Round FOUR Results

Tue 25 Oct, Round FOUR Results LEAGUE TABLES A Win At Last For Wolves Champions Wolverhampton claimed their first win of the season, but they left it late ... 2-1 down at Nottingham they needed victories from Alex Gough and Anthony Ricketts to keep their title hopes alive. Also in the Northern group, Duffield inflicted a rare defeat on Manchester/Pontefract ... Brian's verdict to follow ... In the Southern group newcomers Surrey Health & Rackets got their season back on track with a comprehensive 5-0 win at Guildford, who remain top, and Chichester moved off the bottom with their first win of the season, against Birmingham University. North Group: Nottingham 2-3 Wolverhampton Ria Kennersley report & Stephen Russell Simon Parke 1-3 Anthony Ricketts 2/9, 3/9, 9/6, 1/9 (45m) Tommy Berden 2-3 Alex Gough 4/9, 9/4, 9/3, 6/9, 8/10 (77m) James Wright 2-3 Chris Ryder 9/3, 9/6, 6/9, 8/10, 5/9 (61m) Arthur Gaskin 3-2 Kristen Johnston 9/4, 9/7, 7/9, 8/10, 9/3 (52m) Alex Norman 3-1 Fiona Moverley 9/4, 4/9, 9/3, 9/4 (55m) Benz-Bavarian Duffield 3-2 Manchester/Pontefract Brian Hargrave Reports Renan Lavigne 0-3 Lee Beachill 2/9, 6/9, 5/9 Jonathan Kemp 3-1 Nick Taylor 12/10, 9/5, 7/9, 9/7 Lee Drew 3-0 Saurav Ghosal 9/6, 9/3, 9/3 Paul Hargrave 2-3 Andrew Whipp 6/9, 9/7, 9/4, 7/9, 5/9 Tania Bailey 3-0 Jenna Gates 9/1, 9/2, 9/2 South Group: UniSport Guildford 0-5 Surrey H&RC Croydon Ian Robinson reports Stacey Ross 1-3 Peter Nicol 5/9, 11/9, 9/6, 8/10 Stephen Meads 2-3 Bradley Ball 6/9, 9/3, 9/2, 3/9, 7/9 Neil Frankland 0-3 Tim Garner 4/9, 2/9, 6/9 (26m) Brandon Hanley 0-3 Ben Ford 9/11, 6/9, 4/9 Emma Matthews 0-3 Stephanie Brind 1/9, 2/9, 5/9 Team Chichester 4-1 University Sport Birmingham Ben Garner 3-0 Jon Harford 9/1, 9/3, 9/5 Peter Genever 3-0 Joel Hinds 9/7, 9/7, 9/4 Tim Vail 3-0 Steve Coppinger 9/7, 10/8, 9/2 Tom Richards 3-0 Jaymie Haycocks 11/9, 9/3, 9/7 Louise Clark 2-3 Leonie Holt 1/9, 9/2, 3/9, 9/5, 4/9	Tue 25th Oct Framboise at Guildford NEXT FIXTURES 5th round Tuesday 15th November North Group: Manchester/Pontefract v Churchill Edgbaston Priory Wolverhampton v Benz-Bavarian Duffield *South Group:* University Sport Birmingham v Oberthur Strings Tewkesbury Surrey H&R Croydon v Team Chichester
PSL Squash Stars Shine In Celebration Of Commonwealth Games Selection by Howard Harding Three of the players in action in tonight's fourth round of the Premier Squash League, who heard earlier in the day that they would be representing England in next year's Commonwealth Games in Australia, celebrated in victorious style. Peter Nicol, who will be seeking a hat-trick of double medal successes in his third successive appearance in the Games, led Surrey Health & Racquets Croydon to a thumping 5/0 away win over county rivals UniSport Guildford, while Lincolnshire's Tania Bailey, a silver medallist in the Manchester 2002 Games, created the opening win for Benz-Bavarian Duffield as the Derbyshire club inflicted the first defeat of the season on 2004 champions Manchester/Pontefract. Lee Beachill, who partnered Peter Nicol to gold in the Men's Doubles in Manchester, claimed the final win for Manchester/Pontefract to reduce the losing score to 3/2. Churchill Edgbaston Priory, who were not in action tonight, maintained their lead in the North Group table ahead of Manchester/Pontefract, but title-holders Wolverhampton finally secured their first win of the season by beating Nottingham 3/2 in a victory which sees the west midlands side lift themselves off the bottom place in the list. THE SOUTH In the South Group, Team Chichester also notched up their first win of the season with a 4/1 home victory over newcomers University Sport Birmingham. Despite