasn't played many team matches before, struggled to get into his rhythm and whilst he did get stronger as the game progressed, ran out of time at 3-0. In similar fashion, Bill's game was brief however both will pick up points with just a little more composure and could possibly slow themselves down a little to gain this as there is no doubting the effort they put in.
Stephen Davie and I were next up at 3 and 2. Stephen looked to be cruising in the first with his own brand of tennis adapted for the squash court however he suddenly started to find the net (tin) and was determined to pass the ball back to his opponent in the 2nd which was narrowly lost. Fortunately Stephen managed to rally and went on to win the next two hard fought games to take his match 1-3. My game was somewhat uneventful and with my opponent struggling with injury in the 3rd it was a fairly straight forward win, 0-3.
The match even, we awaited TomMcEwan's arrival for the decider at number 1. Strolling in at 7.30pm I wondered if Stephen had been organising the evening rather than Captain Mike as Tom also appeared to have dressed for Wimbledon. Another hard fought game ensued but unfortunately Tom lost out 3-1 in a match which could easily have gone either way.
Once again thanks to Waverley for hosting another good evening. The mince & tatties were excellent followed by the usual banter and chat. It should perhaps be noted that Bill decided to miss out on the food and return to the Grange for a bit of practice after his performance. Whilst this dedication is to be admired he should be aware that missing out on calories will only hinder him in the up and coming BMI cup. (31st March for your diaries.)
David 'Sicknote' Grieve
Acting Captain (Also wondering how these people you thrashed the week before are retaining their places in the 4ths.)

Thursday 9 February 2012

Three's home v Mammas (Thu Feb 9)

Matt was first up at #5 against the silver fox and did really well taking the first 2 games but after that Matt got drawn into the lob/drop old man's game and he just isn't old enough for that. 2-3.
Gavin also had to get away early and was up against Brian Clough who was in imperious Forest form and Gavin did well to take a game off him.
The man of the match was a woman, Catherine John lost heavily in the first to Lindsay Muir but came back strongly to out-hit and out-run the big fella.
Andy against #3 Scott "the comeback kid" Carey, some great rallies and fun, at 2-2 I handed over reffing to get on court myself. Hopeing I was playing John Davidson for the bonus points, in control for 3 games and but just about to run out of puff and get found out, thankfully the finish line came first.
I emerged to find the bonus points were long gone as Andy he came out on the wrong side of his five games. Overall 12-15 so good points.
Talk back at Portgower Pavilion was of the upcoming 5-nations with Catherine heading to Cardiff for the Scotland-Wales match and admitting that her parents were Welsh but she was English. I almost took back my MoTM award after choking on my lime and soda with that revelation.
Quality control is still unhappy with the Franco pizza product delivery just now, though the Mamma's boys were happy enough to chomp away and they have high standards. £14 bar tab, that is as low as I've ever paid - Mamma's definitely need to work on their reputation. (Loob)



PosPlayerRubbersGamesPoints PlayerRubbersGamesPoints
1Christy Looby1327John Davidson006
2Gavin Fulton0123Brian Clough1329
3Andrew Whitelaw0236Scott Carey1339
4Catherine John1331Lindsay Muir0123
5Matt Pearson0221John Rae1333
Total211138310130
Competition Points1113

Wednesday 8 February 2012

The Grange Pro schools the world #2 (for a game anyway)


Kev Moran made a tremendous impact for the club at the British Championships, coming through two tough rounds of qualifying to get into the main draw. The second match against Northumbria's experienced David Barnett (31yo, World ranked no. 109 a few years ago) was a long, close-fought 3-0 to earn him a random draw against one of the 24 seeded players.

Whose name should pop out of the hat but James Willstrop, the No1 seed from Yorkshire who topped the world rankings last month. A bit like getting the old firm in a cup draw.

Willstrop dropped a game before overcoming Scottish qualifier Kevin Moran 11-3, 9-11, 11-4, 11-4 in 35 minutes.“I’ve not seen Kevin before,” said the 28-year-old from Leeds who became world No1 last month.

Kevin is available at the club for coaching at a very reasonable £15 per 40 min session or BufGof(Buy five, Get One Free) and as I've found out first hand, brings the latest fresh techniques from the Scottish Squash Academy to The Grange.

