Chichester & Birmingham
Clinch PSL Play-Off Places
Roundup from Howard Harding

With the final round still to be played, University Sport Birmingham and PNH Properties Chichester clinched their places in the end-of-season Premier Squash League (PSL) play-offs after comfortable 4/1 home wins in Tuesday's ninth round of the prestigious England Squash league sponsored by Towergate tlc.

The west midlands side took on Benz-Bavarian Duffield, the defending champions unbeaten for the last 23 ties.  But the Derbyshire club's impressive record run finally came to an end as the University of Birmingham squad secured the win which takes them into the play-offs for the second successive season - alongside Duffield, who cannot be displaced from top position in the Group A table.

As in Group A, the Group B table-toppers PCL Whitehall Security Surrey H&RC were also already assured of a play-off place - but Chichester's win over Probuild Bristol guarantees the Sussex club a return to the play-offs after missing out last season to the west country side - who went on to contest the final.

Elsewhere in Group A, Esporta Oxford moved up to third place following a 4/1 home win against former champions Nottingham, while Yorkshire club Pontefract claimed their third win of the season by beating Energie Fitness Redditch 3/2 at home.  The other tie in Group B saw UniSport Guildford narrowly lose out on finishing their 2007/08 campaign with their second win of the season as Luxfords St George's Hill clinched the tie 3/2 after the top string decider went the full distance.

It was a considerably under-strength Duffield squad that arrived in Birmingham, wary of the fact that its unbeaten run was in jeopardy.  But stalwart Laura Hill put the visitors firmly in the driving seat with a commanding 9-2, 9-2, 9-2 win over the University team's Emma Chorley. 

It was one-way traffic, however, for the hosts thereafter as Joel Hinds and Jonathan Harford scored notable wins - before Mohamed El Shorbagy, a 17-year-old Egyptian studying at Millfield School, fought back from 2/1 down against Duffield veteran Nick Taylor to beat the reigning British O35 Open champion 9-4, 3-9, 6-9, 9-2, 9-5 and clinch victory for the University side.  In the top string clash, former Birmingham student Joey Barrington made it 4/1 when he beat Andrew Whipp 9-2, 10-12, 9-3, 9-7 in 47 minutes.

Probuild Bristol needed nothing less than a win in Chichester to keep alive their chances of a second appearance in the play-offs - after making it last year in their maiden season in the league.  But Dominique Lloyd-Walter and Olivier Pett put the Sussex side into the lead and club stalwart Peter Genever clinched the vital win by beating the visitors' Mike Gregory 9-3, 9-6, 10-8.

However, Bristol gained some consolation in the top string rubber, between Alex Gough and David Evans.  But the eagerly-awaited match between the two leading players from Wales for the past decade failed to live up to expectations as Evans, the Bristol number one, took a two-game lead before Gough was forced to retire after three points of the third game suffering with an injury.

Lee Beachill led Pontefract to a 3/2 home win over Energie Fitness Redditch, but the tie was poised at two-all when the former world number one took to the court to face French star Renan Lavigne.  But Beachill was too strong for the Redditch number one, winning 10-8, 9-6, 9-6, much to the delight of the packed Pontefract crowd.

Esporta Oxford's hopes of a whitewash win over visitors Nottingham were dashed in the opening match when club champion Rachel Donald fell 9-0, 9-1, 9-3 to an "awesome" performance by Nottingham's Emma Beddoes.  But the hosts quickly recovered - first when local star Kristen Johnson battled bravely to an entertaining 11-9, 13-11, 6-9, 8-10, 10-8 win over Lewis Walters, and then after Chris Ryder despatched Nottingham's Jethro Binns in four games.

But overall victory came when Scott Handley secured a surprisingly straightforward 9-5, 9-4, 9-3 win over Nottingham's John Rooney - and Australian Cameron Pilley cemented the celebrations by beating Simon Parke 9-5, 9-5, 9-4.

The all-Surrey clash between Luxfords St George's Hill and UniSport Guildford began disappointingly for the Ingham family as siblings Alex and Harriet, openers for the visitors, went down in straight games to their St George's Hill opponents.  But Guildford fought back to level the tie when Jesse Engelbrecht beat St George's Hill newcomer Philip Nightingale 9-3, 9-5, 9-3, and veteran campaigner Stephen Meads held off a challenge from Tom Richards to beat the rising Surrey star 9-6, 9-7, 10-12, 4-9, 9-4.

The dramatic decider went to five games when the home side's Hungarian number one Mark Krajcsak beat long-time Guildford No1 Stacey Ross 9-11, 9-3, 5-9, 9-5, 9-3.

Final round, 18-Mar
  
Duffield v Pontefract
Redditch v Oxford
Nottingham v Birmingham

Surrey v Chichester
Bristol v St George's

... whilst Manager gets lost in Borneo jungle Benz Bavarian Duffield lost, but oh so close ...

In the absence of the Duffield manager team player Andy Whipp gave me a birds eye report from the player’s perspective ...

Going in to the match we were the underdogs but I really hoped we'd be able to sneak a victory as every men's match was going to be a closely fought contest capable of going either way.

At the end of the day we lost 4-1 but were so close to winning 3-2 or 4-1 ourselves.

LAURA HILL A BANKER
Emma Chorley lost to Laura Hill 2-9, 2-9, 2-9 (18m)

Laura was always going to win, but the pressure was on the local Duffield legend, but she blew her opponent off court.

