Thursday 28 February 2013

GRG2s Vs Dean 1 (27 Feb 2013)

Noisy Neighbours
Wednesday night saw Grg 2's make the short trip uphill to Dean. In spite of an ill Dougie Brown, we had a strong herd of Stags for the fixture. 
At 5th position, Allan (Annie Lennox) Stokes bagged a 3-1 win. According to Stokes, "everything went right" in the 4th game - enhancing the confidence of this shy & retiring type for the remainder of the season. Good work.
Forbes won at 4th position. The scoreline flattering Forbes slightly, for it was a tight, tough game.
Walker's game featured a few loose shots which were capitalised by the opposition but on the whole, a solid performance for our No. 3, taking it 3 games to 1 & bagging the most points of any player on the night. 
Despite a win last week, Captain Sloan stumbled to a 3-0 loss. Not leading by example! 'Nuff said! 
To Grinton. Exquisite drops and lobs. Despite losing the first, Grints managed a 3-1 result to round off a 17 point haul to take back down the hill. Well done boys. (report Sloan)
PosPlayerRubbersGamesPoints        PlayerRubbersGamesPoints
1Michael Grinton1328Drew McKenzie0125
2Gordon Sloan0015Matthew Hunter1327
3Duncan Walker1332Richard Maspero0122
4Ian Forbes1327David Thompson0014
5Alan Stokes1330James Birkhead0122
Total41213216110
Competition Points156

Sunday 17 February 2013

National League Super-Saturday at Inverness: 16 Feb 2012

National League Saturday as all teams involved converged on Inverness Tennis & Squash Club.  An early start for squash if there ever was one as we all met up at the Grange at 6:45 in the am!!  Travelling up was Dougie Kempsell at 1, Kev Moran at 2, myself (Pete) at 3 and Grange's newest lady Aoife Kerrin to make it 4.

We all piled into my big Mazda and rolled out in the dark. Conversation was fairly minimal as most of us were still asleep, some of us staying that way all the way to Inverness!! It finally started to get light just after perth giving us a fairly pleasant drive up through the snowy highlands to our final destination. Grange were first to arrive!
We were welcomed up to the bar area where we slumped on the big leather couches enjoying the view over the tennis courts a we watched as the rest of the teams assembled one by one.  Before long the bar area was full of a whos who of scottish squash.  Dougie was enjoying the banter, Kev had the poker face on, Aoife seemed unfazed while I hid behind a newspaper!

Before long bodies statred moving and the first round of matches got underway.  Our first opponents were Dalgety Bay who were fielding a particularly strong team of Alan Tasker, Iain Tennent, Neil Bennet and Elspeth Young.

It was one match per court so it was the ladies up first Aoife vs Elspeth.  The young Elspeth had been on devastating form against us in the first fixture.  Could Aoife restore the balance.  Thins looked good as Aoife took the first with some pin point volleying and dropping leaving Elpeth stranded on many occasion.  Elspeth came back with some good drving to take the next 2.  The third 16-14!!  Elspeth took the lead in the fourth to go 10-6 up with a match ball.  Aoife saved this and powered back as she had down in the previous games and levelled 10 a piece only to serve out and then miss the next return of serve to lose out 1-3.

Dougie took on Tasker next in a high octane battle.  Tasker really putting everything into it to produce some stunning squash.  Unfortunately Dougie seemed to be really enjoying this and just lapped it all up and powered through to a fairly confotable 3-0 victory.

I was on next against Neil Bennet (former Grange Open finalist may I add).  I didn't play too bad but didn't have enough for Neil.  Think I got 8 points in the last game.  Lost 0-3.

Last on was Kev in what would be the decider against big Iain Tennent.  A tasty one this turning into a right ol' battle.  Tennent was on top form with his touch up the front not to mention his brutal hitting leaving Kev on the chase and the back foot alot of the time.  Kev struggled to get into as Iain really seemed to be on form.  Iain took a 5-0 lead in the first as Kev finally started to play his way in.  Iain held on though to finally take it 11-8.  Not a happy Kev.  Kev levelled by taking the second and then took the lead going 2-1 but Iain was not going away as he battled to take a second game and win the team match!!  Not a happy Kev!!!  The tie was gone along with the bonus points but ever the professional Kev powered through to take it 3-2.

