Derbyshire’s Benz Bavarian Duffield raised their hopes of a place in the semi-final play-offs of the National Squash League with a dramatic 4-1 eighth round victory at FPD Savills Nottingham which ended only minutes before midnight.
Full results from Round Eight
Also in Group A, the season’s unbeaten Manchester-Pontefract crushed a weakened Edgbaston Priory team 5-0 at home to make certain of their first appearance in the play-offs, with two rounds still to play. Elsewhere in the Lancashire capital, Wolverhampton celebrated their second win of the season with a 4-1 victory at Manchester Northern.
In Group B, second-placed Chichester closed the gap on the resting table-toppers TVS Broxbourne by hammering struggling Oxfordshire newcomers SWSA Bicester 5-0, while a close-fought encounter on the south coast saw Lee-on-Solent beat UniSport Guildford 3-2 to move into third place in the table.
The match at Nottingham was delicately poised at 2/1 in the visitors’ favour when Duffield’s Cassie Jackman, the England No1 in her first outing since regaining the world No1 ranking, took to the court to face Australia’s world No5 Natalie Grinham. The Norfolk star fully justified her new-found status as she swept to a 9-7 9-7 9-0 victory over the Netherlands-based Grinham to ensure Duffield’s victory in the tie.
It was then left to a jaded Nottingham No1 John White to gain a consolation point against one of England’s newest stars Nick Matthew, the world No12 and the Duffield top string. White took the opening game but, clearly feeling the effects of his Edinburgh Open win at the weekend and his SuperLeague encounter 24 hours earlier, was unable to stem the firepower of the 23-year-old from Sheffield as Matthew claimed a 5-9 9-6 10-8 9-7 win to give Duffield a 4-1 victory which strengthens the club’s bid to clinch second position in Group A – and a place in the end of season play-offs.
Manchester-Pontefract cruised to their victory despite the last-minute loss of Pontefract star James Willstrop, the new world No13 who was rested as a result of a minor injury. Ireland’s John Rooney, however, stepped into the breach to beat Priory’s Jon Harford 9-2 9-7 9-5, while team-mates Nick Taylor and Marcus Berrett moved up the order to beat the Birmingham visitors’ Hadrian Stiff and Adam Stevenson, respectively – Berrett overcoming complete exhaustion from a ‘giant-killing’ run in the Edinburgh Open to maintain his season-long unbeaten National League record with a 9-5 4-9 9-2 9-4 victory.
The in-form home team’s No1 Lee Beachill, now the world No4, cruised to a 9-2 9-2 11-9 win over Edgbaston stalwart Del Harris to guarantee Manchester-Pontefract maximum points.
Former European Junior Champion Dominique Lloyd-Walter began Wolverhampton’s night of celebrations at Manchester Northern with an impressive 9-6 10-9 10-8 win over the hosts’ higher-ranked Laura-Jane Lengthorn. Manchester Northern captain Masambo Selisho registered his first win of the season with a 9-3 9-5 7-9 9-7 victory over Jamie Haycocks – but fortunes thereafter went Wolverhampton’s way. Perhaps the most impressive of the black country club’s winners was veteran part-timer Mark Cairns, the British Open Over-35 champion who swept to a 9-4 9-2 9-5 victory over Essex’s up-and-coming full-time player Phillip Barker.
UniSport Guildford were also forced to make a last-minute line-up change following the late withdrawal of squad No2 Stacey Ross. The opening match would have given the Surrey University side a boost as the evergreen Fiona Geaves, the 36-year-old world No7 from Gloucester who shows no signs of slowing down her international circuit commitments, resisted a spirited fightback by Lee-on-Solent’s Vicky Botwright to beat the 26-year-old world No10 9-5 10-8 4-9 2-9 9-6.
The top string battle between the home team’s Bradley Ball and Guildford’s now ‘retired’ Stephen Meads provided the tie decider, and honours were shared after the first two games before Suffolk’s Ball edged ahead to record a 9-4 5-9 9-0 9-6 win and a 3-2 victory for the club which takes them ahead of Guildford in the points table.
SWSA Bicester, the National League newcomers from Oxfordshire who are still looking for their maiden win, were dealt a disappointing blow on the eve of the fixture when Lauren Briggs, who celebrated her first international win at the weekend in Pittsburgh, was unable to return from the US in time for the match. Her late replacement Katie Hill was no match for Chichester’s world No6 Linda Charman who denied the SWSA youngster a single point in her straight games whitewash.
Charman’s charge clearly inspired her Chichester team-mates, who eventually claimed their 5-0 win at SWSA – though the hosts’ Scott Handley fully extended Peter Genever before the Chichester No1 finally bagged his 14-12 14-12 3-9 9-3 victory.
Full results from Round Eight
