Grange 5away @ Watsonians 4 – Tuesday 15/01/2012

The 2^nd half of the season started with a visit to Myreside to play Watsonians 4

First up for the Grange at no 5 was Craig Watt playing Roger Weir. Craig started badly and quickly lost the first set 9-1. A slight recovery in the next two sets saw Craig get some more points on the board but he was unable to live with Roger who saw out the match 9-1, 9-4, 9-3 to see Watsonians go 1-0 up.

Dave Grieve was playing Derek Davidson at No3 on the other court. The first set was a tight affair with Derek getting his nose in front in the early stages, only for Dave to claw his way into the set with a mixture of generous mistakes from his opponent, tight hitting down the line and good solid drop shots to take the first set 9-5.  Dave continued to have the edge in the 2^nd set and always had his nose in front to take the second set 9-7. The third set continued in the vein as Dave was inching towards a 3 set victory, when disaster struck while trying to retrieve a cross court ball and Dave twisted his knee. This has a visible impact on his mobility and Derek took advantage to take the third set 7-9. Derek sensing blood was quick around the court and mixing up his shots to put Dave under pressure and quickly took the fourth and fifth sets for a 3-2 win. 5-9, 7-9, 9-7, 9-2, 9-1  

Next up was Bill playing David Hutton at No.4, David had the upper hand in this match from the start and Bill was always behind, losing the first set 9-3. A rally in the second set saw a much closer affair with Dave taking the second set 9-7. The third set saw David impose himself on the match once more winning the third set 9-4. Win for David 3-0.

I was up on the next court playing Andrew Constable at No.2. Andrew quickly rattled through the first set 9-2. Coming off the court Anthony who was on marking duties remarked that I was just not hitting the ball cleanly enough and these word must have inspired me as I took the second set 9-2. Change of marker and change of fortune saw Andrew impose himself on the game taking the next 2 sets 9-2, 9-2 to take the match 3-1.

Anthony was taking on Paul Macari at No.1, Paul took the first 2 sets 9-3, 9-6 by playing percentage squash and allowing Anthony to throw in unforced errors at critical times. Anthony cut out the error count in the third and took the set 9-6 with some good clean hitting down the line. Anthony was unable to keep the same intensity going in the 4^th set and Paul managed to cover and return everything Anthony had to offer and won the set 9-2 to take the match 3-1.

Match result 20-6 to Watsonians 4.

Food was served and we treated to Chicken Curry & Rice with poppadoms, which was very tasty and talk turned to the up and coming visit to Twickenham for the first match of RBS 6 Nations and of the art of pickpocketing in various locations throughout Europe.

Match report – Neil Love

Pos	Player	Rubbers	Games	Points			Player	Rubbers	Games	Points
1	Paul Macari	1	3	35			Anthony Fitzgerald	0	1	20
2	Andrew Constable	1	3	29			Neil Love	0	1	15
3	Derek Davidson	1	3	39			David Grieve	0	2	28
4	David Hutton	1	3	27			Bill Marshall	0	0	14
5	Roger Weir	1	3	27			Craig Watts	0	0	8
Total		4	15	157				0	4	85
Competition Points		20						6