Friday 30 November 2012

Firsts home v The Bay 3's (Tue, Non 27)

MoTM for me was Will who was a bit mince at the Grange Open but played some great stuff in this league match to frustrate the talented Craig Valente. Here's a pictorial tribute to The Kurgan:

PosPlayerRubbersGamesPointsPlayerRubbersGamesPoints
1Will Kerr1332Craig Valente-Wallace0129
2Pete Cockburn0126David Beaumont1332
3Nick Wood1327Alan Jones005
4Mike Hall1327Scott Boswell0012
5Stuart Moffat1327Neil Shepherd0013
Total4131391491
Competition Points164

Barbarians home v ESC6 (Thurs, Nov 29)

Not much to report here, we were all outclassed including late call-ups Ali and Bill.
    Interesting to hear afterwards that Moira thought ESC could field a 7th team and also the return of Lauren Gray to the women's squad at ESC, a player that took a game off Lisa Aitken last season.
   This looks like a complete whitewash, but I'll update it when the league sec. validates the ref bonus points and it reads 2-20 ;-)

Event: East Open 2012/13 Div5, Round: 9, Division: 5, Match Date: 29/11/2012
Last Modified: 30/11/2012, By MyMatrix Logon: Christy Looby

Home Team: Grange 5 Away Team: Edinburgh Sports Club 6
Pos Player Rubbers Games Points Player Rubbers Games Points
1 Christy Looby 0 0 15 Des Creasey 1 3 27
2 Stephen Davey 0 0 14 Matthew Le Roux 1 3 27
3 Peter Young 0 0 12 Peter Mackenzie 1 3 27
4 Alastair Ross 0 0 7 Moira Atkinson 1 3 27
5 Bill Marshall 0 0 9 James Gill 1 3 27
Total 0 0 57 5 15 135

Wednesday 28 November 2012

Grange Open report front & centre on GrassRoots journal

To see the full article, click here. The Evening News article will be on the newstands on Tue, Dec 4.

Monday 26 November 2012

National League schedule (by popular demand)

Click to enlarge:

Scottish National League Schedule: Click to enlarge
Click on Scottish Squash "Club Squash" microsite,
 then the National League tab  to see further Schedule detailRules.
No results officially yet.


Barbarians home v Colinton 6's(Thurs, Nov 22)

"The Big Man" fronted up at #5, fresh from his jackpot win in GameBall. Sank without trace in the first, a bit of coaching and better length had him almost sneaking the second. His oppo Mike Gibbs was belting the skin off the ball and Derek reverted to short shots in the third but a good debut nonetheless.
   Andrew Beames faced Jamie Davidson at #2, it started at the same time as Big Derek and was still on when I came off court so two normal matches in length. I didn't see much, there was a bit of discusion of Jamie standing over his own dropshots but unfortunately that gave him the idea to drive it long instead and that won him the fifth. Good coaching from Stephen Davey.
   Bob Baikie dropped David Grieve to death and exposed a dodgy hip injury but Dave got a point for the team out of it.
Christy was making his debut down in the dirtrackers and was in control most of the time against Derek Barr.
    Stephen Dave was MoTM with a demonstration of controlled tight squash, no fuss, pick up everything he throws at you and sling it back stuck to the wall. Adam Hill can move and hit, he just couldn't outlast Stephen who confined him to 11 points.
    Overall I was impressed with my sojourn to the 5's, good team spirit and banter in the bar, a top squash night. (Loob)

Home Team: Grange 5 Away Team: Colinton Castle 6
Pos Player Rubbers Games Points Player Rubbers Games Points
1 Christy Looby 1 3 27 Derek Barr 0 0 15
2 Andrew Beames 0 2 29 Jamie Davidson 1 3 34
3 David Grieve 0 1 23 Bob Baikie 1 3 33
4 Stephen Davey 1 3 27 Adam Hill 0 0 11
5 Derek Addison 0 0 8 Mike Gibbs 1 3 27
Total 2 9 114 3 9 120

Thursday 22 November 2012

GRG3 @ Waverly Vs WVY3s (Wed 21 Nov 2012)

