Wednesday 24 February 2016

Grange 4 vs. Colinton Castle 5

Grange 4 vs. Colinton Castle 5
Played at: Grange Sports Club
When: 23rd Feb 2016 at 7:00pm
Tonight’s fixture saw us hosting CCS5, with the team looking to extend their unbeaten run of 7 matches, to keep up the pressure on the leaders in division 5.  
First up were Iain Gallacher and Jamie Helme playing Mike Gibbs and Mark crease at 2 & 4 respectively. Iain had a solid game winning in 3 sets despite his opponent serving for the second set at 14-13 and 14-15, taking the match with a 3-0 win (15-11, 17-15, 15-11), meanwhile on the other court Jamie also proved to be too strong for Mark, winning the match 3-0 (15-10, 15-13, 15-10) put Grange 2 nil up after the first round of games.
Next up was Richard Nisbet and Christy Looby at number 3 & 5. Richard was playing John-Paul Hughes and was looking to getting back to winning ways after a couple of bad results, Richard started brightly and won the first two sets comfortably, the third set was a tighter affair, with JP rallying to serve for the set only for Richard to come back and overhaul him to take the match with a 3-0 win (15-9, 15-6, 19-17). Christy was playing Lynn Grant on the other court and Christy was always in charge of this match and won 3-0 (15-8, 15-6, 15-12).   
Lastly it was the turn of the number 1’s and Anthony Fitzgerald was playing Bob Baikie, Anthony quickly imposed himself on this match, despite Bob being turned down on a couple of shouts for strokes from the balcony, and went on to win the game 3-0 (15-8, 15-7, 15-8) to complete a clean sweep for the 4ths, with a match score of 18-0.
We then retired upstairs to the bar for drinks and Pizza’s, followed by a Bounty to finish off proceedings. Topics for discussions were diverse and included the proposed route of the new £9 million cycle route linking the east and west of Edinburgh and whether Donald Trump was a serious candidate for the US Presidency or just a joke figure.

Saturday 13 February 2016

Grange 3's bank maximum points against Bank of Scotland

The Grange 3s went round the houses, out of necessity thanks to diversions and dubious navigational aids, to reach Colinton Castle on Thursday to play Bank of Scotland. All five players located the match venue successfully, a minor triumph in itself.

Sam Collin and Ian Ross were first on court - Sam was on and off in a flash
with an efficient 3-0 win. Not a single exclamation nor clash of racket with wall was
audible (I could only hear from the court next door); only clinical drives that delivered a quick win.

Ian Ross was a pleasure to watch, with his considered shot choice proving too much for his opponent who was frequently seen scrabbling at the back of the court as lob after lob landed delicately in the back corner. 3-0.

Anthony (Fitz)closed out another quick 3-0, demonstrating typical Aussie ruthlessness.

Andrew (Reeve) avoided fluffing the first game as has often been the case in previous matches, helped by a frantic warm-up to get the blood pumping! A brief scare in the second saw his opponent back at 13-13, but he succeeded his teammates with another 3-0 win.

Match of the Day went to Stuart (Moff), who went head to head with a player of similar stature at 1. The power of the two men was evident with frequent long rallies of big hitting. Stu kept the crowded balcony entertained with some self-directed rants and apologies to his opponent for the low standard of his squash. It was balanced on a knife edge at 13-13 in the fifth before Stu snuck it on an error, to rapturous applause. Grange 5-0 winners, celebrated with lime and sodas (and the odd non-alco beer for the more adventurous).
A critical 18 points for the 3s who still have a lot of work to do to secure promotion at the end of the year. (Report: Andrew Reeve)

Monday 8 February 2016

Thirds home v The Dean Club II's

    • Grange 3's slay neighbours Dean 2

    Thursday 4th Feb saw the visit of Dean's 2nd team to The Grange.  With a mid-table position, Grange 3's are in need of points and it started off in promising fashion with Allan Wallace vs. Duncan Cleat.  A fit and spirited Duncan gave Wallace some concern but the Grange Man managed to close out safely in 3 matches.  Had it gone into more games, Wallace may have struggled - exploits at last weekend's Edinburgh Open taking its toll on those little legs!  A fairly standard match (easy to mark from my perspective), it was made all the more interesting in the latter stages with Christy joining the spectators upstairs, making himself heard and providing much needed support.

    At 5th string, Ian Ross cruised to victory in straight games.  New to Grange in this 15/16 season, Ian's an East of Scotland veteran and a valuable asset for the 3rd team.  At 3rd string, Moff had a wobbly start but again, managed to secure the 3-0 win.  So far so good.

    Andy Reeve vs. Craig Wallace proved more eventful... Andy lost the first game 9-15 but showed composure to edge out the second 15-13.  From this point, there was only going to be one winner - Andy powering through the 3rd game 15-3 and closing out the 4th 15-6.  Nicely done.

    Then to perhaps the most eventful match of the night.  Yours truly vs. David Thompson.  Behind for most of the first match, I managed to take it 15-11 but tired legs / general lack of fitness gave Dean the 2nd (14-16) and 3rd (12-15) .  Eeesh.  The 4th game saw David race away - stealing 14 quick points... but then the comeback!  From 10 points, I clawed back to 14-14 and somehow edged out the required two point gap.  Phew.  And with momentum swinging in Grange's favour, the 5th game finished 15-11.  

    Overall 18 points to 3.  In the bag.  More of the same needed next week before we take the mid-season break.  A few more big pointers might prove enough to wriggle into the top 3.  Maybe? (Report: Sloan Ranger)