their loss, UniSport Guildford still maintain leadership of the points table, but Surrey H&RC Croydon move into second place while Birmingham slump to the basement position. It was only in the fourth match of the programme against the Croydon visitors that UniSport Guildford looked like claiming their first win. Stalwart Stephen Meads, the now retired former world No11, fought back from a game to down to forge a 2/1 lead over Suffolk's Bradley Ball. But the Croydon No2, ranked 25 in the world, soon reasserted his authority and, with a final flourish of stunning shots, claimed his 9-6 3-9 2-9 9-3 9-7 victory. It was the final match of the night, however, that the Guildford fans were saving themselves for – the clash in which the visiting Peter Nicol, a former world number one and world champion, would finally gain revenge for two losses he sustained against the Guildford No1 Stacey Ross in the finals of the British Junior U14 Open in 1987 and the British Junior U16 Open two years later – more than 16 years ago! Ross led in all four games and delighted the home crowd by making the England squash star work for every point. But it was the Commonwealth Games hero that ultimately prevailed – in more than an hour – as Nicol won 9-6 11-9 6-9 11-9. In the other South Group tie, Chichester supporters welcomed their team's maiden win of the 2005 campaign. Weakened by the absence through injury of top string Joey Barrington, University Sport Birmingham were unable to respond to the Chichester firepower of Ben Garner, Peter Genever, Tim Vail and Tom Richards. But 18-year-old Leonie Holt, in her first appearance for the Birmingham University squad, battled for five games against Chichester's Louise Clark to earn a consolation 9-1 2-9 9-3 5-9 9-4 win. THE NORTH There were smiles all round in the Derbyshire club where Benz-Bavarian Duffield hosted – and defeated - the mighty Manchester/Pontefract. Club coach Paul Hargrave came near to pulling off a notable upset over the visitors' world-ranked Andrew Whipp – but after leading 2/1 in games and sharing points at 7-7 in the fourth, Hargrave fell away as Whipp advanced to win 9-6 7-9 4-9 9-7 9-5. Tania Bailey had earlier put Duffield ahead with a clinical 9-1 9-2 9-2 dismissal of Sussex's British Junior champion Jenna Gates – and later Jonathan Kemp, fresh from his success at the weekend in the Ottawa Open in Canada, defeated Manchester's National Squash Centre coach Nick Taylor 12-10 9-5 7-9 9-7. "This was a big result for us tonight," said Duffield team manager Brian Hargrave. "It was also a great night for the sport of squash – and one which at least keeps the season live, with chances for all of us." It was the crowd in Nottingham that was treated to the most action-packed evening of entertainment - with 23 games from a possible 25 in the five matches, and all clashes lasting for 45 minutes or more! Club champion Alex Norman, originally from Sussex, put Nottingham ahead with an impressive 9-4 4-9 9-3 9-4 win over England junior international Fiona Moverley, and Irishman Arthur Gaskin extended the hosts' lead over Wolverhampton with a 9-4 9-7 7-9 8-10 9-3 triumph in 52 minutes over Kristen Johnson. But the standout match of the night was provided by Dutch champion Tommy Berden, for Nottingham, against the defending champions' Welsh wizard Alex Gough. Berden led 2/1, but Gough – himself a former long-time Nottingham team member – kept up the pressure to carve out a heroic 9-4 4-9 3-9 9-6 10-8 win in 77 minutes. And so it was left to Wolverhampton's recently-crowned British Open champion Anthony Ricketts to clinch victory for the visitors with a sparkling 9-2 9-3 6-9 9-1 win over the Nottingham No1 Simon Parke.
