Ian Robinson sees his team slump to defeat at the hands of the league leaders ...
TVS Broxbourne 4 beat UniSport Guildford 1
Gregg Gaultier 3 beat Stacey Ross 0 (9 - 7, 9 - 7, 9 - 7)
Alex Stait 3 beat Neil Frankland 1 (9 - 6, 8 - 10, 9 - 4, 9 - 6)
Alister Walker 3 beat Paul Allen 1 (9 - 4, 9 - 4, 6 - 9, 9 - 4)
Danny Meddings 3 beat Chris Hall 0 (9 - 3, 9 - 6, 11 - 9)
Caroline Chaloner 1 lost to Sarah Kippax 3 (9 - 6, 2 - 9, 5 - 9, 2 - 9)
UniSport Guildford crashed to a 4 - 1 defeat to top of the table TVS
Broxbourne. It was not a bad performance in fact there was a lot to be encouraged about but at the same time winning points are becoming a priority for the university team as they fall to second bottom in the table. TVS Broxbourne led by Frenchman Gregg Gaultier, who is ranked 11 in the world, were more than a handful for the young and inexperienced UniSport team. Both teams had absentees but Broxbourne were better placed with their reserves.
Chris Hall was stepping up for his second match for the university and was
looking for an improved performance after the stuttering start of his debut.
Matched against the vastly experienced but ageing Danny Meddings this was always going to be a tough assignment. Meddings always had something in hand, but nonetheless there were signs that Hall was starting to make a nuisance of himself with his hard hitting athletic style of play. Meddings did not enjoy the comfort to play his shots quite as he would have liked and Hall was unlucky not to squeeze the last game out of his opponent and that would have been just reward for a commendable effort. Although this immediately put Guildford on the back foot and one match down, it was an encouraging development in the young career of Chris Hall. It is clear that in the right environment his squash will thrive.
Paul Allen was setting about the task of matching young England player
Alister Walker. Alister is a considerable athlete and dominated the middle of the court from the off making Allen do the chasing and forcing avoidable errors from the university man's racket. The same pattern was to emerge in the second game, suggesting that Allen felt he had to risk winners from all corners of the court - a reckless strategy. Nothing however was further from the truth, because, although Walker dominated the middle of the court he had no real cutting edge to his game and with this realisation came the rise in confidence of the visitor. Allen was playing more and more from the middle of the court himself hitting tight down the walls to create opportunities to hit his winners.
This earned him the third game and in some style. However it was a return to the edgy play of the first two games and any hope of squaring the match
evaporated as Allen lapsed into error. On the face of it, this was a comfortable win for Broxbourne, however there was the suspicion that if Allen had played with more confidence then he could have made a greater impact on this match.
Surprisingly he did not play with much confidence.
Sarah Kippax made the long and arduous treck down from Chester via Hong Kong (where she was a first round loser in the Hong Kong WIPSA tournament) to make her second appearance for UniSport. Matched against the tall rangy Caroline Chaloner this was to be a stern test of the youngster's pedigree. Not off to the best of starts, Kippax was struggling to find her timing and Chaloner hitting some beefy blows recovered an initial deficit and forged ahead to take the first game 9 - 6. This was the wake up call that Kippax needed and searching for her concentration she drove forcefully for the back corners finding them with increasing certainty.
This created opportunities to hit winners to the front of the court. As the game scores levelled, Kippax was increasingly exerting more control over the rallies as this strategy paid dividends. Most notable was the appearance of her short game which forced Chaloner to cover a lot
of court to stay with the contest. To her credit Chaloner's resistance was
stubborn to the end and it was a hard earned win for the UniSport player.
Neil Frankland was next on court against the in form and improving Alex
Stait. The Broxbourne player looks more assured in his play this season and
maintains an unbeaten record in the league. Frankland needed a good start to build confidence. The first game went to Stait, who was quick around the court and made Frankland play mostly from the back of the court thus depriving him of chances to use his array of winners to best advantage. However Stait probably still jet lagged from his recent journey back from the States, lost concentration and with it control of the mid court area, which Frankland was only to happy to feed on unleashing winners to narrowly squeeze the game by 10 - 8.
Frankland resisted gamely but was not able to rest control of the middle of the court again and was forced to try and construct his winners from poor positions in the court, all of which was in vain against someone of the pace of his opponent. The third game was pivotal at 6 - 6 and as the points drifted away from Frankland so did the match as the fourth game saw a dominant Stait rush through to the finish line with a barrage of forehand smashes down the straight side. It is easy to see why Stait is in such good form and it will be surprising if there are n't some bigger named scalps on the horizon.
UniSport Guildford were now down 3 - 1 with Stacey Ross to test himself
against world number 11 Gregg Gaultier. Ross had been in Holland and had picked up the notable scalp of Dan Jenson, ranked 32 in the world, but this was to be a different proposition. Ross got away to a quick fire start surprising his illustrious opponent with his good touch on his drop shots to the front corners. Taking a 3 - 0 lead Ross needed to capitalise. However the Frenchman started to get himself going and reigned in the lead but Ross to his credit kept his concentration and managed to stay in front to 7 - 7. Taking the quick route home for the game, Ross selected an injudicious winner and was to pay the price as the resultant error was to hand the first game to Gaultier.
Gaultier moves around a squash court with blistering pace and was never wrong footed for long and was still able to turn and chase after seemingly impossible causes. It was this speed of foot that made for a very uncomfortable night for Ross.
Taking the ball into the front of the court, rarely can he have seen his best shots returned with such apparent ease and with so much interest. Nonetheless Ross stuck to his task and with some clever play mixing up the pace and some outright winners allied to the occasional error from his opponent, he managed to stay in the match and again was narrowly pipped at the post to lose the second game 9 - 7. There was a rally of extreme proportions taxing the recovery powers of both players at the beginning of the third and it was apparent that the speed of foot was again going to frustrate the UniSport player as his best shots kept being returned. Some consolation was forthcoming for Ross when he managed a big wrong footing shot on the Frenchman with a little back hand flick cross court, leaving him sprawled out on the floor.
This was short lived as the Broxbourne player got his nose in front and completed his night's work with another 9 - 7 game. It was a subdued Gualtier who won the match attempting to mount a charm offensive after the events of the recent World Team Championships at the same time making the most of a useful workout.
Ross needs to play more matches at this level and intensity. There is no doubt that he was not totally out of the contest, but he does need to turn these narrow losing margins into more winning ones at this more exalted level of competition.
This was a disappointing night for UniSport, who have typically met with more than their fair share of success at Broxbourne, but on this night it was not to be. That concludes our matches for the first half of the season.
We look forward to the second half of the season starting away to Bicester on Tuesday 6th January. Although it seems a little premature may I take this opportunity of wishing all you squash fans a happy Christmas and a successful new year.
