The second week of the IOMSRA Squash league saw some more closely fought squash matches in both the A and C league. B League fixtures, which are normally played on a Monday, were postponed due to the Queen’s funeral.
A League
First up on Thursday night the Crazy Billions took on the committed Team Aon. Mark Webster Smith (Crazy Billions) started with a cracking match, narrowly losing to Fraser Dorling. Team Aon continued their relentless pace with their off-season training paying off, ultimately being well deserved victors, winning the match on a games count-back.
With Argosy Allstars having Isle of Man players David Norman and Malcolm Levy at 1 and 2, they may have the strongest team in the league. Both won their matches against Stone Art 3-0. Stone Art captain Steve Baker got one back for his team with a 3-1 win. The 4th string match between Stone Art’s Lyndon Cheetham and Argosy player Dave O’Neill went to 5 games with Dave eventually clinching a very close 5th game by 13-11. Despite Stone Art’s loss this week they are currently ranked 3rd in the league, one rank higher than Argosy, due to their win last week.
Lastly Cannell Print took on Josh’s Jaguars who were looking to continue their winning start to the season. Josh Green pushed Thomas Whiteway all the way but lost the fifth game 11-9. Damien Loughrey earned a 3-1 victory over Lance Wyllie and Ben Peach and Rob Colquitt claimed 3-0 wins over Allister Crossley and Mike Fernandes respectively to make a clean sweep for Cannell Print. With two consecutive wins, Cannell Print are currently top of the A league and it will be interesting to see if they can continue their winning streak in the upcoming weeks.
C League
Here Island Exhaust returned to winning ways after losing last week. Pete Ferguson (Island Exhaust) started the season beating Ben Arthur (Dragons) 3-0. Gerrit de Toit, keen to make amends for losing last week, came away with a 3-1 victory despite Jamie Biddulph putting up a good fight. Next Island Exhausts’ Mark Grace overcame Andy McLarney with a 3-0 win. Mark Stratford proved too strong for Phil Whittam and won 3-0. Finally, Peter Sharples beat Stuart Highy 3-1 in a highly competitive game.
Crazy Jacks’ relatively new squad met an experienced Racketeers team on Tuesday night.
First up, Steven Wright took on Ewan Cannan. After a tight first game taken by Wright, Cannan hit back in the second with a close 15-13 win to steal a point for the Crazies. However Wright pulled away in the third and won the match 3-1. Next, after a close first game, David Johnson quickly beat Jacks’ Craig Brereton 3-0. Harry Douthwaite then started strongly against Tek Ewe Min, with a rapid win in the first game. Tek rallied to go close in the second, but this battle took its toll with Harry again easing clear to win 3-0. At number 2, Lucy Kerr, in her first game of the season, made quick work of overcoming Tom Barker despite a few classy shots from the Crazy Jacks challenger. Last on court were Racketeers Andrew Brown and Mark Goodall for the Jacks. Mark was strong in his drives, but Andrew’s skill and experience won out with
a 3-0 triumph to give the Racketeers a comprehensive 5-0 victory. After their 2-week winning streak, Racketeers are currently top of the C league.
Global Monetary Solutions Juniors continued their winning streak beating Falcons 3-2.
Finally, Buchanan & Pitts Misfits took on Strix Squash Squad. Clare Townsend of Strix put up an impressive fight against the experienced player Dasa Brynjolffssen with the final score of 3-0 not reflecting her efforts. Pat Russell playing at number 2 for Misfits used his expertise in boasts to overcome Strix captain George Rumney 3-1. Misfits captain Stephen Pitts playing at 3rd beat Strix’s hard hitter Aaron Rumney 3-0. Buchanan’s Elliott Henson had to knuckle down to beat Andrew Igoea 3-2 and continue his unbeaten run. The game of the night, between Alan Walkingshaw (Misfits) and Sam Elliott, was a 5 set slog with Elliott eventually taking the points to win 2-3. Buchanan & Pitts Misfits won overall 4-1. Buchanan & Pitts Misfits are currently ranked 2nd in the C league being only one point behind Racketeers. We look forward to seeing who will be in the lead next week.