Thursday 29 March 2007

Who put whom out, when and what score...

Club championships (Handicap, Plates, Ladies & Open) results can be seen on...
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p5t8gxjFz-SV6uAroQngGWQ

Monday 26 March 2007

Thirds @ Marcos 3 (Fri, Mar 23,'07)

In this season’s final outing the hosts (Marcos) needed 3 points to secure the league win. By contrast we had mid-table mediocrity whatever the outcome and so the result was perhaps never in doubt!
The closest match was the opener between John Graham and their No 4 Rocco. A ding-dong affair, JG took the 5th to finish on a high (3-2)
On his Grange team debut Chris Mair was clearly playing below his station as he polished his match off in record time He broke a few speed limits to get from Aberdeen and probably broke a few speed limits on court too when winning at #5 in record time(3-0)
Sadly the efforts at 4 and 5 could not be repeated up the pecking order as David Grieve lost out in 3, Peter Young and Peter Tweedie each in 4 to see the tie closed out (8-14)
Thanks to all for their efforts over the season, particularly Peter Young for all his culinary efforts at the home matches – I’m already looking forward to next season!

Seconds @ C-Rooks 2 (Fri, Mar 23,'07)

Having rung up Ron Pearman to find out how many points we needed to go up, it was a relief to find that Abercorn had set us a target of 9 instead of 15 because they'd got 6 points less than maximum against Waverley.

In a scene reminiscent of comic capers, Todd & Peter Cockburn warmed up against Colinton 3 - Todd actually got reffed for a few points against Stuart Keane by Mark. Christy had to drag them both down to the glassbacks, especially Peter who was all geared up for a good thrashing by Kim Byers.

Todd Mitchell was on at #4 against the C-rooks 2 sub Adam and quickly ticked off 3 points for the team. Peter Cockburn was given a good workout by young Sean Robinson who stroked some beautiful forehand nicks but Peter was too steady; 3-0.

Jonathan Frame stepped up to #2 and was up against one of these guys who never rallies but lobs, cuts and angles everything. Jonathan managed to retrieve the shots to take one game but Kevin closed out; 1-3. Mark Dutton played #3 Derek Wilson, a game with everything. Attempted assasination of the referee by an attempted backwall boast that missed, a five minute discussion of the subleties of "creating your own interference" and dives. 3 of the games went 8-8 and in the end Mark lost 2-3 which gave us the required 9 promotion points.

Christy went on with #1 Jack MacAlister and always had too much pace and movement so he tacked on another 6 points. Overall 3-2 (15-6) which means we would have got promoted even without the score with C-Rooks first team being reversed by the league secretary.

Man of the match: Mark Dutton and Jonathan Frame for getting enough points even in defeat to tough opponents to lock up promotion.

The grub was disappointing by Colinton standards but some quality banter from Derek W, Mark and Christy kept our minds off the stale sarnies.

Thursday 22 March 2007

Firsts home v Marcos 2 (Wed, Mar 22,'07)

We needed 4 points to guarantee promotion and with Messrs Hamer, Gordon and Brown unavailable, it was not going to be a cakewalk against Marcos, who needed 9 points to guarantee winning the division. Gerald was chef d'equipe for the night so he went on first at #2. He was really pumped up for it after his marathon five game win over Stokesy in the club championship. He outshot and out-stared Matthew Hunter 3-0, even applauding his own mis-hits.

Peter Cockburn subbed-up against #5 Mike Hay and lost out 0-3. Alan Stokes got to 1-1 against #3 David Thompson but had to concede with a groin injury. Christy went 2-0 up against #4 Nick Wood but flagged badly to lose 2-3. Mike Perring traded with Paul deMarco at the front too much and lost the first but from there ground out a 3-1 win. Job done.

Overall 2-3 (9-13).

Gerald didn't disappoint with suffolk-size portions of baked-potato and chilli filling.

Man of the match: Gerald Suggett got us the promotion points and Feed of the season.

Monday 19 March 2007

Thirds home v Dunbar 2 (Thurs, 15 Mar'07)

The Thirds put up a good effort to test Dunbar - a team pushing for promotion to Division 5.

As Peter Young was on cooking duty, he went on first at 1 and started well to take the first game 9:4. He was pushing on in the second, but Duncan, his opponent slowed things down on what were the warmest courts of the season so far. Pete ran out of steam to lose 3:1. Meanwhile on Court 1, Tim steamed into a 2-0 lead before being pegged back to 2-2. In a fifth game both players had match point before Tim prevailed to take the tie.

Stephen Davey stepped in at the last minute to pay at 2 but found the going tough against old timer Willie Paul who used all his years of experience to put Stephen on the back foot. Stephen had chances for a well deserved game in the third but Willie prevailed to win 3-0.