    A very good night for the resurgent Grange 3 side with a 20-0 victory over Waverley 3rds.
    First up was Mark Dutton at no4 against Yvonne Ferguson.  Some good hard hitting and liberal use of some tricky serving saw Mark go to a strong 9-1, 9-0 lead.  Yvonne intelligently changed her game plan to a much slower and softer one and it nearly paid off but Mark managed to claw back from a 4-8 deficit to take it 10-9.  Only the two dives worth mentioning.
    At No5 Mike Gore took on Jo Watts. Mike was hitting the ball hard and accurately and raced to a 9-1, 9-1 lead.  Jo dug in a bit more in the third and was in touch at only 5-4 down but Mike put his foot a bit harder on the gas and ran out a 9-4 winner.
    At No2 Dougie Brown took and Bernard Chizanga.   Bernard led all of the games early on being up 1-4, 1-3 and 2-5 respectively but in every game Dougie put a halt to that and frustrated Bernard with some excellent length and width and took all the games 9-4, 9-5 and 9-6.
    Andy Whitelaw at No 2 was up against hard-hitting Martin Robertson. Andy played well but Martin remained in touch throughout all the games.  Andy always had the edge though and ran out 9-8, 9-7 9-7.
    The final match at no1 was between Robin Steel and Heather Spens.  Robin's hard hitting had Heather on the back foot much of the time but she retrieved well and was able to match Robin with touch for periods in the match.  Robin was able to put the foot down though whenever it looked like Heather would threaten and ran out 9-5, 9-5, 9-6
    Post match food very good and plentiful as it always is at Waverley
    PosPlayerRubbersGamesPoints PlayerRubbersGamesPoints
    1Robin Steel1327Heather Spens0016
    2Andrew Whitelaw1327Martin Robertson0022
    3Dougie Brown1327Bernard Chizanga0015
    4Mark Dutton1328Yvonne Ferguson009
    5Mike Gore1327Jo Watts006
    Total5151360068
    Competition Points180

GRG2 Vs Tyne 1 (21 Nov 2012)

And so it was on a cold November night the young guns from Grange 2 headed to Haddington to meet the relatively experienced set-up @ Tyne. Both mid to bottom table and needing the win.




We ran them close and it's fair to say the 16-8 score doesn't do Grange justice on paper. Captain for the evening and starting us off at Position 1, Sloan Ranger couldn't match Colin's deft touches at the front of the court. Gav also finding the going tough but Grange powered back in the form of Messrs Walker (fresh from the Himalayas) and Grinton (fresh from the operating theatre).



Poised 2-2 for the 5th players: Grange's Allan Wallace vs. Tyne's Shane Pressley. This was by far the match of the night with a packed balcony enjoying the long, punishing rallies. Allan ran Shane close in the first two matches but to no avail. The 3rd saw Shane race to a 7-1 lead only for Allan to gather his thoughts and start the comeback. 7-2, 7-3, 7-4, 7-5, 7-6... 7-7! After a few 'handouts', the score-line crawled to 8-8 but despite his best efforts and diving heroics of which Mark Dutton would be proud, Allan couldn't penetrate Shane's defences - finishing 3-0 to Tyne and cementing the win for the home team.



Thoughts turn to the Grange Open this weekend.

Sloan

Tuesday 20 November 2012

GRG1s Update (20 NOV 2012)


It’s official.  The 1s are on a hot streak!  No other way to describe it (well for this team anyway!)  2 wins in a row now.  Something not seen in many a year!

Last week we travelled to the Pleasance to face Ed Uni 2s who were languishing at the bottom of the the league.  A possible chance to scoop some points?  Not as easy as we thought it might.  We faced strong opposition and scraped out a 3-2 win.  Wins coming from myself, Will and Duncan Walker.  A mention goes to Duncan who faced a match ball in his fourth game.  Dunc asked for a let on a ball which looked to be and obvious let.  He got the let but Dunc wasn’t happy.  He wanted more and told the marker this.  He eventually went back onto the court, no happy!  Faced another match ball.  Won that point then steam rolled his way through the fourth and fifth to take his match 3-2!  Good Job!

