Sunday 30 October 2011

Grange 4 vs Dean 2

Happy to report this week on a maximum points haul for a Grange 4 team that looked awfully like the Barbarians team of last season (where have all the players gone?).
First up was was Pete Young who set the tone for the evening with a masterful performance of control that left his opponent finding unexplored corners of the court before capitulating in a heap. Despite receiving 22 serves across the three games, Pete conceded a miserly 5 points in a 9-1, 9-2, 9-2 victory. 1-0.
To provide appropriate contrast, Brian was setting up an epic on the other court. The first game was nip and tuck to 2-4 when too many errors saw the game start to slip away and it was lost 4-9. The second started in similar fashion to 3-3 until Brian began to get the measure of his opponent and started to pull away to level the match with a 9-5. The tide was definitely turning now and Brian began to imitate Pete by conceding just two serves in the third to bring up an excellent 9-0 bagel and lead the match 2-1. We sat back and waited for the clinical finish ... it didn't come. All credit to his opponent who after looking down and out in the third, quickly went into a 0-3 lead before Brian fought back to 5-5. Again his opponent dug deep and won 7-9 to tie the rubber at 2-2. Brian's face at this point is best described by that Scots pokey phrase 'He's no happy'. Was this to be (another) glorious Baba-esque defeat? But no, the Brian of the third game returned and instantly served to 5-0 up. He then conceded a couple before serving out for a 9-2 game win and a 3-2 rubber victory. A real Captain's performance. Follow that! (See Richard's game below)
I was next up and was pleased to have a game closer to Pete's than Brian's. I can't quite claim the mastery, but only conceded 9 points in 30 serves for a 9-1, 9-5, 9-3 win.
As Richard took to court, I was pretty confident of a win given the thrashing he gave me at the weekend. But, never one to keep it simple, Richard proceded to turn a 'Pete' game into a 'Brian' game. The first two games were over in a flash as Richard powered his way to a 9-1, 9-2 lead. but he found himself 0-4 down from the first serve in the third before clawing back to 5-5. We waited for the clinical finish. It came. But from his opponent who served straight out for a 5-9. The match was turning and the fourth delivered more of the same as Richard went 0-4 on one serve and 1-7 on the next before a bit of resistance saw 10 exchanges of serve before losing 2-9 to bring up 2-2 and the dreaded fifth rubber. Things looked pretty bleak when Richard went 0-5 down on the first serve and the volume of self-abuse thankfully reached a level only dogs can hear. But it seemed to work as Richard's obvious fear of the write-up in this match report proceeded to defend 8 serves without conceding as he clawed back the points one at a time to win the game 9-5 and the rubber 3-2.
Last up was Will who pretty much did the same. He took the first two games 9-7, 9-2 and was 7-2 up in the third as we phoned the pizza and got ready to head back to the club. But for some reason Walkabout-Will lost the plot and 7 consecutive points to lose 7-9. What to do? The match was won, the game that had appeared to have two minutes left could last another half hour, AND the pizza was ordered. I am pleased to say that the team stayed focussed (and sent someone to pay for the pizza) and cheered Will on in a tight 4th game that he won 9-7 for a 3-1 victory.
So, a clear sweep for the 4ths and a maximum 20 points. Back to the Grange for the usual pizza fare and some good company. (Report: Mike D, playing non-captain ;-)

Saturday 29 October 2011

Heriot Watt 2 v Grange 5

After struggling to find a street without road works on it as I came across town I arrived to find Bill and Dean warming up and almost ready for their matches at numbers 5 and 4.

Bill played on the see through court (I am sure there is a technical name for it however I am sure Bill will settle for crap). In a game where both players forgot that you could claim for lets and strokes, Bill unfortunately went down 3-0 in a close game whilst bemoaning that he couldn't see the ball against the walls.

