Thrilling Racketeers Derby in Squash C League
In the A league StoneArt finished their season with a close 3-2 win over Mid Court Crisis (MCC). StoneArt captain Steve Baker secured a 3-0 win but team sponsor Lyndon Cheetham had to work harder for his 3-2 win over Dave O’Neill. However the MCC team have quality players at the top where Malcolm Levy won in straight games and number two Paul Barnett won 3-1. The StoneArt team have had an enjoyable season though and with the 15 bonus points they ended with a 3-2, 162-117 win.
Cannell Print and Crazies had a very close match with all the ties going to four or more games. Crazies Dave Freer had match point against his younger opponent Oliver Wait but failed to capitalise and lost in five hard fought games. The Rob Colquitt – Mark Webster-Smith match was another five game thriller where Rob showed his fighting spirit to come back from 2-1 down. At third string James Ramsey continued to impress beating Ben Peach, a player ranked well above him, in four games. Mike Hayler started well against Josh Green taking the first game 11-9, but Josh regrouped and succeeded in imposing his game on Mike to take the next three games convincingly. The top string match saw Thomas Whiteway take on Ashley Sandyford-Sykes in a super match between two highly ranked players. Ashley’s deception and variety of shots was the difference on this occasion resulting in a 3-1 win. Just 4 points separated the teams before bonus points were added which shows just how close the match was.
Derivco Sharks dropped only 18 points in their 3-2 victory over Island Tyres & Exhausts, ensuring they retain second spot and keep the pressure on Division B leaders and title hopeful’s Outcasts. Island Tyres and Exhausts number 1 Steve Baker won 3-0 while teammate Shaun Wyllie had a five game thriller against Dave O’Neill before winning 3-2. However Sharks secured good wins in the lower order matches with Alan MacNair and Baillie Watterson both winning in straight games while captain, Dave Freer dropped just one game in his match against Liam Townsend.
The other B league match saw Outcasts maintain their lead with a 3-2 win over Crowe Dragons. Toby Woolard, Angus Hopkinson and Mark Henson secured the wins for Outcasts, and Dragon James Martin had a good 3-0 win at number one. The match of the night was between Outcasts captain Peter Ginty and Richard Cretney. These players took it in turns to win games but Richard eventually won the fifth 15-9 to gain the second win of the night for Dragons. Outcasts are now 25 points ahead of Sharks going into the final and deciding fixture next week.
In the C League Outcasts Dragons finished their season with a resounding maximum points win when they played PwC Playables. Playables are improving with every match but an experienced Dragons team were just too good on the night. Dragons players Darren Smethurst, Stuart Highy, Phil Whittam, Andy Mclarney and Fatheha Essa all achieved 3-0 wins. The most resistance came from PwC players Andy O’Neill, Chloe Corrigan and Tom Bielich who all got into double figures in all their games, but just failed to win the ‘money’ points.
Falcons came back from lockdown with a fighting spirit and determination, winning 4-1 against Junior Academy C. The match of the night was between Falcon captain Vusimbe Zivave and Juniors league debutant Kai Kiernan. This went all the way to five games with Kiernan just edging it in the fifth. The rest of the matches went to Falcons with Lewi Long, Jon Cox and Julien Uzzell winning 3-1 against Leighton Ginty, Callum Larkin and Beth Jones respectively. Sarah Simpson won 3-0 at five against Cai Lewis, another Junior making his league debut.
The final Racketeers derby of the season provided a fitting conclusion to both teams’ C League campaigns on Friday evening at the NSC. As always there was some very close games for the inter-club duel, the Hansard Racketeers taking the honours this time 232/191 over their Santander-sponsored stable-mates. The top order did most of the damage for eventual victors, Joe Burrows and Matt Corlett claiming 3-1 wins at first and second strings. Tom Burrows grabbed a rubber back for the Academy side at three, before Daryl Richards dampened the youthful exuberance of Charlie Beard to land a fine 3-0 at four that effectively wrapped up the 25 bonus points for his side. This left to skippers to battle it out at five, Academy captain Ste Wright holding off a comeback from counter-part Andy Dalrymple to nick their encounter 3-2, 45/44.