This week we had a visit from Linlithgow 2s, a team sitting just above us in the league.  On paper the teams looked very evenly matched.  Stuart Moffat made his 1s debut fresh from a rugby tour to Bermuda!  Stu faced Drew Purdie who unfortunately tweeked his back early on never managing to compete meaning Stu started his 1s career with a win.  Unfortunately not the baptism of fire he was looking for.  See who we get for you next week!!

Mike Hall faced young Sean Graham who was fresh back from a stint in the states (what’s with these guys??)  Mike raced to an early lead in the 1st only to lose out 8-10 as Sean worked his way into the game.  This might have been cause for concern however Mike stuck with his game plan (including the plan that says give away 5 strokes a game!) and kept things tight down the walls and up the front pegging things back to get a 2-1 lead in a real nip and tuck game (whatever that is!).  Mike kept a cool head as Sean looked a bit rattled in the fourth.  Some great touches from Mike kept his nose in front to take the fourth 3-1 and get his first win of the season!

Nick Wood went on at 4 against Craig Morrison.  Didn’t see any of this but it looked like Nick was on form against a very strong opponent.  3-0 to Nick to take the bonus points and his second win of the season!

At two I went on against Jack Purdie.  A hot court with both players blasting like mad and not really achieving much.  Par for the course for me on these occasions!  We shared the first 2 in the space of about 20 minutes.  I couldn’t vouch for my opponent but I was feelin it so I tried to mix up the pace a bit.  Not normally my go to plan but it seemed to work as I took the 3rd fairly easily and managed to hang on to nab the fourth as well.  3-1.

Will Kerr did the business at 1 against Craig Mitchell to take maximum points.  Didn’t see this either.  Usual slow start from Will losing the first.  9-0, 9-0, 9-4 was how he rolled after that.  Awesome!

A couple of well needed wins for the 1s and the teams overall.  Hopefully more to come!

Pizza back up at the bar after.  Vedgy Mike Hall was left with the task of ordering the grub.  Never managed to get a vegetarian pizza for himself however!  Fail!  Some deals were made with the 4s who were also at home and we did a swap so that Mike could eat that night.  He sure did.  He ate the whole thing!!
 
Pete

Grange 1st Ladies away to Edinburgh Sports Club - Mon 19th Nov

We had our four top guns available tonight, what could go wrong??  

Up first at 5 was moi who managed to lose 10:9 in both games 3 and 4.  The luck of the Irish was sadly absent tonight so a 3:1 win to ESC.  Lottie used the first game to warm up and then got down to some great squash, beating her opponent 3:1.  Georgie was on fine form too - shows what you can do when you play 7 days a week - and beat a very canny Moira 3:0.  Catherine had   an almighty battle at #2 against Julie B who dug in and refused to give up, winning the last two games 10:8 each.  Nae luck with tie-breakers tonight.  

So, everything hinged on Donna v Kirsty Craig.  This was a great game to watch, some fantastic smashes and boasts, along with some dodgy elephant impersonations from Donna.  This turned out to be a game of swings and roundabouts with each player taking turns to play some great squash. So, as predicted by Donna, it went to down to the final game.  This is when being in your 20s really helps....Kirsty remembered what to do and powered her way through the fifth game.  An ashen-faced Donna had very little left in the tank and far too quickly lost the final game. The annoying thing is that overall we won more games than Sports club but that shows what well matched games were played.  

Final match points were 13:11 to Sports Club.  Supper was fab - baked potatoes with about 10 fillings.  We are so looking forward to home advantage when they visit us after xmas. (Karen)
Pos Player Rubbers Games Points Player Rubbers Games Points
1 Donna Cruickshank 0 2 26 Kirsty Craig 1 3 32
2 Catherine John 0 2 40 Juliet Shaw 1 3 34
3 Georgina Jamieson 1 3 27 Moira Atkinson 0 0 16
4 Lottie Fulton 1 3 33 Julie Barr 0 1 14
5 Karen Kennedy 0 1 31 Debbie Connell 1 3 35
Total 2 11 157 3 10 131
Competition Points 11 13

Monday 19 November 2012

National League in the news...

