Sharks Basking in another Win increase B league lead
Stone Art Squash team had a good win over A league leaders Cannell Print with both teams struggling for players and having to put out two substitutes on the night. Stone Art’s subs proved stronger as both Douglas Jacobsson and Shaun Wyllie got their team off to a 2-0 start with 3-1 victories. James Martin and Stone Art captain Steve Baker enjoyed a good battle with Martin clinching it by just 2 points in the fifth and final game of their match. Toby Woolard clinched the victory for Stone Art with a good 3-1 victory against the higher ranked Olly Wait while the final match saw Cannell’s Thom Whiteway produce a convincing 3-0 win over Hamish Thornton 3-0. The final score was 158-144 to Stone Art.
Team AON played Argosy Allstars in the other match of the evening and unusually all the results were 3-0 making it a fairly brief encounter. The Allstars top two of Dave Norman and Malcolm Levy were their teams victors with Norman only conceding 12 points on the way to his victory. Team AON’s overall victory came through the bottom three ranked players, Jason Crease, Mason McLarney and Chris Cave. This was a low scoring match with the final match score of 147-121 in team AON’s favour and they now trail Cannell by just 6 points.
The Racketeers Pioneers returned to winning ways in the B League with a 4-1, 247/186 victory over Island Tyres and Exhausts. The Pioneers were pushed hard by their opponents, Daf Lewis, Baillie Watterson and James Leith battling to wins over Rob Colquitt, Richard Cretney and Peter Sharples respectively. The former’s encounter at number one required five games to determine the winner, Lewis coming back from 2-1 down to seal the win 3-2. Barry Irvine secured the Pioneers’ other win, while Exhausts’ ‘on-loan’ Racketeer Fraser Dorling secured his temporary side’s sole success coming from two games down to secure the spoils from Marc Taggart.
League leaders the Sharks dropped just 9 points in their 3-2 win over Crowe Dragons. Sharks top three of Dave O’Neill, Dave Freer and Douglas Jacobsson are very evenly matched and as their respective rankings have changed they have taken it in turns to play in the top three positions. O’Neill topped the order in this match but lost to Dragons number 1 James Martin in three very close games. Freer had the number 2 spot and took a game off the wily Dave Hedley in his 3-1 defeat. Jacobsson was at 3 and soon dispatched Dragons skipper Darren Smethurst 3-0. Unfortunately the Dragons couldn’t field lower order players so the two walkover rubbers meant Sharks won the match 3-2, 241-114.
Unfortunately the match between Argosy Juniors and Outcasts was temporarily postponed as many of the junior players are currently taking exams.
The Racketeers derby between C League teams Santander Academy and Hansard took place this week with the younger Santander team gaining the bragging rights. Santander’s Fraser Dorling, Andrew Brown and Harry Douthwaite all gained victories at the top of the order with Browns only just clinching his win against Tom Burrows 15-14 in the fifth game. Martin Greenwood won in 3 against Daryl Richards but these were very close games with Richards never more than three points adrift of the winning score. Hansards only win came through Dave Johnson who beat Santander skipper Steven Wright 3-1. The match score was 4-1, 243-179 which leaves Santander just 54 points behind league leaders Island Exhausts Vets.
Island Exhausts Vets beat Outcasts Dragons 4-1 to retain their top of the table spot helped by Dragons only being able to field four players. Gerrit Du Toit won 3-0 at fourth string while at number one Outcasts captain Darren Smethurst took the only win for his team, also 3-0. Peter Sharples had too much power and placement for Stuart Highy, winning 3-1 with some very good, extended rallies. The match of the night was undoubtedly between Les Callow and Andy McLarney, with three of the five games going all the way to 14 all, but in the end Callow won 3-2.
The C league fixture between Chrystals Junior Academy and the Falcons was also postponed and it is hoped this will be played next week once the juniors have finished exams. The clash with exams is only a problem this year due to the late season finish following the lockdowns.
