Many times we have played the overseas fixture at Dalgety Bay against the same old familiar faces, but tonight they produced two new players. Dougie and Mike drew the short straws and found themselves up against star opponents.
Dougie played the newcomer Neil Shepperd at no. 4, who had Hamer style and is clearly their no.2 for next week. Dougie pulled out all the stops, the squash was TV standard, but 0-3 to Grange.
Mike Hall played secret weapon Richard Northern at no.1. Richard was a class act, incredibly relaxed inspite of Mike's frenetic attacks. Great entertainment, but 0-3.
At 5 Pete Cockburn came close to beating Alan Jones, but Alan somehow disrupted Pete's flow to take it 3-2.
Robert took on his first half opponent, the formidable Gerry Burton. It's difficult to see how to beat this old timer. Nothing gets past him, and he can finish a rally from anywhere. 1-3.
Al met Craig Pounder for a Grange Open grudge match, took the first but no more, narrowly missing the 3rd and 4th. 1-3.
Overall we lost 0-5, 6-20 on points.
Then on to the cosy Hillend Tavern for sweet and sour chicken. Conversation ranged from Craig's choice of on-court nightwear to who stole Mike's dress socks.
Dalgety Bay are set to move up the league with their new players. A good win against Herriot Watt next week should rebuild our confidence. The following week is a bye - Pfab, Cockburn and I are nominated for dropshot practice. Our nearest rivals are ESC4 and Mammas who we play in the last 2 weeks.
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Neil Shepherd played the Grange Open the first 2 years, having been on the now defunct Kirkcaldy team. He is rated 873 points on squash rankings, around the same point as Tony G/Will K and below Ali G.
Dalgety overall are now a force in East leagues as they are picking up players from all the other fife clubs that are closing, such as Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy etc. Plus ones from neighbours Agilent. In much the same way as Grange are picking up a lot of the moving players in Edinburgh.
ESC4 gots just 5 points off DBY2 last week so at least that gap hasn't widened. Mamma's however got 15 off Abercorn.
Dalgety Bay is a booming squash club. They held an open day a few months ago, and increased their membership by 50% or so.
The Grange Club is very well situated in Edinburgh to pick up players if any capital clubs have to close. It amazes me why David Lloyd Leith/Next Generation Newhaven haven't picked up all the players from north Edinburgh. Maybe it's the £60 per month fees. We'll see what happens when money becomes a bit tighter. The Grange could be THE dominant club for years to come.
Just some of my rambling thoughts.
Good to see Dalgety on the up, I hear they spent money on sprucing the place up which also helps.
Watsons seems to be growing also and Waverley holding its own.
As for the city centre, Carlton should be a growing club... but the management don't seem to grow the place. David Lloyd Leith runs the squash completely differently to David Lloyd Glasgow Rd which has a good atmosphere going. I don't think any more clubs are going to close in the city for a few years.
Grange shouldn't be growing 'cos there is so much competition in the area - somehow the floating social and team players seem to come to us instead of ESC or Dean because they like the balance of competitiveness, atmosphere and cost that we've got. Plus we offer sports other than just rackets and can turn cricket or hockey players into squash players.
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