DBY win 11-6

At half time we were treated to some fine food by our hosts.  Chicken curry!  Just what you need to set you up for some afternoon squash!!

In the afternoon sesh we were playing Inverness.  Dougie needed to exit sharply and was on and off court before most of us knew what had happened.  Who he played I do not know but short was made of this one. 

I went onto the show court against Ian.  Feeling not to bad after my brief enbcoutner with Neil in the morning I was quite up for this one and raced out to 8-4 lead.  Feeling confident which experience tells me is the pride before the fall. So it proved as I lost it on extra points, I didn't make the same mistake when the situation repeated in the third but that was the tank emptied and never got into the fourth. Aoife had a right battle on her hands and with an injured foot, she still managed to bring home the bacon in the fifth.
Kev was untroubled as Inverness sportingly shuffled the order to give a few more of their club players an experience of the big time.
 GRG bt INV 3-1 (13-5)
This probably will be a double header as Inverness can't make a return match at Grange so a 13-5 results helps our cause no end.

Wednesday 13 February 2013

Grange 3rds @ Colinton 5's (Fri, 8th Feb)

A successful night for the extradinarily youthful Grange 3rds, emerging victorious by 17 points to 6.   Well….youthful on the whole….a couple of ageing Loobys and Duttons dragging the average out a bit…..

First up at no5 was the new Grange sensation, 14 year old Angus Mcpherson against Gordon Robertson.  Not only does Angus possess a whole bunch of squash skill (and youthful legs…always handy) but also has a mature squash head on his shoulders.  Gordon was playing good squash and there were plenty of lengthy rallies but was he was no match for Angus who restricted him to just a handful of points per game.  1-9, 2-9, 1-9 to Angus.

Colin Williamson played an excellent match at no 1 against the useful CCS stalwart John Brown.  Good squash all round but Colin's placement and particularly his crisp smacking of the ball proved too much for John and he ran out a 5-9, 1-9, 2-9 winner.

At No 3 Christy was slightly hampered by a leg injury in taking on Derrick Simpson.    Christy was hitting the ball well enough but Derrick was playing an excellent hard-hitting game that would have had Christy stretching at the best of times.  Still a competitive game but in the end a 9-4, 9-2, 9-3 loss for Christy was about as good a result as he could have hoped for.

At No4  Aoife Kerrin continued her good contributions to the mens' teams with a 1-3 win over Derek Wilson.  A comfortable 1-9 win in the first followed by a 9-0 reversal in the second momentarily gave the Grange crew a sinking feeling that it was all about to go west, but she came out in the third game and resumed control and ran out 4-9 and 2-9.

In the "exhibition" match at No2 the evening was completed with Mark Dutton facing Mike Halpin.  Textbook squash it might not have been but, hey, who needs textbooks.  Not to say it wasn't of a good standard but unorthodoxy ruled the day with plenty of tricksy shots from both sides and plenty of YouTube aerobatic moments.  All good fun and lots of humorous exchanges on court.  Mike took the first 9-7 and very nearly had the second with Mark just nicking it 8-10.  Mark on top in the third at 3-9 and the fourth was good and close but ultimately 6-9.

The evening rounded off nicely with a plateful of pie'n'beans from the fine kitchen that the CCS folk run.  Overall 4-1, 17-7 so good points staving off relegation (Report: Dutton)

Monday 11 February 2013

Over 40's Final (Fri, Mar 1, '13)

 
The Over-50's winner doesn't manage to double up in the Over-50's handicap, good effort though:

Tom McEwen wins the Titan racketbag as O-40's champion with Rocco Pannozzo as runner-up