Dean was next up on the crap court however his more youthful vision allowed him to score a 3-0 victory. It was refreshing to see that Dean hadn't come in fancy dress as he had on Friday at club night however he did still manage to play like a clown before eventually easing out the win. I lost count of the number of times his opponent tapped his serve back onto the front wall to reclaim serve. (Report: Mike D, non-playing captain))

Neil meanwhile was taking care of business on court 2. The whole team were devastated that in scoring a win we can after over a year no longer call him Neil Love Love. A 3-0 win and requirement to find something new to mock him with. He even got the refereeing points to be our top scorer.

Peter eventually arrived just in time to go 2-0 down before he realised what had happened. Against an opponent who seemed determined to try and knock the front wall down with every shot he struggled to come to terms with the pace of the game. Unluckily for Pete, he also lost the 3rd although he had begun to get back into things and was unlucky not to get at least a game. Pete was revelling in being back at University but we all felt that showing us where the student union was and then claiming to have no money was taking things a bit far.

At 2-2 I was on at number 1 again despite still being injured. (A note to the captain, why does Dean get to play at 4 just because of some minor ailment when I have been playing all season with one leg?) Fitness was a problem and despite 2 close games which I should have won, I didn't and with my opponent Stuart finding more cracks than a private party at Freddie Mercury's house it was a 3-0 loss giving the "students" the win.

Thanks to the Heriot watt guy's for the hospitality and student food of spaghetti bolognaise and chips served to a soundtrack of loud hip hop in the union.

David Grieve Nil
Standing in whilst the unemployed MD skives off to Chatsworth to spend his benefits
Captain's note to Sick Note Dave: Dean has a real injury, you're just getting old!

Friday 28 October 2011

Thirds home v Tyne(Thurs, Oct 27,'11)

Everyone rolled up to the Accies courts which are playing fine in the current mild weather.
Mat Pearson at #5 had a marathon see-saw match with Raymond Jeffries but Raymond's experience told in the fifth. The sweat was rolling off him for another 5 minutes afterwards which testified to the battle he'd been in.
Another see-saw was Stuart Moffatt at #4, again went to 5, 7-all, 8-8 for 5 handouts, 9-9, Donald nicked it off Stu on the last rally. Gavin Fulton #3 against Nigel "Howitzer" Pearman - both players melting the ball, Gavin had the better movement bt Nigel was more consistent and shaded it 10-9 in the fourth.
Mark Dutton at #2 against Graham Morrison- I was reffing on the other court so all I can say was
there was a lot of frustrated ecohes coming from the court- Graham seemed to have all his shots come off, much to Mark's annoyance. 0-3. Christy took on Alan Russell, good start to take the first, then Alan
started to pick up the boasts and took control as Christy ran out of ideas and puff. 1-3.
The talk in the bar was of the rugby world cup with Alan Russell and Mark presenting perspectives from each hemisphere while Stuart Moffatt was the pundit, having a decade of experience of professional rugby. Which counted for naught once he admitted to being #15, the Tyne put-down being that he basically watched the game from pich level, the same as the rest of us watch it from the couch!
Teams:Grange 3 vs Tyne 1
PosPlayerRubbersGamesPoints PlayerRubbersGamesPoints
1Christy Looby0119

Alan Russell1335
2Mark Dutton0016

Graham Morrison1327
3Gavin Fulton0132

Nigel Pearman1331
4Stuart Moffat0238

Donald Smith1337
5Matt Pearson0231

Raymond Jefferies1336
Total06136

515166
Competition Points6

18

Thursday 27 October 2011

Fourths home v Dean 2's(Tue, Oct 25,'11)

Great result tonight, maximum points taken. Score 20 - 7.

Everybody played really well. Will post the individual scores once they are on The Matrix.

Wednesday 26 October 2011

Grange 1s Vs Heriot Watt 1s 26 Oct 2011

Captains Log!

The 1s hosted the Heriot Watt boys. The GRG boys (most of them!) were heroic in victory and defeat. Some cracking efforts from Nick and Rich! Gary got his usual 1 game for the boys! Will K still easing himself back in. Mike Hall too easy!

