Peter Crabtree is lost for words as Chichester storm into the semi-finals ...
04 Mar - Week TEN
Chichester 5-0 UK Packaging
Peter Genever beat Stuart Cowie 9-4, 9-5, 9-4
Moh'd Azlan Iskandar beat Jamie Davis 9-2, 9-3, 9-7
Tim Vail beat Daryl Selby 9-6, 10-8, 9-5
Ben Garner beat Matthew Bolt 9-6, 9-5, 9-1
Suzie Pierrepont beat Tegwen Malik w/o
OHMYGOSH
Peter Crabtree is gobsmacked ...
For those of you that find these epistles exciting, interesting, or even plain garbage, this will explore new boundaries in tedium and brevity.
Somehow, little Chichester, a small City in West Sussex, close to Colin McQuillan’s boondocks (sorry Colin, but last time you said it we made the play-offs, so it is nice to just rub it in again!) has not only reached the National Squash League play-offs, but has actually done so as Champions. With a won/lost ratio of 9-1. Anybody else lay claim to that? It does beggar belief that our squad, particularly when you look at their rankings compared to some of the other squads, has achieved this, and it reflects in no small measure the team spirit, and the relationship the players have with the members.
It was never going to be a battle with the UKP line-up shorn of its best players, but we have found that given the motivation, the lower ranked players can upset the formbook occasionally, witness the Vole’s exploits 2 weeks ago at Guildford. So it was fairly academic in that we won 3-0 5 times, although Suzie Pierrepont, a last minute replacement for the injured Linda Charman, had an easier win than her team-mates over an absent Tegwen Malik. She then put the Vole through a 30 minute session of drills and routines just to put him in his place.
It wasn’t fun for the UKP team, and the games reflected that – Ben Garner won 3-0 over Matt Bolt, but only after being on the receiving end of 3 dead nicks in the first 4 rallies. Tim stuttered to a 3-0 over Daryl Selby, whilst Azlan toyed with Jamie Davis for his 3-0. Jelly found Stuart Cowie in obdurate mood (no change there, then), but wore him down for his own 3-0.
So it was champers to celebrate, and to come to terms with the challenge ahead. The programme outlined the potential play-off line-ups, and it goes without saying that March 18th at Chichester will be a full-house, with hopefully Bozza and Fitzy gracing our courts. If they don’t, well, who knows what could happen?
Oh, and Vole got the player of the season champers!
