Dandara Falcons continue their winning record
Cannell Print got off to a great start in the division A winter league with a 177-145 points win over StoneArt, dropping only three points in total. The matches were very close with three of them ending in 3-2 results. Cannell captain Thomas Whiteway had another close encounter with Jason Blue just winning 11-8 in the fifth, these two always have close matches. StoneArt player Hamish Thornton used all his experience to come back from 2-0 down against Josh Green. Shaun Wyllie versus Rob Colquitt was the other five game match with Colquitt eventually winning for Canell.
Team AON made it two wins out of two matches when they beat Crazies 4-1. Robin and Jason Crease both won 3-0 restricting their opponents to just 12 and 13 points respectively. Dafydd Lewis and recent signing Toby Woolard both dropped games but got 3-1 victories for AON. The resistance from Crazies came through captain Ashley Sandyford-Sykes who was recently crowned Merseyside Over 45s champion. Ash beat Patrick Fitzpatrick 3-1 although sadly Pat had to retire due to injury at the start of the third game.
In Division B the Junior Academy team gained yet more valuable experience against league leaders Outcasts who took the match 4-1. Outcasts Toby Woolard, Mark Henson and Peter Ginty all saw off their younger opponents 3-0. The Junior’s Amaline Batty has had some injury problems recently but did well to push Stuart Highy close losing 45-42 in the end. Academy assistant coach Ben Peach got the Juniors only game in a thrilling 3-2 win over the Outcasts number one Nathan Quilliam.
The Derivco Sharks had another 3-2 result in their match against Crowe Dragons. The Sharks took all three middle order matches with scores of 3-0 through Dave O’Neill, Alan McNair and Mark Stratford. Crowe Dragons successes came at the top and bottom of the playing order with Dave Hedley and Beth Jones both also securing 3-0 wins. This was a low scoring encounter as all the matches ended 3-0 so the match score was 216-170 to the Sharks.
Island Tyres and Exhausts won 3-2 last week but this week the scoreline was the other way around as they went down 3-2 to Racketeers Pioneers. Racketeers victories came through Dafydd Lewis (3-0), Joe Burrows (3-2) and Barry Irvine (3-1). The home teams winners were Steve Baker (3-0) and Magnus Lamprecht (3-0). The overall points score before the bonus points were added was 197-194 in the Racketeers favour.
In the C league Dandara Falcons players came into their match against Hansard Racketeers feeling confident after winning their opening fixture. It was this confidence along with determination that saw their seasoned players like Lewi Long battling to a 3-2 win, Jon Cox winning 3-0 and captain Vusimbe Zivave just coming out on top by a score of 45-42 in his match. Hansard players Mark Harrop and Joe Burrows got the better of Falcons Julien Uzzell and Simon Jones to secure the two wins for Hansard Racketeers. The overall match score was 213-199 to the Falcons.
The match between Junior Academy C and Outcasts Dragons provided a very good night of squash with close matches resulting in scores in the high 30’s and the 40’s. Young Callum Larkin had a great game against Helen Cave, just losing out with a final score of 42-45 but showing a super improvement already since the start of this season. Asad Awan of the Junior team versus Fatheha Essa of the Dragons was also a long, hard fight with all five games scoring high points. Essa took the final game ending the match 43-45. Leighton Ginty put up a strong fight against Stuart Highy with some incredibly long and entertaining rallies and managed to seal the Juniors’ only win of the night at 45-40.
Buchanan & Pits Misfits took an overall win against Santander Racketeers Academy, with some close games. There were two 5 game matches with Misfits captain Andy Dixon outlasting Fraser Dorling and John Watterson’s experience proving the difference in his win over Steven Wright. Tom Burrows standing in while home from University for the Racketeers took the only win, with the overall score being 4-1 to the Misfits.
Recent league entries PwC Playables played against Island Exhaust Vets and this was always going to be a tough match as a young and relatively inexperienced team took on a much older and vastly experienced team. In this encounter experience was the winner with the Vets getting a 250-84 points win. Playables captain Chloe Corrigan gained 35 of her teams points in her 3-1 defeat to Mark Stratford. The Playables will improve with time and they were unfortunate to play such a strong team in only their second league fixture.
Dandara Falcons – Back row, left to right – Simon Jones, Vusimbe Zivave (Captain) and Jon Cox. Front row, left to right – Sarah Simpson and Julien Uzzell