Grange 1 continued their '09 winning run with a hard fought 15-11 win over Watsons 2.
Building on last weeks sensational overhead shot-making, Will set the early pace with a blistering 3-0 win over John Walbaum. Brian's deft touch eventually overcame the ever-fit Chris Weare in a tense 5th for a crucial 3-2 win.
Mike put all the pace into the 4th string game but ultimately succumbed 1-3 to some fantastic touches from Peter Wilson. Chris and Mike Robson had a hard hitting encounter with Chris managing to squeak past 3-1 while Ian lost 0-3 to Colin Grant in the first string encounter.
A couple of cold ones, some pizza and Ian serving formal notice of his intention to captain the '09/10 side rounded off the evenings entertainment. All in, a tough gig ...........but the fun bus rolls on. (report: CM)
Thursday, 5 February 2009
Monday, 2 February 2009
Grange 3 vs Tyne 2 29/02/2008
Another maximum pointer v Tyne 2 sees Grange 3 keep clear blue water between ourselves and Edinburgh Sports and also helps us maintain contact with leaders Inveresk, setting up a great showdown for next weeks top of the table clash. We anticipate that the majority of the world's sporting press will be wanting to attend that one.
The overall result was 20-5. Some good squash played by all but the courts at St George's school are particularly cold and most everybody had at least some periods of difficulty coping with the squash difficulties that presented.
Mike Scott made his third team debut with a solid 3-1 win at No1 over David Ireson. He ran a little hot and cold, but quite a bit more of the former than the latter and ran out a comfortable winner.
At No 4, Pete Cockburn found a tough opponent in Donald Smith who pushed him all the way in each of the three games, taking him to long games in the first two. The third was an equally tight tussle but Pete managed to close it out without (quite) having to go to ten points again.
At no 3 Christy Looby had a comfortable run out against R Jeffries. Brief periods of resistance by his opponent were soon snuffed out and 3-0 was the inevitable result.
At no 2 Patrick Langley was up against S Falconer in the toughest battle of the night. The games swung both ways and it was never clear who would triumph until the fifth game when Patrick pulled away. 3-2.
At No 5 Mark Dutton had a good game against J Ireson and there was never tool much risk to the 3-0 ultimate scoreline. The never-serve-the-same-twice-in-a-row tactic proved his opponent's chief undoing. Having said that, the attempted corkscrew that took a dead nick high up in the front wall corner to travel straight back down the backhand wall at some considerable velocity did cause some amusement to the folks on the balcony.
The off-court events were of the usual Keystone Cops variety with Captain Dutton having driven all the way to the Grange club having entirely forgotten that only two minutes earlier he'd offered a lift to Michael and Patrick. Having finally got the pair to the club via a return journey to the school, Michael announces that he's left his racquet there and Pete C has to take him all the way back.....
The overall result was 20-5. Some good squash played by all but the courts at St George's school are particularly cold and most everybody had at least some periods of difficulty coping with the squash difficulties that presented.
Mike Scott made his third team debut with a solid 3-1 win at No1 over David Ireson. He ran a little hot and cold, but quite a bit more of the former than the latter and ran out a comfortable winner.
At No 4, Pete Cockburn found a tough opponent in Donald Smith who pushed him all the way in each of the three games, taking him to long games in the first two. The third was an equally tight tussle but Pete managed to close it out without (quite) having to go to ten points again.
At no 3 Christy Looby had a comfortable run out against R Jeffries. Brief periods of resistance by his opponent were soon snuffed out and 3-0 was the inevitable result.
At no 2 Patrick Langley was up against S Falconer in the toughest battle of the night. The games swung both ways and it was never clear who would triumph until the fifth game when Patrick pulled away. 3-2.
At No 5 Mark Dutton had a good game against J Ireson and there was never tool much risk to the 3-0 ultimate scoreline. The never-serve-the-same-twice-in-a-row tactic proved his opponent's chief undoing. Having said that, the attempted corkscrew that took a dead nick high up in the front wall corner to travel straight back down the backhand wall at some considerable velocity did cause some amusement to the folks on the balcony.
The off-court events were of the usual Keystone Cops variety with Captain Dutton having driven all the way to the Grange club having entirely forgotten that only two minutes earlier he'd offered a lift to Michael and Patrick. Having finally got the pair to the club via a return journey to the school, Michael announces that he's left his racquet there and Pete C has to take him all the way back.....
Sunday, 1 February 2009
3rds "home" v Tyne (Thurs, Jan 31)
Peter Cockburn at #4 won 3-0. Christy beat Raymond Jeffries 3-0. Mark at #5 won 3-0 against Jerry Ireson with not an orthodox serve in sight. Never before have I seen
someone serve with a clinging drive down their own wall
Next on was Michael Scott against #1 David Ireson, a classic battle of the speed merchant versus the shotmaker. Once Michael stopped paddling it, the result was never in doubt; 3-1.