She said herself she's been training hard and she's just beginning to see it pay off, so watch out any of the World top 20 women, because Laura's capable of beating most.

Anyway, Laura put us 1-0 up after 20 minutes.

A DISAPPOINTING NIGHT FOR SHAUN LE ROUX
Joel Hinds bt Shaun le Roux 9-3, 9-6, 9-3 (24m)

Shaun was the one man we thought would probably win against Joel Hinds who has won every Duffield Junior title Joel is obviously good but we all though Shaun would have the edge.

He played badly on the night and was not willing to try and grind a result out as everyone has to do from time to time. Joel played well but Shaun would have been disappointed with his contribution and on behalf of the team.

PETE BILLSON RISES FROM HIS SICK BED
Jonathan Harford bt Peter Billson 9-3, 7-9, 9-3, 9-6 (29m)

We now needed two of myself, Nicky T and Pete to win. We all had Pete down as a definite loss as he was feeling extremely ill and still struggling with a groin injury. It was testament to him that he was playing at all to keep the order. Pete is a class act, all of a sudden he was at 1-1 after pinging in some of his great shots and controlling most of the rallies. He then went down in the third as Johnny got a lot back and plays a consistent game, which isn't to Pete's liking.

Anyway, still time for one last push, Pete was 6-3 up in the 4th with a fifth game looming, but Johnny ground out the game 9-6. A valiant effort by Pete and if he won that 4th who knows when you can finish rallies like Pete can (like when he played Joel first half of the season, which has become a legendary performance). Unlucky Pete.

NICK TAYLOR SO CLOSE AND YET SO FAR
Mohamed El Shorbagy bt Nick Taylor 9-4, 3-9, 6-9, 9-2, 9-5 (39m)

So now needing me and Nick to win, I still thought we'd do it. Everyone was writing this off as an easy Shorbagy win, not me however far from it and I know how good and annoying Nick can be to play with all that skill and experience. The first game Shorbagy had a few lucky guesses and a few lucky shots but that was the only difference. The match was beginning to turn into somewhat of an exhibition with crazy squash, constant attacking and running. Shorbagy was not to know the one person who's a master of exhibitions is Nick.

Nick was loving it, and was just better at this style of play than the 17 year old. There was some extremely entertaining squash to take Nick 2-1 up. Shorbagy went out and hacked and blocked, which unfortunately worked. Nick got some very bad calls and he got annoyed, Shorbagy, but even though he plays very much like a junior, his handling of the situation was mature, so it only served to wind Nick up which was his downfall.

I was absolutely gutted, we'd lost!

ME – WHIPPY BACK ON TRACK BUT BARRINGTON EDGES IT
Joey Barrington bt Andrew Whipp 9-2, 10-12, 9-3, 9-7 (47m)

This is a match which I wanted to win badly, because I thought the match would be all down to my match. I had my customary slow start which made Joey look good. I then got into it and controlled every rally, and edged out a tight second game. I was now feeling good, playing well, and confident especially after winning Aberdeen at the weekend which got me well back on track after an energy-less, poor loss last National League match.

Anyway, the refereeing then left something to be desired and appeared to me to favour of the home player. This was hard to take but I carried on fighting, controlling rallies, and playing some good attacking squash (what else would I play!?). Unfortunately I went down in a tight 3-1, but if I'd taken the 4th I believe I would have could have won as he was tired with the amount of work I was making him do and the pace of the match.

IN CONCLUSION

Nick Taylor (along with our supporters) was not happy with the refereeing of both his and my match I think he had some serious words with the refs after the match which our and their team members thought was fully justified. But alas, it was not to be. We lost our unbeaten run in a match that was Oh so close and full of What if's? and what could have been.

Again, a massive shout out to our loyal supporters. They're AMAZING. Every match they're there, shouting louder than the opponents crowd making every match fantastic to play in. Thanks.

Brian, I hope you had a good time in Borneo and it'll be good to have our winning manager back for the next match against Pontefract.

Sorry for my ramblings but I know how you like you detailed reports, so here's one from a players perspective.

Take care.

It is appropriate that the manager should have the final word, back from Borneo and just getting over 24 hours without much sleep and brain functioning again.

Whilst out in Borneo the local Borneo Times gave superb coverage to squash and the KL open with its increased prize money sufficiently high enough to attract Stewart Boswell but not Joey Barrington.

Despite losing last night the seven points gained for winning 7 games ( Laura 3, Nick 2 and Andy and Pete both 1 each) guaranteed us top spot as despite Birmingham being able to draw level on overall points if we lost 5-0 (and won no games no points) and if Birmingham won 5-0 ( winning 15 points plus 5 bonus points) we would still top the as under Reg 38 “in the event of a points tie for place the team having won the most ties shall be placed higher . We have already won 8 ties whilst Birmingham has only won 6 ties so far with one round to go.

The absent manager said “All good things have to come to and end at some stage but Birmingham was at its strongest from the men viewpoint and Duffield was without Nick Matthew (injured) or Stewart Boswell (playing in Kuala Lumpar) and with Pete Billson (unwell) it was always going to be tough but the team put up a tremendous fight as summed up above by Andy Whipp”.

“Having earlier been on the receiving end of some generous decisions when we played Redditch I think decisions even themselves out over the course of the season. Best to congratulate Birmingham on making the play offs ands who knows we might met them again in the final”.

Duffield will meet Chichester in semi final for a third time. It is probable but not yet confirmed that first leg will be played at Chichester on 8 April with second leg home on 10 April.