Ladies finish season on a high

Our top ladies stepped up another gear this league, cantering away from Watsonians by a margin of 25 points.
At the bottom of Div 1, it looks like history has repeated itself - CLASS topped the Xmas table and are getting relegated 3 months later. ESC topped the table last season and 3 months later were relegated. Grange need to be wary of getting relegated next season, if this pattern were to repeat a third time.
ESC will be coming straight back up in Oct, as I suspect will CLASS come December.

Grange 1													134
Watsonians 1													109
Waverley 1													90
Dalgety Bay													84

C.L.A.S.S. 88

78

This now creates the weird situation that CLASS (as winners of the first half) play-off against Grange for the East title and still get relegated. Seismic shifts in the balance of power of ladies squash in East.

Meanwhile Ladies 2 went out on a win, beating Abercorn 4-1 for their fourth win of this league.

	Pos	Player	Rubbers	Games	Points			Player	Rubbers	Games	Points
	1	Karen Kennedy	1	3	33			Joyce Bisset	0	1	21
	2	Jo Petty	0	1	17			Christine Walker	1	3	30
	3	Dawn MacBrayne	1	3	27			Mary McColl	0	0	5
	4	Alex Stewart	1	3	40			Meryl Cooper	0	2	37
	5	Caroline Burns	1	3	27			Lindsay Edghill	0	0	2
	Total		4	13	144				1	6	95
	Competition Points		16						6

Thirds home v Dean (Thurs Mar 22)

This was a relegation battle with Grange already going down but Dean needing a few points to fend off Watsonians.
Man of the Match was Gavin who looked dead-and-buried in the fifth, only to rise lazarus-like and get the win. Gorzer and Dave Thompson had a competitive five-gamer, Dave staying in command in the fifth.
Mark had a good run against James Birkhead. One moment of comedy gold was what James did to a Dutton corkscrew, which was to smash it into the nick in the service box, it rolled out at Mark's feet. Dougie was unlucky to lose out to Matthew Hunter in the fifth. Christy hates playing left-handers called Drew.
Back at the pavilion, 7 of us devoured 5 pizzas and talk turned to various incidents of misbehaviour on court and whether there would be further sanction next year.

Division:	3
Round:	18
Date:	22/3/2012
Teams:	Grange 3 vs Dean 1

Pos	Player	Rubbers	Games	Points			Player	Rubbers	Games	Points
1	Christy Looby	0	0	7			Drew McKenzie	1	3	27
2	Dougie Brown	0	2	24			Matthew Hunter	1	3	30
3	Mark Dutton	0	1	20			James Birkhead	1	3	33
4	Mike Gore	0	2	37			David Thompson	1	3	42
5	Gavin Fulton	1	3	38			Ross Anderson	0	2	36
Total		1	8	126				4	14	168
Competition Points		8						17

Fours & fives console the Ones, twos & threes

GRG2 V David Lloyd Newhaven 1 (21 March 2011)

Four brave souls sailed up to Newhaven for the last game of the season. We were a man down which only made us feel stronger - like a wolfpack!!

On first was Stokes Vs Jubb and Wallace Vs Lowe. Alan and Dave Jubb were having a good ding dong to start although it became apparent that Dave was crocked. At 1-1 Alan seemed to think it was not to right to push his injured opponent too hard and rallied well but with little conviction. 3-1 to DLN. Wallace was up for the running as is usual however his game was very in and out. Taryne played some very good length and good angles which Allan struggled with however the fight is always in him making 2 out of the three very close. Taryne, playing his last game for DLN was too good and steady and took a 3-0 win.

Next up Sloan Vs Maxwell and Myself Vs Ali Flemming. Didn't see the Ranger. He battled well but was never really in it Vs big Ken who was in fine silky form!

My game was awright. Lost as per but gave decent account vs Ali. In the first I seemed to be quite comfortable in the long rallies but could get little reward. I was 2-0 done after about 20 min but started to play my way in and get a bit more comfortable on the courts. Risked a few drops and managed to set up a few scoring opportunities. I took the 3rd and felt I could maybe go a bit more!!?? We rallied for god knows how long and kept neck and neck. By this time though I was pretty knacked and Ali pulled away to take it 3-1. 5-0 loss but no great shakes. Back to the bar for maseeeeve helpings of baked tatties and fillings galore. Beers, football and banter after meant it was good night. Happy on one hand the season is over but on the other will be looking forward to mixing it up again in october! 2s demoted to league 3 which is fine by us. With only one win to my name this season be sure I'll be trying my damnedest to improve on this! I'm sure messrs Stokes, Sloan, Forbes, Wallace et al will be doing the same!

Captain out!

Firsts home v Waverley (Tue, Mar 20)

Last match of the season, last chance to avoid the wooden spoon. Supersub Mark Dutton played #5 againsd Neil McPhee and got a run of points toward the end of the first to make for a respectable score but after that was under the kosh: 0-3. #4 Mike Hall had a thriller, experience against youth in the shape of Scott Tulloch - it went 2-2 before Mike got a lead in the fifth that he never relinquished: 3-2.
Nick Wood against Iain "Marathon man" Murray was 6-9 6-9, 7-9 at #3. Will Kerr faced a Scotland U-19 champion in Doug Kempsell
Down 2 games, Will started mixing it up with more patience and different angles to take the third in an uber-performance. Normal service returned as Doug imposed his game in the fourth: 1-3.

By now a crowd had gathered in the balcony for the main course, 2 world-ranked players in the shape of Kevin Moran against Chris Ferguson.

