News

The Fab 4ths found their way to Prestbury scenting points from last-placed Prestbury 6. First to appear for the home side was Roy of the Lomas clan, so on went Gwyn at 2. It was only then that Prestbury's secret weapon was revealed - the Wall! Recently replaced, it suited hard hitters and was liable to make explosive noises if you hit it right! Gwyn served hard and drove hard, the Wall did its bit, and poor Roy had no answer mustering only 5 points. We started to plan for an early finish.

On came Chris 'I need to get away' against Geoff at 3. Geoff seemed ready to oblige him when coasting in the first, but Chris got to work on the Wall and Geoff eventually squeaked it 10-9. No alarms in the second as Geoff got used to the pace of the Wall, but the third was tight again, this time 10-9 to Chris. Geoff managed to cut the mistakes to comfortably take the fourth and the match.

Next up were the youngsters Matt (15) vs our Peter (17) and what a mature performance they gave! The first two games went narrowly to Matt, but Peter stormed back to take the third to 1 and the fourth to 4 as Matt's touch seemed to desert him . Could Peter pinch it? The fifth was tight again, Matt served tight and Peter was scrabbling recovery shots from the back corners. No lack of stamina from our man, but in the end he had to give best 6-9 - well played Peter, unlucky! And bang goes the early finish.

Our Matt  at 4 took on Linda and had few problems, serving and driving hard at the Wall, dropping only 3 points to seal the match and the tie.

Meanwhile on the back court Mike at 1 was cruising against Jane, surely playing out of order? No problems for Mike here, no explosive wall to put him off, and a comfortable win.

For Match Scores Click here

Read more...

Winter arrived early for the Travelling 3rds when they trekked to Macc Leisure Centre with a team weakened by an outbreak within the club of Halftermitis.

Jacko at 4 was first to brave the elements, and he had a real job on to hit a length, the ball was so cold. The first was close: 7-9, the second not so as the effort began to tell and the trademark boasts went narrowly down. But our man stuck at it in the third, eventually conceding 6-9 for a 3-0 thumping.

Meanwhile Skipper Neil at 2 was taking on the tall, handsome and superbly coiffed Alex. Neil was looking pretty cool, too, in matching blue top and shorts. When it came to squash, though, Alex had a clear advantage and subjected poor Neil to rather more movement than he was built for. Bravely though he battled, Neil didn't get on the scoresheet until game 3, when he amassed 4 points. Ouch! 2 down already.

Geoff was 'guesting' at 5 and during the knockup felt he was in with a chance. But then opponent Russell started serving at 100 mph, Smithy-style, into the nicks. Geoff was doing the right thing, lobs and drops, and took the first narrowly, to give the team its first point of the night. Between games some sneak told Russell about Geoff being left-handed, after which he directed his howitzer serves to the right court, to deadly effect. End result: a 3-1 defeat.

Gwyn at 3 took on Adam the Landlord, of whom more later. I didn't see this match, but Gwyn was clearly having the same problems as the rest of us, his points scores being 2 3 1.

Could Tim our No 1 turn the tide? His opponent Andy was immaculately turned out in revealing black leotards and an arty farty top with undershirt, finished off with what looked like golf shoes! Oh, and he could play a bit too. Tim had a real job on to handle a pinpoint serve and some surprise high cross-courts. To his credit Tim worked hard throughout and the score, 4 4 and 2, didn't reflect the game itself. But it's results that count and this result was an emphatic 20-1 defeat, and an early finish....

Then we discovered that our journey had just begun. The aforementioned Landlord, late of the Cock Inn where we used to eat, now runs the Spinner in Outer Bollington! For future reference, the post code is SK10 5PW and it's nowhere near the Leisure Centre!. Bit of a wait while the kitchen coped with our early arrival, but a nice curry 'with a bit of a bite' (N Robinson).

For Match Scores Click Here

The 4th team regulars were elsewhere trying to keep the 3rds up, so it's thanks to Graham, Richard, Matt and Dave for stepping into the breach.

Matt Roberts at 3 played first against the vastly experienced Mervyn, and gave him a fright. Narrowly losing the first as he got used to the fast court, Matt started to crack his drives and cross-courts to take a 2-1 lead. Mervyn mixed it up a bit to level at 2-2, and the final game was Matt's for the taking at 8-5, but Mervyn scrabbled back to 8-8 before squeezing the narrowest of victories! Unlucky but well played Matt.

Next up Dave Bentley making his first - and last - appearance of the season. His opponent Andy used the pace of the court to blast his serves at Dave, who was still adjusting his sights when game one ended 0-9. The gallery muttered 'Andy doesn't play much like a Div 5 No 5'. Game two was a close one as Dave steadied his game and started to move Andy around and force him into errors. Dave fought to 8-8, but could not quite take the game. He battled on in the third, but Andy was too strong and won 9-4 for 3-0. Played Dave.