Sunday 10 February 2013

Grange 5 versus Dean 2 – Thursday 07/02/2013


The Fifth’s were playing Dean 2 at the Academy this evening and first up was myself playing Ross Anderson at number 2, this was down to the fact that half our team were slightly delayed and running a bit late.
The first set was quickly won by Ross 9-1 as I was a bit slow to get out of the blocks. The second set had lots of change of serves with neither player imposing themselves on the match and I found myself 8-6 down before levelling the score 8-8, Ross called set 1 and I managed to serve out to win the second set 9-8. I went on to take the third set 9-4 before Ross came back and won the fourth set 9-5, taking the game to a deciding set. The fifth set was a long affair with lots of changes of serve and I found myself 8-5 up serving for the match, before a late rally from Ross levelled the score 8-8, I called set 2 and eventually managed to win the set 10-8. Win for the Grange in 5, 1-9, 9-8, 9-4, 5-9, 10-8.
On the other court Bill Marshall was playing Andrew Johnston at number 5. Andrew was in control from the start and quickly won the game 3-0, 9-0, 9-3, 9-4.
Jordan suffered a similar fate playing Michael Clarkson at number 4 and found himself losing the match 3-0, 9-1, 9-5, 9-1.
Andrew Beames was playing Craig Wallace at number 1 on the same court and found himself down 2-0, before the revival kicked in with Andrew taking the next 3 sets to win the match 3-2, 7-9, 1-9, 9-6, 9-6, 9-1.
With the match score at 2 rubbers apiece, it was down to Stephen Davey playing Peter McCallum at number 3 to win the tie for the Grange. The first set saw Stephen in control from the start and he took the first set 9-3. The second set saw a rally from Peter, who went on to take the set 9-6. The third set saw Stephen taking control once more with some good retrieving and never allowing peter to settle, taking the set 9-1. The fourth set followed a similar pattern with Stephen always in control and he went on to win the set 9-4 and the match 3-1, 9-3, 6-9, 9-1, 9-4.
Match results including ref points was 14-13 to Grange 5 and our first back-to-back win of the season.
Back to Rocco’s restaurant for Pizza and gluten free pasta to round off the evening. (Match report – Neil Love)

Pos
Player
Rubbers
Games
Points
Player
Rubbers
Games
Points
1
Andrew Beames 
1
3
35
Craig Wallace
0
2
31
2
Neil Love
1
3
34
Ross Anderson
0
2
38
3
Stephen Davey
1
3
35
Peter McCallum
0
1
17
4
Jordan Fleming
0
0
7
Michael Clarkson
1
3
27
5
Bill Marshall
0
0
7
Andrew Johnston
1
3
27
Total
3
9
118
2
11
140
Competition Points
14
13


National League: Franco's Grange home v ESC(Sat Feb 9)

First up was Catherine John against Senga Macfie. Too much tin in the first, Catherine got a rhythm going in the second and it became a battle of her speed against the holds and switches of Senga. Lost it 8-11. In the 3rd, it was even closer, Catherine had it a battle of Senga versus Senga's demons, at 8-8 Catherine clipped the tin and Senga flopped over the finish line in 2 more rallies.
   Match of the day was Allan Hamer against leftie Jacques Laas. Allan got a good start in the first before battle was joined by Jacques who pegged him back. Extra points, Allan had gameball twice but Jacques got it 14-12. Jacques asserted himself in the second, 11-6 and it looked like Allan would fold. Not a bit of it, some amazing recovery even when stranded at the front wall, Allan brought home the next 2 games. Kevin Moran remarked that he was sweating buckets in the balcony, I told him whatever coaching advice he was giving between games, it was working. It was sheer drama in the fifth. Allan matched Jacques point for point up to 8-8 but Jacques has the benefit of going deep week-in week-out in Div 1 and he finished it off better.
    Kevin Moran beat Ross McHoul 3-0, no drama there.
Drama in rally 1 of Dougie Kempsell v Simon Boughton as Dougie twinged his ankle again. Simon began to get the upper hand and took the first 2. Dougie played through the pain to take the third convincingly but Simon kept him pinned in the fourth.
   Overall 1-3, 6-12 on points. We have never got less than 6 points and remain in 4th but need to get 3 postponed matches played and hold up our average.  Click here for Unofficial Standings/results 
-
D. Kempsell l S Boughton 8/11 7/11 11/5 7/11
K Moran b R McHoul 11/7 11/8 11/7
A Hamer l J Laas 12/14 6/11 11/4 11/8 8/11
C John l S Macfie 3/11 7/11 8/11
--- Not all teams have played the same number of matches, so I've put the average down here to level things out ---
  1. Aberdeen SRC2 80pts Average 13 (Max=15)
  2. Dalgety Bay 62pts 10
  3. Giffnock LTC 55pts 8
  4. Aberdeen SRC1 51pts 9
  5. Grange SC 51pts 8.5
  6. Edinburgh Sports Club 45pts 7
  7. Heriot Watt Uni 23pts 4.5
  8. Inverness LTSC 8pts 2.5

-

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Firsts dominant for 2 weeks running....

