Wednesday 31 March 2010

Grange B @ Agilent in Over-35 Team Cup (Tue, Apr 30,'10)

1. C Looby l G Hunter 3/9 5/9 7/9
2. A Stokes l J Watson 9/10 9/10 3/9
3. D Brown l G Fulton 6/9 9/10 5/9
4. N Love l G Sinclair 0-3
5. A Whitelaw w/o agilent scr (l G Fulton 1-3 in a bounce match)

Overall Agilent won 4-1. MoTM goes to Gavin Fulton for playing two matches so than nobody went away ungubbed ;-).

Splashed our way thru the sleet and snow to The Two Bridges for split-pea soup and a nice selection of sandwiches. Talk turned to the turning rule and where the Agilent players would go once the site moved to the Gyle and lost the squash courts.

On we got to the plate and a likely semi-final at Tyne while Agilent progress to a likely cup tie with the mighty Watsons. (Report: Loobster)

Thursday 25 March 2010

Grange 4 home v Abercorn 2 at St George’s – Wednesday 24th March 2010

After a long adventurous season the last game was upon us, which was the reverse fixture of our first game of the season and the fourths played hosts to Abercorn 2 at St George’s.
The first players went down too use the changing rooms on the bottom level next to the squash courts and a little bit of drama unfolded as a young female lacrosse player burst into the changing rooms to make use of the facilities. Fortunately she was not offended as all the players were suitable attired.


First on court was Mike Douglas at No 5 playing Billy Dodds (I think that is correct) and Neil Love at No 4 playing Keith Robertson. Both games kicked off at the same time and while Keith and myself were taking our time warming up, Mike appeared on the gallery to mark our game and when quizzed about his extremely quick match, it transpired that his opponent had retired injured in the first set with Mike leading 4 – 0. First blood to the Grange with a 3-0 walkover before our game had started.

My game was best forgotten as I chose to play my worst game of squash in a team match for a long time. If there was a prize for returning the ball to the opponent and setting him up play winners then it would have been mine. Even a recovery in the third set was not enough as a return to form in the fourth saw Keith prevail 1–3; score was 5-9, 1-9, 9-4, 1-9. One game a piece going into the second round of matches.


Next up was Richard Nisbet at No3 playing Martin Browse. The first set was an extremely hard fought and tight affair with both player’s probing for the advantage and after swapping serves the score had crept to 4-2 to Richard when Martin got on a run to move to 4-8, Richard dug in and pulled it back to 5-8, followed by a couple of more swaps of serve for each player before Richard closed out the set 10-8. In the second set the pattern of play followed the first with Richard beginning to impose his game on his opponent, Richard eventually closed out the second set 9-3. Martin’s resistance was finally broken and Richard took the third set and the match 9-0. Final score 10-8, 9-3, 9-0.


Ian Forbes playing at No1 was next up playing Steven (Whitby?). This game started off at a ferocious pace with the left handed Abercorn man trying to hit the ball as hard as he could. Both players then returned the ball back to the centre of the court on a very regular basis which led to a lot of swap of serves. Slowly Ian inched ahead and closed the first set out 9-3. The second set settled down a bit with Ian gaining the upper hand and closed out the game 9-3. The third set was a much tighter affair with both players putting a great deal of effort, Steven edged the early exchanges and moved 3-5 ahead, Ian was not to be denied and pulled it back to lead 7-5, Steven dug deep and levelled at 7-7, the players swapped serves a couple of times before Ian took the third set and match 9-7. Final score 9-3, 9-3, 9-7.