UniSport Guildford 0 Team Surrey, Croydon 5 Ian Robinson reports A packed house at the Varsity Centre saw the UniSport Guildford team heavily outgunned by a powerhouse Croydon team led by no less than Peter Nicol himself. Croydon were stung by the shock loss at the University of Birmingham and were not going to take another hit from an academic institution. Taking no chances Peter Nicol led the team with the experience of Bradley Ball, Tim Garner Ben Ford and Stephanie Brind, hastily called home from the WISPA tour, to ensure that there could be no doubt as to where the balance of power lay. If this had been a boxing match there were good grounds for stopping the contest, but that would have been to deny the UniSport players their moment in the spotlight at this exalted level. Before proceedings started, the University of Surrey made a presentation to former World Champion and World number 1, Peter Nicol, in recognition of his long service to the sport at the highest level and more importantly as a thank you for taking the time out of his busy schedule to play PSL and ensure a sell out crowd with a waiting list for UniSport Guildford. The gift was a framed aerial photograph of the British lsles taken from one of the University's satellites and also an honorary membership of UniSport Guildford, clearly in the event that he can't get a court anywhere else or perhaps with one eye to the squad for next season! The match got off to a difficult start for UniSport with Emma Matthews facing Stephanie Brind, who is an experienced campaigner. Emma is one of the students making her way in the game, being awarded a TASS bursary to help fund her squash while at the same time completing her studies. This was almost a mismatch as Emma, despite this being her second start for UniSport, was a bundle of nerves and although she made some pleasing shots, was unable to make much impression on the rallies. As the match wore on she settled somewhat and started to put some better rallies together. Nonetheless and despite some errors from Brind there was never any doubt as to the eventual outcome. However in scoring 8 points in total Emma can take comfort from the fact that she is improving as it is 5 more than she scored last time in the Premier League. With less redoubtable opposition, Emma will no doubt start to flourish but the Premier League is not the place to find those opponents. The early advantage was immediately in the hands of Croydon. Tim Garner gave Neil Frankland no real chances in putting a solid consistent performance together. Dominating the central ground, Garner showed all the old experience of his pro tour days, patiently working the ball around and waiting for the right moments to put finishing touches to rallies. Frankland, by contrast, is still not fluent in his movement and was not really able to inject enough pace to upset the status quo. There were moments in the final game when briefly one or two interesting things happened for Frankland but by then it was too little too late. The feeling of never in doubt comes to mind when reflecting on the outcome of this game and sadly from the UniSport point of view it was from an early stage. Croydon were 2 - 0 to the good. Third on court was Brandon Hanley against the cagey Ben Ford. There wasn't the kind of hitting power on display of the previous week when the UniSport man had threatened to knock the front wall down, in fact it might have been better had there been so. Nonetheless Hanley was always in the game but still seems to doubt at crucial times and with that comes errors sometimes even unforced. It is important to get the balance of attack and defence right but at the moment that is eluding Hanley. Ford put together a good mix of short balls and lengths which meant that Hanley was always covering a lot of court. This in itself is tiring and add in the loose balls causing more court sprinting of an unnecessary kind and a few errors, it forced Hanley into a position from which it was very difficult to win. Still in part there is a talent but it is for another day to convert it into a winning formula. 3 - 0 and the match to Croydon. Sadly the progress had been all too one sided, but with the loss of Alison Waters and Jesse Engelbrecht to the International tournament circuit perhaps it was always going to be so and perhaps even with their help it might also have been so against this quality of opposition. Stephen Meads, relishing the occasion, bounced onto the court to confront Bradley Ball. Ball has been suffering with niggling injuries which by his own admission weigh heavily on his mind. It looked like a major demolition job was going to transpire, as often in the past when these two have met Ball has disposed of Meads in double quick time. All is not quite as it should be with Ball. He did win the first game and gave himself the best possible start, but was still not looking at his best. A combination of errors, loose balls and Meads making it difficult for him, saw the Guildford man level the scores. The pattern continued into the third game and the errors looked like a player