Island Exhausts Vets maintain winning record
In Division A Team AON claimed the top spot courtesy of their 4-1, 174-131 win over Crazies. Both Chris Cave and Dafydd Lewis won 3-1, whilst the in-form Jason Crease wasted no time on his way to a very good 3-0 win over James Ramsey. Both the other matches were 3-2 results with Mason McLarney coming back from 2-1 down against Mark Webster-Smith to clinch his victory. Captain Ashley Sandyford-Sykes took the Crazies only win to prevent AON gaining maximum points.
The other A league match brought together Cannell Print and new team Argosy AllStars. After the top two strings had played the match was equal with Argosy’s Malcolm Levy and Cannell’s Josh Green both getting 3-0 results. However the other three matches were all close five game battles. Steve Morley had a break from squash last season because of injury but is rapidly regaining his form. He played his usual aggressive hard-hitting game to beat the younger and higher ranked Oliver Wait, coming back from 2-1 down to take the other win for Argosy. Cannell were the overall winners in the end as Ben Peach and James Martin took the other two matches. Although both are ranked above their opponents they had to battle hard to get their 3-2 wins with Argosy’s Magnus Lamprecht playing particularly well to push Martin all the way.
In the B league Island Tyres and Exhausts made it two wins out of two matches with a maximum points win over Racketeers Pioneers. Peter Sharples and Shaun Wylie both had convincing 3-0 wins at numbers five and one respectively but the middle order players had to battle a bit harder for their 3-1 wins. Magnus Lamprecht and Richard Cretney both lost the first game to their Racketeers opponents Andrew Brown and James Leith before winning the next three. The match of the night was a real tussle between the number twos Liam Townsend and Baillie Watterson where Townsend played with passion and came out on top beating his higher ranked opponent 3-1.
The Outcasts continued their unbeaten run with a 4-1 win over Argosy Junior Academy with good matches all round. Outcasts captain Peter Ginty and number two Chris Cave claimed 3-0 victories over Ben Leith and Isaac Quayle respectively. Christian Webster at three for Argosy pushed A league player Liam Davies all the way, with Davies just coming out on top in the fifth after an amazing game of squash. Outcasts stalwart Mark Henson secured a 3-1 win to make it four wins for the Outcasts. The juniors number 1, Oliver Wait, clinched the juniors only win 3-1 in a fine match with another top 25 player Angus Hopkinson.
The third B league match was Sharks against Crowe Dragons. On paper the Dragons had the edge but the Sharks top two players Alan Macnair and Douglas Jacobsson punched well above their weight to defeat their higher ranked opponents and Dave O’Neill made it three for the Sharks with a convincing 3-0 win over Peter Ferguson. The closest match of the night was a five game battle between island player Beth Jones and Sharks Greg Ansara. Greg was 2-1 down but dug deep to pull it back and claim a 3-2 victory. Dragons captain Darren Smethurst prevented the whitewash taking their only win of the night 3-0 at number five.
In the C league Island Exhaust Vets proved too strong for the Falcons and walked away with a maximum points win. Mark Stratford and Peter Sharples won their games 3-1 against Julien Uzzell and Lewi Long respectively. Les Callow had to work a bit harder for his 3-1 victory over Vusimbe Zivave who played well to take a game off his higher ranked opponent. Gerrit Du Toit and Vets captain Ian Sheard both won 3-0 in their matches against the Falcons ladies Vicky Watterson and Sarah Simpson.
Chrystals Junior Academy bounced back from their opening-night defeat with a hard-fought win over Hansard Racketeers on Tuesday. The youngsters won all five of the C League tie’s encounters, including a walkover for Leighton Ginty after opponent Gary Stephenson was delayed at work. The other four rubbers went to four games with victories going the way of Callum Larkin, Amaline Batty, Emma Leith and skipper Beth Jones, who came from one down to triumph over Mark Harrop 3-1.
Buchanan & Pitts Misfits maintained their 100% record with a 4-1 win over Outcasts Dragons in the other C league match. Misfits Mark Henson and Stephen Pitts only dropped one game in their wins while Dragon Chloe Corrigan pulled one back for her team with a 3-0 win at five. Andy Dixon and Phil Whittam had a five game battle at second string with Dixon winning 15-13 in the fifth while John Watterson and Fatheha Essa also went to the full five games before the more experienced Watterson clinched the fourth match for Misfits.
The Photo above is of the ‘Island Exhausts Vets Team’. From left to right – Ian Sheard (Captain), John Smith, Les Callow, Peter Sharples, Mark Stratford and Gerrit Du Toit