Rupert Brown was welcomed back into the Grange team to put in a good performance at 4 to win 3-1 against Alan Murphy and Chris put in a good effort at 3 but lost out to Dunbar's David Weissgerber 3-0.

All in all a 2-3 (7:15) loss against a good side which had strong players from 1-5

Wednesday 14 March 2007

Seconds home v Watsons 4 (Tue, Mar 14,'07)

While our firsts entertained the myreside 3's, we waited on the Myreside 4's to turn up 7:30-8ish.
Todd Mitchell needed to dash off to write his latest polemic on global warming - his match against #3 Martin Macari warmed up the court a lot with loads of 20 shot rallies. Todd won the first easy and just had the edge in the next two; 3-0.

Mark Dutton took up cudgels with his opponent from the first round, #2 Andrew Constable. This was a see-saw battle with Mark going 2-1 up in very tight games but Andrew came back strongly to take the last two; 2-3. Plenty of trademark blood on the dancefloor as Mark's dives were of the desperation rather than the winning variety.

Peter Cockburn was on at #4 against Roger Weir, won the first but his man put in some tremendous charges to take the next 3; 1-3.

Tweedster was always in control against Barry Turnbull, the soft measured home touch versus the smack-it-for-a-winner-or-tin approach of the Myreside man; 3-0.

Christy had never played Paul Macari at #1 before. Paul had a slow start to lose the first, it was tighter in the second but Christy was middling every ball and a plethora of fading boasts, slam-nicks, reverse angles and skid boasts saw him thru in 3.

Overall 3-2 (15-8) On target with the score, another 15 points at C-rooks2 on Fri next will see us promoted. Great team effort.

Man of the match: Todd Mitchell probably the steadiest player I have witnessed at Grange, in the world, ever, in his last team match.

Tuesday 13 March 2007

Grange I @ Watsonians III (Wed, 13.03.07)


Tonight we were gunning for 2nd place against Watsonians. We meet 1st place Marcos next week.

Stokesy stuck in for 5 against Andrew Forrest - a tough opponent at no.5 - 0-3.
Gerald got 1-3 off Gordon Fruish.
Al got nothing but frustration off Jim Dougal 0-3.
Mike met his first half opponent, Ed Murray, and played patient, solid squash for 2 very close games, then pulled away in the 3rd to win 3-0. A good performance after 3-2 at home.
Allan H went 0-8 down in the first, found his land legs to level 8-8, but then lost 8-9. 3 games of speed, retrieval and attrition followed, 9-3, 9-0, 9-0.

Man of the match: Mike Perring

Overall 2-3 (8-13 on points). There was some great squash tonight. Our only consolation on the result is that we beat them more heavily at home! Watsonians have pulled away from us now, and Marcos will be uncatchable. Our objective for next week against Marcos is to secure our 3rd place ahead of Colinton-Musselburgh for promotion (we will need 4 points if they got 18 this week), and to have a good night! There's an outside chance that Gerald will put on the food, and there's £10 credit in the kitty to spend away!

Wednesday 7 March 2007

Seconds home home v Linlithgow2 (Tue, Mar 6,'07)

Linlithgow have crept up on Bank of Scotland at the top of the table and our playing resources are getting frayed thru' injury just now so this was going to be tougher than when we ran them close in their gaff in December.

Peter Young stepped up from the thirds into the promotion cauldron with the seconds, against their athletic #5 Ross Halston. Peter played terrific stuff for the first two to push his man close and had nothing left for the third; 0-3.

Peter Tweedie also subbed up from the Thirds, went on against their youthful #4, he won the second 10-8 and traded two more games before shading the fifth. 3-2.

Peter Cockburn was 2 down against #3 Peter Cochrane and then turned on his best squash of the season (he won the third 9-0!) to level it but unfortunately lost the decider;2-3.

Mark Dutton faced #2 Ian Forshaw who has been playing all the tournaments lately and looked sharp. Mark pushed him in all 3 games but couldn't quite get control in any; 0-3.

Christy played their other youth, #1 Robert Purdie in quite a good match considering there were two left-handers jockeying for the same space. Robert got to some amazing retrievals and played terrific fading straight length from the front to go two up. Christy got off some good sharp shots of his own to go 8-2 up in the third but youth and fitness settled in and brought it back point by point to take it 10-8 in the end; 2-3.

Overall 1-4; 5-17

Man of the match: Tweedster, who has now won three five-setters back-to-back.

With Watsons 4 and C-Rooks 2 to play, we need to settle back to getting the bonus points and wrap up our promotion slot. (Loobster)

Tuesday 6 March 2007

Grange I @ Colinton Musselburgh (Wed, 06.03.07)

A vital match, with Colinton-Musselburgh just behind us in 4th place, we really wanted to put some points between us, to finish in the top 3.

