Grange 5 versus ESC5

The Fifth’s were playing at the sports club this week and a lot of players had trouble turning up for the 07:00 PM start.

I was first up, because I was the only one there, playing David Coutts at No. 3. I won the toss and had the privilege of serving first, up went a service lob that hit the front wall and bounced into the roof. I had forgot about the low ceiling, the following two sets produced a lot of mediocre squash from both players with David taking them 9-6, 9-2. During the set break I told David that I was playing a similar game the night before and I resorted to taking all the pace of the ball and playing tight boasts to the front. David then proceeded to watch from the back of the court as a lot of boasts and drops were introduced and I took then next two sets 9-4, 9-5. Unfortunately David woke from his trance in the fifth and started playing squash again and took the fifth 9-5. A 3-2 loss for the Grange.

Fortunately some of my team mates had arrived during the match and Tom went on the other court to play Mark Wallace at No. 2. Never saw much of the match as I was on court but Mark proved to be too strong for Tom and took the match 3-0. 9-1, 9-1, 9-5
By this time all the team had arrived and next up was Stephen Davey playing James Gill at No. 4 and Peter Young playing Steven Sproule at No 5.

Never saw any of Stephen’s game but the first was a long set, with about a dozen changes of serve at 3-4, after about 25 minutes Stephen won the first set 10-9. The second two sets were much more straight forward with Stephen winning them 9-1, 9-2 for a win to the Grange.

Meanwhile on the other court Peter was playing Steven Sproule, a former teaching professional who collected the richest prize in the history of the sport in 1985, by winning the Austin Rover Club Player’s handicap event, the prize was a £5800 MG Metro car. This surpassed the previous highest prize in squash, which was won by the then world champion Jahangir Khan, when he took the 1985 British open title and collected £4400. (Information courtesy of the Glasgow Herald, May 29th 1985). As you would expect from the pedigree on court a lot of tight shots to the front of the court, tight lengths down the side walls and perfect boasts were on display and Steven took the first set 9-6. Peter fought back to take the second set 9-6 by matching Steven with some tight shots of his own. Onto the third sets and lobs were introduced, and I for one thought that this was impossible at the sports club, and Steven took the third set 9-4. Peter dug in and a tight fourth set went 9-7 to Peter to take the match to a deciding set. Peter started to dominate and raced to an 8-2 lead and several match points were exchanged and Steven managed to claw back the match to 5-8, before Peter was able to close out the win 3-2. 6-9, 9-6, 4-9, 9-7, 9-5

With the match poised at 2 rubbers each, it was the turn of the No. 1’s to do battle for the match. Brian Sloan was playing Peter Mackenzie and in a hard fought match which saw Brian do most of the chasing, Peter proved to be too good on the night and took the match 3-0. 9-5, 9-1, 9-5

Match results including ref points was 16-10 to ESC5 and another 3-2 defeat for the Fifth’s.

We were treated to sweet and sour chicken served with rice, with salad and bread rolls on hand for the vegetarian option, if required. Chat was good natured and we might have a few more readers visiting our match report section. (Match report – Neil Love)

Pos	Player	Rubbers	Games	Points			Player	Rubbers	Games	Points
1	Brian Sloan	0	0	11			Peter Mackenzie	1	3	27
2	Tom McEwan	0	0	7			Mark Wallace	1	3	27
3	Neil Love	0	2	31			David Coutts	1	3	36
4	Stephen Davey	1	3	28			James Gill	0	0	12
5	Peter Young	1	3	37			Steven Sproule	0	2	36
Total		2	8	114				3	11	138
Competition Points		8						14