short on confidence taking the direct route home, which is so often effective for Ball, but not at the moment. The errors handed Meads a golden and rather unexpected 2 games to 1 lead. Ball was stung into action and at a time when Meads lost concentration Ball came roaring back into the match, taking the fourth to equalise with a convincing 9 - 3 margin. Errors were fewer and winners were finding their targets better. It was all to play for in the fifth. Ball took the advantage but the score crept steadily towards the game-end with not much daylight until Ball managed to break clear at 6 - 6 - two beautifully crafted backhand volley nicks, one slightly lucky back corner crack, and a decidedly dodgy back hand drop shot gave the match to Ball against a resurgent Meads, who is playing with confidence and great enjoyment at this point in his career. A 4 - 0 lead to Croydon. The compere then had the privilege of introducing Peter Nicol, the best British player of the modern era in the world game, to take on the plucky and half retired Stacey Ross. 'You thought that this would be a 5 - 0 win for Croydon' were the introductory words as Peter Nicol prepared to display his skills.......and you were right (my words not his). But that was not before Ross had the opportunity to showcase what might have been, had he played squash instead of 'getting himself a proper job' all those years ago. This was a great game of squash and a credit to the two players in the spirit in which it was played and at the same time demonstrating all the skills that the sport has to offer. Ross was in no way overawed by the player alongside him, in the same way as he had done much credit to his reputation in his recent match at the British Open with current world number 1 Thierry Lincou of France. Ross has an instinctive desire to go for his shots and is quick and varied in his choice of shots and this is unsettling for anybody who has not seen a lot of him. Nicol is probably the best defensive player in the game, which is not to berate his attacking game, but merely highlights the fact that Ross did so well to have out-manoeuvred him to such an extent. The result, however, was never quite up for serious discussion. There was always the feeling that Nicol had too much experience and confidence in his ability to win crucial points and that Ross never quite believed that he could be so effective at those times and turn over his opponent. There was also that slight feeling that bearing in mind the winners that Ross was able to find, should a purple patch ever come beckoning then anything could and probably would have happened - more wishful thinking than a real possibility. This match was probably a little more uncomfortable than Nicol might have expected. The squash was out of the top draw and despite soaking up a whitewash, the Guildford faithful went home happy to have seen one of the best players ever given a decent run for his money by one of their own. Stand up Stacey Ross and wrap yourself up in cotton wool to avoid the injuries that just might take away more of the limited time available to fully exploit the talent that is there. By some quirk of fate UniSport Guildford apparently remain on top of the table, which confounds me as I believed that after taking two losses one 4 - 1and the other 5 - 0 that we would and probably should be somewhere near the bottom of the table, let alone still top. The rules continue to remain puzzling but so long as we remain top of the table I am not going to look too closely. The likelihood is that with the other clubs still to play the game in hand that they have over us, then we will take something of a tumble. That is the last match of this half of the season for us, so until we convene in the new year for our away trip to the University of Birmingham on 31st January then enjoy the festivities and keep practising...... Ian Robinson
A WIN AT LAST…….. BUT IT COULD HAVE BEEN SO DIFFERENT Stephen Russell reports Nottingham 2-3 Wolverhampton What looked on paper to be a potentially easy win for Wolverhampton over Nottingham turned out to be anything but. In fact if it wasn’t for some last gasp heroics from Alex Gough and Chris Ryder the score line would have been very different. Still you don’t win ties without some fighting spirit and we had that in abundance on the night. The results were: Anthony Ricketts beat Simon Parke 3-1. 9/2, 9/3, 6/9, 9/1. Alex Gough beat Tommy Berden 3-2. 9/4, 4/9, 3/9, 9/6, 10/8 Chris Ryder beat James Wright 3-2, 3/9, 6/9, 9/6, 10/8, 9/5. Kristen Johnston lost to Arthur Gaskin 2-3, 4/9, 7/9, 9/7, 10/8, 3/9. Fiona Moverley lost to Alex Norman 1-3. 