Richard Holmes at 1 faced Rob and now the squash really started to motor! Fierce driving from both players, and tremendous retrieving - excellent stuff not often seen in Div 5. Richard stayed close but a few errors in each game allowed Rob to graft to a 2-0 lead. Richard wasn't finished though: he tightened his serve and cut the errors to pull back to 1-2. Another close game in the fourth, but this time Rob prevailed for a hard-earned 3-1 win, both players looking remarkably full of running at the end of a gruelling match. Unlucky Richard!

Graham Thomson at 4 took on the well-bandaged Ben: could he exploit these physical frailties (or were they decoys?). Ben served tight and Graham took some time finding his rhythm, losing the first 3-9. He played to a better length in the second but was out-boasted and lost 6-9, and a similar score in the third meant a 0-3 shutout.

Could Geoff at 2 stop the rot? Geoff  - at 2? Say no more. Although the court was cooling down a bit, his lob serve wasn't quite tight enough, and Dave got enough on it to force Geoff into rallying and running and... running out of puff. Another 0-3 for a '0-5 IIAWAH'. Good thing too because it was getting late and tea awaited - well that's my excuse.

Well played all, we won't meet teams like that too often next year - I hope!

For match scores Click Here

In a complete reversal of last week's glut of players, skip was on the phone on Thursday afternoon looking for a very-last-minute replacement - thanks to Andy Dalton for turning out! Fortunately Congleton were having problems too, fielding only 4 players, so we were 3 points to the good before start of play, and maybe heading for an early finish!

Geoff got us under way at 1 against the lively Lee, and was 0-2 down in no time and wondering when to warm up the tea. Concentrate! Geoff upped the pace (not easy when you're rising 64!) and it nearly worked, just pipped 9-10 in the third.

Graham Thomson next up at 2, 'haven't played since Christmas etc'. It didn't look like it as he ran over round and through the bulky and non too mobile Mick, imploring the unmoved marker for some strokes. With a lot of front court stuff, Graham just missed out in the first 7-9 but fought back to level with some death-defying dives. The third was close, Mick just edging it as Graham looked to cut everything off. By the fourth the effort was starting to tell on Graham's back, knee etc and he finally went down 9-3  for a 3-1 loss - well fought Graham.

Andy Dalton made his first appearance for over a year at 4 against the wily greybeard Tony in another good tussle, Andy mixing some cracking shots with a liberal dose of tins, always in touch but losing the first two game to 5 and 4. Andy got it together in the third, playing a more controlled game, to win it 9-6 - could he turn it round? Sadly no, as Andy's inexperience showed, and Tony won 3-1. A game won this time Andy - next time a match?

Finally Nick Johnson made his first appearance of the season at 3 against Rob, who towered over him physically. Could Nick turn the tables by dint of art and agility? Close in the first as he got back into the Thursday night rhythm, but not close enough: 6-9. Rob served him out of it in the second 1-9 but Nick fought back in the third pushing Rob hard, ultimately to no avail though, 6-9 and a 0-3 defeat - better luck next time, and may next time will come a bit sooner than last time (er?).

Overall, then, a measly 5 points. Nice tea though - a hearty paella!

For Match Scores Click Here

The Fab 4ths made the long trek to the back of beyond with a strong side,Crewejust behind us in the league. We welcomed Guy back after a long layoff: he had lost none of his skills of persuasion, 'dicky knee etc', so skip let him go 5 (will he ever learn?). Guy faced Phil, whose racket arm was totally tattooed. It did him no good though, as Guy eased into it gently to take the first 9-6, raising the tempo to tattoo Phil for the loss of only two more points. Excellent return Guy!

Geoff at 4 paid for his generosity to Guy, getting a pasting 3-0 off a young whippersnapper Sean. unfair - a youngster who grew up returning lob serves! I blame the warm court. No more messing about - No. 5 (or lower) from now on!

At 3 Ian played Ben and after two games things were not looking good, as Ian struggled to get width on his service returns. But he persevered as his opponent started to make mistakes, and took the third 9-2. The next two games were close but Ian pulled it off for a hard-earned 3-2 win - well played Ian!

Meanwhile on another court Gwyn was playing  Ant, all arms and legs. Don't know what went wrong, but Ant seemed to cut off everything mid-court, leaving Gwyn stranded. 3 points to Gwyn, 3 games to Ant. Ouch! Interesting approach to marking, by the way, Sean asking for opinions from the gallery, which consisted of me and a Vagrant.

So, 2-2 in matches, Tony to win it for us - no pressure! His opponent David should have been docked points for his footwear, but he was no slouch round the court. Tony controlled it in the first to win it 9-6, but then David got motoring with a tricky low fast serve, well tuned to the warm court. Tony battled hard but eventually lost 3-1 - unlucky.

Only 7 points for a lot of sweat, andCreweleapfrog us in the table. Bah Humbug. Merry Christmas everyone!

For the match result Click Here