Racketeers Pioneers Remain Undefeated in Squash B league
Argosy Allstars had a very close encounter with Stone Art Squash in the A league and just came out on top in the 3-2 match result. The Allstars top two players Dave Norman and Malcolm Levy both won 3-0. These 3-0 results were mirrored by Stone Art players Steve Baker and Toby Woolard. So with the match score at 2-2 the deciding match was between Stone Art’s Lyndon Cheetham and Allstar Steve Morley. On rankings Cheetham was the favourite but he was hampered but having not played squash for 3 months due to a foot injury and lost 3-1 with Morley bagging the bonus points for his team.
Team AON continued their unbeaten run with a victory over Crazy Phil Shaw Vehicles. AON’s Dafydd Lewis, Chris Cave, Mason McLarney and Jason Crease got the 4 wins for AON, with only Mason dropping a game on his way to the win. Crazy Phil Shaw Vehicles captain Ashely Sandyford-Sykes prevented AON from getting maximum points with his 3-0 win over Pat Fitzpatrick in a close fought match where Sandyford-Sykes managed to win the vital points at the end of each game. The match result was 174-110 to AON, so far they have dropped only 21 points in this winter league campaign.
Racketeers Pioneers maintained their unbeaten record in the B league with a great 5-0 victory over Crowe Dragons. Baillie Watterson and Marc Taggart both finished the match with 3-0 wins whereas Andrew Brown dropped a game in the win over regular sparring partner Beth Jones. Crowe Dragons players Dave Hedley and Stephen Pitts, who really is improving at the moment, provided their teams stiffest resistance. Both had really close games but eventually lost 3-2 to Dafydd Lewis and James Leith respectively. The Racketeers could be title contenders if they maintain this form.
The Sharks played the Outcasts this week and with both these teams being so far undefeated this promised to be a good match. Outcast Chris Cave beat Sharks captain 3-0 and his team mate Liam Davies got the better of Douglas Jacobsson in a very close 5 game match in which players took it in turns to win the games. However the Sharks lower order players Dave O’Neill, Alan Macnair and Mark Stratford all triumphed over their opponents to claim the win for Sharks with an overall match score of 235-180, putting Sharks at the top of the table.
Island Tyres and Exhausts got their first win of the winter league when they met Argosy Junior Academy The Exhaust top two of Shaun Wyllie and Liam Townsend both won 3-0. This was matched by juniors Ben Leith and Leighton Ginty at four and five, leaving the middle order match as the decider. This turned out to be the closest match of the night as Richard Cretney and Harvey Douglas battled it out. Cretney lost the first game but came back to win the next three and take the match 3-1 and claim the bonus points and the win for Exhausts.
The Hansard Racketeers picked up their first C League win of the season last week with a narrow 3-2 success over the Chrystals Junior Academy. A strong Racketeers side were kept honest by the Juniors thanks to wins from number one Emma Leith and the ever-improving Kai Kiernan at number four. The Racketeers’, however, clinched their first triumph of the 2020-21 campaign thanks to victories for Daryl Richards, the in-form Tom Burrows and Barry Irvine who made a successful return to the third-tier with a 3-1 win over Leith’s fellow island player Amaline Batty.
The Falcons performed well and stretched the strong Island Exhaust Vets team although eventually they lost 3-2. Exhaust wins came from their number one Mark Stratford who edged Lance Wyllie 3-1, Peter Sharples who beat Vicky Waterson 3-0 and Gerrit Du Toit, now nicknamed the postman because he always delivers. Falcons wins came from their captain Vusimbe Zivave beating a player who is new to IOMSRA squash but a South African veteran, Johan van der Merwe, 3-0 and Phil Butler who overcame Les Callow 3-1. This was a very close match ending 198-216 on points.
The match between Buchanan & Pitts Misfits and the Outcasts Dragons produced an interesting outcome this week. The Dragons won the top order matches through Darren Smethurst, Stuart Highy and Phil Whittam with Smethurst having a particularly close battle against Pat Russell who took him all the way to five games. Misfit Terry Holt had a good 3-0 win at fourth string and his team also had a walkover at five as Outcasts could only field four players. The high scoring by both sides resulted in an overall match win for Outcast Dragons by 3-2 while losing on points by 201-189, a rare occurrence.