Meanwhile Dean Wood at No 2 was playing Bernard Starkey on the next court. Dean was playing his first team match for a while after recovery from a dislocated shoulder. After the early exchanges in the first set Dean found himself 3-7 down, Dean had a word with himself and this seem to do the trick as he came from behind to close out the first set 9-7. Bernard raced into 1-8 lean in the second as Dean was struggling to find a proper rhythm, however Dean dug in and managed to get back to 7-8 before Bernard took the second set 7-9. The third set belonged to Bernard who played aggressive squash to take the set 4-9. With all the other matches completed a full gallery watched the fourth set unfold, this time Dean managed to dictate the play and pulled ahead to lead 6-3, Bernard pulled it back to level at 6-6, Dean then made it 7-6, before Bernard turned it round and had a match point at 7-8, Dean was not to be beaten and levelled the score 8-8, with Bernard going for set 1. Dean served and the rally developed with Bernard in a position to take the point, up went a lob over his head and Dean was positioned right behind him to claim the stroke and level the game at 2-2, with a much anguished shout from Bernard about the injustice of home markers, but it was a clear stroke from our position. Into the fifth with Dean beginning to dominate a tiring Bernard, Dean built a 8-3 lead, Bernard got a second wind and managed to win a couple of points back to make the game 5-8, a couple of errors then slipped in to give Dean the opportunity to close out the fifth set and the match 9-5. Final score 9-7, 7-9, 4-9, 9-8, 9-5.


Grange won the match 4-1 with a final score of 18-5. The season finished with a very creditable played 20 won 18 and lost 2 with a final point’s total of 360. Out of the 100 games played the team won 81 and lost 19 and unfortunately 1 of them was down to me. Congratulations to everybody involved in fourth team matches.


When everybody had assembled at the Grange clubhouse for Pizza from Franco’s, Abercorn congratulated us on our successful season. Talk turned to an unpleasant experience that the Abercorn team had encountered at Heriot Watt. An individual’s conduct on court upset the team so much that an official compliant was lodged but discretion prevailed and no names were revealed. Abercorn then made their excuses and bundled into the team bus (Bernard’s car) to make the hazardous journey back home through the notorious Jock’s Lodge district. (Report: Neil)

Friday 19 March 2010

Grange 3's @ Inveresk (Thurs, Mar 18,'10)

Both teams were without 1 or 2 regulars but when Andy Whitelaw comes in to our 3's, you can hardly say he is weakening it. So it proved as George Purves, the Inveresk captain (selecting himself for only the 2nd time this season) faced up to Andy and put up a creditable fight to take it to 4 games with Andy having the better of it.

On the other court in Colinton Castle the ball was sizzling which suited Christy but less so Robin who likes to pick off his angled volleys and drops. Much hilarity on the balcony as Christy tried to end match ball on a corkscrew only for him to end up with egg on his face as Robin killed it. 3-0 after he got another match ball to fool around. I didn't see Stokesy against Willie Wood but there seemed to be plenty of engagement with the balcony and it was well contested with Alan shading it 3-2 to confirm the result he had off Willie in the first half. That was the win bonus secured.

John Brown got off to a slow start in the first and Dougie Brown was 8-5 up but John shaded it. The next game was even-Steven up to 5-5 before John disagreed strongly with only getting a let. That fired him up and Dougie never really got a look in as John started hitting early and moving quickly: 0-3.

Match of the night was the #1's with Ali Gordon playing out of his skin and Adam Lord going in turn from elation to despair to elation. Man of the match goes to these 2. In the end Adam won it 3-1 but there were some great duels of boasting & dropping. Even a few Colinton neutrals stopped by on the balcony to watch the Lord variety show unfold with interest.

Overall 15-9 I think.

I can't remember anyone keeping this team on court past 9:30 all season when I've been there so all credit to Inveresk for contesting a match that made no difference to anyone's position, great sports. And great hospitality too, a particularly nice chicken pizza was favoured by everyone over the salad.

That is the last league match for the 3's, we carry on as Grange Over-35 B Team at Agilent in 2 weeks. Thanks to super captain Ali G and congratulations on his super successful season. Good luck to the Grange ladies in their quest to bring the Grange title count to 4 for the season. And thanks to Richard and the other teams for following these reports and the contributions/comments/feedback over the season. See you all next season.

Thursday 18 March 2010

Grange 2 @ Hatton (09 March 2010)

An update for those who are interested in squash blogs! - bit late!!

The 2s made the trip out to Hatton on Wednesday (last week!) to face the Hatton boys who were looking for a good result against the league 3 top dogs in order secure themselves in the league.

The 2’s, having the league in the bag, were missing some of their regulars but were still confident of a result.