Our heroics at Giffnock (ok, when I say our, I mean "their", all I did was a bit of clapping/cheering) aree front and centre on Grassroots Sport site, along with match report, click to read:
(Loob)

Sunday 18 November 2012

November GameBall Draw (Fri Nov 16)

The 2nd Squash Club Gameball draw was held immediately after the O'Brien Bucket final, Colin Williamson picking out lucky number 2 - Derek Addison. Derek was on hand to celebrate his win of £100 (cheque is in the post Derek) and Colin actually smiled - We have proof on the Squash Club website!

Other than that club night continued with friendly squash and banter, the 4th team returned home to have their post-match relaxation therapy (pizza and beer) in the committee room and squash members Maggie Harrison and Norman Clements were married in the Grange club and hosted their wedding reception. Just another Friday at the Grange!

Bill.

P.S - Has anyone lost some plastic clothes pegs?


O'Brien Bucket Final (Fri, Nov 16)

The Bucket final saw new member Stephen Thomas make it all the way through the matches to meet old hand but still a youngster Colin Williamson.

Colin is no stranger the the O'Brien Bucket final, being runner up twice and competing in most of the draws for the past few years.
Movember. Stephen's psychedelic shorts
Steve on the other hand had never been on court where a referee was in attendance, never mind a crowd of spectators! Amongst those spectators were Mum (Janis) and Dad (David) Williamson, David having won the cup a few years ago. No pressure then!

After a nervous start (by the marker - David Grieve isn't used to 'American' scoring) the crowd were entertained with a good-natured final, Colin's experience (despite his youth and heavy handicap) coming through and enabling him to win 3-1 on the night. I know Colin has wanted to get his hands on this trophy for some time, well done. He takes the spoils of a prized Titan racket bag and has his name engraved on the oldest trophy in the Grange squash club, a few lines below his Dad. 
Another well done to Stephen Thomas, brand new to the club and Edinburgh he battled hard for his runner-up position and I'm sure he will enjoy his prize of a choice bottle of red wine. The experience will stand him in good stead for next year.

We have a new competitions secretary this year, Jonathan Norrie. A huge pat on the back for him, we had 32 entrants in this year's Bucket and Jonathan persuaded all of the hopefuls to get their games played inside the tight schedule and the final was a great success. Well done Jonathan. (Report: Bill M)
.

Saturday 17 November 2012

Blobby in Pudsey-day Cameo

Resources are tight in the fourth team as I was drafted into a Friday-night appearance against Colinton Castle. A 250 mile drive from Liverpool saw me arrive at Colinton at exactly 7pm to find I was the only player there. That was because we had switched the tie to Accies. A few frantic phone calls saw us arrive at Accies and underway only a half hour late. Dave Gibson had used the time to limber up, only to pull a muscle and be unable to play. Andrew Beames was drafted in from the clubhouse and we finally got underway with Andrew and Pete Young first up.

Andrew started by playing lots of cross-courts, which his opponent picked-off easily. So he kept sending over more cross-courts convinced that eventually his opponent would move to the T. Unfortunately, he didn't and Andy went down 5-9, 4-9, 7-9 having never hit a single shot down the wall.

On the other court Pete was playing precision squash and took the first two games cleanly 9-4, 9-3. But his opponent took the next 3-9 and we went into the pivotal game. The fourth was cat and mouse 3-3, 4-4, 6-6, 7-7 before Pete found himself game point down at 7-8. A brilliant rescue brought up 8-8 and in a set 2, Pete took the first point to serve at match point. AAargh, but wait, another match point. AAAArgh and the game was lost 9-10. The decider was lost 3-9 and Grange 4 were two down.

Next up were Stephen and Anthony. Stephen began out of sorts and was soon 0-5 before finding his range and taking the first two games 9-6, 9-2. But the tide was turning, and the third was lost 2-9. On the other court  Anthony was struggling and was 1-2 quite quickly at 3-9, 9-4, 5-9. At this point the third court became free and we went on.

