Ian Robinson's UniS Guildford
travel to league leaders Tewkesbury and very nearly steal the show
...
Oberthur Strings Tewkesbury 3
UniSport Guildford 2
Rodney Durbach lost to Stephen Meads
7-9, 9-7, 5-9, 11-9, 8-10
Alister Walker beat Neil Frankland
9-5, 9-2, 9-5
Daryl Selby lost to Jesse Engelbrecht
4-9, 7-9, 10-12
Chris Clare beat Brandon Hanley
9-7, 9-4, 9-4
Jenny Tranfield beat Alison Waters
10-8, 10-8, 0-9, 9-7
Tewkesbury by
a Whisker!
Ian Robinson reports ...
UniSport Guildford travelled to Tewkesbury for a tough clash with
league leaders Oberthur Strings Tewkesbury and came within whisker
of stealing the honours. The excitement was diluted somewhat by
virtue of the order of matches but nevertheless this was a gallant
effort. Crucially the match result hinged on the outcome of the
ladies match which was not known at the time.
Promising debut for Hanley
First on court was new boy for UniSport Guildford
Brandon Hanley who is an
intimidating prospect with his 6' 6" in height and therefore his
extended reach. Naturally his desire to root himself at the middle
of the court makes him very difficult to dislodge. This was his
first appearance at this level and although he was always in the
first game he was never comfortable. The wily skills of
Chris Clare made it
difficult for him to settle and Hanley narrowly losing the first
game 7 - 9. The home player put together a series of lethal killing
shots into the front of the court off the loose balls on offer and
very soon the match was finished with the last 2 games despatched
for the loss of 4 points in each. Not a bad effort from Hanley in
his first appearance, but the emphasis was definitely on losing the
nerves to stand him in good stead for the next appearance at this
level. Clare is also a difficult opponent for a first match.
Walker too strong for Frankland
Immediately following on from this,
Neil Frankland for UniSport Guildford was up against
Alistair Walker who is
tipped as a bright prospect for the future by the England Coaches.
On this occasion Frankland found that his opponent was altogether
too strong. Mobile and athletic, Walker covers the court easily and
is increasingly finding a consistency in his shot selection that
makes him a feared opponent at an increasingly high standard. On the
day Frankland was not able to test him as much as he would have
liked as hard as he tried. UniSport Guildford were now 2 matches to
0 behind.
Ladies' the decider
Little did we know that the crucial match that started at the
beginning of the night and continued beyond the duration of the 2
mens matches was on the championship court between the 2 ladies.
Both of them are enjoying successful seasons with notable
achievements at the recent Women's Worlds Championships.
Alison Waters had a great match against Vicky Botwright last
time out for UniSport and was clearly intent upon the scalp of
another player ranked higher up the rankings than her. In truth it
was not a great match for quality but for drama it was of the
highest order. Perhaps the recent endeavours on foreign soil was
taking its toll.
The first game was edgy with one or two incisive winners but also
mistakes and loose shots on offer. The UniSport youngster was
disappointed not to have taken the game having been well in
contention but the steely concentration of
Jenny Tranfield armed with her PhD in Sports Psychology was
enough to see her home. The second game was to follow a similar
pattern with Waters always threatening to cut loose and build up a
points lead, while Tranfield just managed to do enough to pull her
back. At 8 - 8 it was the greater edge in shot selection and
experience that saw the home player home. With a 2 games lead it
seemed a long way back for Waters, but then she unleashed some heavy
shots and some pin point accurate winners to romp away with the 3
game 9 - 0 and suggest that a recovery was feasible. It was not to
be, however, the fourth game followed the same pattern as the first
2 with Waters always threatening but never doing enough to break
free from the shackles of the accuracy and control exerted by
Tranfield.
This was a nervy drama ridden contest, but there were plenty of
signs that Waters is doing the right things to attract rave reviews
and she is also turning that promise into tangible results. This is
an exciting time for the Guildford youngster.
