Yawar Abbas reports on his team's inexorable march towards the final ...
Group A winners, Manchester-Pontefract claimed a crushing 5-0 victory over Chichester in the first leg of their semi final encounter.
On paper it looked to be a win for the home team but with the visitors' strength in depth, the lower ties looked to be competitive.
First up was Marcus Berrett versus up and coming Ben Garner, two players with 100% records. From the start Berrett was clinical, punishing his young opponent at every opportunity with stinging kills and feathered drops. He took the first 9-2 and then matched that score in the second, before closing the match out in 23 minutes.
Meanwhile, local hero Nick Taylor started well before the talented Tim Vail levelled with some great deception and faded drops. Taylor came out strongly in the third to take a 8-3 lead, but Vail clawed back to 7-8 before losing out on a clinging drive.
The fourth was tight all the way, with Taylor saving game balls three times. The game see sawed to 9-9 as Vail was denied what appeared a comfortable let. After furious exchanges with the referee, Taylor promptly served behind the Sussex players back and into the nick, to compound his frustration and move to match ball! This was achieved at the first attempt to give Manchester-Pontefract a 2-0 lead.
Next on were the women, Vanessa Atkinson v Linda Charman, World 3 v world 7 in what turned out to be the match of the night. Charman started well, aggressively pinning a lethargic Atkinson in the back court to take a 9-0, 4-0 before the Dutchwoman finally found some form.
In a dramatic turn around, she went on to take the next twelve points to level the match and then go ahead in the third. 2-1 to Manchester-Ponte became 2-2 as Charman rallied, with characteristic tenacity. Into the fifth and it was the home player who triumphed with a gutsy display of controlled squash to claim the match for her team.
James Willstrop was on next against Tim Garner and the Yorkshireman treated the gallery to an exhibition style performance, winning 9-7, 9-6, 9-3.
Lee Beachill, fresh from claiming the inaugural Bermuda Open, faced Peter Genever in the last match and although showing some signs of fatigue he totally dominated with stunning angled kills and cut drop shots, to close out a 9-3, 9-6, 9-4 win and a whitewash for the home side.
So we travel to Chichester needing only to secure one win in order to progress to the final – all in all a great night’s work!
