Barbarians(5's) home v Dunbar 2's(Thurs, Jan 20,'10)

This week Grange 5 hosted Dunbar 2, one of the teams we lost to in the first leg. The week began with our Number 1, Dave Grieve, deciding he was still carrying too much Christmas weight for his bad knee to cope with, so a last minute reshuffle was needed. This week’s roll call was myself, Pete Young, Mike Gore (debutant), Robin Pollok and Matt Pearson.
First up was young Matt. Would those lessons with Mike Hall pay off? It didn’t look like it as Matt was quickly 6-0 down in the first. But as his newly trained squash brain kicked in, he began to claw back the points and made it to 7-5 before going on a 4-point run to take the first 9-7. An excellent fight-back. By now, Matt was cruising and a clinical 9-2, 9-4 followed for a 3-0 win.
Meanwhile, on court 2 Robin was also a slow starter and was 4-0 down before he took over; winning 25 of the next 26 points. At 9-5, 9-0 and 7-0, a mini revival brought up 7-3 before composure returned for a 9-3. 2-0 to Grange.
Next up was our debutant, Mike Gore who has been tearing through mini-league opponents since his return to the club. The first looked a simple affair with Mike winning 9-1, but it was tighter than it sounds. His opponent had 12 services in a game of great retrieving but was only able to put that single point on the board. The second more reflected the quality of play and Mike was soon 3-0 down but rallied to bring up 4-4. Again, some excellent retrieving was making it difficult to score, but while Mike won eight consecutive points on his opponent’s serve, he managed to eke out a point here and there and served out to take the second 9-6. The third saw a bit of a revival and Mike was 5-2 down before again going on a run and closing the game out 9-7. 3-0 Grange.
Pete Young up next. This was a major tussle with 10 serves exchanged before a single point was scored. Pete was then 3-0 before taking charge and racing out for a 9-3 victory. Pete’s form continued into the second and he was soon 8-3 and serving for the game. But some tenacious retrieving saw his opponent save 3 game points as he clawed back to 8-7. But Pete was just teasing us, and the game was won 9-7. The game was now swinging back and forth and Pete was 5-0 up in the third before being clawed back to 5-5. But at 6-6, the quality shots told, and Pete was the victor 9-6. 4-0 Grange.
Now it was my turn, playing as the Number 1 for the first time (note to self: make sure you come back down a mini-league or two). I was up against the fit and wily Phil. The first game saw lots of running (from me) and lots of standing on the T (from him) and the game went 9-5. But I was beginning to hit a better length and taking some of the T-time and from 4-4 closed out the second 9-4 in a single serve run before also taking the third 9-2. But confidence can be an evil master and it went as fast as it had arrived and the fourth was lost 9-2.
The fifth was very tight with lots of loose play followed by excellent retrieving and at 7-7 both players were ready for bed. I managed to get my nose in front 8-7 and served for the match. A chance for a clean sweep and maximum points. A long and torrid rally ensued and at last I had my opponent stranded, just a whack down the line needed. But Phil stuck out him arm, my shot came back off the front wall, hit his bat and bounced back onto the wall for a point to Phil. Gutted. Soon I was 9-8 down but saved the match point before bringing up 9-9. My second match point was squandered, but then so was Phil’s. Match point to me for the THIRD time. Third time lucky, surely now. But no, the point was lost and Phil took it 10-9 in the fifth.

All in all, a good victory 19-3. Afterwards it was back for a well deserved portion of Franco’s finest and a good evening banter.

As you can see from the title, it was me who bottled the match point. Not once, but thrice. But then you could have guessed that! (Report: Mike D)
Man of the Match goes to Mike D, if only for the laugh we had on the balcony when he ended up in a crumpled heap in the front corner at one point, plus taking a faceful of opponents racket twice, now that is what I call taking one for the team!(Loob)