Match: Knutsford 3 Home to Club AZ 2

Date: 23rd September 2010

All , with AZ coming down from Div 4 last season , a tough start was anticipated , and confirmed when the talented Simon Gulliford arrived early . You playing no1 enquired Jacko ? , no 3 replied Simon , crikey they look strong ( but little did they know we had Walt at no1 - touché )
So our new star Simon Whitaker on first at 3 for the battle of the Simon's . What a fabulous display of squash , nip and tuck , our man one up , then 2 reverses at 8-10 / 9-10 before leveling at two apiece . The AZ man just clinched it in the fifth , but a great opener from Knutsford with more to come . Welcome aboard Simon .
Snapey next up at 4 against a large hard hitting Andy Phillips . In the past this would have intimidated Rog , but not these days , after taking the first to 6 , Snapey only dropped 2 more points and polished the big guy off in style . So one match each with our joker ( ex first teamer Walt ) still to be played .
The capt then appeared at 5 , and promptly stretched his hamstring in the first rally . Thankfully it did not keep stretching and Jacko was forced to use his brain rather than his speed . As difficult as this was , he managed to keep his nose in front all the way to a 3-0 win . So far so good ( with Walt set to bring us home at 1 , get in there ! )
Mr Powerplay Smith next at 2 , against another big hitting biffer in Andy Peel , a good player . Nothing between these two , 10-8 / 8-10 / 10-8 , Dave just ahead , then he took Andy apart in the fourth , a ruthless display , excellent , match won .
And so our Galatico now strode onto the stage , the Torres of our club , and acknowledged the gallery . His bald short roundish opponent polished his glasses and seemed surprisingly calm , oblivious to who he was about to play !! . After a close first game that Mike lost 8-10 , his opponent fired an amazing array of shots that quickly brought up a 3-0 and let Mike sneak off the court . ( Geoff , I think Walts available next week if you need him in the fourths ) .
So to the bar , plenty of nice chili ( well Neil Robinson had at least 4 plates full ) , and a scorecard to show a pleasing 16 - 7 victory . Cheers Bill

Scorecard