Having spent the last 7 weeks in hotels, I more resembled Mr Blobby making a guest appearance on Children in Need than a Number 1 for the fourth team. But as we were 2-0 down, being canon-fodder wasn't really going to matter. The first was tight until I was 7-8 down, but I managed to save a couple of game points before sneaking it 10-9. The next few were exchanged 4-9, 9-4, 5-9 and we were into a fifth that I really wasn't sure I'd be able to finish. By this time, everyone was finished and on the balcony. In the fifth, a 4-1 lead was quickly squandered with 3 non-returned serves to bring up 4-4. And similarly, a 7-4 lead was lost to 7-7. Soon I was facing match point at 7-8 down. A brilliant (lucky) shot got back serve and at 8-8, set 2 was called. Two quick points brought up 10-8 in the fifth. Ouch, that hurt.

So imagine my surprise to learn we had won 3-2.

Stephen had played an epic fourth game which he lost 8-9 following a brave 'set 1' call, to bring up 2-2 before superior fitness saw his take the fifth 9-3. Similarly, Anthony had turned his game around with a 9-7, 9-7 scoreline to win 3-2.

So all-in-all a great first win of the season for the fourths.

It turns out, Colinton Castle had switched the match because they had a quiz night on. Thank goodness, we only had 100 guests at a wedding to contend with...  Pizza was briefly consumed in the Committee Room before retiring for a warm bath.

Mike

Wednesday 14 November 2012

Grange 2s Vs Dean 1s 14 Nov 2012

A much needed haul of points was required tonight as Grange 2 were sitting close to the bottom of the table. Late inclusion Colin Williamson started precedings nervously versus Dean number 5 Bobby McKinney. After seeing out the very long first game Colin went on to comfortably win 3-0. At the same time on court 2 Andy Whitelaw played against Ross Anderson. I didn't see this game but Andy came away victorious 3-1. A good start for the Grange.

Next up was Allan Wallace versus David Thomson. Similarly to Colin's game the first one was long and nervy but after taking the first game 10-8 it was plain sailing after that winning the next 2.

Gavin Fulton versus Matthew Hunter was a five setter easing his way to win the first 2 games then in his own words went of the boil to let Matthew come back to win 3-2.

The final game was Ian Forbes versus Drew McKenzie which went to 5. Points were 41-38 with Ian just squeaking through 3-2. This was certainly helped by a number of rim shots at crucial times.

Over all a much needed win 17-6.

National League at Giffnock (Tue, Nov 13)

A historic outing, first ever appearance for the club in Scottish National Squash League in our 36 years of existance.
    #1 Douglas Kempsell took to court first at 7pm with the arena nicely heated up to 23C (click the pic to zoom in on Temperature display) and the LEDs lighting up everything brilliantly. Douglas lit up the court with some scintillating squash against Mark Ford, winning the first game for the loss of just 6 points (PAR-11!) as I arrived. He needs to keep his points down, I thought, this could go to countback. Douglas must have read my mind, he won the next two for the loss of just 1 point in each. Awesome against someone as steady as Mark.
   Next on at #4/ladies string, Georgina Jamieson took on ex-Scotland player Caron Lawrie. Vey small font on the "ex" bit. Caron was relaxed, ruthless, clinical, intense, energetic. Georgine was tense, lethargic and would probably admit, everything Caron was not. 0-11 the first, not looking good for countback points. 4-11 the second and then 2-11, better.
   It would all hinge on #3, Captain Cockburn v Michael Rogerson. Assuming Kevin would win 3-0 at #2, we needed to take a game here to win on countback games, as if it went to countback points, we were in trouble. First game. Nip and tuck. 10-10, 2 clear, Michael took it 12-10. Close but no cigar, breathed ref Douglas Kempsell. Second game. Extra points 10-10 2-clear, 11-11, 13-11, we got it! Phew. Michael won the next two 11-8 11-4 as Cockburnator had run his socks off and the tank was empty. He's done enough... hopefully!!!
  So would Kevin Moran capitalise and bring home the bacon with Stuart George 3-0. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, yes he can, Kevin Mor-an. 11/6 11/3 11/7 in a tremendous display of free-flowing, attacking squash from both. We won on games countback 7-6 to get the 3 win bonus points. We would have won 107-101 on points countback had it come to that, very tight though! Heroic stuff from everyone, even Georgina's 6 points could have been the difference!
   Lasagne and beers afterwards (soft drinks for the Academy hermits ;-) plus plenty of chat on the Nov 24 Aberdeen round and who was or wasn't re-arranging. Giffnock, ahead of the rest, apart from Grange. Great support on the balcony and a terrific club to visit.

