| 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.) |
| Teams: | Grange 1 vs Dalgety Bay 2 |
| Pos | Player | Rubbers | Games | Points | Player | Rubbers | Games | Points | |||
| 1 | Nick Wood | 0 | 0 | 8 | Neil Bennett | 1 | 3 | 27 | |||
| 2 | Richard Van Lienden | 0 | 1 | 15 | Mark Beaumont | 1 | 3 | 33 | |||
| 3 | Robin Steel | 0 | 0 | 1 | Alan Burton | 1 | 3 | 27 | |||
| 4 | Gary Walker | 0 | 1 | 17 | Steve Howie | 1 | 3 | 31 | |||
| 5 | Pete Cockburn | 0 | 1 | 20 | Gerry Gemmell | 1 | 3 | 29 | |||
| Total | 0 | 3 | 61 | 5 | 15 | 147 | |||||
| Competition Points | 3 | 18 | |||||||||
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)
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.
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
Front: Gary Walker, Gavin Fulton, Tom McEwan, Andy Whitelaw, Nick Wood(all Grange SRC), Simon Engelen(Lloyds SRC captain)
Rear: Kit Welsh, Oliver Litterick, John Butcher, Bob Sherlock, Matt Cosby, James Taylor