On first were Bill Marshall Vs Danny Pollock and Dougie Brown Vs Alan Love. The Hatton boys came racing out the traps and both quickly built up 2-0 leads on both courts with very few points going to the Grange guys. Both Dougie and Bill dug in,. Dougie clawed things back to 2-2 only to let Alan get away again to take it in the fifth. Bill and Danny were cat and mouse in the third with bill putting a great effort only for Danny to close out 3-0

Next on were Pete Cockburn and Malcolm Mitchell. Pete took the first game against the Hatton man in a tight affair 9-7. Feeling confident he was now on top of things he then got wiped by Malcolm in the second who had begun to get the measure of the court. Pete then came back to take the third with ease – definitely in control now??? No chance! Malcolm tightened his game up (something lacking previously from both) and took the next 2 in quick fashion to leave the Grange man fairly bewildered to what had just happened.

With Grange 2 now beaten for only the second time in the season it was left to the regulars Mike and Robin to put some points on the board and make things a bit more respectable for the league three chumps! Robin was on at 1 against Nick Tinning (unfortunate squash name!!). Nick wasn’t tinning too much from what I can recall, however Robin proved too strong and made short work of things to take it 3-0

Mike was on court against David Tinning. I didn’t see this one, partly as the gallery was packed for what was probably the game of the night. Mike took it to his opponent in his usual way. A tight game going to the grange man, 3-1 – I think??

Food for this tie deserves a special mention I feel. Late on in the season Hatton definitely take the food award for league 3 in my book. A small choice of filled rolls looked satisfactory until I warned not to fill up as Tony’s lasagne was on the way. Too massive portions followed by cheese cake and flapjacks meant the 2s left beaten but still fairly satisfied with night’s trip to Hatton!!

Grange 4 vs Crooks 2 (a.k.a CCS5) - Wednesday 18th March 2010

The Grange youth team (plus one elder statesman) turned out against a CCS5 side that we'd just managed to defeat in the first round and had the tables turned on them with narrow loss that once again boiled down to the very last rally of the night as to who would take the bonus points. It has to be said that it was lovely to play on nice warm courts since the school had fixed the heating, although it did seem like some of the Grange players had a little difficulty adjusting to normality again after weeks of ice-box condtions.

First up was Will Henderson at No 1 against Gareth Wright. A good solid start gave will a 9-7 victory in the first but he was well and truly put under the kosh for a 3-9 in the next. A see-saw struggle just went to Will 10-9 and then Gareth turned up the heat to leave Will pretty well beaten 1-9 and 2-9 for a 2-3 loss. One item worthy of note was the let the Gareth was given for the back wall boast that he refrained from playing while Will was plastered to the back wall himself. Nobody could recall having seen that situation arise before but it was the only shot that Gareth could have played to stay in the rally and umpire Forbes was perfectly correct in his let call.

Richard Nisbet went on at no 5 against Mark Williamson and proceeded to play some mixed squash to find himself 5-9 and 5-9 down in the two games. He then went into something of a decline as numerous unforced errors saw him facing match point at 3-8. That rally proceeded as most of that game had gone so far and Richard ended up playing a pretty lame spooned retrieval shot to leave Mark standing in the centre of the court with the easiest and most 100% certain match-winning winning shot in the history of squash itself, which he duly tinned. Never can a missed opportunity have been so regretted as little lights went on in Richard's eyes and he then proceeded to win the next seven rallies and then the next two games 9-6 and 9-6 for one of the most unlikely reversals of fortune that this little black duck has ever witnessed.

Then followed Mark Dutton at No 3 against Adrian Craxton. The match started as most of Mark's do with plenty of confusion being wrought and cheap points being won by bizarre and unorthodox serving. Unfortunately Adrian cottoned on quicker than most this season as to what to do to neutralise the tricksy hobbit stuff and that left Mark a bit bereft of ideas. Adrian played a good solid match and simply kept patrolling the red line and cutting off the majority of Mark's attempts to play the ball deep and the result was a 7-9, 5-9, 6-9 loss for the captain. Hope had revived momentarily in the last game as a couple of disputed calls finally put some purpose and drive into Mark's squash (recognise a euphemism when you hear one..?) but it was all too late and it only took a couple of streaky nicks to finish him off at the death (a deserved death it was too).