Saturday 10 November 2012

Grange 5s home v. HWU 4...Thursday 8th November.


In sharp contract to last weeks venue, the courts at our home venue of the Academy were warm. Quite warm. Very warm, Rather hot actually – or am I just out of condition?
Anyhoo, stepping on to the court for the ‘warm’ up I felt the ball was chasing me around the court it was bouncing so much, I couldn’t find a corner to hide in. This game took a lot longer than last weeks drubbing, but the end result was the same – 0-3. One of those days.
Craig lost his first game a startling 0-9, but gathered his wits and battled for a 10-9 win in the second, before succumbing in the 3rd and 4th.
The next three games were pretty much one-sided affairs, David Tom and Stephen closing out their matches fairly easily. All of the games were played in a great spirit, and we returned to the Grange club for our weekly pizza fest. Due to a wedding function we were banished to the committee room which was far enough away from the DJ to make the volume of music just bearable. Old? Me?
The conversation ranged from the luxury of having pineapple on a Pizza when Neil isn’t on the team, skiing in Scotland, sub-aqua diving around the world compared to the delightful visibility under Loch Long, and the dangers of hanging upside down in a dry suit due to pockets of gas trapped in the feet!!! Oh, and the leisurely and relaxing pastime of cycling in towns and cities.
Bill.
PosPlayerRubbersGamesPoints  PlayerRubbersGamesPoints 
1Stephen Davey1327  Darren Buckley009 
2Tom McEwan1327  Rob Daley001 
3David Grieve1327  Alistair McConnell004 
4Bill Marshall0021  James Robertson1329 
5Craig Watt0120  Clive Shannon1336 
Total310122  2679 
Competition Points13  6

Friday 9 November 2012

Firsts featured on GrassRoots front page


Click here for GrassRoots Squash reports

Grange 2nds home v. Mammas...Wednesday 7th November.


Pos Player Rubbers Games Points Player Rubbers Games Points
1 Ian Forbes 0 0 4 John Rae 1 3 27
2 Duncan Walker 0 0 11 Neil McAllister 1 3 27
3 Stuart Moffat 1 3 27 Lindsay Muir 0 0 12
4 Dougie Brown 1 3 36 Stuart Williamson 0 2 30
5 Mark Dutton 0 0 6 John Davidson 1 3 27
Total 2 6 84 3 11 123
Competition Points 6 14
Match Report:
The 2nds lost this match 2-3 to Mamma's, but it would have to be said that the overall match scoreline was a little flattering to us given the magnitude of the defeats of the three Grange players on the losing end.
First up was captain Ian Forbes at No 1 against John Rae. Thanks to an ill-judged decision to join the "Movember" charity movement, Ian was sporting one of the dodgiest moustaches this side of a 70's soft porn film….but that wasn't the only thing that wasn't right.  Unfortunately John's slow and well weighted style of squash was too much for Ian on the night and he never managed to adapt his game to it or force much in the way of concession from Silver Fox Rae.  A pretty convincing 1-9, 2-9, 1-9 loss for Ian and a post match comment from him that he'd rarely enjoyed a match of squash less.
Duncan Walker at No2 was up against Neil McAllister, and the story wasn't that much different to Ian's.   Duncan never really got to grips with match in the way he'd have wanted and another comfortable 3-9, 5-9, 3-9 loss for the Grange was the result.
Things began looking up when Stuart Moffat took on Lindsay Muir at no 3.   Stuart's hard-hitting and well-controlled game resulted in two comfortable game wins to start.   Lindsay provided some resistance with his slower touch game in the third but Stuart imposed control again to win 9-3, 9-2, 9-7.
The high point of the night for Grange and the best contest of the night (the only contest, really) came in the no4 match between Dougie Brown and Stuart Williamson.  Dougie can rarely have been in better form for the club and his touch, weight and shot selection had Stuart baffled and well on the back foot for much of the match.  Doug's backhand drop and his barrage of well judged lobs to both sides had Stuartconstantly frustrated.   Stuart was no slouch though and took the first and fourth games on the way through.  Doug ran out a well-deserved winner 4-9, 9-4, 9-4, 5-9, 9-4.
At no5, Mark Dutton played last against John Davidson.    The warm-up went quite well for the Grange, but things slid quickly downhill when actual play started.  Two very quick blink-and-you-miss-it game losses were registered before Mark actually turned up.  The third game was much more competitive but the damage was already done and a  0-9, 1-9, 5-9 loss the overall result.
Post match pizzas enjoyed by all, but always conscious that in a pizza contest it's pretty hard to beat those guys…...