2 back to back victories for the 1s to reports on which bagged us an impressive 36 points.

On friday we were away to Colinton 3s who were fielding their strongest team of the season. Fortunately for us we were doing the same now having Allan Hamer back in the fold at one returning after his Aberdeen sabitical.

We all faced tough opponents each of us scraping through 3-1 in our matches apart from Nick Wood who was too steady for Stuart Keane to take his 3-0.

Pie, sausage rolls and beans in ridiculous amounts after wards to round off a good night!
Pos Player Rubbers Games Points Player Rubbers Games Points
1 Allan Hamer 1 3 29 Neil Thomson 0 1 20
2 Will Kerr 1 3 35 James Burnet 0 1 33
3 Pete Cockburn 1 3 29 Gary Speirs 0 1 20
4 Nick Wood 1 3 27 Stuart Keane 0 0 9
5 Stuart Moffat 1 3 37 Kim Byers 0 1 28
Total 5 15 157 0 4 110
Competition Points 18 4

Last night we hosted Abercorn 1s. Four 3-0 victories for the GRG guys plus an unfortunate work over as well not helping the Abercorn cause. Allan's 3-0 win over Lez was a particulary good effort. Both players working hard. Lez on more than one occassion literally on his knees!!

Pos Player Rubbers Games Points Player Rubbers Games Points
1 Allan Hamer 1 3 28 Leszek Stelmachowski 0 0 14
2 Will Kerr 1 3 27 David Ross 0 0 14
3 Pete Cockburn 1 3 27 no player 0 0 0 Forfeit
4 Nick Wood 1 3 28 Ian Ross 0 0 15
5 Mike Hall 1 3 27 Alister MacKenzie 0 0 3
Total 5 15 137 0 0 46
Competition Points 18 0

Pete


Tuesday 5 February 2013

First Ladies V ESC 1

To set the scene: ESC have scored top marks in their previous 4 games, they have won all of their matches so far this season. We aren't far behind - we have only lost once, to them, before Xmas. So, it was the clash of the top two teams and nae low ceilings to get in the way this time. Fate (illness) and a jolly to South Africa ruined some perfect plans but there was still hope.

Donna was flattened by flu and Georgie was off on a work trip so both Karen and Anna were pulled up to the first team. Karen played at 5 and was slightly out-whacked by her opponent but there were some fine rallies so I don't feel so bad. Still lost 3:0 though. Anna played someone who had flown from London to Edinburgh today and her head was still recovering from the turbulence. Still, Anna polished her off in 3 games so excellent result.

Aoife played at 3, two up from usual, and had a great game against Moira. Thankfully youth triumphed in the end - 3:1 to us. Sadly youth triumphed for Lottie as well (I don't get to write that very often) as a 15 year old with no off switch bounced around the court. Jnr nearly came undone in the 3rd - Lottie had game point, but a badly timed out ball gave Jnr the chance to zoom back in and win 3:0.

So, 2 matches each as the firsts prepared to do battle. Catherine was out whacked in the first game but her fitness and determination meant she clawed her way back in the second game and was very unlucky to lose it 10:9. The 3rd game was a disaster - Kirsty had match point on 8:0! She then stepped off the gas and Catherine (now aka Lazarus) inched back to take the 3rd game 10:8. Kirsty was a bit bemused at this and spent the 4th game in a bit of a daze, Catherine winning that 9:0!

So, 2 matches each and now 2 games each in the final match. Any predictions for the final score?? Us neither. Which Kirsty would start the 5th game? Would Catherine falter at the final hurdle?

Catherine won the first 5 rallies, ESC were looking very worried. Lots of encouragement from the balcony, usually unheard of in the ladies leagues. But then, Catherine hit the tin on a winner and Kirsty started her comback. Shame we don't have a speedometer on court as there were some amazing smashes from here on in. Kirsty made a few more mistakes but sadly not two in a row and eventually won 9:5 to win the bonus points. It was a great sporting game to watch, one that many Jnrs could learn from.