Gordon Sloan went on at No 3 against Adam Hill and preserved his 100% season winning record in the teams by two cunning expedients, namely ..(a) winning 9-1, 9-0 and finally 10-8 in a much harder fought final game; and (b) declaring himself unavailable for next week's team match so there's no chance of the unbeaten record going west. Now why didn’t I think of that….

It all came down to Ian Forbes at No 2 against James Chalmers. We Grange folk had already banked the win in our minds after the easy 9-0 win in the first game, then quickly unbanked it again as James showed his mettle (and Ian showed some unforced errors) to take it 3-9. A fairly comfortably won 9-4 got us all relaxed again followed by a thorough 2-9 thrashing in the fourth game to get the Grange ulcers once again working overtime. The final game was a see-saw struggle with points shared until a quite astonishing sequence of four identical nicks from James into the exact same spot near the front of the backhand wall. Every one of them was from an identically played boasted recovery shot by James from the back forehand corner and Ian was on hand at the front for all of them but the nick beat him every time….queue a sequence of alternating wails of anguish and wry smiles from Ian. The truth is though that a bit too much damage was done in the last game through Ian's own unforced errors and the normally very reliable Mr Forbes went down 8-9 in the fifth.

All up that meant it ended 12-16 and represents only Grange 4's second loss of the season. Good job that the huge piece of silverware had already been engraved with our name last week…….

Thursday 11 March 2010

Threes "home" v Sports Club 5's(Thurs, Mar 11,'10)

Nick the ESC5 captain went to Grange for this match and had to run to St George's before playing. On foot. He also had to re-direct his team-mates.

First up was super-captain, Ali G at #3 against Richard Kent. I was playing at the time so all I can do was report the score, 3-0 (9/6 9/1 9/5). Rob Pfab had a super match against Ross Cantor at #1 - it was touch and go in the first but Rob screwed the nut on the error count and despite some terrific all-court coverage from both men, the fab Dr Pfab cleaned up 9/7 9/2 9/3.

Christy at #4 took on Graeme and after some resistance in the first, was comfortable enough to throw in a corkscrew serve at match point (9/7 9/2 9/2).Making his Grange team debut, Brian Sloan acquitted himself well against Nick at #5. Brian took the first 9/4 but then Nick had recovered from his inter-club run and ran up 9/1 9/2 9/3 to take ESC5's only points of the night.

Patrick was last on against Calum and made short work of their #2 9/0 9/0 9/3.
Overall 18-5, we are closing in on the GRG2 match average.
Pepperoni or Chicken 'n Mushroom or Ham 'n Pineapple were the pizza choices as Nick visited the Grange Club twice in one night. Man of the Match - the fab man.

Grange 4 at Haddington – Wednesday 10th March 2010

After several changes of personnel the 5 squash warriors selected to do battle at Tyne assembled at the Grange to make the journey down to Haddington with high expectations that a win would confirm the glorious fourths as fifth division champions.


On arrival it seemed that news of the forthcoming epic squash fixture had reached the whole town as the surrounding area was teeming with people. Unfortunately it was not us that were the star attraction and it would appear that something with much more appeal was going on at the local sports centre.
First on court was Gordon Sloan at No 2 playing Stevie Young and Richard Nisbet at No 4 playing Doug Turnbull. As I was marking Richard’s game I didn’t see much of Gordon’s match. Due to the close proximity of the courts I could hear the marker of the other match and the resounding thud of the match ball on the front wall as both matches progressed at a remarkable similar pace. There appeared to be a lack of the dropshot or boast in both matches with both players preferring to drive and volley their opponents into submission. The Grange men winning the first sets, this continued into the second and third sets with both players imposing their style of play on their opponents. In the end triumph was ours and a perfect start as both players closed out their matches 3-0. Gordon’s score was 9-4, 9-3, 9-4 and Richard’s score was 9-5, 9-2, 9-1.


