 |
DUNBAR
SQUASH CLUB
ESSA Leagues |
| Match Report 2009/2010 Fixture #18 : Dunbar -v- David Lloyd 2 : 18.03.10 Richard
Baty -v- Rob Pfab The
strength of this Grange Team was immediately apparent when Rob lined up at
No.5. Rob had beaten Alistair Nichol 3-0 at No.2 string in the first half,
so Richard was going to have his work cut out. I was refereeing on the
other Court but often heard Graeme saying ‘great rally guys’. By all
accounts Richard played very well, but Rob is a very good player,
doesn’t like making mistakes and will run most balls down, so every
point won is hard earned. The scoreline was a bit harsh on Richard, 9-2,
9-0, 9-2, as it lasted a good 25 – 30 minutes – reflecting the fact
that it was much more competitive than that. Philip
Revell -v- Pete Cockburn Phil
got off to a flyer in this match. Lots of boast and straight kill winners
constantly had Pete shaking his head in frustration. A good early lead
began to slip away but another flourish of flamboyant winners from Phil
closed out the 1st game 9-6. A clearly rattled Pete came out
for the 2nd game much more focused, and stood further up the
court ready for Phil’s Pyrotechnics! The match soon changed following
that change of tactics from the Grange man, and although Phil competed
well in most rallies, tiredness eventually led to errors and the next
three games were soon drifting away – 9-1, 9-1, 9-2 and Grange were now
2-0 ahead. A
tough match for Al. Tony had taken Evan 3-0 in the first half. Alistair
game is typically about disciplined length and width, and I don’t think
he’s ever been better in the first game and a half. Tony likes to creep
up the court but Alistair constantly got the ball wide and past his
outstretched racket arm. Either that or Tony was turning and chasing the
ball back into the corners. This saw Alistair quickly establish a 9-6, 8-1
lead. What happened then is difficult to say. Tony seemed to hang back a
little, giving himself more time. The 8-1 lead very quickly became 8-7,
and Alistair was by now getting a little edgy, and even berated the
referee (yours truly) for giving a ‘let’ when he felt he should have
had a ‘stroke’. “Aye Davey,
I’ll hit him next time ye ken” was the shout that
stunned the gallery! I wasn’t too upset, the criticism coming from such
an expert refereeing source……. Anyway,
after recovering his clearly delicate composure, Alistair was relieved to
hit a frame winner to get back to game ball, which he took on a rare
unforced error from Tony. Game 3 was different again, with Tony’s new
‘sit back’ strategy working well to see him to a 7-3 lead. Then he
seemed to get edgy, and those low hard hit straight drives suddenly began
to catch the tin. Alistair’s error count is typically very low, and that
served him well as Tony lost his composure a bit, and amazingly Alistair
ran through the last few points to win 9-6, 9-7, 9-7. A good win for
Alistair against a very tricky opponent. Graeme
Jones -v- Robin Steel. It
was pretty depressing to see Robin playing at No.2. He has played up and
down between the Grange 1st and 2nd Teams all
season, and in our Division has only lost once all season – to Bruce
Russell of Abercorn – the player generally acknowledged as the class act
of Division 3. Robin had beaten me 3-1 in the first half, so as I prepared
to referee this one I knew Graeme would be up against it, but was
confident that his speed and fitness may allow him to test Robin in ways
that I couldn’t. I
have to say that I thought Graeme played very well. Robin is the original
‘Albatross’ on a squash court. He can stand on the ‘T’ and play
shots off EITHER wall without moving – not easy to play against. He also
played an all court game, lots of boasts and skid-boasts which kept Graeme
moving. Graeme was concentrating on getting the ball deep into the corners
(on the occasions that he was able to get it PAST Robin). He did this very
well in actual fact, but there didn’t seem to be a ball that Robin
couldn’t dig out, and so Graeme had to hit ANOTHER good shot just to
stay in the rally. The best spell of play from Graeme came in game 2 when
the scores were tight all the way to 7-7 before Robin edged it. Graeme won
lots of rallies with clever changes of direction, or early cut-out volleys
that other players leave. On the occasions when Graeme got Robin in
trouble he played a couple of delightful cross court feather drops, and he
could possibly win more points at the front of the court instead of
driving it to the back again, but that is what will come with time on
court and increased awareness. The important thing is that he’s getting
his opponent into trouble in the first place. Graeme is like a Centre
Forward who gets in great positions but isn’t putting the chances away
as well as he can. It’s only a matter of time before he morphs from Andy
Cole into Michael Owen!! 3-9, 7-9, 3-9. David
Legge -v- Richard Van Lienden Richard
has mostly been turning out for the Grange 1st Team most of the
season, and I’d never seen him play before. He was a bit out of sorts in
game 1, and I got off to a flyer as I had last week, playing solidly to
win it 9-1. The 2nd was much tighter, and there was nothing in
it until 6-6 when I managed to play the big points slightly better to take
it 9-7. The next two games were again very tight, but the match was now
becoming very physical –nothing malicious just two tired players who
kept bumping into each other. It was Richard’s turn to play the big
points well and he won both games 9-6, and so we were in to a decider.
Very quickly Richard went into a 5-0 lead - in one hand I think? He had
hit a couple of good shots, but also a couple of lucky ones I thought, and
I was beginning to get the felling it might not be my night. Whether
Richard was getting tired or just careless I don’t know, but a few
errors crept into his game, and I concentrated on just hitting the right
shots and keeping it tight. Very soon I was ahead 7-6, only for Richard to
play three really strong points to lead 8-7 – MATCH BALL. I think that
was saved with a backhand drop, and Richard then inexplicably played a
couple of poor points to hand the match to me on a plate really. A good
hour of hard squash, I knew I’d be sore in the morning (I am!) 9-1, 9-7,
6-9, 6-9, 10-8 So
a 16-9 defeat for On
a separate note, it was good to see Ewan Brown down to watch - enjoying a
pint. The more the merrier for the last two home games which will
determine where we find ourselves in 2010/11!! |