Thursday 8 November 2012

Three's at HWU 2's (Wed, Nov 7)

Christy went on with Colin Macbeth at #5, Christy proved to be Macduff with 2 grannies delivered as a riposte to the HWU #1 coaching Colin after the first game! 3-0.
  At #3, supersub Matt Pearson got outhit by Andrew Moab, playing a Grange Div 4 team for the 3rd time this season. At #4, Mike Gore was strangely off the pace against a steady Stuart Williamson 0-3. Gavin Fulton at #1 mixed it up with Stewart Morrison, good enough to take a game but Stewart had enough in reserve 1-3.
   MotM was Andy Whitelaw who got the call that he was playing at 7:30 and duly showed up, fresh from his trip to Oman. Two games down in short order to blow away the cobwebs, Andy got well stuck in to take the third off Peter Western and was unlucky to be edged out 9-10 in the fourth.
   We then enjoyed Phil McWilliams v John Grindley in a Div. 1 match that we were dragged away from at 2-2 for food. Talk in the bar turned to the blooding of the Grange 4 captain the previous night (see blog report below) and with Man Utd playing Braga, how Andy Whitelaw should have taken a dive when Peter Western was swatting away a crap shot in disgust and the follow through caught Andy on the forearm. Food was emergency pizzas.
   Colinton 4's next week, we need to stop the rot against Eric, Mike Brown & the Williamsons.
PosPlayerRubbersGamesPoints         PlayerRubbersGamesPoints 
1Gavin Fulton0119Stewart Morrison1330
2Andrew Whitelaw0122Peter Western1335
3Matt Pearson009Andrew Moar1327
4Mike Gore008Stuart Williamson1327
5Christy Looby1327Colin Macbeth003
Total1585412122
Competition Points515

Sunday 4 November 2012

A tribute to Dutts...

I dive to get the ball, then I get up again,
I dive to get the ball, even tho my knees are bleeding
I dive to get the ball, then I run for the next one..

Not only that, our one and only Dutts is now an intrepid boatman, intrepid enough to get in the papers ;-)

Lifeboat called to help yacht in Kilchattan Bay

Published on Wednesday 6 June 2012

THE RNLI’s Largs lifeboat was called out after a yacht with two people on board got into difficulty in Kilchattan Bay at the south end of Bute on Tuesday afternoon.
Clyde Coastguard sent the lifeboat and the Clydeport pilot cutter Mount Stuart to help the yacht Tegan after it fouled its propeller on creel lines in the bay at around 4pm.
The Mount Stuart held the vessel from going ashore until the lifeboat arrived. The yacht was then freed and towed to Largs marina.

Friday 2 November 2012

The 43 year rise and fall of East squash....


Approx: I just multiplied the No. of Divs by 10 teams per div.













Contrasted with the rise, fall and rise of Grange Squash teams

Three's home v Colinton 5's(Thurs, Nov 1)