PosPlayerRubbersGamesPoints

PlayerRubbersGamesPoints
1Will Kerr008

Ewen Urquhart1327
2Richard Van Lienden0123

Philip McWilliams1335
3Nick Wood0237

Michael(R) Ross1333
4Gary Walker0114

Mike Andrew1332
5Mike Hall1327

Nick Spath0010
Total17109

412137
Competition Points7

15


Tuesday 25 October 2011

Grange 2s Vs Deer Park 24 Oct 2011

The 2s were out on the road on Monday night looking for their 1st win. A new look team with Grange newbie Michael Grinton up first in the number one spot….

Michael took on Colin McMullan in what turned out to be a bit of battle. Hot courts meant a fast pace with both players giving the ball a good crack. Colin was a tough customer and had the measure of the courts and seemed to manage to keep his nose in front throughout. Michael was keeping up well and was a bit unfortunate to lose out to the Deer Park man something like 9-7, 10-8 9-something not 9.

Gorzer was on at 4 against John Miller. Mike took the first and was covering the court well. John started mixing up the shots and making Mike work hard. Both were charging around in a game that kept the gallery guessing. John mounted his fight back well and closed out 3-1.

Andy Whitelaw took on Milan at No 5. Didn’t see this one. Andy went down 3-0 and looked to have put in his usual good effort as he was bent over doubled at the back of my court afterwards.

Pete Cockburn @ 2 faced notorious Deer Parker Eric McMullan. Eric could blast it but fortunately a lot of the times the tin got it so Pete edged the first. Eric came back as expected throwing in some tight angles and drops for Pete to chase down. The pressure was definitely up with Eric taking the next 2 in quick succession. Eric’s foot came slightly of the gas as Pete came back in the fourth eager to get back into the match. The fifth was hard fought up to 5-5 when Pete failed to put his opponent away after having him everywhere only for Eric to take the next few points in quick succession to close it. Probably the correct result although unlucky not to get some points on the board.

Stokes was on last after a long warm up. Didn’t see this one either. Up against the big dentist Neil Moffat who has bags of reach, and fancy T-shirts for that matter. Stokes’ old Grange (circa 2007!) top could not compete and faded to a 3-1 loss.

Baked potato soup (actually pretty decent!!) and sandwiches after. Good banter with the boys as well.

Monday 24 October 2011

"Squash seeks mass market in Scotland" - Sat Oct 22, '11

See the noticeboard for full article, or read it minus the picture on The Scotsman Sports Online

No team matches last week, but Grange Squash still makes the papers...


Here is the full link in the Edinburgh Herald & Post, page 30 (Click last, then previous)

Friday 14 October 2011

Fours home v David Lloyd(Tue, Oct 11,'11)

Grange 4s get off the mark

The 4s are off and running with an excellent win over newly promoted David Lloyd 2s who had quite a few new faces from the team last year.

First on court for Grange were me, Brian Sloan, playing at 3 and Mike Douglas at 2. Well I don’t know what inspired both Mike and I but it became a contest to see who could finish their match first! Both of us winning 3-0 and only conceding an average of 3 points per game. I am not sure Alan and Elaine from DLL quite new what had hit them! A great start for the team.

Next up were Tom McEwan making his Grange debut at 4 and Richard Nisbet playing at 1. I was refereeing Tom’s match and he took the first 9-5 looking comfortable and playing well. The second game was a ding dong game which could have gone either way however with Tom serving to stay in the game at 6-8 I had to call him for a foot fault! It must be said I had spoken to Tom earlier about his tendency to foot fault from the right hand service box however it clearly threw him and he went on to lose the game. Unfortunately Tom never recovered and lost the next two games 9-0, 9-0 but his opponent Blair Lochie played some superb squash in these two games and I would be very surprised if he continued to play at no 4 in the future. Serving practice for Tom at Team Training this Sunday recommended! On the other court a monumental tie was unravelling. On paper it looked quite easy to start with for Richard, taking the first two games 9-2 & 9-6 however the two games lasted over 35 minutes! At the end of the second the very useful Paul Sherry went to shake hands with Richard thinking he had just lost 3-0 given the length of time he had been on court! It might have been some cute psychology on Paul’s part as he went on to take the next 3 games 9-3, 9-4 and 9-6 however Richard was in every game and it was a blinder of a match.

