The Photograph below is of Dohle Stars. The picture shows left to right – Brian Cowley, Nick Hardacre, Antony Bentley Roberts, Eckhard Garbers and Luke Tippett.
Squash A League saw a top of the table clash between EasyGym and Team AON this week as these two teams have been neck and neck most of the season with only 12 points separating them. At number one Dave Norman, fresh from being crowned island champion, won 3-0 for EasyGym. However Team AON won the rest of the match ups. Robin Crease played well to beat Malcolm Levy in five close games while his younger brother Jason won his match 3-1 at third string. Mason McLarney bagelled his opponent in one game of a very convincing 3-0 win and fifth string Chris Cave won to make the match score 4-1 and 167-121 in points.
Cannell Print beat StoneArt 3-2 in the other A League match. At fifth string two B league captains, Dave Freer and Jon Shepherd, had a tremendous tussle with Cannell’s Freer eventually winning 11-9 in the fifth game. Allister Crossley who has struggled to find his form recently, was very impressive in his 3-2 win over Josh Green. Mike Hayler had a good win at three for Cannell but then Hamish Thornton won 3-1 at second string to make the match score 2-2. This left the decider between the number one players Thom Whiteway and Jason Blue. Whiteway won this 3-2 resulting in a 166-137 points win for Cannel Print, who are now just two points behind Easygym.
The Outcasts secured their number one spot in the B league with a 241-192 victory over the Island Exhausts team. The Exhausts performed well at one and two with Josh Green and Dave O’Neill getting the better of Chris Cave and Liam Davies, O’Neill only just piping Davies 15-14 in the fifth game. The Outcasts levelled it up though when Nathan Quilliam and Mark Henson, both won 3-0 at three and four respectively. The fifth string match would decide it, the battle of the two captains, Peter Ginty of Outcasts and Peter Sharples of the Exhausts. Sharples won the first two games but Ginty showed great determination to take the next three games and the match for the Outcasts.
Crowe Dragons had a narrow 3-2 win over Sharks in a close encounter. Sharks won at four and five as Alan McNair and debutant Michael Fernandes both had 3-1 victories. At three Dragons Captain Jon Shepherd had a comfortable 3-0 win but the matches at first and second string both went to five games. At one Ben Peach continued his winning run with another victory against Mark Webster-Smith while at second string Oliver Wait and Dave Freer faced each other in a very close match. Wait took the first two games but Freer evened the score and was 12-8 up in the fifth before Wait fought back to win the game 15-14 in dramatic fashion and secure victory for Dragons.
Dohle Stars claimed their second victory since Christmas with a resounding 4-1 defeat of the Junior Academy in the C League. Dohle Stars Pat Russell and Eckhard Garbers both enjoyed 3-0 wins at one and five respectively, while third and fourth string players Dave Maddrell and Nick Hardacre had to work a bit harder for their victories. The Juniors win came from Harvey Douglas, last month’s POM, who seems to be improving with every match. Special mention must also go to Kai Kieran who made his league squash debut and is yet another junior who is showing real promise.
The match between Browne Craine Dragons and Santander Racketeers Academy ended with a Santander victory but only due to the additional 25 bonus points, before these were added the score was 193-181 to the Dragons. Racketeers Nick Corlett and Fraser Dorling both had 3-0 wins as did Dragon’s Michelle Smith and Fatheha Essa. The clash of the number ones produced the best match of the night, Racketeers Andrew Brown and Darren Smethurst. This was a tight match, the lead changing twice before Andy sealed the match in the fifth game.
Buchanan & Pitts Misfits put a depleted Hansard Racketeers to the sword at the NSC on Friday evening. The latter side could only field four players, giving their opponents a 45-point head start from the off. Misfits kicked on and Jay Dernie, Stephen Pitts and skipper Andy Dixon wrapped up a 4-1, 246/159 win for their side. Matt Corlett battled from two games down to beat John Watterson 3-2 and clinch the gallant Racketeers only success of the night.
Dandara Falcons had a narrow victory over the continually improving Jewel Tech Juniors. Falcons Kale Combes and Vusimbe Zivave both had to fight hard for their wins at fifth and fourth string respectively, the latter coming back from 2-1 down to win in five games against Clare Townsend. Jon Cox returning form injury struggled to find his previous form and lost 3-0 to Emma Leith, while Simon Jones battled hard to beat Amaline Batty at two. The match of the night was between Ian Barnes and Carl Albright at one, with some great tight squash on show in very close games, Albright just winning 15-12 in the fifth for Jewel Tech.