Last on was #2 Patrick Langley who proceeded to entertain us with a five setter which he duly won.
Overall 20-5 if I remember correctly. Puts us in good position for the trip to Irveresk in their Castle which we have to win if we are to make inroads into their table-top perch. (CL - apologies for any errors)
Food report: sumptuous pizza feast which satiated even the vegetarians among us
someone serve with a clinging drive down their own wall
Next on was Michael Scott against #1 David Ireson, a classic battle of the speed merchant versus the shotmaker. Once Michael stopped paddling it, the result was never in doubt; 3-1.
Last on was #2 Patrick Langley who proceeded to entertain us with a five setter which he duly won.
Overall 20-5 if I remember correctly. Puts us in good position for the trip to Irveresk in their Castle which we have to win if we are to make inroads into their table-top perch. (CL - apologies for any errors)
Food report: sumptuous pizza feast which satiated even the vegetarians among us
Friday, 30 January 2009
Results of 2008 Winter League 4
Another very busy league with 15 leagues and 92 players involved. However, once again a number of injuries took players out and so total games played was steady at 161.
The results of the league are here ..... 2008 Winter League 4
Some very competitive leagues again. League 5 was particularly close with places 3, 4 and 5 all on 25 points. Don't ask me to explain how I sorted that one out! The top 3 in league 7 were only separated by a point. Christy Looby showed signs of a return to form, edging promotion back to league 2, while Michael Scott was very decisive in bouncing back from injury to take league 4 with 5 straight wins. Other players gaining promotion with an unbeaten record were Ian Forbes, Andrew Claymore, David Gillespie (again), Darren Hall(again) and Ian Roberts(again!). Frances Reid-Rowland also made a decisive move out of the bottom league with 4 wins out of 5.
In the points tally, Andrew Claymore has jumped into the lead with 126 points, ahead of Alastair Ross (118) and Will Henderson (117). There are 4 players who have managed a maximum 20 games so far, but many more have a 100% record, when injuries are taken into account. Overall we have 31 players who have played at least 4 games in each of the first four leagues - great commitment to keeping the leagues active - well done!
We have a net increase of two players this time, with 8 new members coming in and 6 dropping out through injury or other reasons.
For those interested, here is the full set of new leagues ..... 2008 Winter League 5
This league is a great chance to sharpen up your squash and your fitness ahead of the club tournament in March. Good luck and enjoy your games!
Dougie Brown
The results of the league are here ..... 2008 Winter League 4
Some very competitive leagues again. League 5 was particularly close with places 3, 4 and 5 all on 25 points. Don't ask me to explain how I sorted that one out! The top 3 in league 7 were only separated by a point. Christy Looby showed signs of a return to form, edging promotion back to league 2, while Michael Scott was very decisive in bouncing back from injury to take league 4 with 5 straight wins. Other players gaining promotion with an unbeaten record were Ian Forbes, Andrew Claymore, David Gillespie (again), Darren Hall(again) and Ian Roberts(again!). Frances Reid-Rowland also made a decisive move out of the bottom league with 4 wins out of 5.
In the points tally, Andrew Claymore has jumped into the lead with 126 points, ahead of Alastair Ross (118) and Will Henderson (117). There are 4 players who have managed a maximum 20 games so far, but many more have a 100% record, when injuries are taken into account. Overall we have 31 players who have played at least 4 games in each of the first four leagues - great commitment to keeping the leagues active - well done!
We have a net increase of two players this time, with 8 new members coming in and 6 dropping out through injury or other reasons.
For those interested, here is the full set of new leagues ..... 2008 Winter League 5
This league is a great chance to sharpen up your squash and your fitness ahead of the club tournament in March. Good luck and enjoy your games!
Dougie Brown
Firsts @ Linlithgow (Wed, Jan 28,'09)
Will Kerr had a convincing win at #5. His opponent lobbed him right into the back corner in one rally, Will rose majestically and middled it into a rolling nick in the front corner, the whole balcony went "wow!".
Mike Perring lost at #4, Chris lost 1-3 at #3 but Brian Buchanan won at #2. This left Ian Green to bring home the bacon at#1 and he did so in convincing style against Roy Miller.
Overall 15-9 keeps us in touch with the top of the table.
Mike Perring lost at #4, Chris lost 1-3 at #3 but Brian Buchanan won at #2. This left Ian Green to bring home the bacon at#1 and he did so in convincing style against Roy Miller.
Overall 15-9 keeps us in touch with the top of the table.