4/9, 9/4, 3/9, 4/9. Fiona started very slowly and showed some clear signs of nerves in her first Premier League match and tinned at least 6 shots in the first game. Alex, possibly not expected to win and playing on her home court, played a steady game and sort of accumulated points. From the start of the second Fiona looked more at ease and began picking up points with a succession of drop shots having first worked her opponent well out of position. So at 1 all things were looking up. The next two games followed the pattern of the second except that, whenever Fiona had a winning opening she tinned the ball. Whether it was a reoccurrence of nerves or the rather cold court I don’t know but the match quickly slipped away. Over on the show court Chris was not playing well, spraying the ball about, drop shots coming out into the court especially on his back hand and having the odd bit of bad luck. James must have thought that it was his birthday. Chris tightened up his width and length in the third and took it quite comfortably but a few unforced errors in the 4th at crucial times made it desperately close. James worked hard to try to get the 4th and, having lost it looked far more tired than Chris. And so was, as a close match in games turned out finally to be a comfortable win in the fifth. It was a night for Wolverhampton players to start slowly as the next match between Kristen and Arthur seemed a repeat of Chris’s though with a larger number of errors from both men. Again the Wolverhampton player couldn’t get his drops tight and against a fit young opponent that spells trouble. At 2 down I didn’t see how Kristen could come back but he did by slowing the ball down, taking his time and teasing out errors from Arthur. The third to us. I think Arthur worked out what to do as he came out strongly for the 4th, cut out the errors and went 7-3 up in no time. Then the wheels came off and by sheer hard work Kris got back in to snatch it 10-8 though he used a lot of energy to do it. And that was that, with depleted reserves the final game slipped away quickly leaving the match score at 2-1 to Nottingham. We have been 2-1 down at Nottingham before, last May in fact, but it wasn’t really the score line that I was expecting this time. Alex against Tommy Berden was likely to be the decider and our man began well moving Tommy all over the court and dominating the play. First blood to us. Then for no obvious reason Alex totally lost his length, particularly on his backhand, and allowed Tommy to step in and volley nearly everything. When he tried a cross court shot his opponent was on the T ready to volley that too. It’s very difficult to win a game of squash when you are always behind your opponent and whatever Alex tried didn’t work. For two games he wasn’t in it. Then it all came back. The lengths got better, drop shots went up, cross courts were not cut off and suddenly it was 2 all. In point a rally to 9, a lead of 8-4 is normally enough so at that point in the 5th I started to breathe again. The next rally and some desperate retrieving from Tommy presented Alex with some 4 alternative winning shots. He chose the 5th one, more or less straight back at himself. You can sometimes have too many options. With that point, plus 3 tins Tommy found himself at 8 all. We surely couldn’t lose from that point and we didn’t. One great length that died at the back followed by a tinned shot from Tommy gave Alex the match and scared the result on the night. Simon Parke will run forever but is now a full time coach rather than a full time touring professional so it was asking a bit much of him to take on someone who is probably one of the most talented players about as well as the fittest. Fresh from winning the British Open last week, Anthony showed what a champion he is; picking up some shots of Simon’s which, for most of us thought were winners. Anthony raced into a 2 nil lead and began the third at the same pace. A gruelling rally early in the third had Simon taking a full minutes rest leaning against the front wall and not looking too good. After a while Anthony enquired whether the match should not continue but a voice suggested that “he be kind to Simon”. He was a bit to kind as Simon took the next couple of points and in going for a low cross court shot Anthony hit his knee with the end of his racket. Having had 6 months off last year with a knee injury this was worrying and Anthony slowed a little while judging how his knee was coping. This let Simon in and several quite outrageous shots coupled with Anthony’s preoccupation gave Simon the game. Fortunately, there was no lasting damage to his knee and normal service resumed in the fourth. Although the score was 9-1 in that game Simon chased everything and looked quite ill at the end. That’s guts! So by some real determination not to lose we got through and picked up 17 valuable points. With Duffield unexpectedly beating Manchester the table has opened out and a good result against Duffield at home on the 15th November could make the second half interesting. I had already told Brian Hargrave that I expected to field the team that won the title last season and I know he will put up an equally strong side. Should be a good night. Stephen Russell Manager, Wolverhampton