Dougie's back is not doing too well, but his loyal support continues to spur us on.
Christy parachuted in at no. 5, won 3-0 against a bemused John Stohlner, then shot off to play for Grange 2, minutes later. Thanks Christy!!
Stokesy was playing extremely well but went 2-1 down against Norman, both men were exhausted, but Stokesy put in a massive effort and came out on top 3-2.
Gerald met his first half opponent, John Hamilton - the only player in the league that appears comfortable with Gerald's eccentric court presence - John was inpenetrable this time, 0-3.
Al went 0-2 down against Richard Easton, and looked like cracking him in the 3rd, but it ended 8-10, 0-3.
Mike and Colin Grant played a fabulous decider. With Mike 0-9 and 6-9 down, it looked like Grange 1 were going to leave defeated, but Mike fought on to take the next 3 games and the bonus points.

Overall 3-2 (12-8 on points).

Men of the match: Stokesy and Mike for hard fought comebacks - turning a 4-15 defeat into a 12-8 win.

After tonight we are 27 points clear of Colinton-Musselburgh, which gives us a very good chance of promotion, but beware - they have 8th and 9th place teams to play, and we have 1st and 3rd. We need 10 more points to secure it.

We now have a battle for 1st place in our final 2 matches against our rivals Marcos and Watsonians. Both teams have easier teams to play than we do. Taking the first half results for the remaining fixtures would give final standings: 1. Marcos 261, 2. Watsonians 252, 3. Grange 248, 4. Colinton-Musselburgh 223. Beating these guys is a tall order, but not impossible.

Saturday 3 March 2007

Seconds @ C-rooks (Fri, Mar 3,'07)

John Graham was delighted to have night of squash as Christine was away at the Masters in Aberdeen. At #5, it was a battle of the masters with John and Sandy trying to win each rally in less than 2 shots. Sandy had the edge and John had to take second best in four; 1-3.

Peter Tweedie also doubled up from the 3rd team this week at #4. He must have played some fighting battle because it went to 5 and our man shaded it; 3-2.

Peter Cockburn found himself at the lofty heights of #2- he lost the first to Derek Wilson and in the second he started to get on top but it went to 8-8 and 8-10. Derek was winning the backhand rallies and closed out the third; 0-3.

Jonathan Frame made his seconds debut at #3 with a slow start to go 1 down. He lifted the pace and a long second saw Bob puffing to take game ball and out on his feet. Jonathan took the third to love and cantered the last 2 games; 3-2.

The bonus points were up for grabs between the #1's- John Simpson took the first, Christy blasted the second but as the medical doctor slowed the pace, the electronic doctor was found out; 1-3.

Overall 2-3, 8-15 Not too bad points considering we got 11 at home against them with a full team. Man of the match: Tweedie/Frame - the reserves contributed the bulk of the points.

Thursday 1 March 2007

Thirds @ Musselburgh (Tue, Feb 27, 07)

In rather typical Musselburgh tradition, at the appointed hour only John Graham and one home player were in attendance. At 7.30, they had their number 5 and their number 4 had just turned up to go on against John G. Chris Molyneaux completed our full complement (having made the trip by bus) just after 7.30pm and took the court against their number 5, Tom (The rest of their guys drifted in right up until 8.40!)

It turned out to be a cracking match with every-one finding their opponent evenly matched and it built up to perhaps the most exciting conclusion we have had to date.

John G did it again - raced in to a 2-0 lead only to lose out in 5 (In absolute fairness John had pulled the first back from 0-8 to win and his opponent only started to suss John's game in the 3rd!) (2-3)
Chris stole the first game against Tom (10-8) but was then edged (almost literally by his opponent constantly calling for lets due to his inability to get around Chris!) in each of the next 3 to lose out (1-3)
Stephen Davey had the marathon match of the evening with stamina a key factor as he went 2-0 up; was pulled back to be levelled at 2-2 and then got the better of Alan (3-2) - to see us quickly turn to Pete Young at 2nd string who had gone from 0-1 to 1-1 to 1-2 to 2-2 to be out-run in the fifth almost to the second that Stephen finished on the other Court (2-3)- both Stephen and Pete putting in sterling performances - (Every tie going to 50 minutes +)
Pete T got on to Court against Grame at 9.35 pm and was outgunned in the first before almost clawing back the 2nd (7-9). He slowed it down and grabbed the 3rd and was 7-7 in the 4th at about 10.15pm) when the staff who were getting extremely grumpy at not having got us out of the Sports Centre by 10.00pm eventually called for the premises to be vacated immediately and the hosts honourably conceded (not having had their team in place at the start time) to give us a 3-2 win at number 1 and a loss but a good point haul! (12-16)

Tweedster