Seconds home v ESC4 (Tue, Mar 13)

Last week was a  bad week (we postponed/cancelled one team and sent out another with only 4 players), and the coming week is going to be even worse (cancelling 1 team and probably sending out another incomplete team).
Should we drop a team next season?

Home Team: Grange 2					Away Team: Edinburgh Sports Club 4
Pos	Player	Rubbers	Games	Points		Player	Rubbers	Games	Points
1	Colin Williamson	0	0	15		Andrew Snowden	1	3	27
2	Ian Forbes	0	0	16		Mark Adderley	1	3	28
3	Robin Steel	0	0	19		Ronan Beale	1	3	27
4	Alan Stokes	0	0	22		Sean Morgan	1	3	34
5	Mark Dutton	0	0	13		Ken Steele	1	3	27
Total		0	0	85			5	15	143

Derby match: 3's v 4's (Thurs, 14/03/2013)

The long awaited derby match between Grange 3 and Grange 4 went right down to the wire last night with bragging rights resting on the very last game of the evening.  The 4ths very nearly caused a shock horror upset but were pipped at the post with the 3rds taking the match 14-12 (with applicable ref points to be added).
The night started with the Grg4 secret weapon Angus Macpherson taking on Brian Sloan at no 3.   Angus came out of the blocks quickly and soon racked up a 9-1 first game win.  Angus raced away again in the second game but Brian dug in and brought it back to 7-5 but had left himself a bit too much work and Angus grabbed the last two points.   The third game went the way of the first to see Angus run out a comfortable 3-0 winner, leaving Brian to haunt the corridors for the rest of the evening muttering "good player, that kid…" to anyone who would listen.
At No 1 Mike Gore for the thirds took on the fourth's Richard Nisbet.   This reporter never actually saw that match but both players were heard to be grumbling afterwards about having p'raps not played the highest quality match ever seen.  Mike took the first in close 10-8 with Richard coming back well with a 3-9.   The highlight for Richard was then a 0-9 straight-through with not so much as a hand-out or let to trouble the scorer.  Stung by that, Mike closed the match out 9-3 and 9-5, coming back from 3-5 down in that last.
At No5 Craig Watt took on Anthony Fitzgerald.   The scoresheet shows a comfortable 1-9, 2-9, 2-9 win to the fourth team man Anthony.  That scoresheet is a little unfair to Craig as the match was somewhat closer than that, but a 0-3 win for Anthony nonetheless.
At No 2 Mark Dutton took on Georgina Jamieson.  The first corkscrew serve of the match from Mark caught Georgina a bit by surprise but she quickly become wise to all of the unorthodoxdy that Mark could muster and replied with quite a lot of tricks of her own and an absorbing squash spectacle ensued for the gallery.  Georgina took the first 6-9 and Mark replied in kind 9-6.  The third game was blitzed by Mark 9-0 but if he thought it was all over he had another thing coming.  Two very vigorously contended see-sawing games followed but Georgina was just the stronger and took them both 5-9, 6-9.   A 2-3 match win for Georgina.
The night culminated in an excellent match between Donna Cruickshank and Anthony Beames at No4.  Donna took the first two hard fought games 9-5, 9-5 and then Andrew replied 6-9, 5-9.  Lots of good squash from both players with tight boasting and dropping being a particular feature.   It all came down to the last game for team boasting rights and it went point for point in the early stages.   The game looked to be set to be a very long one but Donna reeled off four quick points in a row to get up to 8-4.   Andrew dug in and forced a couple of handouts but Donna finally sealed it 9-4 for a 3-2 win.
The post-match festivities we're of a high calibre as you'd expect of a Grange derby match, despite the pizzas looking like they'd been carried vertically by the delivery guy.  All the toppings on one side….culminating a single 3kg veggie slice being consumed by Donna.   Brian had earlier noted that the biggest bar bill the 4ths had all season was when they hosted the thirds.  I can report that the 4ths returned the favour and set a record for any bar bill I've ever had to cough up….at £73 (pizza included).   We'll cede that victory to the fourth team and call it evens on the night. 
Finally….possibly the remark of the season by Mr Gore…."Ok folks…must go now…I have to get home and relieve the babysitter".    Most people just pay them a bit of money...

Division:	4
Round:	17
Date:	14/3/2013
Teams:	Grange 3 vs Grange 4

Pos	Player	Rubbers	Games	Points			Player	Rubbers	Games	Points
1	Mike Gore	1	3	31			Richard Nisbet	0	2	25
2	Mark Dutton	0	2	35			Georgina Jamieson	1	3	33
3	Angus MacPherson	1	3	27			Brian Sloan	0	0	8
4	Donna Cruickshank	1	3	38			Andrew Beames	0	2	32
5	Craig Watt	0	0	5			Anthony Fitzgerald	1	3	27
Total		3	11	136				2	10	125
Competition Points		14						10

1s Vs LIN2s (06 Mar 2013)

After coming through a narrow defeat to Watsons 2s and a good win against the students last week the 1s were on the road to Linlithgow.