Another great night at Duffield with an even better result keeps season alive and kicking for 4 of the 5 teams in Group A Who once said “squash is like foxhunting”? - read on and you will find out. JOINT MATCH SPONSORS CHURCHILL OFFICE SOLUTIONS LTD & VICEROY RESTAURANT Benz-Bavarian Duffield 3-2 Manchester- Pontefract Renan Lavigne lost Lee Beachill 2-9 6-9 5-9 (35 minutes) Jon Kemp beat Nick Taylor 12-10 9-5 7-9 9-7 (32 minutes) Lee Drew beat Saurav Ghosal 9-6 9-6 9-3 (29 minutes) Paul Hargrave lost Andy Whipp 6-9 9-7 9-4 7-9 5-9 (50 minutes) Tania Bailey beat Jenna Gates 9-1 9-2 9-2 (23 minutes) I am almost certain that we have never previously beaten Manchester- Pontefract but tonight it was our turn and the season is still very much alive. Tania Bailey opened proceedings on the outside court having generously suggested that tactically the majority of our supporters needed to get behind one of the two players where the outcome was always expected to be close. Thus at the last moment Paul Hargrave found himself with a chance to prove to a full house of supporters on the show court that he can still live with young whippersnappers. Tania Bailey settled for playing on the outside court. Bailey who has quickly endeared herself to the Duffield supporters in the same way that her predecessor, and soon mum to be, Cassie Jackman did for 7 years. Both lovely nice natured girls with not too dissimilar styles. One was world No 1 and world Champion and the other has demonstrated that she has the ability to follow if she can stay fit and free from injury. With due respect to Jenna Gates who battled bravely throughout Tania just had to much racket control and was able to dominate the T throughout a rubber which lasted just 23 minutes. Jenna is ranked 19 places below Tania in the England rankings and the total points tally of just 5 was a poor reward for her efforts. On the show court both players entertained the crowd to what can only be described as exciting attacking squash with some energy sapping rallies interspersed with bold winners from all parts of the court. Whipp took the first 9-6 but Hargrave always had his nose in front in the second taking the game 9-7 to level the rubber. Hargrave was back to his best form as he raced into an 8-3 lead in the third only to get caught accidentally by the forward movement of Whipp’s leg resulting in a stoppage for injury to calf and knee. Hargrave closed the game out 9-4 but never moved quite as freely thereafter. The local Club coach managed to hang on in the fourth and was just 2 points from victory. Whipp went for broke and hit two devastating winners to level at 2 all. Whipp now had his man on the ropes with restricted movement and lack of full match fitness, after a 9 month lay off with a back injury, both was taking their toll. Hargrave was really hurting but hung on bravely until the score reached 6-5 but Whipp showed no mercy to his injured prey to take the game 9-5. Both players’ efforts over 50 minutes were much appreciated by the supporters and I cannot recall one disputed decision. The decision to switch courts had almost worked but the pressure was now on Lee Drew on the outside court against the 19 year old Suarav Ghosal (India No 2) who, like Drew, is based at Pontefract and who Malcolm Willstrop rates so highly. Drew, formerly Le on Solent, was making his Duffield debut but responded to the supporters who switched courts in an effort to will their new man to victory. Drew’s concentration was of the highest order throughout. He knew he had to keep the pressure on his younger opponent and he did so by working his opponent all around the court with tight drops and wall clinging lengths choosing the right moments to whip the ball cross court and leave Ghosal flat footed. The first game was tight but Drew was always ahead and after 13 minutes he took the game 9-6. The second and third followed similar patterns with Ghosal quicksilver around the court but Drew always seemed to be in control. A very determined, professional and impressive debut which delighted the home supporters some of whom were heard to comment “a very shrewd signing”. The manager was very pleased indeed. Back to the show court and Jonathan Kemp was just back from winning the Par-Fyum Goodlife Squash Open to pick up the second PSA Tour title of his career in Ottawa, Canada. Kemp had battled for almost an hour in the final In an all-British clash, the 24-year-old second seed defeated third-seed Welshman and fellow Duffield PSL squad member Gavin Jones 11-7 8-11 11-4 8-11 11-9 in 59 minutes. The triumph marked Kemp's first PSA title since lifting the Ciutat de Barcelona Open trophy more than two years ago in Spain. Kemp was facing Nick Taylor who has just ended his PSA exploits to concentrate on his coaching position at the National squash Centre in Manchester. Taylor has lost a yard of pace and a degree of fitness. Kemp, who had flown back from Canada at midnight on Sunday, looked a little travel weary and he had also pulled a muscle in his chest in winning in Canada which restricted his shots and his serve. Taylor sensed he had a chance of levelling the scores and the first game went first one way and then the other. Taylor had game point at 9-8 but Kemp, who had been using the drag shot at front of court to wrong flat Taylor, dug deep and squeezed home 12-10. Kemp comfortably took the second 9-5 and