StoneArts winning streak Crumbled by Crazies
The Crazies brought StoneArt’s winning streak to an end this week, capitalising on the fact that StoneArt had three regular players missing primarily due to injury problems. Douglas Jacobsson and Shaun Wyllie were making their A League debuts for StoneArt but both struggled to adjust to the rigours of top division squash and lost 3-0 to Mark Webster Smith and Dave Freer respectively. Crazies top two players Ashley Sandyford Sykes and James Ramsey also got 3-0 results. StoneArt number 3 Angus Hopkinson was his teams only winner by another 3-0 scoreline.
Team AON returned to the top spot in the A league after beating Cannell Print 4-1. Team AON were at full strength for the first time this season and the middle three of captain Robin Crease, Jason Crease and Mason McLarney all achieved good 3-0 wins against strong opposition. AON number 5 Dafydd Lewis was taken to 5 games by Santander IOM Open plate winner Harvey Douglas, but got the win in the end. Thom Whiteway was the printers only winner beating his training partner and IOM Junior Academy head coach Pat Fitzpatrick 3-0 and 33-19 in points.
At the eighth time of asking the Racketeers Pioneers finally chalked up their first win of the B League season. The Pioneers beat fellow stragglers Crowe Dragons 4-1, 234/181 thanks to wins from Andrew Brown, James Leith, Baillie Watterson and Marc Taggart. The latter came through a five-game tussle with Julien Uzzell, Taggart going 2-0 before the Dragons man levelled things up at 2-2. The Racketeers vice-captain held his nerve, however, to win the fifth 15/9. Dragons’ sole victor was Dave Hedley who saw off Joe Burrows at first string.
Outcasts and Sharks, the top two ranked teams in Division B had an extremely tight match that could have gone either way. The evening started off with Mark Stratford and Dave O’Neill gaining 3-0 wins for Sharks but then Outcast Liam Davies beat Alan Macnair 3-2 and Chris Cave beat David Freer 3-0, leaving the match tied at 2-2. The top ranked players were left to decide the winners and it came down to the wire with Douglas Jacobsson eventually beating Angus Hopkinson 3-2 to secure the win for Sharks allowing them to narrow the gap on Outcasts lead at the top of the table.
There was a well deserved win for a determined Argosy Juniors side over Island Tyres and Exhausts. The Juniors’ Oliver Wait, Ben Leith, Isaac Quayle and Emma Leith all won their respective matches against Shaun Wylie, Richard Cretney, Peter Sharples and Phil Butler. The only Exhausts win for the night came from second string Magnus Lamprecht who overcame his youthful opponent Harvey Douglas, 3-1.
In the C league Island Exhausts Vets had a close encounter with Santander Racketeers Academy, winning 3-2. Andrew Brown made the best possible start for Santander Racketeers with a good 3-0 win at number one followed by a 3-1 win by teammate Fraser Dorling in a close match with Peter Sharples at second string. Exhaust’s Gerrit Du Toit and Ian Sheard both clocked up straight game wins to level the draw. The decisive match between Les Callow and Charlie Beard turned out to be the closest match of the night as both players chased the ball furiously and never gave up on a single rally. Callow somehow kept his nerve and steadied himself in the final few points to win an excellent match and gain the bonus points for the Vets.
Falcons began the end of season play-offs with a hard-fought win over bottom side Hansard Racketeers. The former third-tier champions triumphed 4-1, 236/186 thanks to wins from Falcons’ stalwart Jon Cox, Simon Jones, Greg Ansara and Julien Uzzell. The latter enjoyed another ding-dong five-set battle with Racketeers’ number one Matt Corlett repeating his narrow success of only a couple of weeks ago with a 45/43 victory. Racketeers’ Tom Burrows prevent the whitewash with a fine 3-1 win over the IOMSRA’s October Player of the Month Phil Butler at third string.
The fixture between Outcasts Dragons and Buchanan & Pitts Misfits was incredibly close with three of the matches taking four games to decide the winner and two going all the way to five. Outcasts Darren Smethurst, Phil Whittam and Andy McLarney won in 4 games whereas the experienced Stuart Highy went to five in a very close match against Andy Dixon. Misfits number five Jay Dernie prevented the full sweep by beating Chloe Corrigan in another tight match, taking the fifth game 15-12. This was a high scoring match ending with a scoreline of 4-1 in games with points of 247-202.