Chris played sublime drops glued to the wall and a hairs breadth above the tin which got him the first game 9-2. Kevin buried himself to dig up a higher percentage of these drops in the second and ground it out 9-6. In the third, the error count from Chris went up as Kevin continued to run everything down: 9-4. Kevin was clearly in the ascendancy now as some of Chris's shots were either exhibition or desperation: 9-2. Kevin won 3-1 after an hour of breathtaking squash and great sportsmanship from both.
Overall 2-3, 7-15 on points to leave us with the wooden spoon with which to eat the pizza.
One of the discussion points was the "further attempt" rule which was applied on the night but neither of the elite players were aware of it.
All credit to the players throughout the season, never dropping their heads and well done to Kevin Moran for going unbeaten. Well done to Capt. Cockburn for an enjoyable team season in the face of the teams not being as competitive as previous seasons. Time to regroup for the club championships and prepare for next season in Div 2. (Loob)

Grange IV vs Hatton

This week, we were up against third placed, and already promoted, Hatton.

First up was Brian Sloan. The first two games were traded 9-7, 8-10 as Brian struggled to lug his strained groin around the court. The third was a tight affair to 3-3 and it was clear that Brian was trying to win without moving. That simply wasn't working and the third was lost 6-9. At 2-4 in the fourth, Brian accepted he'd just have to grin and bear it and closed the match out 9-4, 9-0 to put the Grange one up.

On the other court, Matt Pearson was finding his opponent difficult to get to grips with. Long rallies were the name of the game, with Matt doing much of the running. But each game proved just a step too far as Matt went down 4-9, 8-10 and 6-9 to tie the match at 1-1.

Our very own bionic man Johnny 'Lee' Major was on next in what proved to be his traditional 5-setter. The first was over in a flash 9-2 before his opponent got used to the chill on the Accies courts. And at 7-4 in the second, things were looking good until the game was lost 7-9 on a single serve run. Much the same happened in the third and the bionic man was facing a major service at 1-2. But superb running down of impossible balls made it impossible for his opponent to win many more points and Johnny closed the match

out 9-3, 9-3 for a 3-2 victory. 2-1 Grange.

Andy Whitelaw and my games don't really deserve much comment other than to say I lost 5-9, 5-9, 1-9 and Andy lost 4-9, 3-9, 1-9. Yet again we struggled to win at the top of the order.

Pizza and banter flowed merrily in the bar as the jovial Hatton moved on to better things in Division 3 next year.

Good luck guys.

Mike Douglas

Ladies wrap it up at Waverley, L2's go down fighting

The first ladies of squash beat Waverley 3:2 earlier this evening. Too many 5 setter games in one week for Donna left her a tad wooden tonight but it was worth it to win the Grange Over 40s tournament - (she has only recently been eligible to compete). However there is another week of games to play in this league so we will quietly celebrate until the final ball has been whacked before we start shouting from the Grange's upper terraces WE'VE WON!!!!!!!!!!

Team	Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Bonus Points	Total
Grange 1	Comp Points	18	18		18	17	15	15	7	12		12	132
	Games	15	15		15	14	12	12	7	9			99
Watsonians 1	Comp Points	4	15	15		15	5	14		15		12	95
	Games	4	12	12		12	5	11		12			68
Waverley 1	Comp Points		7	13	6	4		9	13	10		12	74
	Games		7	10	6	4		9	10	10			56
Dalgety Bay	Comp Points	4		11	3	6	15		14	8		12	73
	Games	4		11	3	6	12		11	8			55
C.L.A.S.S. 88	Comp Points	15	1	3	14		9	8	7			14	71
	Games	12	1	3	11		9	8	7				51

Competition points system used: 1 points per game, 3 points for win

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Division 1 Order Of Merit

Division OrderOfMerit	Player	Rating	Pos	Team Name
1	Kim Byers	237.24	1	C.L.A.S.S. 88
2	Catherine John	220.68	3	Grange 1
3	Samantha Fearnley	203.7	2	C.L.A.S.S. 88
4	Donna Cruickshank	180.91	1	Grange 1
5	Heather Spens	170.82	1	Waverley 1
6	Hayley Cooper	159.53	1	Dalgety Bay
9	Lottie Fulton	152.99	2	Grange 1
12	Jacque White	120.51	5	Grange 1
14	Georgina Jamieson	113.42	4	Grange 1
17	Julia Lutte	106.35	6	Grange 1
19	Anna Gaskell	104.12	7	Grange 1
27	Karen Kennedy	88.6	8	Grange 1

There is the small matter of a play-off between ourselves and CLASS.88, who won the Oct -Xmas league (beating Grange by 1 lousy point. Even if we had been level on points, we would have won on games difference), before we can claim the title of Supreme Champions of the 2011-12 season. Does this merit a picture on the staircase??

Our Ladies seconds got to a good start againstt Tyne - #5 Caroline was able to serve into the stratosphere at Accies courts and won for the loss of 1 rally. Ale Stewart was looking good at 2-0 but Tyne #4 Maureen Pearman has bee playing squash for nigh on 50 years and in turn put the ball high in the sky to expose Alex's backhand volley: 2-3. Jo Petty and Karen Kennedy at #3 and #1 were outclassed. Dawn MacBrayne played out of her skin to beat Maureen Pearman 3-1.

Pos	Player	Rubbers	Games	Points			Player	Rubbers	Games	Points
1	Karen Kennedy	0	0	3			Katie Craig	1	3	27
2	Dawn MacBrayne	1	3	36			Julie Pearman	0	1	29
3	Jo Petty	0	0	10			Fiona MacKenzie	1	3	27
4	Alex Stewart	0	2	24			Maureen Pearman	1	3	36
5	Caroline Burns	1	3	27			Susan Pirie	0	0	1
Total		2	8	100				3	10	120
Competition Points		8						13