Rocco came in as supersub #5 against Colinton's supersub Robin Carse. Rocco played like a sub in game 1 as Robin's everest serves caught him cold. After earnest coaching from the captain to "get some pace on it", Rocco proceeded to hit the skin off the ball for the loss of just a handful of points in the next 3 games. Supersub!
    Gorzer took on Richard Powell at #3 and proceeded to play like a sub, he was either timing the ball too early or too late. Some more coaching to "get it to the back and get a rhythm" and Mike got some rallies going, started middling it. Just conceded a handful of points in the next 3 games. One priceless cameo... Rich was a bit stranded out wide in the backhand back court playing a loose ball down the middle, Mike put it away wide on the forehand, Rich bumped into Mike, uttered "oh f*#k off you", collective intake of breath on the balcony, stare from Mike, followed by "Not YOU obviously, me" from Rich, cue howls of laughter from the balcony and a smile from Mike. Classic.
   Christy faced Adrian at #4, Adrian got plenty of handouts with his killer backhand service return but it was difficult for him to score when he served and got involved in a rally. Gavin had too much movement and pace for Gordon Robertson and Mark slotted away 3 comfortable games for the loss of just one against John Brown. To be honest, John looked dubious about his footing and again the Accies sanding dust does not appear to have been dealt with, Gavin had a heavy fall too.
    Good banter back at the pavilion, the Colinton boys having a laugh at Christy being a squash anorak and remembering names like Osinski from Napie University and who beat who in 1998 with a reverse angle into the nick! 5 pizza's between 7 of us just about got mopped up and the bar bill was a mild £25. (Loob)


Event: East Open 2012/13 Div1-4, Round: 4, Division: 4, Match Date: 1/11/2012
Home Team: Grange 3Away Team: Colinton Castle 5
PosPlayerRubbersGamesPoints        PlayerRubbersGamesPoints
1Mark Dutton1330John Brown0123
2Gavin Fulton1327Gordon Robertson006
3Mike Gore1331Rich Powell0113
4Christy Looby1327Adrian Craxton005
5Rocco Pannozzo1332Robin Carse0115
Total5151470362

Thursday 1 November 2012

GRG 1 Vs Abercorn (31 Oct 2012)

The 1s were away to Abercorn on Wednesday night. After 3 matches we were facing the top team and keen to get our season going in the right direction.


Me and Gordy went on first at 4 and 5 against Ian Ross and Greg Slawinski. Gordy toook my advice and imagine he was playing Dougie Brown. By all accounts it sounded edgy but Gordy managed not to get too drawn into Ian's game and played hi own to win 3-0.

I was on a hot court against Abercorn newbie Greg. Some long punishing rallies went on (and on and on!) with big hitting from the both of us. Progress was slow bt I managed to get to 2-0 up after what felt like ages! Greg made a few errors in the first couple but was getting into his game nicely and seemed somehow to be picking up the pace! I wasn't and lost the next 2 with not much fight to be honest. The rallies were lasting ages may I remind you! I picked things back up in the 5th to give it a last shot! took an early lead, only to be pulled back and so it went on like this until 6-6. Edged to 8-6 matchball me but by this time i was seeing stars! Greg kept coming back at me with some riculous running. I think by this time we had been on court for 6 and half hours. Anyway, after all that he pegged me back. We battled at 8-8 all for a while. By this time I was giving up the slashing and had delved into my touch game!! This meant tinned or very high drops which runner Greg chowed down on to take it 10-8. I pretty good match and not to gutted by the result. Especially when I heard he was a former Olympic marathon runner! Totally not confirmed but I am sure it must be true!!

Was never going to happen over 5!!

Nick Wood was on at 3 against Gordon Steele. Sounded like at tight one when they were at 1-1. Nick kept with his game to take 3-1 and his first win of the season!

Mike Hall at 2 was against David Ross who seems to be going from strength to strength everytime I see him. I didn't see this but David was in and out of the changing room between the short games. "four shot rallies that either end with a tin or a stroke". He didn't look to happy which was surprising as he won 3-0!

Last up was your champ and mine Will against Les. A good match up with different styles. Les raced to a 2-0 lead however Will defo looked in it. Looking equally rusty and sharp at the same time if that was at all possible!! The sharpness came back as Will slotted some lovely vollies and dropped Les from everywhere. Les defo on the ropes as Will pulled things back to 2-2. Last game and for the match, could Will hold out and pull of an Arsenal type comeback. Unfortnately no! Man of steel Les whohad been throwing kettle bells around all day had plenty left and kicked on a gear to take the fith. Good game and overall good match.



Chilli up in the bar after wards where we learnt that Will is not all that good at sking??



Pete