1st Round
There were 20 entries for this years competition. Not a helpful number when sorting out who plays who. What I should have done was arrange qualifiers a week before the event to get the entries to a handy 16.
Eight to go through and 8 to enter the B competition.
I didn’t.
What then transpired (on the night) was a very mixed bag of names out of the hat and a post 1st round eliminator played by some tired entrants. It got even more confused when Simon Long and Lewis Harding pulled out, Eric Tolman was added, my fault I hadn‘t included him in the first place, and Martin Davison delayed without an ETA when his wife had to attend hospital - thankfully nothing too serious.
More consternation with one or two players on an Anniversary meal deadline or some other appointment and players arranging amongst themselves that they would play a little later !
Not to worry, it all fell into place on the night but not without the help of Andy Silver and Graeme Sneddon.
So...... the squash itself.
Mark Knott gave Rob Owen little chance winning 3-0 and playing any number of devastating drops which Rob just couldn’t cope with. The added bonus was that Rob went on to mark other games for the rest of the evening. Cheers
Rob.
Andy Lawrence went through against Peter Edney but didn’t have it all his own way. Peter took the first game but had to work too hard to get it. His variety of shots are a joy to watch but stamina is the Achilles heel. The next three were 4, 8 and 4. 3-1 to Andy.
Two new entries, (always a joy to see) Eric Tolman and James Templey played their first Concordia competition game and with a marker. Eric was too experienced for James but a good game all the same.
Martin Dowd put up a good fight against Steve Ross, something that Steve would regret later, Steve did get through however.
Matt Gutherey proved too strong for Keith Grey and won 3-1. Shot for shot they looked even enough but whether Matt realised it or not, his shots with pace put Keith on the back foot struggling to get his racket to the ball. Good squash.
Andy Silver looked comfortable against Graeme Sneddon mainly due to his court coverage. Graeme has all the skills and ability but the ball was all too often out of reach.
Tony Hedley beat Dan Cusack in relatively straight forward fashion.
There was some quality squash played late on when Peter Archbold went head to head with Chris Brock. Peter took the spoils but it could have gone either way. All the games got to 14-14, they don’t come closer. Great to watch.
In order to even up the draw there was a need for an elimination game. Steve Ross and Dave McCrae were the unfortunate players having to play again. Dave was going into the contest having made light work of Nick Humphrey in his first round match-proper. Dave made few mistakes.
As mentioned, Steve had a tough one against Martin Dowd so beating Dave straight after wasn’t going to be a stroll.
And so it proved. Dave made the most of both his youth and his reach. He just stuck in and retrieved relentlessly.
Steve ran out of steam, a shoulder strain didn’t help either but we mustn’t take anything away from Dave, he played so well. His reward is a 2nd round match against Matt Guthery. Should be interesting.
2nd round matches start 5.20pm on Tuesday 18th April.
There were 20 entries for this years competition. Not a helpful number when sorting out who plays who. What I should have done was arrange qualifiers a week before the event to get the entries to a handy 16.
Eight to go through and 8 to enter the B competition.
I didn’t.
What then transpired (on the night) was a very mixed bag of names out of the hat and a post 1st round eliminator played by some tired entrants. It got even more confused when Simon Long and Lewis Harding pulled out, Eric Tolman was added, my fault I hadn‘t included him in the first place, and Martin Davison delayed without an ETA when his wife had to attend hospital - thankfully nothing too serious.
More consternation with one or two players on an Anniversary meal deadline or some other appointment and players arranging amongst themselves that they would play a little later !
Not to worry, it all fell into place on the night but not without the help of Andy Silver and Graeme Sneddon.
So...... the squash itself.
Mark Knott gave Rob Owen little chance winning 3-0 and playing any number of devastating drops which Rob just couldn’t cope with. The added bonus was that Rob went on to mark other games for the rest of the evening. Cheers
Rob.
Andy Lawrence went through against Peter Edney but didn’t have it all his own way. Peter took the first game but had to work too hard to get it. His variety of shots are a joy to watch but stamina is the Achilles heel. The next three were 4, 8 and 4. 3-1 to Andy.
Two new entries, (always a joy to see) Eric Tolman and James Templey played their first Concordia competition game and with a marker. Eric was too experienced for James but a good game all the same.
Martin Dowd put up a good fight against Steve Ross, something that Steve would regret later, Steve did get through however.
Matt Gutherey proved too strong for Keith Grey and won 3-1. Shot for shot they looked even enough but whether Matt realised it or not, his shots with pace put Keith on the back foot struggling to get his racket to the ball. Good squash.
Andy Silver looked comfortable against Graeme Sneddon mainly due to his court coverage. Graeme has all the skills and ability but the ball was all too often out of reach.
Tony Hedley beat Dan Cusack in relatively straight forward fashion.
There was some quality squash played late on when Peter Archbold went head to head with Chris Brock. Peter took the spoils but it could have gone either way. All the games got to 14-14, they don’t come closer. Great to watch.
In order to even up the draw there was a need for an elimination game. Steve Ross and Dave McCrae were the unfortunate players having to play again. Dave was going into the contest having made light work of Nick Humphrey in his first round match-proper. Dave made few mistakes.
As mentioned, Steve had a tough one against Martin Dowd so beating Dave straight after wasn’t going to be a stroll.
And so it proved. Dave made the most of both his youth and his reach. He just stuck in and retrieved relentlessly.
Steve ran out of steam, a shoulder strain didn’t help either but we mustn’t take anything away from Dave, he played so well. His reward is a 2nd round match against Matt Guthery. Should be interesting.
2nd round matches start 5.20pm on Tuesday 18th April.
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