Everyone was fighting hard for it. Best efforts by kerr hall and pfab – they all made a good dent into class players. Dougie played a gazelle – far too fast! Ali in his own words could have done better. 8 points is a decent haul against the table-topping students though.
Kerr 1-3
Hall 2-3
Pfab 2-3
Gordon 1-3
Brown 0-3
Overall 8-20, not a bad points haul
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Firsts home v Watsons 3 (Wed, Feb 11,'09)
Braving snow and ice the match kicked off with a full compliment from both Grange and Watsons making it to the starters line at at 7 where upon Messers(sic) Stokes and Forest kicked off proceedings on court 2. Stokesy drove, ducked, dived his way to taking the first two in good style. There was a wobble in the third before Stokesy dug deep and took the 4th for a 3-1 win.
(Congrats Alan, with this appearance he reminded us it has been 27 years playing first team squash. We didn't bother disabusing him of this notion ;-)
Brian, fresh from some big wins on the mini league circuit, had the wind in his sails and made short work of Gordon Fruish coming out 3-0 on top. Chris managed to bend his knees just enough to win the 4th string encounter with Ed Murray 3-0 before Ian took to the court and gave a convincing performance to over come Ally Carruth 3-0.
The real action of the night came with Alan taking on Mike Sinclair with his "ping-pong dropshots". It was a hard hitting affair and Mike twice took the lead with some tight shots and knicked drops. Both players looked like they were getting near the wall but......... at 6-1 down in the 4th, Alan summoned up a last push, took the fourth and ran off with the 5th to complete a fantastic 3-2 comeback victory.
1. Allan Hamer bt Mike Sinclair 1-9 9-2 3-9 9-6 9-0
2. Ian Green bt Ally Carruth 9-0 9-2 9-7
3. Brian Buchanan bt Gordon Fruish 9-1 9-1 9-0
4. Chris Mair bt Ed Murray 9-0 9-7 9-0
5. Alan Stokes bt Andrew Forrest 9-2 9-7 5-9 9-4
So 20-5 the final result and the grangers rock on. Bring on Waverley (report: CM)
I would like to remind Richie Mac that the pizza servings were truly slab-sized as usual at Portgower, eliciting green-eyed comparisons with the Myreside servings from the Watsons contingent. OK, so I just made that part up (CL) ;-)
(Congrats Alan, with this appearance he reminded us it has been 27 years playing first team squash. We didn't bother disabusing him of this notion ;-)
Brian, fresh from some big wins on the mini league circuit, had the wind in his sails and made short work of Gordon Fruish coming out 3-0 on top. Chris managed to bend his knees just enough to win the 4th string encounter with Ed Murray 3-0 before Ian took to the court and gave a convincing performance to over come Ally Carruth 3-0.
The real action of the night came with Alan taking on Mike Sinclair with his "ping-pong dropshots". It was a hard hitting affair and Mike twice took the lead with some tight shots and knicked drops. Both players looked like they were getting near the wall but......... at 6-1 down in the 4th, Alan summoned up a last push, took the fourth and ran off with the 5th to complete a fantastic 3-2 comeback victory.
1. Allan Hamer bt Mike Sinclair 1-9 9-2 3-9 9-6 9-0
2. Ian Green bt Ally Carruth 9-0 9-2 9-7
3. Brian Buchanan bt Gordon Fruish 9-1 9-1 9-0
4. Chris Mair bt Ed Murray 9-0 9-7 9-0
5. Alan Stokes bt Andrew Forrest 9-2 9-7 5-9 9-4
So 20-5 the final result and the grangers rock on. Bring on Waverley (report: CM)
I would like to remind Richie Mac that the pizza servings were truly slab-sized as usual at Portgower, eliciting green-eyed comparisons with the Myreside servings from the Watsons contingent. OK, so I just made that part up (CL) ;-)
Oldies home v Tyne crinklies (Mon Feb 9,'09)
Ian Green beat Dave Jubb 3-0: 9-1 9-5 9-7
Brian Buchanan lost to Alan Russell 2-3: 9-5 6-9 9-0 1-9 9-0
Alasdair Gordon lost to Nigel Pearman 2-3: 6-9 9-6 9-7 3-9 7-9
Dougie Brown beat Graham Morrison 3-2: 9-5 9-1 9-10 7-9 9-6
Alan Stokes beat Stuart Falconer 3-0: 9-6 9-3 9-7
Brian Buchanan lost to Alan Russell 2-3: 9-5 6-9 9-0 1-9 9-0
Alasdair Gordon lost to Nigel Pearman 2-3: 6-9 9-6 9-7 3-9 7-9
Dougie Brown beat Graham Morrison 3-2: 9-5 9-1 9-10 7-9 9-6
Alan Stokes beat Stuart Falconer 3-0: 9-6 9-3 9-7
Friday, 6 February 2009
Thirds @ Inveresk (Thurs, Feb 5,'09)
For the top of the table clash, we turned out with our strongest possible team... but so did Inveresk. Christy at #4 was first on against Harold Nesse and just lost the set first game, down hill from there feeding Harold's reverse angles with cross-courts through the T; 0-3.
Dougie at #1 was up against it in Adam Lord, Adam was cleaning everything for the loss of just 3 points in the first two but Dougie contested the third to set-point but was unlucky not to sneak it; 0-3.
Michael Scott took John Brown to 5 at #2 but also fell to lack of length feeding his man's reverse angles; 2-3. Pete Cockburn at #5 v Willie Wood, Willie played some slide-rule drops and boasts to take a game but Peter had too much movement and closed out convincingly 3-1.
The finale was #3 Patrick v Samantha Fearnley, some terrific hitting from both players, Patrick got absolutely everything back including stuff he had no right to, a good comeback in the first game from him saw Sam having to throw in some errors which made the difference throughout; 3-0.
Overall, 10-15 so not too much damage done, Dunbar at home on Thurs with the crunch match being at Waverley4 on Mon, Feb 23.
Plenty of banter in the bar after, even with 2 Inveresk players having to leave they had the other squad players in support and second servings of chilli in tortilla wraps hit the spot.
Dougie at #1 was up against it in Adam Lord, Adam was cleaning everything for the loss of just 3 points in the first two but Dougie contested the third to set-point but was unlucky not to sneak it; 0-3.
Michael Scott took John Brown to 5 at #2 but also fell to lack of length feeding his man's reverse angles; 2-3. Pete Cockburn at #5 v Willie Wood, Willie played some slide-rule drops and boasts to take a game but Peter had too much movement and closed out convincingly 3-1.
The finale was #3 Patrick v Samantha Fearnley, some terrific hitting from both players, Patrick got absolutely everything back including stuff he had no right to, a good comeback in the first game from him saw Sam having to throw in some errors which made the difference throughout; 3-0.
Overall, 10-15 so not too much damage done, Dunbar at home on Thurs with the crunch match being at Waverley4 on Mon, Feb 23.
Plenty of banter in the bar after, even with 2 Inveresk players having to leave they had the other squad players in support and second servings of chilli in tortilla wraps hit the spot.
Thursday, 5 February 2009
First's home v Watsonians 2 (Tue, Feb 4,'09)
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)
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)
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
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