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Home | Return to Division Fixtures
| Nom | Home Player | Nom | Away Player | Result | Games |
| 5-2 | Shane Morrison | 1-1 | Nick Easton | 3 | 1 | 9/10, 9/3, 9/5, 9/3 | | 5-3 | Ray Dunlop | 1-2 | Ron Terry | 3 | 2 | 4/9, 5/9, 9/7, 10/9, 9/2 | | 5-8 | Will Row | 1-3 | Paul Webb | 2 | 3 | 4/9, 9/5. 9/4, 4/9, 4/9 | | 5-9 | Stephen Pulichal | 1-4 | Terry Easton | 1 | 3 | 7/9, 9/2, 1/9, 5/9 | | 5-11 | Vimal Shah | 1-5 | Mark Fuller | 2 | 3 | 9/5/ 7/9, 9/7, 6/9, 5/9 | | | | | | | | | | | Games: | 11 | 12 | |
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| | | Bonus: | 0 | 4 | |
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| | | Result: | 11 | 16 | |
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| Report: | Warlingham 1 are a team of grizzled centurians capable of playing complete squash. This is more than mere technical squash, which they do very well. Rather it also included playing their advantages!!! They were headed by Nick Easton, the youngest and best looking of the old war horses, who led his team in to battle against the league whipping boys - Purley 5. They had their first and best team. It should have been a formality. The match lasted all night with the last strings going on at 1030 and it saw Purley play their best squash all season; perhaps we were tired of being mercilously thrashed by all and sundry- or Maybe it was the crescent moon or the hint of snow in the air, but for some reason - Purley started winning games.
It first started with Vimal who found the Rugbyesque physique of Mark Fuller a bit more than he could handle. Playing a lively encounter, we all thought from the balcony that Vim had the fire power to edge it, but after a series of heavy boofs and handbags. Vimal saw his 2-1 lead fizzle out. Apparently, he snagged his back when he banged into the human wardrobe on court and couldn’t quite turn as quickly afterwards. ......We'd heard it before and smiled sympathetically. Still a promising result and two points should not be sniffed at when you are at the bottom of the league.
On an adjacent court Raygun found himself in the company of the smiling assassin Ron Terry. Ron was wearing his knee contraption thingy giving a bionic effect. His knee support had hinges! To be honest I thought he was in for trouble against the younger man, but I was wrong.
Ron moved quickly and smoothly. He struck the ball sweetly and hard, and his play was elegant to watch. Of course, he made a few observations to the marker around the rules and perhaps his parentage, but utimately things were going well as he appeared effortlessly to glide 2-0 up.
Meanwhile, Raygun, sweating like he was going to wet himself, came up to the balcony for some tips. "Ehhhrr.... he's playing well. You're on your own!" was the best we could manage. When Ray appeared not to appreciate the feedback, I added further, "he's getting tired keep him running and take those legs. Oh yeah, and for heavens sake drop the ball on the forehand side!"
Meanwhile, the marker was becoming more and more entrenched in sticking to his guns concerning his interpretation of the rules, so when the first hint of argy bargy turned up in the 3 game, rattles, pacifiers and blankets festooned the floor as Raygun got some lucky decisions, wrecking Ron’s focus and allowing Ray back from the brink to win the 3rd. The 4th saw a fiece battle that raged long into the night, with Ron making Ray dance around him like a puppy chasing a ball of string. He went 7-1 up and we all thought it was curtains. I am not sure what happened next. I still dont know, but Ray started clawing his way back. To this day I have no idea how he did it and neither did Ron, but by the end of that game the dirt was in Ray's finger nails and the game was his; 10-9. Incredulous and gutted, Ron offered no resistance in the 5th game and succumbed 9-2. This was Raygun's first win of the season and his best ever win for Purley.
There were other games in the night, each with their dramas and good humour. but the results went with the form book.
Stevie P managed to get a game out of Terry Easton. Although he lost 3-1 it was the first game he's ever won in senior men's squash. Terry did not volunteer that game; he's not that generous, so it is an ominous sign for those who took advantage of Stevie's innocence earlier in the season.
In a similar fashion Will Roe was up against Paul Webb who was breezily confident about dispatching this young whippersnapper until he found himself 2-1 down. Ooops, this was not in the plan. He sought advice from his team and came out fighting.. ..breaking sweat for the first time in the match. He ran forward and aft, retrieved balls from the front and back and generally turned back the clock, because as far as he was concerned, this was not going to be this young man's night. Indeed it was his.. 3-2. A clever victory as young Will Roe still has no idea how he was riding so high and still lost.
The final match saw me up against Nick Easton who came out of the blocks fast. His super retrieval and speed had the Warlingham faithful chuckling on the balcony at my inevitable demise to the younger man. He went 8-3 up in the first game... and made it look easy. I dug in to play the game "point at a time" and cut out all the unnecessary rallying, but it was not enough. I lost the first game 10-9. After that, i deployed a range of tight squash followed up with pressure drops forcing hard retrieval. It was on this wheel, that Nick broke, and I collected the match 3-1.
It was a great night. The kind of night you remember for years after. The likes of Stevie P, Will R and Nick Easton will bank this match in the account labelled "matches I lost on the way to the top". We were so late coming off court, the bar was closed after one round at 11:15. This was just as well because had it been open for longer, there's no telling the damage both teams would have done to the bar bill.
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| Author: | S Morrison |
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