Next up was Neil Love at No5 playing Tommy Thomson and Mark Dutton at No 3 playing Chris Dixon. I surprised my opponent from the offset with a few well chosen attacking boasts from the back of the court and was soon 7-2 up when a string broke on my racquet of choice. Nevertheless I managed to close out the set 9-2 with a broken string. The second set started and I soon found that my back up racquet wasn’t quite as good at the boast and I had to revert to driving and crosscourt and closed out the second set 9-4. Tommy rallied in the third set and I found myself down 6-3 but I managed to claw my way back into set and closed out the third 9-6 for another victory for the Grange men.


Meanwhile a closer match was unfolding on the other court as Mark with some typical unorthodox serves and fully committed retrieval shots had nudged ahead taking the first two sets 9-7, 9-7. Chris managed to find his range and took the third 9-4. The younger man was looking the stronger in the fourth and after some resolute defence from our man Chris prevailed and closed out the set 9-6. Into the fifth and the excitement was mounting the players were giving it their all and Mark nudge ahead 4-2, Chris was determined not to beat and was chasing down all Mark could throw at him, just as it seemed that Chris would go on a take the fifth a bit of eagerness crept into his play and he was now finding the tin when in promising positions to close the match out. Mark kept his composure and nudged 7-6 in front. We were still not sure who would come through victorious when from nowhere Mark served out for the win with two weak returns from Chris. 3-2 to the Grange Man 9-7, 9-7, 4-9, 6-9, 9-6.
The last match of the evening was Allan Stokes at No1 playing Raymond Jefferies. As everybody available has disappeared to take a shower this match started without a marker. Sportingly both players agreed to get the match underway and Raymond was 7-1 before a marker appeared from the bowels of the changing rooms. Raymond duly closed out the first set 9-4. The second set was a much closer affair with both players giving no quarter with decisions abound and some good natured banter. Allan came through to level the match winning 9-6.


Off came the sweat top at the start of the third set and we were treated to a veritable feast of shotmaking with drops, lobs, drives and crosscourts a plenty. A close third set was taken by Allan 9-7. Off came the tracksuit bottoms in the fourth and Raymond’s resistance crumbled with Allan closing out the fourth to Love. 3-1 to the Grange 4-9, 9-6, 9-7, 9-0 to complete a veritable rout. The 20-5 result confirmed the Glorious Fourths as Open League Division 5 Champions with two matches to play.


After the match the teams went back to the Bistro and were treated to platters of sandwiches followed by sausage rolls and beans. A fitting feast for the newly crowned champions. Talk turned to the activities planned for later in the year with Gordon taking on the Caledonian Challenge in June 2010 and Richard training to compete in the Etape Caledonia in May 2010. We made our excuses and made our way back to Edinburgh fully satisfied with a job well done.


Report: Neil Love (this man has missed a career in Journalism, I hereby award ROTS Report Of The Season for this account)

Saturday 6 March 2010

Firsts -what has happened? Part 2009

I though I'd summarise the first team progress for the last few matches of 2009. It might be just me, but I have a bond with GRG2, 3 & 4 as I can follow their matches on the blog. Somehow the firsts seem to belong to another club. With the last report filed 10 matches ago, back in November, I can only imagine what it is like to play in Div. 1 (never having got near that level myself)... but I'd sure love to get a feel for the battles and what motivates our guys to put themselves through the wringer to eke out the odd individual win, or to avoid the great-granny 0-27 score.

So here is a flavour of those triumphs and tribulations as gleaned from Grange scorecards on The Matrix
December, at home v Edinburgh Uni Studs: Richard vanLienden got us off to a good start at #1 in a 3-1 hard-fought(32-25 point) win against Michael Grinton. Brian Buchanan followed up with a great 3-1 win over Rik Keating to put us needing just one more match for a win and the valuable win bonus. Chris Mair was impressive for one game against Nigel Anthony but winning 16 service rallies over 4 games was never going to give him a chance of a win at #2. Ian Green was understandably outclassed at #1 by ex-Scotland player Iain Tennant. And surprisingly, Mike Perring was never in the hunt at #4.