Tuesday 7 February 2012

GRG1 Vs Watsonians 1 (07 Feb 2012)

Event: East Open 2011/12, Round: 13, Division: 1, Match Date: 8/2/2012
Last Modified: 8/2/2012, By MyMatrix Logon: Pete Cockburn

Home Team: Grange 1Away Team: Watsonians 1
PosPlayerRubbersGamesPoints PlayerRubbersGamesPoints
1Will Kerr0219Richard McIntosh1339
2Richard Van Lienden006Paul Jenkins1327
3Mike Hall0011Martin Lamb1327
4Pete Cockburn0012Scott Thomson1327
5Gordon Sloan0227Chris Weare1337
Total0475515157

More of the same for the 1s again this week. Good results at 1 and 5! Gordy making his debut in Div 1 was in with a shout playing some of his most aggressive squash. Not that aggressive but some real conviction from the wee man was really paying off until chris grannied him in the 5th - Do'h. Similarly at 1 Will started terribly against Richie but played his way back in by going on the attack. This was really working as Richie struggled to get it past the big man. Attacking all out couldn't last forever as the mistakes crept in in the 5th.

2-4 well beaten although it should be noted that I got more points than both Rich and Mike. You have probably noticed I am trying to take anything I can get out this season.!!

Food report to come???

GrangeGirls roll over Dalgety Bay Divas at home(Mon, Feb 7)

A newly-promoted Dalgety Bay team asked some questions of the Grange Girls, with Hayley and Linda in particular troubling Donna at #1 and Jacque at #4.
Nonetheless a 20 point score for the home side.
Teams:Grange 1 vs Dalgety Bay
PosPlayerRubbersGamesPoints

PlayerRubbersGamesPoints
1Donna Cruickshank1327

Hayley Cooper0017
2Catherine John1329

Nicola Crosbie0115
3Lottie Fulton1327

Verity Whiteside0010
4Jacque White1344

Linda Murray0224
5Julia Lutte1328

Lynn Verdon0020
Total515155

0386
Competition Points18

3

That puts us comfortably atop the standings with 3 consecutive 5-0 wins in 2012. Only Waverly left for a grand-slam, coming up at Portgower Place after term break, in 2 weeks.

Teams Ladder
TeamRound 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Bonus
Points
Total
Grange 1 Comp Points1818
18





256

Games1515
15






45
Watsonians 1 Comp Points41515






640

Games41212







28
C.L.A.S.S. 88 Comp Points1513






625

Games1213







16
Waverley 1 Comp Points
713






424

Games
710







17
Dalgety Bay Comp Points4
113





422

Games4
113






18

Sunday 5 February 2012

Grange II lookalikes...

One is a Grange II flyer from the T... 
and the other is one of the Underwood brothers, terrifying Scotland's backs on the wing.....


Which is which? - fill in a comment.








One floats smoothly around the court.... and the other floats around Hogwarts











Friday 3 February 2012

GRG2 Vs Deer Park (01 Feb 2012)

Deer Park’s 1st team were the visitors last night. The last slog between the two teams (October) resulted in a 15-4 defeat for Grange so we were up against it to make amends on a cold February evening in Stockbridge. However, we gave it a good shot...

Will Henderson & Stuart Moffat at no’s 5 & 4 for Grange showed real composure against their opposition to both walk off with 3-0 victories. Will’s seasoned opponent in the shape of Andy Duff was not a push-over but Will seemed to have a fairly good control of the match. At no. 4 Stuart (man of the match?) was also dictating the tempo allowing his opponent only 11 points across the 3 games.

At no. 3, we had Stokesy who was trying every trick in the book but was out-muscled in four games. Similarly, the Sloan Ranger was in at no.2 and couldn’t get the points on the board. Eric McMullan had the experience to see me off quite easily in the end after four games.

This set Mike up nicely at no. 1 with all to play for and the match didn’t disappoint with some scintillating squash at times, deft touches and sheer grit from both players. Mike walked the first 9-1 but Colin McMullan came back in style to win the second and gradually increased the tempo from there. Despite another game for Mike in the 3rd, Colin ended up taking the 4th and 5th to finish off an overall tight match.

Keen readers will already have established that Grange won a greater number of games on paper (10-9)… but the added match points for our opponents resulted in an overall loss 12 – 14… close, but no cigar. (GS.)

PosPlayerRubbersGamesPoints

PlayerRubbersGamesPoints
1Michael Grinton0228

Colin McMullan1333
2Gordon Sloan0120

Eric McMullan1331
3Alan Stokes0117

Milan Govan1329
4Stuart Moffat1327

John Miller0011
5Will Henderson1327

Andy Duff0013
Total210119

39117
Competition Points10

12