The first match of the season for Grange 2 saw a markedly different team to the one that brought home the trophy in 2009. Those in particular to mention were Grange debutants Gavin Fulton and Gary Walker.
The night started out with everyone making it on time to Deer Park in Livingston; as far west as we are likely to go all season. Locals to Livingston might dispute whether they were actually part of the East of Scotland as most of them seem to associate themselves with Glasgow. However Deer Park are part of the east of Scotland Leagues and we will leave it at that!
The first game on court was former Agilent player Gavin Fulton at number 5 vs. Andy Duff. This game looked to be taking on the signs of being a marathon however once Gavin got into the game it ended up being a comfortable victory executing a number of excellent drops to take the game away from his opponent. At one point Gavin may have cursed his first game with his new club by potentially having to retire injured but managed to recover and finish off the match.
Score 3-1 (9-1, 8-10, 9-3 & 9-2)
The second game on court was Robert Pfab at number 1 vs. Colin McMullan (the first of two brothers). I only caught 2 of the games but they were very tight and of a high standard. Colin was particularly efficient, floating round the court with a silky touch. Rob pushed him all the way, but finally conceded.
Score 1-3 (5-9, 8-10, 9-7 & 7-9)
Next on court was Ian Forbes at number 4 vs. John Millar. A particularly hard fought first game which could have gone either way, certainly gave the upper hand to Ian but then immediately gifted the second game back to his opponent. Finally a second wind allowed Ian to take the next 2 games.
Score 3-1 (9-7, 3-9, 9-6 & 9-4)
Fourth on court was Patrick Langley at number 2 vs. Eric McMullan (brother number 2). This without doubt was the match of the night with observers getting out of breath just watching the effort put in on the court. Eric mixed in tight well executed shots along with seriously powerful shots when he chose to. Patrick matched him with some excellent dropping in each corner and tenacity that kept Eric having to work. Each game was extremely tight and Eric pushed Patrick to the brink in the fourth game forcing Patrick to defend 3 match points to win the fourth game. Finally in the fifth Eric won through!
Score 2-3 (8-10, 9-6, 5-9, 10-9 & 5-9)
Finally former David Lloyd member Gary Walker hit the court at number 3 vs. Milan Govan. Gary had just come back to squash after an injury and said tonight was certainly a "wake up call" but was delighted to be back playing team squash again. The games were a lot tighter than the score suggests but even with Gary's speed and clear skills Milan, who is built like a rugby play but is extremely swift round the court managed to win a lot of good rallies and take the match.
Score 0-3 (0-9, 6-9 & 0-9)
If the scoring is the same as last year it was as close as it could get with Deer Park winning 16-11 by the time you included the 3 points for the win and ref points. Food was soup and sarnies!!
Ian F.
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