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)