Argosy Allstars Secure First Win of the Season
Argosy Allstars got their first win of the season with a convincing 3-2 win over StoneArt. Island Games silver medalist Dave Norman playing his first match of the season won 3-0 while teammate Malcolm Levy another Island player also won 3-0 at second string. The last time Dave Hedley played Shaun Wyllie it finished 3-1 to Shaun, this time the score was the same but Hedley got the win. StoneArts wins came through Angus Hopkinson who won 3-0 and Douglas Jacobsson who just got the better of Steve Morley in a five game match.
Crazies, now known as ‘Crazy Phil Shaw Vehicles’, continued their winning run with a very close 3-2 result against Cannell Print. Crazy players Mark Webster Smith and Dave Freer both achieved 3-2 wins in two very close and well fought matches against respective opponents Ben Peach and Harvey Douglas. There was another 3-2 encounter between Cannell number two Josh Green and James Ramsey with Green going 2-0 up then Ramsey fighting back to level the score only to see Josh take the deciding game. Alan Macnair was the other Cannell winner beating Ironman Mike Hayler 3-1. The deciding match between the two captains Ashley Sandyford Sykes and Thom Whiteway saw Sandyford Sykes take the win and the overall victory for Crazies.
In the B league Outcasts got back to winning ways with a 4-1 win over Racketeers. They have one hand on the Division B trophy now and it would take some weird results for them not to be crowned champions. Angus Hopkinson, Chris Cave, Liam Davies and Peter Ginty all had 3-0 wins. Mark Henson and James Leith had a close match with Leith coming back from 0-2 down to win 3-2 and take the only win of the night for his team.
An understrength Argosy Juniors faced a full strength Sharks team this week with Sharks coming out on top 4-1. Douglas Jacobsson had too much experience for his younger opponent winning 3-0 while Leighton Ginty stormed into a 2-0 lead against Greg Ansara before Ansara used all his experience to slow the game down and come back to win 3-2. Issac Quayle played his best squash of the season to push Alan McNair to five games, but unfortunately tired in the last one. Emma Leith pushed her much higher ranked opponent Dave O’Neill to four games but lost 3-1. The match of the night was at number one where Harvey Douglas beat Dave Freer 3-2 for his best win to date this season.
Island Tyres and Exhausts claimed their fifth win of the season when they defeated bottom placed team Crowe Dragons. The Exhausts top three Shaun Wyllie, Liam Townsend and Richard Cretney all got 3-1 wins. The Dragons only winner on the night was Stephen Pitts who got the better of October Player of the Month Phil Butler. The match of the night was between Peter Sharples and Beth Jones where all the games finished 15-12 with Sharples winning the final game to claim the match.
In the penultimate round of squash fixtures before the Christmas break, Santander Racketeers Academy hosted Outcast Dragons in the C league, with the Dragons ultimately winning 3-2. Andy Brown and Fraser Dorling both won for Racketeers against Darren Smethurst and Stuart Highy in two very close five game matches. However Dragons lower order players Phil Whittam, Andy McLArney and Chloe Corrigan all won for their team with Mclarney pushed to five games by Steven Wright in a very tight match.
A tough match beckoned for Buchanan & Pitts chasing the league leaders Island Exhaust Vets although the outcome was much better than B&P might have expected with the Vets just sneaking home with a 3-2 win. Elliot Henson, Jay Dernie and Andy Dixon were all roundly beaten 0-3 by Gerrit Du Toit, Les Callow and Ian Sheard respectively. The really big surprise of the night was Stephen Pitts who produced by some way the best squash of his life after losing his first game and then barely putting a ball wrong to beat Peter Sharples 3-1 in the best tie of the match. Mark Henson secured the second win of the night for B&P with a 3-0 victory over Mark Stratford.
Chrystal Junior Academy had a very close match against Hansard Racketeers with only 13 points between the teams before the bonus points were claimed by Juniors for their 3-2 win. Juniors coaches Beth Jones and Richard Webster lead by example with 3-1 and 3-0 wins respectively. Junior players Amaline Batty and Callum Larkin played well to take their opponents to four games but both lost 3-1 to Racketeers Tom Burrows and Mark Harrop. The decider and the closest match of the night was at fifth string where Scott Jones senior just beat Racketeers captain Andy Dalrymple 3-2 to claim the bonus points for Juniors.
The Team photo above is of – ‘Argosy Allstars’. Back row – left to right – Paul Barnet, Steve Morley and Magnus Lamprecht. Front row – left to right – Malcolm Levy and Rob Boyles