We won this one in the first half 5-0 however from memory all games were tight.  We were fielding a strong team and based on our strong position in the league we were fairly confident.

I arrived on the balcony to find No.1s Sean Graham and Allan Hamer warming up so I jumped in the hot seat!!  It was very hot!

The heater was pumping as the boys got underway.  Massive rallies, Sean took a comanding lead to go 1-0 up and 6-1 up in the second.  Allan didn't go away and dug in to go on a good run chasing everything down which finally brought out the mistakes in Sean.  Allan pulled back the next 2.  A close battle in the 4th which Allan eventually 10-8!

Next door things sounded close for the 5s match between Jack Purdie and Nick Wood.  Nick took it in 3 however there was only a few points in it.

I went on against Craig Mitchell in a re-match of our Grange Open Final.  I won at the Grange but it was Craig taking the home advantage and the revenge as he took me 3-0.  Hot courts not so good for me on this occassion and seemingly for Willl in the next match as he slumped to a fairly lethargic loss to Mark going down 3-1 at No2

All was not lost however as we still have outrAce in the hole in big Stuart Moffat.  Porving to be a good match winner the big man did the buisiness at 4 against Craig Morrison to take the bonus points.

A close match with GRG taking it 13-8 and more than likely a place Div 1 next year for our efforts!

Pete

Two's home v Tyne (Wed, Mar 6)

Firing on all cylinders

 

When the media talk about a Grand Slam this weekend, it’ll not be rugby they’re referring.  Grange 2 generated a dynamic display of squash on Wednesday night to take the maximum number of points from Tyne – currently above us in the table!  The relatively young Grange team, playing at home, were clinical at times and took all their chances.  The result should cement our place in Division 3 for another year as we battle for 4^th spot in the next few games.  A win like this reminds us why we love to play the sport - well done boys!

 

Forbes – Got us off to an excellent winning start in just 3 games.  The wheels were in motion at this early point in the evening.  10/10

Wallace – Bruising encounter with Graham Morrison.  Victory sealed 10-9 in the third.  10/10

Walker – Taking the first two games relatively easily.  The 3^rd was a battle but the momentum was there to convert the win in 3 games.  10/10

Sloan – Best performance this season with everything (particularly the drops) working well.  Delighted to get the monkey off the back.  10/10

Grinton – Fought through 4 games versus Alan Russell.  The backhand working well – generating too many nicks to mention.  10/10

National League 2012/13 Standings

There have been 9 rounds played so far. The 10th and final round takes place on Sun, Mar 17 at Heriot-Watt Uni. The top four go through to playoffs on Sun, April 20.
    As you can see, the top six clubs are in contention for the 4 places with only Inverness completely out of contention. Scroll down/across the window below to see detailed results.

National League- home v Heriot Watt (Tue, Mar 5)

With a sprinkling of social players gathering in the balcony, we took on the tryos from the National Squash Academy. First up we had our own alumnus of that academy at #1, Douglas Kempsell, pitted against Jamie Henderson.Douglas got off to an early lead but Jamie found his game and pegged him back in the first game. It went to extra points and Douglas was perhaps fortunate to take it 15-13. Jamie was firing down some big forehand winners but Douglas had the consistenc so the next 2 games went his way more comfortable and with it, the match 3-0.
 Aoife Kerrin played for Ireland at U-17 level and 7 years later she faced her modern counterpart Scotland representative, Claire Gadsby. The first was very close but Claire edged it 14-12, they exchanged the next 3 games without either player establishing dominance. At this point Claire match fitness took over and she won it 3-2.
  Pete Cockburn faced  Kyle Gribben at #3 and was outplayed by the youngster's touch and accuracy in the first game. The next two games they matched each other point-for-point and  went to extra points before Kyle edged them both. 0-3.
The tie was now poised at 1- with Kevin Moran v Michael Ross to decide the destination of the bonus points. Never in doubt with Kevin limiting his opponent to a handful of points in each game.
  Overall we won 8 games to their 6 which gave us a valuable 3 point win bonus.
Over baked tatties and soft drink, the discussion was the Nani sending off in the UCL tie with Real Madrid and whether Kempsell could continue his fine form into the National Championships at HWU on Sat after pushing Alan Clyne to five games in the North of Scotland Open last Sun.

Thirds at Colinton 4's

Date:	28/2/2013
Teams:	Grange 3 vs Colinton Castle 4

Pos	Player	Rubbers	Games	Points			Player	Rubbers	Games	Points
1	Mike Gore	0	0	20			Kim Byers	1	3	27
2	Donna Cruickshank	0	1	14			Stuart Keane	1	3	33
3	Matt Pearson	0	0	17			Eric Donohoe	1	3	28
4	Angus MacPherson	1	3	27			Mike Halpin	0	0	16
5	Jonathan Norrie	1	3	27			no player	0	0	0	Forfeit
Total		2	7	105				3	9	104
Competition Points		7						12