the game and outcome of the tie appeared to going Duffield’s way. Taylor had other ideas in the fourth always behind and 7-6 down. A couple of careless shots from Kemp saw Taylor home 9-7. Renan gave him the benefit of his advice and relaxed his manager by reporting that Kemp was confident of winning. At 7 all Kemp looked far from confident as he honestly admitted afterwards. The manager and the home supporters knew that their season probably depended on the next 2 points. Kemp probably had the same thoughts but made one final push and took the game 9-7 to give Duffield a deserved victory. Duffield was missing No 1, Nick Matthew, but Hedley came along to support in his son’s absence. Manchester was without James Willstrop and this evened things up. Renan Lavigne, the never say die Frenchman, had the daunting task of facing a totally focussed Lee Beachill who has slipped to no 4 in the world. The England No 1 was just too good for the France No 3. Lavigne (wr 30) chased lost causes straining every muscle in his body. However, Beachill had the tighter shots which cased Lavigne problems whenever the ball was dropped short or kept tight on his back hand. Beachill always seemed to be strolling around the court as his opponent covered every inch. Beachill ran out a winner with a scoreline of 9-2 9-6 9-5 which was a very fair reflection of the Beachill’s dominance but of little consolation to the brave Lavigne who had a nightmare journey from France, via Stansted and train to Derby where he got changed in the toilets arriving at Duffield station (yes we do have in fact have two stations at Duffield) a with minutes to spare before the introductions. A frantic 250 yard dash from the Station to Club saw Lavigne take his place for the introductions. There is no justice and after the heartbreak of losing 9-7 in the fifth to Simon Parke in round 3 Lavigne could have no complaints about the referees’ decisions tonight, Lavigne will be back on court tomorrow morning at 9am to play 13 year old Millie Tomlinson before dashing of to catch his plane back to France. Millie Tomlinson took part in the European Squash Federation (Technifibre) Junior Open, held over three days Saturday 22nd, Sunday 23rd and Monday 24th October 2005 at The Park Squash Club, Nottingham. The event attracted entrants from England, Scotland, Wales, France, Spain, Czechoslovakia and America. Millie progressed to the final, playing some excellent squash and met Robyn Hodgson from Aberdeen in Scotland, with a European Ranking of 3. Millie went on to win in a very competitive match 3-1, refereed by the renowned England Squash Referee, David Walker, who certainly had his hands full controlling the fiery Scottish Under 15 Junior Champion. Millie always appeared sharp and more fluent than her aggressive opponent and raised the tempo in the fourth and final game to win 9-1. The PSL Raffle raised over £100 for “Macmillan Cancer Relief” in support of the efforts of long term sponsor, John Lake of Buildbase. The Duffield players have also donated their International Shirts which John will be auctioning together with other sporting items at a later date. Finally, Jonah Barrington once watched me beat Andrew Shelley 10-9 the fifth and likened squash to fox hunting. “You wear your prey down and then go in for the kill” he said. We saw plenty of evidence of this tonight. I well remember the other tip Jonah gave me that day and this confidential advice has stood me in good stead ever since. Andrew Shelley has gone on from strength to strength with WISPA whilst I have had the good fortune to manage some great players over the past 13 years. It was with great pleasure that I heard that five Duffield NL/PSL players past and present will represent England in the Commonwealth Games namely Lee Beachill, James Willstrop, Nick Matthew, Adrian Grant and Tania Bailey plus presumably Alex Gough in the Welsh Team Brian Hargrave
Nottingham 2-3 Wolverhampton - the home view An exciting night of squash was in store for the Nottingham crowd as teams that would turn out to be relatively evenly matched graced the courts. The first matches on were Alex Norman against Fiona Moverley and James Wright against Chris Ryder. It was tough to call which of these matches to watch but I decided to give my support to my Notts League Ladies Captain who I knew (even though nobody else seemed to think so!) could win this match if she kept her confidence. Alex Norman v Fiona Moverley Alex came to Nottingham as a University Student 3 years ago and has since improved immensely. She quickly went 5-0 up in the opening game with good length and great retrieving. Fiona pulled it back to 3-5 but an unforced error gave the advantage back to Nottingham. More great retrieving from Alex moved her to 7-3 up before taking the game 9-4 with some tight balls and clever shots. 