Final scores on the night were 13:8 to ESC with both teams picking up the bonus ref points (at least I contributed something to the scoreline). It was an excellent evening of good squash from two very sporting teams. The baked potatoes were fab too.
Pos Player Rubbers Games Points Player Rubbers Games Points
1 Catherine John 0 2 36 Kirsty Craig 1 3 36
2 Lottie Fulton 0 0 15 Carrie Hallam 1 3 28
3 Aoife Kerrin 1 3 35 Moira Atkinson 0 1 20
4 Anna Gaskell 1 3 27 Claire Thomson 0 0 15
5 Karen Kennedy 0 0 11 Julie Barr 1 3 27
Total 2 8 124 3 10 126
Competition Points 8 13

Friday 1 February 2013

White Pigeon - Don't get too close to the wall

Grange 5 at Dunbar 2 – Thursday 31/01/2013

The Fifth’s were playing down at Dunbar this evening and we were struggling for a full team, until Jordan Fleming agreed to play in the no 5 berth on the morning of the match. The travel arrangements were fragmented as well with Jonathan and Jordan (who were both making their fifth team outings for this season) opting to relax and let the train take the strain.
The leisurely journey obviously worked wonders for both players as they were first up on court with Jordan playing at number 5 and Jonathan at number 3. Jonathan settled quickly into the match and asserted control early on and went on to close out a comfortable 3-0 win, 9-2, 9-2, 9-0. Jordan who was only playing his second competitive match in three months returning from an injury, took the first set 9-2, A lapse of concentration and the inability to hit the ball a length saw Keith take the second set 5-9, a little pep talk and a bit of chuntering from Jordan soon sorted things out and Jordan went on to close the match out with a 3-1 win, 9-2, 5-9, 9-5, 9-4. 
Next on court was myself playing Richard Baty at number 4, Richard had come out of retirement to play for Dunbar and I had promised myself to play more lengths and crosscourt shots and limit the boasts until the point had been set up. This was a good plan until the third point in when the first boast was played and Richard was rooted at the back of the court, sensing that this would yield cheap points the game descended into a boast feast with tight, loose and indifferent boasts making their mark and a 3-0 win for the Grange, 9-1, 9-4, 9-0.
Meanwhile Andrew Beames was playing Martin Baty at number 1 on the other court and this match was a much tighter affair. Andrew always had his nose in front and went on to win the rubber 3-0, 9-6, 9-7, 9-5.
Last up was Brian Sloan playing Alan Murphy at number 2, and after Alan had a moan about the amount of leftie’s he has to play the game started and Brian soon found himself down 1-7, a rally from Brian saw him taking the first set 9-7. The second set saw Brian race into a 6-1 lead only for Alan to claw back to level a 6-6, a couple of changes of serve then saw Brian get over the line and take the second set 9-6. Similar story in the third set with Brian quickly going behind 0-8, and then of course the recovery which saw Brian get back to 7-8 before Alan got the point he needed to win the third set 7-9. The fourth set saw Brian control from the start and he closed out the match for a 3-1 win, 9-7, 9-6, 7-9, 9-5.
Match results including ref points was 20-2 to Grange 5 and our first full house of the season. Well played guys.
We were treated to Lasagne and salad, with enough leftover for second helpings for those were so inclined. Chat was good natured and then we said our goodbyes to make the journey back to Edinburgh. We had to ensure that Brian’s car started before we left the car park, which it did first time and with Jonathan opting to take the train back to Edinburgh Park, the remainder of the team started the journey back up the A1 and conversation turned to Stargazing live and vertical farming, before dropping Jordan off at his home in Dalkeith, which turns out to be a an octagonal polychrome brick water tower constructed in 1879 for the Dalkeith town council by James Leslie, Engineer of the Edinburgh water company. How cool is that.   
 
Match report – Neil Love
 
Pos
Player
Rubbers
Games
Points
Player
Rubbers
Games
Points
1
Martin Baty 
0
0
18
Andrew Beames
1
3
27
2
Alan Murphy
0
1
27
Brian Sloan
1
3
34
3
Neil Black
0
0
4
Jonathan Norrie
1
3
27
4
Richard Baty
0
0
5
Neil Love
1
3
27
5
Keith Nicolson
0
1
20
Jordan Fleming
1
3
32
Total
0
2
74
5
15
147
Competition Points
2
18