Jesse picks up points
The match was lost at this stage and rather took the steam out of
the evening's squash, although you would not know it judging by the
matches that were to follow. Next on to the main court was
Jesse Engelbrecht for the University. Engelbrecht plays his
like he talks at breakneck speed and was generally more accurate and
more composed at crucial moments in the match especially when it
came to closing it out after a protracted tie breaker 12 - 10 in the
third. Matches can turn on losing tie breakers like that and it was
to the UniSport player that he remained resolute and did what he had
to do. This was not a particularly good match but Engelbrecht was
always doing something extra with the ball and tactically was more
astute than the young Tewkesbury player
Daryl Selby. This was a solid win for Engelbrecht who has now
won 2 out of his 3 matches for Guildford and afforded some
respectability for UniSport in clawing back a point in the match
score.
Meads, Mr dependable
Last on court was ever dependable
Steve Meads at number 1 for UniSport (in the absence of
regular number 1 Stacey Ross who was away in Holland ) pitted
against the strong South African number 1 for Tewkesbury,
Rodney Durbach. This was
another scrappy match not without high drama as the score suggests,
but there were too many centre court collisions that the referee had
to sort out to keep the purist amused. Both of these players are
determined and both wanted to win badly. It made for a great scrap
and there was a fair degree of control and skill on offer from both
at times. A poor start by Durbach saw Meads surge into a 1 - 0 lead.
This was clawed back by Durbach in a tough close tetchy second game.
Meads fell behind at the end of the game whereas in the first he
produced winners to move clear. Meads, making Durbach chase the ball
to all corners of the court, forced errors and produced winners to
take the initiative in the third. Meads stole in front at the
beginning of this game and never surrendered it.
A 2 - 1 lead was a useful cushion as the match ran into problems
with the collisions referred to earlier and Meads kept trying all he
knew to close out the match. He had match balls in the fourth that
Durbach saved valiantly and then Durbach seized his chance to clinch
this game after a weak return from Meads and a winner from the home
player. It was anybody's match in the fifth, but Meads always
managed to keep his nose in front and the frustration of the
referee's frequent interventions probably caused Durbach to lose his
way once too often and a poor mistake into the tin rather gifted the
initiative to Meads who still had some work to do but nonetheless
nudged over the line to take the match. There was a strange
atmosphere for this match as the assembled multitudes seemed to
watch in rather nervous silence never quite sure which way the
result would go.
UniSport Guildford finished the first half of the season in 3rd
place, one place off the semi final play off places, but 15 points
behind Chichester. So there is a lot to do in the second half of the
season.
First up in the second half is the return match against Lee on
Solent away on Tuesday 18th January. In the interim all the players
and staff at UniSport Guildford wish their supporters a very Happy
Christmas and a prosperous new year.
Ian Robinson
|
Peter Crabtree's Chichester entertain Solent ... and Framboise
Team Chichester 4
Team Solent 1
Peter Genever lost to Bradley Ball
5-9, 2-9, 12-14
Ben Garner beat Lee Drew
7-9, 9-4, 9-5, 9-4
Tim Vail beat Lars Harms
9-4, 9-3, 7-9, 5-9, 9-5
Tom Richards beat Chris Simpson
9-7, 10-8, 7-9, 9-6
Linda Elriani beat Carla Khan
9-7, 9-4, 9-5How sweet it is.........
Another thumping of local
opposition
Well, we had heard all about the fragrant presence that is Framboise
Gommendy, we had seen the pictures on the web, but to actually have
the pleasure - who could possibly resist?
The evening begun with a race
against time, and ended with another crushing defeat for a local
rival, just the sort of thing that the Chi faithful have become
accustomed to. The race was Carla Khan's battle with Chichester's
Xmas shopping crowds, and the interminable bore that is roundabout
city. For those of you who have been to Chichester, particularly
approaching from the West, you know all about it. The victory was
sweeter than usual with the only disappointment being Jelly's defeat
by the extremely lucky Braddock, and an explanation follows.
Carla puts up a fight
Following the normal introductory banter from Maximus Blackus, we
started with another disappointment - not the result, the absence of
the delectable Vicky Botwright from the line-up. However, since her
last visit to Chi a couple of years ago, Carla Khan has started to
live up to her pedigree and gave Linda a bit of a fight. Winning was
never likely, but she showed determination and good movement, as
well as a belting backhand (I won't mention callipygous!), to make
Linda work for her wad. She has a good future if she keeps working,
and possibly the nicest smile in the Women's game (mind you, with
some of Cookie's decisions it is all you can do!). Linda eased to a
3-0 win to start us rolling to victory.