1-0 Nottingham. Fiona came back on court a different person and quickly went 7-1 up after loose shots by Alex. Alex then found her range again and pulled it back to 4-7 but a lack of width gave Fiona some easy shots on the volley and she took the game 9-4. In the 3rd, Fiona, again was quickly out of the blocks to go 2-0 up but Alex didn’t let her stretch too far ahead this time and gained the advantage to go 4-2 up. She kept her concentration in some tight rallies as the serves alternated between the players. Suddenly, Alex raised her game and some unforced errors by Fiona gave Alex gameball at 8-3, which she took at the 2nd attempt. 2-1 Nottingham. The start of the fourth was much tighter with both players playing great shots to put their opponent under pressure. Alex edged through to go 3-0 up but Fiona pulled it back to level at 3-3. Alex then took advantage of a tired Fiona to go 7-3 up in one hand. Fiona didn’t give up the fight but by this point Alex’s new-found confidence shone through and she took the match 9-4 in 55 minutes. James Wright v Chris Ryder Back on court 10, James and Chris were still battling it out with James 2 games up on Chris. From what I saw of these early stages in the match, James was playing a varied, high paced game moving Chris to all four corners of the court and demonstrating brilliantly what has now become known to many of the club juniors as the “ROC hold” (be proud Richard O’Connor!). James took the first 2 games 9-3, 9-6. Errors in the third saw James lose control of the match and he lost that game 9-6 but was there still life left from the Nottingham youngster who was not fully fit after coming back from injury? The 4th was, as you can imagine, extremely close with Chris eventually going 8-6 up for 2 game balls. The crowd got behind James though and he pulled it back to 8-8 but Chris proved to be the stronger and won 10-8. The final game was close to start with but James was looking tired. There were some long rallies and James couldn’t keep up his great form from the 1st and 2nd games with Chris taking the match 9-5 in the 5th in 61 minutes. Arthur Gaskin v Kristen Johnston By this point, Arthur was already 2-0 up against Kristen but I’m reliably informed by Peter Marshall that the pace of the game was extremely high and Arthur was looking very determined throughout. To quote Mr Marshall, “He really wants to win this.” Arthur took the first 9-4 and was 6-2 down in the 2nd before taking the game 9-7. The third was also extremely high paced and Arthur was still looking determined to win but Kristen hung on to take this game 9-7. In a tense 4th game, Kristen pulled ahead to reach game ball but Arthur came back to level at 8-8 before a dive suitable for any premier league football match saw him go game ball down and Kristen took this 10-8. The final game started off as a close affair but Arthur was not going to give up on the chance of winning his first Premier League match in front of his home crowd. He applied some great pressure on his opponent to take the match 9-3 in 61 minutes. Tommy Berden v Alex Gough Tommy was already a game down against Alex on court 10, losing 9-4 so the chances of a win for Nottingham were looking very slim. At this point, I went to phone the half way scores through to the lovely Howard Harding and by the time I got back to the court, Tommy had obviously put in a marvellous performance to go 2-1 up against Alex! Could Nottingham sneak a win? The match was generally quite cagey with both players happy to play at a medium pace, neither wanting to play anything too risky for fear of making a mistake. But the mistakes did come, mainly from Tommy in the fourth as he hit a few relatively easy drop shots into the tin. Alex took this game 9-6. And so there was another 5 set match, the crowd getting very excited in the hope that Tommy could pull off what seemed on paper to be an unlikely victory. This was in fact a much closer game than the fourth with both players desperate for the win. There were again long rallies but Alex pulled away to reach match ball first 8-4. Tommy wasn’t going to give up that easily though and pulled it back to 8-8 with a very vocal crowd cheering him on. But it wasn’t to be and Alex took the final game 10-8 in a very long 77 minutes. Simon Parke v Anthony Ricketts At 2-2, the final match on court was Parkey against Ricketts. Simon has been and still is the Nottingham crowd’s favourite player and this was shown in the great support that he was given tonight against the recently crowned British Open Champion. It was always going to be an uphill struggle for the Nottingham player against the strong and very confident Ricketts but as usual, Simon demonstrated his amazing ability to cover the court and retrieve shots that seemed impossible to reach. Ricketts took the first 2 games 9-2, 9-3 but Simon took advantage of his lack of concentration to sneak the third 9-6. By this point Simon had given it his all, and although he continued to retrieve the ball brilliantly from all over the court, Ricketts stepped up the pace and took the final game 9-1 in 45 minutes. It was definitely a thoroughly entertaining night’s squash and a shame for the home fans that they didn’t quite get their first win of the season but everyone agreed that there was some awesome squash and some bright prospects for the future. Ria Kennersley