Last up for the Grange was Peter Roberts who had finished work late arriving at 8.15pm. Pete took to the court against David Lloyd’s youth policy in the shape of 15 year old Andrew Green whose dad Alan I had played earlier. Well Pete gave no let up for Andrew’s younger years and won fairly comfortable 3-0. It must be said if you weren’t actually watching the game you would have thought Pete was murdering Andrew such were the screams and shouts coming from the court as young Andrew was getting more upset with himself. Even dad couldn’t calm him down! Andrew that is what team squash does to you, your time will come.

All in all an excellent win for the 4’s, 17 - 6.

Let us hope we can build on this momentum hopefully with the availability of even more players the next week (which is the week after next, school break next week).

Grange 3rds vs Dunbar 1 (Div 3) - Thursday 13th October 2011

The two referee points doubled Grange 3's point score on the night which is probably all you need to know about this fixture against a very good Dunbar 1 side. Those of a nervous disposition may want to stop reading now….

Ok…mebbe it wasn't quite that bad on the ground as everybody really did play well and picked up plenty of points against tough opponents, but the scoresheet on a games and matches basis doesn't make good Grange reading.

First up at no5 was Richard Nisbet against Alistair Nichol. A very convincing win for Alistair in the first game was followed by a second in which Richard just failed to get his nose over the line after having game point. The third game was also very hard fought but Alistair had the greater control and took it well in the end. 0-3.

Matt Pearson took on the very useful Evan Green at No4 and matched him well in the first two games despite the look of the 3-9, 4-9 scorelines. Matt then began to dominate as he finally found some good depth and width to take it 9-5. The fourth game started the same way but then Evan put on a spurt and grabbed six quick points. Matt put a stop to that but despite valiant efforts the remaining few points were eventually found by Evan. 1-3.

Team debutante Stuart Moffat played very well against the very tough and experienced Allan Ramsay at no 3. The pattern of each game was the same with a big struggle and lots of hand outs to around five or six points apiece but each time it was Allan who put the pressure on at the right time to pick up the last few points per game. A very useful new addition to the team squad for Stuart with a very good first up performance and can only improve further with some more matches under his belt.

Next up was Mark Dutton at no2 against the infeasibly speedy Graeme Jones. Mark led convincingly in every game (5-2, 5-2 and 4-2 respectively) but Graeme's incredible nippiness around the court and in particular his eye-hand coordination when it came to getting racquet to ball and doing something annoyingly useful with it when under pressure saw him peg that back each time to leave Mark with a 0-3 loss. That despite some pretty impressive long "hang-time" dives to rescue some rallies. All in vain though.

The match of the night came with Christy Looby at no1 against the rangy David Legge. Christy was under the hammer in the first game at 1-9 but came out fighting in the second to take it 9-5. Then began a battle of attrition characterised by some big crisp hitting, nice touch and in some extraordinary retrieves under pressure from both players, particulary a couple of David's back-wall boast retrieves, one of which Christy rather disrepectfully responded to with a fabulous backhand cross court stone-dead nick. David managed to snatch the third game after Christy had led 8-5 at one point. The final game was a battle and a half with David initially pulling away to lead 5-8 but Christy grabbed the poll position back with some desperate work to see himself at game point. A few handouts for both players but David grabbed it in the end. A 1-3 loss for Christy but not far from turning the tables. Overall 4-20.

