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Concordia Closed 2018- Semi Finals and Finals

17/4/2018

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Concordia Closed 2018- Semi Finals and Finals Night.

In brief there were no real surprises in the semi finals played on Wednesday night.
Dave Hall and Mark Knott were first up and Mark got off to a flyer with many of those short cross court kill shots that everyone enjoys playing against. Dave had no answer and lost the first game 9-15.
For some reason Mark stopped playing those winners and slowly Dave got back into the game winning 3-1. Dan Cusack and Peter Edney (yes Peter was playing again tonight) was the other semi in the B competition. It was 3-0 to Dan but there was more to it. Dan had to work hard and the 2nd game was very close 15-14. Peter has provided solid entertainment throughout this competition as well as being there throughout and marking many games. Great contribution.
Ian Morton was up against it in the 1st of the two A semi finals against Simon Long. He battled well and it was only in the last game that Ian showed signs of tiredness, Simon was just too tidy playing great length to sap his opponents energy. Intelligent squash from both players at times.
The battle of the night was between Jamie Morton and James O’Neill and no one was surprised to see the game go to the wire.
Some great ball striking from Jamie and great resilience from James who just wouldn’t let go. Both players were sharp around court and no one could predict the outcome. 1-1 then 2-2 says it all.
It ended 15-10 to James in the 5th however that only came about through the very occasional error or nick shot as the game progressed. Great squash played by 2 very sporting players.

The Finals
Dave Hall v Dan Cusack in the B final saw a straight forward 3-0 win to Dan however Dave would be the first to admit he was slightly under the weather. He started slowly, those on the balcony putting it down to nerves but Dave never really got going. The tough games played earlier in the week seem to have taken their toll and although it wasn’t a totally one sided affair, Dan had much control of the rallies and was able to manage the score relieving pressure when he needed to. Good to watch all the same, and a pleasure to mark/referee.


The A final ended with the same score line, Simon Long demonstrating his overall technical superiority. James O’Neill worked very hard to make it an entertaining spar with some great rallies and almost ‘exhibition style’ exchanges. There were no disappointed spectators and a new name on the Trophy.
The Finals night ended what had been a great week of squash for our club (I’ll try to make sure the competitions don’t clash with the school breaks next time but it isn’t always possible)
Thank you to all who supported and marked games, some not even playing on the night but happy to help out.
I look forward to the next one.
Ian Mc

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Concordia Squash Club Closed 2018

11/4/2018

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1st and 2nd Round of Concordia Squash Club Closed 2018.

Ever more complicated lives threw up more anomalies in this years competition. Organising the event on what turned out to be the second week of the Easter break didn’t help with entries down on last year. Defending champion Tony Hedley didn’t enter this year either due to injury.
With the preliminaries out of the way, the last 16 played on Monday night.
To be fair all the games went to form, no shock results or even ‘near shock’ results.
Simon Long gave Mark Knott a thorough run around although Mark said he enjoyed the game.
Steve Goldie beat Dave Hall, Ian Morton beat Martin Davison who, by his own admission was below par with some uncharacteristic errors.
Jonny Woodhouse made sure he offered up nothing to Bill Johnson who can kill the ball given half a chance, Bill‘s return of serve not working so well on the night either.
Despite many closer Monday night encounters, Rob Owens switched to his ‘A’ game and dispatched Keith Grey to 10, 5 and 5, perhaps Rob preserving his energy.
For about the 10th season in a row, Robin Ritchie was drawn against a very tough opponent, this time it was James O’Neill. 3-0 to James.
A strong Gary Story made life hard for Peter Edney who battled hard, alas to no avail. 3-0 to Gary.
Even with much improvement this season, Peter Archbold could not knock Jamie Morton out of his stride, Jamie blasted the ball all over the court, the pace unsettling Peter at times, Peter still battled and the scores (15-12, 15-13 and 15-11 ) demonstrated that Jamie didn’t have it all his own way.
A bonus match was offered up this Monday night when Gary Story and Jamie Morton decided to play their 2nd round match early. Both wanted to burst the ball so it was a fast and furious exchange. Jamie looked in control always holding the lead in the first 2 games, 15-9, 15-10.
Gary came back strongly in the 3rd and took it 15-8.
The 4th could have gone either way with the marker calling “game or match ball” - nothing like a bit of tension.
Gary took it to a 5th game and the pace didn’t falter. It was neck and neck up to 10 all before Jamie opened up a lead with a super nick and a dead length. Gary pulled it back to 12-14 but that was as good as it got. 15-12 to Jamie.
A great game to watch and those who stayed were well rewarded.