At Heriot-Watt, the highlights are the opposition. Will Kerr probably player out of his skin, but was only allowed win 2 service rallies all match by the error-free (stingy) Sam Allan at #3. Gulp! At #4 & 5, Chris Mair and Richard vanLienden broke the 3rd commandment of squash "Thou shalt not get beaten by a woman" which just goes to show what we are up against, Scotland Internationals. Still, no wonder the match reports dried up ;-)

Iiiiits ChrisstttTTTmmmmmMMMMMMaaaAAAAAsssssSSSSSS! Home to Colinton II, fellow wooden-spoon candidates. Our only win of the season so far, I didn't even know we'd won. Robin Steel and Chris M took out the Colinton 2 reserves while Brian Buchanan wiped out the lively Gary Speirs to ensure a win bonus. Allan Hamer at #1 also cleaned out Mark Lord. But Man of the Match must have been Ian Green, intriguing that the point score was 35-35 against Jon Nimmo but Ian was unlucky to lose the final rally out of more than 100 that decided the match 2-3.

No idea if the food in Div 1 is any good or what morale has been like etc.
That's it for now, I'll summarise/interpret a few 2010 results from The Matrix when I get a chance. How hard can it be to cut 'n paste from the Matrix into here?
( non-viewing reporter: Loob)

Friday 5 March 2010

Threes "home" v Heriot Watt 2's (Thurs, Mar 4,'10)

With the heater on Court 1 at St George's still broken, the scene looked more like something out of Dr Frankenstein's lab as Christy assembled various portable heaters to take the chill off the walls.
At #5 on the working court, andy Whitelaw started against Heriot eternal "student" Richard Gordon. Meanwhile Christy & Mark Wallace started on the cold court, the ball stayed warm thanks to sboth giving it hefty clouts. Christy grannied the first, in spite of well-contested rallies and managed to hold off Mark's continuous improvement to take the next 2. Richard Gordon detained Andy for a good bit longer and took a game off him, plenty of sweat there.

At #4, Dougie Brown took on tennis leftie Dimitri Leveneu and stormed to a 2-0 lead. However Dimitri
was loving Dougie's lobs as he jumped impressively to pluck them out of the sky and took the next game easily. The fourth was touch 'n go but Dougie finished slightly the stronger to close out. Cap'n Fantastic Ali G was on court with Michael Ross which I didn't see but Ali closed it out 3-1. Correction, 3-0.

Everyone turned up for another stellar #1 match between Patrick and Phil McWilliams. Unfortunately Patrick's A game never showed up, he got the yips on his drops and Phil imposed his rhythm on the rallies. 0-3.
Overall 17-5 'cos HWU don't have a ref. MOTM: Andy or Dougie seem to have been in battles they could have lost but didn't.
Phil regaled us back at the club with his strength 'n conditioning torture at the Academy while quaffing more carbos in pizza 'n beer than any session in the gym would ever burn. 3 from Ireland, 1 from France, 1 from England, the united Nations of Squash at the Grange yet again.

Thursday 4 March 2010

Grange 4ths versus David Lloyd 2 - 3rd March 2010.

It seems that once you get a taste for 20 pointers it's hard to settle for anything less. The 4ths made it three in a row with a 20-4 win over DLL 2.

First up was Alan Stokes at No 1 against Andrew Farquhar . He must've had another hot date as he was keen to be on first and away and the 9-0 scoreline in the first game gave some indication of just how hot a date it must've been. Eammon made him wait though and some slower-paced play made Alan a little uncomfortable for a 6-9 loss. Alan soon got used to the pace though and ran out a comfortable 3-1 winner…and he was off like a shot.

Will Henderson was on the colder of the two courts at No 2 against Gordon Macdonald. The first game was a tough battle that just went to Will, as was the second that just went against him. Will's dominance gradually grew and he ran out for a good 3-1 win.

Mark Dutton was up next against Eammon Keane at No 5. Eammon came out and just blasted the ball around the court and took Mark somewhat by surprise. That game went to Eammon, but a bit of thought was finally brought to bear on matters by Mark in the next three games and they were all won with only three to four points lost in each. 3-1

Gordon Sloan went on at No 4 against Elaine Inglis. Yet again this author failed to actually see any of Gordon's games since he was on and off the court pretty quickly. Once again were relying solely on scoresheet evidence that he thoroughly dominated the match against a very useful player. 3-0.