A second single point loss in a row for the thirds. We're not too far off the quality of the opposition but we'll all need to find another point or two per game from here on to give this division a shake.

Wednesday 12 October 2011

Jackass meets squash...

Question: What caused this?


Answer: Cameron Pilley recently broke the squash ball speed record, bringing it to 175mph. Don't ask me why, but his brother Morgan then volunteered to stand in the court and act as a human squash wall and tell us all what it felt like.
This is the result. Don't try this at home, folks.

Monday 10 October 2011

Grange at Octoberfest


Jules organised 2 teams from Grange at Octoberfest. This is similar to the famous Munich festival, except the beer-drinking is punctuated by some squash among the 18 teams.
Notable at the karaoke was Cockburnator and Langlurnator performing a duet that brought tears to their eyes (photo to follow).
The food was great, lasagne followed by cake on Fri and Honey-glazed chicken followed by rich chocolate cake on Sat.
Highlight was our final match against Dundee where Christy jumped the gun to avoid playing their #3 lady. So Andy Whitelaw manned up, only to suffer the ignominy of a granny (american scoring!) in one game. The photo shows him sheepishly walking off as the wee girl celebrates!
Andy grabs a GRANNY (AGAIN)

Grange I

Grange II

P Langley

P Cockburn/M Pearson

C Looby

D Gibson

A Whitelaw

E Inglis(Guest)

A Ross/M Bain

D Wood

J Lutte(Capt.)

S Nizam(Guest)

A Stewart

K Kennedy(Capt.)

GRG 1s away to Dalgety Bay 2s 05 Oct 2011

First 1s blog in quite some time!!

3 separate cars made their way to find to rendezvous down in the bay. We met up with the 3s who had just finished their own match. Not quite the result they were looking for but the boys were in high spirits which was good to see!

Richard V L has made a special request to be on first but was no where to be seen so Nos 5 and 3, Pete and Robin, went on first. Pete was on against previous nemesis Gerry Gemmel. With a hot court Pete thought he could get some revenge but Gerry had other plans later confessing the extreme temperatures were all his doing!

Pete seemed to serve things up to Gerry on a plate with Gerry sticking things away quite easily. Between games Pete was trying to guide RVL to the courts with no success. Probably distracted by Rich’s shenanigans led to Pete taking the 3rd game fairly easily. Que more phone calls to Rich. The phone was passed to Robin who was now showered and changed having only gone on just before Pete – we’ll say no more. Robin enlisted the help of a friendly Fifer help track down his team mate while Pete got back into his losing groove as Gerry closed out.

Nick Wood was on @ number one against Neil Bennet. A tough task if anyone remembers Neil’s performance at the Grange open last year! I didn’t see this one however by Nick’s account he played quite well and gave a good account of himself 0-3 the result however.

RVL finally turned up and went onto court last as Gary stepped on at number four agains ???.

Gary’s match was very tight. After 7-9 then 9-7 the games were tighed and Gary definatley playing the better squash. His opponent was still looking quite comfortably unlike Gary who was beginning to show some signs of fatigue. 2-9 in the third and by this stage Gary was blowing out his a*se. Dalgety Bay man kept the rallies going and finishing 3-9 in the fourth. Descent effort from the Grange man who was up against very fit opponent.

The catastrophic journey didn’t really seem to effect Rich as he stepped up against DGB newbie Mark Beamont. Steely and determined as ever Rich took it to his opponent. Didn’t see this one either however it was a close un. 7-9, 7-9 , 5-9. Another fine effort but with little points to show.

Up to the hillend tav to forrage for any left overs from the 3s match. Good grub and some good banter with the Dalgety Bay guys meant an enjoyable night despite the fairly heavy loss

2-18 the fun bus rolls on!
Teams:Grange 1 vs Dalgety Bay 2
PosPlayerRubbersGamesPoints PlayerRubbersGamesPoints
1Nick Wood008

Neil Bennett1327
2Richard Van Lienden0115

Mark Beaumont1333
3Robin Steel001

Alan Burton1327
4Gary Walker0117

Steve Howie1331
5Pete Cockburn0120

Gerry Gemmell1329
Total0361

515147
Competition Points3

18

Sunday 9 October 2011

Fours at Edin Sports Club 4s (Thurs, Oct 6)

Food Glorious Food!