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Seconds home v Heriot Watt Uni 2 (Wed, 28.01.09)
Tonight's games lifted the spirits a little after last week's hammering by Dalgety Bay. But our rivals ESC and Mammas won't drop any points against these guys, so we couldn't afford to either. Or as Stokesy observed "If we don't take 20 points here we deserve a good kicking..."
Centre stage with Vince Dobbin, Stokesy dominated and opened the score line with 9-0. It was something of a surprise then to run to five games, and by this point things may not have appeared in total control to the untrained eye. Point no. 20 was looking shakey for a moment, but Stokesy knew it was never in doubt and bagged it 3-2.
The rest of us all won 3-0. Dougie played Russell Hobson, who had a 2-3 marathon with Christy last half. Al played Bruce Davies. Robert played Christina Graham - some superb rallies here. And Mike played a solid game at no. 1 against Mark Rotton.
Thereafter we retired to the committe room with table service by Franco.
Overall 5-0 (20-4 on points).
Next week we have a bye, so will be down for training. More work on drop shots needed - 8.30 Tuesday.
Centre stage with Vince Dobbin, Stokesy dominated and opened the score line with 9-0. It was something of a surprise then to run to five games, and by this point things may not have appeared in total control to the untrained eye. Point no. 20 was looking shakey for a moment, but Stokesy knew it was never in doubt and bagged it 3-2.
The rest of us all won 3-0. Dougie played Russell Hobson, who had a 2-3 marathon with Christy last half. Al played Bruce Davies. Robert played Christina Graham - some superb rallies here. And Mike played a solid game at no. 1 against Mark Rotton.
Thereafter we retired to the committe room with table service by Franco.
Overall 5-0 (20-4 on points).
Next week we have a bye, so will be down for training. More work on drop shots needed - 8.30 Tuesday.
Thursday, 22 January 2009
Seconds away v Dalgety Bay 2 (Wed, Jan21 '09)
Many times we have played the overseas fixture at Dalgety Bay against the same old familiar faces, but tonight they produced two new players. Dougie and Mike drew the short straws and found themselves up against star opponents.
Dougie played the newcomer Neil Shepperd at no. 4, who had Hamer style and is clearly their no.2 for next week. Dougie pulled out all the stops, the squash was TV standard, but 0-3 to Grange.
Mike Hall played secret weapon Richard Northern at no.1. Richard was a class act, incredibly relaxed inspite of Mike's frenetic attacks. Great entertainment, but 0-3.
At 5 Pete Cockburn came close to beating Alan Jones, but Alan somehow disrupted Pete's flow to take it 3-2.
Robert took on his first half opponent, the formidable Gerry Burton. It's difficult to see how to beat this old timer. Nothing gets past him, and he can finish a rally from anywhere. 1-3.
Al met Craig Pounder for a Grange Open grudge match, took the first but no more, narrowly missing the 3rd and 4th. 1-3.
Overall we lost 0-5, 6-20 on points.
Then on to the cosy Hillend Tavern for sweet and sour chicken. Conversation ranged from Craig's choice of on-court nightwear to who stole Mike's dress socks.
Dalgety Bay are set to move up the league with their new players. A good win against Herriot Watt next week should rebuild our confidence. The following week is a bye - Pfab, Cockburn and I are nominated for dropshot practice. Our nearest rivals are ESC4 and Mammas who we play in the last 2 weeks.
Dougie played the newcomer Neil Shepperd at no. 4, who had Hamer style and is clearly their no.2 for next week. Dougie pulled out all the stops, the squash was TV standard, but 0-3 to Grange.
Mike Hall played secret weapon Richard Northern at no.1. Richard was a class act, incredibly relaxed inspite of Mike's frenetic attacks. Great entertainment, but 0-3.
At 5 Pete Cockburn came close to beating Alan Jones, but Alan somehow disrupted Pete's flow to take it 3-2.
Robert took on his first half opponent, the formidable Gerry Burton. It's difficult to see how to beat this old timer. Nothing gets past him, and he can finish a rally from anywhere. 1-3.
Al met Craig Pounder for a Grange Open grudge match, took the first but no more, narrowly missing the 3rd and 4th. 1-3.
Overall we lost 0-5, 6-20 on points.
Then on to the cosy Hillend Tavern for sweet and sour chicken. Conversation ranged from Craig's choice of on-court nightwear to who stole Mike's dress socks.
Dalgety Bay are set to move up the league with their new players. A good win against Herriot Watt next week should rebuild our confidence. The following week is a bye - Pfab, Cockburn and I are nominated for dropshot practice. Our nearest rivals are ESC4 and Mammas who we play in the last 2 weeks.
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