ESSA Leagues

2009/2010 Fixture #5 : Grange 2 -v- Dunbar : 17.11.09

There is an expression in Sport, a rather crude one, which applies when any Team suffers a particularly bad loss. It refers to the losers as having “had their a**** felt”. Well the Dunbar Team will have had some trouble sitting down at the breakfast table this morning, having taken a right good spanking at table topping Grange last night.

Read on only if you have a robust constitution……..

Richard Baty v Patrick Langley.

The strength of the Grange Team was evident by Patrick’s position at No.5. Patrick had beaten Dunbar ’s No.1 in a Tournament in January of this year, and if anything had improved since then. Richard was making his 2009/10 season debut and is struggling with a niggling injury which didn’t help. It also couldn’t have helped to see an opponent sporting a Moustache that was apparently being grown for Children in Need, and scared the living daylights out of those on the balcony never mind having to share the court with him! Richard was always up against it here and never stopped working, but a hard hitting, fast running, great retrieving, bad assed mustachioed opponent is tricky for anyone. 3-9, 0-9, 1-9 and Dunbar are one down in quick time….

Graeme Jones v Pete Cockburn

Two fit players and a hot court can mean only one thing – running – and lots of it! Graeme of course is very good at this, and competed really well in this match against an opponent of similar age but much more experience. The first game in particular was close, and notable for some fantastic retrieving. Not many shots were dying to a length and so the rallies were loooong. A couple of errors at seven all proved critical though, and Graeme was one down. Pete began to find some nicks in game 2 which quickly ran away from Graeme, but game three saw a return to the long rallies, back corner boasts, and ‘last man standing’ type squash. Pete took it in the end, but Graeme is visibly improving each week, both in shot selection and execution, and probably deserved a game in this match. 7-9, 2-9, 5-9.

Alistair Nichol v Robert Pfab (yes really)

Regular readers of these match reports will recognize something of a consistency in the description of Alistair’s encounters, but this week you’re all in for a shock! Drop shots – no no no, don’t be ridiculous – if you go and see the latest Blockbuster, ‘2012’ at the Cinema you’ll witness a plot line more plausible than that. No, in this match we saw the normally mild mannered A.N. turn the air blue with a ball chucking, racket throwing outburst not seen since Murphy was in his pomp. The flash point came at the end of Game 2. Robert had sneaked a very close first game, and had game ball at 8-5 in the second. A boast to the front by Robert was chased heroically by Alistair, who got to the ball and played a counter drop which was only just up. What he didn’t see was Robert flying back up to the front wall to a position right behind Alistair – who hadn’t cleared the ball at all. Alistair wasn’t looking behind him and just collected the ball and prepared to serve at 5-8, only to hear the marker call “stroke – game to Robert 9-5”.

What ensued will not be forgotten in a hurry by all those present. First the ball was dispatched somewhere down Raeburn Place, then the language that would have made Gordon Ramsay blush, finally followed by his Wilson Hammer 140 flying in a perfect arc towards the front wall. Alistair looked at me up on the balcony and asked ‘Aye, was it a stroke Davey?’ I don’t think he liked the answer I gave, and he then proceeded to lose game three in ONE HAND – ‘THE GOLDEN GRANNY’ as it’s called.  Will he return is the question we’re all now wondering as the normally loquacious Alistair denied us all his usual post match banter,  jumped in his car, and sped off home to Berwick. Watch this space…….7-9, 5-9, 0-9.

Evan Green v Tony Gribben.

I had played Tony before and was familiar with his low hard hitting game – a tactic that means you need to be well up the court to avoid spending the evening lurching forward to dig out all those shots. Evan was well prepared as a result, but that doesn’t mean it’s any easier! Tony is the last guy you want top play if you have a slightly dodgy back, and Evan was certainly feeling sore after the match having spent 30 minutes stretching forward every almost every single shot to retrieve those short hard drives. As with Graeme’s match, this was a very competitive game, and Evan had leads in all three games, particularly 2&3, being I think 4-0  and 5-0 ahead in each. Tony managed to weather those storms though and was not to be denied, just proving the slightly more consistent player. Again Evan deserved a game but it wasn’t to be, 7-9, 8-10,6-9 and Dunbar were still without a game, and staring down the barrel of the dreaded 18-0 humping!

David Legge v Nicolas Valuev – sorry I mean Robin Steel.

My opponent really was a giant – probably the tallest bloke I’ve played at around 6’6”. He hit the ball extremely hard too, and with his youth and reach adding to a hot court, meant that there were precious few balls he couldn’t get back. Game 1 was long and extremely hard. The decisive point was when I served at 7-7 and Robin left the ball, thinking it was down. The serve was called ‘good’ and that made it 8-7. it helped me sneak the game 10-8 to wild cheers from the balcony (not true) and Dunbar were at least on the score sheet! That was to be all I got unfortunately. The next three games were competitive, but increasingly ‘let ridden’ as we both tired a little – me more than him to be fair – and interference was a problem. Two tall players don’t make it easy of course, and we must have been a referees nightmare. The difference probably came down to his superior retrieving and fitness as the next three games slipped away, to end a miserable night for Dunbar . 10-8, 7-9, 6-9, 5-9.

So the table will look a little different when updated, and Dunbar have another away fixture next Wednesday at Hatton – a match where points are required to avoid the emerging prospect of a relegation battle.

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