What is there to say about the 4s match versus ESC 4s. The food we were given was fantastic – sumptuous helpings of pasta bake and garlic bread both accompanied by an excellent salad topped with a very tasty dressing. Grange players, never give up the opportunity to play the Sports Club away if you are in need of nourishment.

The game was played in a very friendly manner with excellent chat afterwards.

Oh by the way, Brian Sloan, Stephen Davey and Rocco each won a game. Neil Love maintained his double barrel surname - Love Love and Pete Young was also unfortunately whitewashed.

We were gubbed, 20pts – 5pts!

Funniest moment of the evening for me was hearing that upon Rocco sussing out the umpire of his match was being very generous regarding ‘strokes’ then began to ask for everything to the extent that his watching teammates feared he would start asking for a stroke due to his opponent being on the same court!

The only way is up! (report: Brian Sloan)

Friday 7 October 2011

Seconds home to Edin Uni Studs(Wed, Oct 6,'11)

Before our opening match Mike Hall noticed I was the only member of the Grange team without white hair. Little did he know that was about to change in the next hour. The EUS lads pitched up on time looking typically student like - young, thin, bored, energy in abundance and unscarred by life. Unfortunately for Grange they also knew how to play squash very well indeed. How annoying!

First up Andy Whitelaw at 5th string vs. Ben Duquemin. Young Ben immediately went on the offensive and Andy went into retrieving mode and the serve went back and forth in a hotly contested first 15 minutes. Ben took the lead only for Andy to come back at him with a late run of 5 points but eventually the first game finished 9-5 in Ben’s favour. Ben took the second easily but Andy regrouped and put up a good fight in the third putting Ben under some pressure and made him scamper for some of Andy’s craftier shots, but eventually youth triumphed over experience and Ben took the third. 3-0 in games. If Andy were 100% fit I reckon this would’ve been evenly contested. Let’s wait for the second half of the season.

At 4th string Mike Gore vs. Tom Metcalf. I only saw the guys warming up here as I was marking the other game but I did notice Tom looked like he could swing a racket handily so feared the worst for Mike. A completely founded concern as it turned out as Tom closed out Mike 3-0. So the Grange 2 matches down overall.

3rd string was myself vs. Nigel Anthony. Yes he is as posh as his name suggests but he can smack a ball. Opponent’s excellent court coverage and killing shots make Allan an unhappy and sweaty boy. On this occasion I was outclassed and definitely outgunned. By Nigel’s own admission he should be trying to get further up in the team but I think he was just trying to make me feel better. 3-0 loss.

Alan Stokes at 2nd string against Zahan Dastur. I didn’t see most of this match but I did overhear a fair bit. Grizzled veteran Stokes drew first blood and was leading 5-1 before Zahan regained his composure (or had he just finished his warm up?) and fought it back to even and eventually closed it out 9-6 against Alan. The second match was all Zahan 9-2 but it has to be said Stokesy rallied in the third and gave it his all, fighting like a tomcat and talking smack and really unsettled his opponent but after digging his heels in as much as he could Zahan and youth finally triumphed over craft and experience 9-3 in the third. Overall a 3-0 loss and 4 matches down.

Our ace in the hole Mike Hall had his work cut out for him against Nick Roberts but after Mike completed bossed the opening of the match and took the first game, all was on track for Grange to retain a scrap of dignity and best them at 1st string. Mike looked unruffled and composed against a mis-firing Nick and the second game was just as evenly contested but Nick took this one 9-7 and continued to tighten up and provide Mike with less opportunity eventually winning 3-1.