2nd Round of the A Competition.
Once again there was no need to re-write the form book.
Simon Long’s accurate and controlled squash just had the edge over Steve Goldie, a good match for the purists, both playing excellent shots from all over the court.
Ian Morton’s ability to keep the ball away from his  opponent meant very hard work for Jonny Woodhouse,
3-0 to Ian.
Rob Owen’s energy saving wasn’t enough to keep up with James O’Neill who looked comfortable in the main. Rob still managed some good shots which had James scratching his head at times but still 3-0 to James.
(Jamie Morton beat Gary Story on Monday night)


1st Round of the B competition.
Mark Knott took a leaf out of Jonny Woodhouse’s book and made sure he kept the ball well away from Bill Johnson during their match. Bill’s return of serve was better, as was his vocal cords, expressing much appreciation for Mark’s winners-erh…sort of.
Dan Cusack, in the B because of an unforeseen drop out played a hard game against Martin Davison. It was close in every respect up until 2 all however Dan came out stronger in the 5th with some reserve energy. Too strong for a tiring Martin. 15-5 to Dan.

It seemed Peter Edney was always on court this week and last and here he was again against Keith Grey. Peter really can put the ball away if he gets to it, tricky shots and they are no fluke. Despite losing the 2nd game, Peter always looked comfortable with an ability to anticipate many of Keith’s shots. 3-1 to Peter.
Dave Hall and Robin Ritchie served up a real war of attrition, both playing similar style squash. This match was simply about who made less unforced errors, nothing in it.
2 all was no surprise and the 5th game was equally close.
Dave took it 15-10 in the end. Good match for the spectators.

The semi finals to be played on Wednesday 11th April,
6.40pm start.

Ian Mc


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2018 Closed Competition PRELIMS

9/4/2018

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2018 Closed Competition Preliminaries.

Unfortunately with 20 entries this year is was necessary to bring the 1st round to a neat 16 so there were 4 preliminary matches and it was names out of the hat for who those players would be. Dan Cusack had the honour of blindly picking them out. Didn’t he go and pick his own name, only to play Jamie Morton to boot!

Might as well start with that game. Can’t help saying but Dan was always going to be up against it, Jamie hits the ball so well and he looked pretty sharp around court too.
Dan battled well and took the third game to give Jamie something to worry about. The fourth game was even up to 7-7 but Dan was showing signs of tiring. 15-8 and a 3-1 win to Jamie.
Peter Edney had an even bigger ask when up against Simon Long. Peter gave a very good account of himself although the score doesn’t suggest that. Peter surprised Simon on many occasions with some great kill shots, he couldn’t afford to give Peter anything loose. Great physical effort but Simon just too strong, 3-0 to Simon.
The third game looked like it could go either way. Steve Goldie against the ever improving Chris Brock. And so it turned out. A battling encounter with Steve hitting many crisp an good length drives. Chris wouldn’t let anything go and it really was a game of attrition. At 2-2 all on the balcony were unsure what the result would be. Chris had worked incredibly hard throughout and this must explain how he just ran out of steam, mentally as well as physically.
15-3 to Steve who I have to say is hitting the ball better than ever. Great game to watch.
The fourth game between Dave Hall and Jonny Woodhouse had to be played on Saturday morning and unfortunately I didn‘t see much of the game. 3-1 to Dave Hall.

Due to some very late drop outs, all four preliminary losers’ names were back in the hat, Peter Edney and Jonny Woodhouse have a second bite and are in the 1st round proper.
No getting away from it, both Dan Cusack and Chrs Brock have had a rotten run of luck.
Ian McAllister.  


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    Blog entries by Ian, Lesley and Roland. If you have anything to add we would like to hear from you.

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