Tuesday’s ninth round of the National Squash League failed to completely resolve the line-up for next month’s semi-final play-offs ...
Full results from round nine
Duffield 2-3 Edgbaston
Wolves 2-3 Nottingham
Northern 1-4 Man/Pont
Guildford 0-5 Broxbourne
Chichester 3-2 Lee on Solent
... as the battle for second place in Group A between Birmingham’s Edgbaston Priory and Derbyshire’s Benz Bavarian Duffield left just a single point separating the two Midlands teams - with the final round still to be played.
However, the trans-Pennine cooperative Manchester/Pontefract emphatically claimed their first ever place in the play-offs with a 4-1 ‘away’ win in the local derby against Manchester Northern, to move a massive 15 points ahead of second-placed Edgbaston Priory in the Group A table. Meanwhile in Group B, Hertfordshire club TVS Broxbourne crushed UniSport Guildford 5-0 away from home to secure their eighth play-off place in the last nine seasons – and the certainty of finishing this season in pole position in the Group. The second place was also put beyond reach of all-comers when Chichester beat south coast rivals Lee-on-Solent 3-2 at home to reach their second successive play-offs.
All eyes were focussed on Duffield’s home fixture against Edgbaston Priory – and the visitors had good reason to be hopeful of an early bonus when France’s Isabelle Stoehr, the 24-year-old world No12 in her first season for Priory, took a 2-0 lead against Norfolk’s Cassie Jackman, the world No1 who only 48 hours earlier had become the British National champion for a record sixth time! The experienced Jackman fought back to level the match, then had to overcome a lead by her opponent in the fifth before securing her 2-9 8-10 9-6 9-1 9-5 win.
“I had nothing to lose in the first two games,” said France’s best ever woman squash player. “But when I realised I was on the verge of beating the world No1, I began to get nervous and she came back at me.”
From 1/2 down, Duffield levelled the tie when their French representative Renan Lavigne, the world No20, beat England’s Adrian Grant 9-5 9-5 9-6. While Grant is currently ranked one place below the Frenchman, the result would be widely regarded as an upset as the 23-year-old Londoner is rising up the world order – as he demonstrated at last week’s Nationals where his impressive form took him to the semi-finals.
Edgbaston played their trump card in the decider when Australia’s former world champion David Palmer, the world No6 in only his second appearance for the club, beat Duffield’s world No12 Nick Matthew 9-5 9-6 10-8 to clinch the tie 3-2, and move the Birmingham team one point ahead of their rivals in the table.
The last-minute withdrawal of Malaysian No1 Ong Beng Hee left Manchester Northern to face neighbours and league leaders Manchester-Pontefract with a seriously weakened squad. The hosts claimed their sole point after Yorkshire’s world No14 Jenny Tranfield battled for 53 minutes to beat Irish No1 Madeline Perry 9-2 10-8 9-7.
Essex international newcomer Phillip Barker gave Manchester/Pontefract stalwart Nick Taylor a scare, but the seasoned former world No14 from Manchester eventually got the upper hand in a 6-9 9-3 9-5 7-9 9-6 victory in 55 minutes. “That was scary to watch – very energetic,” said Manchester Northern captain Masambo Selisho. In the final match, Yorkshire hero James Willstrop, the world junior champion who now boasts a world No13 ranking, coasted to a 10-8 9-4 9-3 win over the newly-promoted Manchester Northern No1 Peter Billson.
Wolverhampton entertained former champions FPD Savills Nottingham in a battle for lower-order pride in Group A. Whilst neither team was fighting for later glory, the West Midlands crowd were entertained to squash of the finest quality. England’s fast-rising star Jenny Duncalf, the 21-year-old from Harrogate who has already climbed to 14 in the world list, despatched the home team’s Dominique Lloyd-Walter 9-6 9-5 9-0 to put Nottingham in the lead – but the standout clash was the decider between the visitors’ long-time regular Simon Parke and Wolverhampton’s Welsh No1 Alex Gough, also a former Nottingham stalwart.
In a match described by Wolverhampton team manager Stephen Russell as “one of the best ever seen at the club”, Parke beat Gough 10-8 9-5 3-9 10-8 – with the first game alone clocking in at 25 minutes, and 103 strokes being counted in a rally midway through the final game, topped by 111 in the rally at 8-all! This epic clash resulted in Nottingham claiming a 3-2 victory.
In Group B, Chichester seemed to be coasting to a maximum points win over Lee-on-Solent with victories by Tim Vail and Ben Garner spurred on by the hosts’ opening success from Linda Charman. Undaunted by her fourth runner-up finish in the British Nationals on Sunday, the world No6 from Eastbourne defeated Manchester star Vicky Botwright, the world No10, 9-2 9-7 9-6. But the visitors hit back – and Swiss star Lars Harms twice fought from behind to defeat Malaysia’s Mohammed Azlan Iskandar 11-13 9-3 5-9 9-4 9-7, and Bradley Ball beat Chichester No1 Pete Genever 11-9 9-6 9-5 to reduce the home team’s winning margin to 3-2.
Surrey University squad UniSport Guildford ended their 2003/04 season campaign in dismal fashion, whitewashed by runaway Group B leaders Broxbourne. Only the second string encounter went to more than three games, as Guildford’s Stacey Ross levelled the match after South African Rodney Durbach took the opener. At 1/2 down, Ross opened up a 5-4 lead in the fourth, but was then forced to retire with a recurrence of an ankle injury. Broxbourne captain Mark Chaloner, the former world No7, finished off the night with a 9-5 9-3 9-3 dismissal of the Guildford No1 Stephen Meads, to clinch his team’s 5-0 victory.
Full results from round nine