The night was completed by Ian Forbes at No 3 against Colin McCartney. As was the story with most of the rest of the team on the night, the first two games were pretty hard fought and honours shared, but the third and fourth games saw the Grange player pulling away for a good 3-1 win.

Just the six of us back at the club afterwards (2 of them, 4 of us) but the five pizzas still disappeared anyway….

Grange 4ths versus David Lloyd 2 - 3rd March 2010.

It seems that once you get a taste for 20 pointers it's hard to settle for anything less. The 4ths made it three in a row with a 20-4 win over DLL 2.

First up was Alan Stokes at No 1 against Andrew Farquhar . He must've had another hot date as he was keen to be on first and away and the 9-0 scoreline in the first game gave some indication of just how hot a date it must've been. Andrew made him wait though and some slower-paced play made Alan a little uncomfortable for a 6-9 loss. Alan soon got used to the pace though and ran out a comfortable 3-1 winner…and he was off like a shot.

Will Henderson was on the colder of the two courts at No 2 against Gordon Macdonald. The first game was a tough battle that just went to Will, as was the second that just went against him. Will's dominance gradually grew and he ran out for a good 3-1 win.

Mark Dutton was up next against Eammon Keane at No 5. Eammon came out and just blasted the ball around the court and took Mark somewhat by surprise. That game went to Eammon, but a bit of thought was finally brought to bear on matters by Mark in the next three games and they were all won with only three to four points lost in each. 3-1

Gordon Sloan went on at No 4 against Elaine Inglis. Yet again this author failed to actually see any of Gordon's games since he was on and off the court pretty quickly. Once again were relying solely on scoresheet evidence that he thoroughly dominated the match against a very useful player. 3-0.

The night was completed by Ian Forbes at No 3 against Colin McCartney. As was the story with most of the rest of the team on the night, the first two games were pretty hard fought and honours shared, but the third and fourth games saw the Grange player pulling away for a good 3-1 win.

Just the six of us back at the club afterwards (2 of them, 4 of us) but the five pizzas still disappeared anyway….

Wednesday 3 March 2010

Results of 5th Winter Minileague

This was another record breaking league, with an incredible 217 games played, and record participation of 114 players.

The results of the league are here ..... 2009 Winter League 5

Well done to leagues 8 and 11 for playing maximum games. League 8 was a league of 7, so everyone played 6 games! Rob Henry and Chris Braun got promotion, losing only one game each. Chris Bal-loch and David Gillespie just came out on top in a tightly fought league 11. Some other leagues came very close to playing all games, so well done.

I'm not going to mention any more stats at this point, to avoid the risk of revealing the Minileaguer of the Year prizes - all will be revealed at Finals Night on the 26th!

For the 5th league, we are down to 105 players and a total of 17 leagues, a few hardy souls electing to switch to tennis among the drop-outs. Wrap up well!

For those interested, here is the full set of new leagues ..... 2009 Winter League 6

The league is extended to 7 weeks to avoid clashing with the tournament.

Enjoy your games,

Dougie Brown

Addition to Perring family...

... Cograts to Mike and Cleodie: Beautiful baby girl born Mar 3 morning, 9lbs 6oz. Mother & daughter well, father over the moon. Name to be picked by straw poll of the squash players ;-)

Seconds home v David Lloyd Corstorphine(Tue, Mar 2,'10)

From The Matrix
Match Result

Round:16
Date:2/3/2010
Teams:Grange 2 vs Abercorn 1

PosPlayerRubbersGamesPoints

PlayerRubbersGamesPoints
1Robin Steel1334

Alistair MacKenzie0118
2Mike Hall1341

Brian Montgomery0228
3Pete Cockburn1336

Ian Ross0237
4Patrick Langley1327

Graeme Caughey009
5Robert Pfab1327

David Ross006
Total515165

0598
Competition Points18

5