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08/10/2004
THE LOCAL DERBY
Matt Suckling narrowly avoids shaving his legs as his team slump to defeat at Wolverhampton ...
Edgbaston Vs Wolverhampton
The
local derby
Having had a tough summer preparing for National league, we were hoping
to sneak a 3-2 win over our local rivals Wolverhampton, but it wasn’t
going to be easy at all.
On Thursday, our 2nd string lady Isabelle Stoehr (Wr15) had to pull out
due to an ankle injury that she had picked up whilst playing in the
World Team event in Amsterdam. With both Sarah Fitz-Gerald and Emma
Beddoes not available it looked as if I might have to shave my legs and
get a skirt on. Fortunately for everyone, a contact was made and Rachel
Wilmott U17 no1 and U19 no2 in England saved us all from that prospect.
The Match
First up was Rachel and she had a mountain to climb against Shelley.
Shelley happens to be in great form for any player to come up against
let alone a 16 year old. What Shelley didn’t expect nor did many others
who watched the match, was that this 16 year old would be so
determined, for that I take my hat off to Rachel. Of course the
strength thing was so different between the two players but, Rachel is
some player. Her movement is great, (you don’t very often see in such a
young player), and her style is very natural. Rachel battled through
nerves, (a lot of them), the moment, the crowd, new faces, new people
and one hell of an opponent. In my view the 2 points that Rachel got
made her a winner. Well played Rachel glad to have you in the squad,
keep up the good work up.
On the adjacent court Pete Barker was having fun with Mark (always
suntanned) Cairns. As per the norm there was a bit too much talk
instead of squash in the first, which made it quite tight, and it could
have gone either way, but Pete just looked that bit stronger. The
second saw Pete getting forward much more than Mark and Mark’s up and
down game wasn’t really causing too much trouble for the rising star.
By this time you could see a difference in pace between the two players
as Pete was stepping up and taking control. Overall a good display as
Mark is still no mug which proves that Pete is becoming the player we
know he can be. 3-0 Pete.
On paper we hoped that we could get points at 1, 2 and 3. Hadrian’s
opponent, Liam Kenny is on the tour and we always though he would have
the toughest battle. Liam he has had some illness but he’s still
playing tournaments. Hadrian’s last game was an exhibition match in
July. Liam was happy to take control in the first as Hadrian tried to
do too much and expected the pace to be faster than it actually was.
9/3 to Liam. After some calming words Hadrian relaxed and studied the
game more and showed signs of reading Liam’s game, but Liam was holding
on playing some great kills which Hadrian wasn’t happy about. The ref
had played a part in Hadrian’s frustration too 10/8 Liam. Every game
counts and Hadrian knew this and kept calm and worked hard. He played
basic stuff and played it very well as Liam started to look out of
sorts. It was close, the rallies were tight and finishing was getting
harder. Hadrian did it 9/7. Game on, Hadrian was confident he could do
some more damage, so he did. The fourth was good squash with a few
decisions which upset Hadrian again, but he stayed in control squeezing
home 12/10. 2/2. Liam did the wright thing and came out firing and went
4/0 up, which was just a bit too much for Hadrian to pull back. Liam
pushed through to take the match 9/5 in the fifth. Great game, well
played both of the players, well worth £10 just for that match.
2/1 to Wolverhampton. Then the second strings. Looking at the world
rankings you would say that Adrian being World 13 should win hands down
against Scott ranked at World 70, (he is better than that though), but
who takes any notice of rankings in National League, it’s how you play
on the night. In the first Adrian looked sharp and in control, Scott
had no real reply until the 2nd and 3rd games where he played well,
very well in fact. The disappointing part was that Adrian let him play.
In the fourth Scott decided to go for it and he hit too many shots
down. So the 5th game was upon us and Scott was looking good, Adrian
wasn’t. Adrian hit too many shots down. Scott won the match and gave
Wolverhampton the start they deserved.
With points at stake, David Palmer and Anthony Ricketts started like it
was all on that match, but there wasn’t the zip that we normally get
from David. Having played so many matches over the last week, David’s
body wasn’t really working for him. He was willing it to but all the
matches had taken their toll. He lost the 1st after being a true
sportsman. His shot came off the back wall, Anthony hit it, it hit
David’s racket, game to Anthony, but the ref didn’t see it. ‘Let ball’
said the ref as Anthony complained, the ref said ‘we’ll talk about it
in the bar’, that was when David stepped in and declared it ‘a stroke’.
The second was better, but David wasn’t really happy especially as
Anthony kept on hitting nicks. Big game 12/10 Anthony. The third had
seen David’s willpower zapped, the legs and head weren’t working
together and Anthony took the game and match, for stage one of the
local Derby 4-1 in favour of Wolves.
We lost two matches last season 5-0 and still made the final. We’ll be
back.
What a match for us next, the City of Manchester at Home on the 26th
Oct, Palmer Vs Beachill, Grant Vs Willstrop, Barker Vs Berrett, Harris
Vs Taylor and Stoehr Vs Duncalf. These are of course probable line up’s
but what great squash Edgbaston’s supporters will be in for. Last
year’s final but with more of our supporters!!!
Contributor: Matt Suckling
Club: Edgbaston
Link:
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Latest NSL News:
NATIONAL LEAGUE SITE HAS MOVED
THE LOCAL DERBY
INSIDE ROUND ONE
GUILDFORD SUFFER IN WEEK ONE
DEPLETED NOTTINGHAM TAKE ON THE CHAMPIONS
WOLVERHAMPTON WIN 4-1
RESULTS FROM WEEK ONE
CHI CRUISE LOCAL DARBY (AND JOAN!)
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INSIDE ROUND ONE
THE SEASON STARTS HERE
INSIDE THE 2004/05 SEASON
NATIONAL LEAGUE OFF TO ANTIPODEAN START
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