Junior showdown
During this, the Junior was taking on the National Under 19 No.1
Chris Simpson, and in a very tight match showed his recent
improvement. The first 2 games were a real battle, and despite Tom
taking them, it was never easy. Chris took the 3rd to induce a bit
of tension, but the 4th was a stroll (!) for Tom, giving the Chi
massive real encouragement in what we anticipated being a really
close 3-2 either way.
Ben secures win
Ben Garner took on the vile decamper Lee Drew, who has
had a nasty habit of sneaking an unlikely win against us ever since
he made that fateful decision to leave us and go and play for losing
teams. Aware of the foul nature of his opponent in so doing, Benjy
made sure that he didn't get any encouragement by letting him take
the first game. Clearly confused by this, the Essex boy's tactics
were in disarray, and with the radar settling into tin mode, he
showed that Ben's decision to throw the first game was a sound one.
The next 3 were fairly comfortable for the home boy, securing a
match win for Chi that was needed if we were to establish clear
mucky water between us and Tewkesbury, and the chasing pack.
Vole rubs it in
To celebrate the win, Captain Vole was no doubt going to
hammer his opponent Large Arms in celebration, and this was actually
what nearly happened. In buoyant mood following his return to his
preferred training regime of Beer, Crisps and Roast Potatoes (the
effects of which were clearly demonstrated the previous night in a
National Racketball knockout match), Vole cruised to a 2-0 lead
accompanied by the usual array of nicks. But the cheeks gave it all
away, and clearly his intake of calories and alcohol had been
inadequate for the challenge ahead. Puffing like Thomas going up a
steep gradient, the Chi skipper looked to be in with a chance of a
3-0, but Large wasn't having any of it, and a couple of injudicious
(knackered) shots from Tim let him in for a win, and the daunting
prospect of another 20 minutes or so of running - never our man's
preferred activity!
The Inevitable ...
The inevitable happened, and we were in for a 5th with the prospect
of Tim needing to borrow Kirsty Howard's accessories to keep going.
He dug in, drew on unheard of resources of oxygen (he insists that
he just has a low diaphragm, not a big belly) and managed to roll
the Swiss (sorry) over to take us into a 4-0 match lead, which there
was no question would become 5-0 some 30 minutes later when Jelly
had feasted at the banquet of victory.
So here it was - the gladiators of
the squash court were to do battle. In what must be Braddock's
favourite format of low tin, point a rally to 9, and a dead rubber,
we anticipated dozens of nicks, slammed winners, and a festival of
attacking squash. What we actually got, and I fear that the faint
hearted amongst you may need to take a couple of Paracetamol before
reading further, was quite different.
Brads shows a new side
Mr. Ball played steady, patient and controlled squash, working Jelly
around the court until he got an opening, and then put the ball away
calmly with none of the outrageous slam nicks that we expect. What
the hell was going on? People had paid good money to see tantrums,
tussles, and the ball getting a serious twatting, and without
question some serious and professionally executed abuse of the
referee.
There were howls of derision from
the packed gallerias (upper class place, Chi) and the crowd
displayed their clear disgust at this blatant display of normal
squash from Brads. How can people be expected to support the sport
when people like Bradley don't put in an acceptable performance?
Where was the hammered nick? Where was the plaster removing drive
down the backhand wall? And more importantly, where was the
perfectly delivered put-down of Cookie?
Well, with all of that not going on, Jelly was understandably
confused, and his game plan of pushing Brads into the back corners
and then delivering the most gracefully executed drop shot into the
nick was being used against him - by a player who has never
demonstrated this style of play before. By the time he had worked
out what was going on, it was half way through the 3rd, but it
wasn't to be, and a 14-12 loss for a 3-0 defeat ended the evening on
a disappointing note.
But Brads was just lucky that his tactics of confusing Jelly were so
successful - if PG had picked up on it sooner, it would definitely
have been another 5-0 dumping of the local opposition. Wouldn't it?
Peter Crabtree |