Obligatory pizzas and beers for everyone in the bar afterwards while the oldies sat at one end of the table and licked their wounds while the young ones occupied the other – the match a distant memory to them. An 18-3 overall defeat in points could perhaps be seen as a rocky start to the season but maybe it’s a wake up call we need. It definitely set my expectations!!

Overall looks like 3-20 loss. Match report Allan Wallace.

Thursday 6 October 2011

Thirds @ Dalgety Bay 3 (Wed 5th Oct, '11)

Having successfully negotiated the logistical nightmare that was getting a team to Dalgety Bay for a 6pm start, the thirds were a bit less successful in negotiating their way through the strong Dalgety Bay third team.

First up was Gavin Fulton at no 3 against the rangy Gerry Burton. Gavin hadn't played many matches due to a long standing injury and that showed somewhat in the first two games that went fairly convincingly to Gerry. Gavin professed himself reasonably happy with the way he was going given that recent history and then proceeded to give Gerry a thorough trouncing in the third game. Unfortunately Gerry responded to that by returning the favour in the fourth game to give a 1-3 loss for Gavin.

Being elevated to the dizzy heights of third team squash for the first time, Richard Nisbet took on the useful Willie Schulz at no 5. For the first two games Richard was playing the actual rallies well enough but was making plenty of mistakes much to his own annoyance to hand Willie a 0-2 game lead. It looked like it was going the same way in the third game but then a magical transformation occurred that saw Richard forcing the mistakes fom Willie to take a close game. Richard continued playing well and took a close fourth game. The fifth was likewise a titanic struggle and Richard had match point but it was rescued by Willie who eventually snatched the game 9-10 from under Richard's nose. Richard was rightly pleased with that effort considering how the night started for him.

Matt Pearson at no4 had a very torrid time against the very experienced Alan Jones. The first game was quite competitive but the remaining two were well dominated by Alan giving Matt little opportunity to get back in. Matt seemed a bit tentative in his squash on the night and knows that he would have needed to be a bit more forceful in asking Alan some squash questions.

At no 2 Mark Dutton took on the young whippet Scott Boswell. The first game was very hard fought with Scott just sneaking it due to his terrific speed around the court (amongst other things..). The second was likewise a very even struggle with some good squash being played all round and it went to Mark. It was looking like a monumental 5-setter was in prospect but at the start of the third game Scott suddenly found his length and width and Mark was always behind the eight ball from that point with Scott taking the remaining two games reasonably comfortably. The first few dives of the season were seen….the first being a particularly successful point-winner.

Trying to save the teams blushes at no1 Christy took on Craig Pounder, a player from whom he hadn't taken many games in past encounters. He soon put that to rights in the first with a 9-1 win, but Craig put the brakes on after that. Christy knew that to win he'd just need to keep going for everything and if it came off he might be able replicate the first game success. In the event though, Christy found himself often having to force shots that weren't really on and the percentages started to tell against him with Craig comfortably taking all of the remaining games.

A 7-20 loss for the thirds.

This account can’t end without relating one of the finest umpire put-downs that has been heard for a while. Christy (who on Monday had some dentistry to remove his front teeth) enquired of Willie Schulz whether he'd like to play to one point or two when a game had reached 8-8. His numerically correct answer was…"How many front teeth are you missing?"

A fab meal of pasta bolognese at the very fine Hill End pub completed a great social evening.

Pos Player Rubbers Games Points Player Rubbers Games Points
1
Christy Looby 0 1 12 Craig Pounder 1 3 28
2
Mark Dutton 0 1 18 Scott Boswell 1 3 34
3
Gavin Fulton 0 1 21 Gerry Burton 1 3 29
4
Matt Pearson 0 0 4 Alan Jones 1 3 27
5
Richard Nisbet 0 2 33 Willie Schultz 1 3 42
Total 0 5 88 5 15 160
Competition Points 5 18