Cambridgeshire Squash League
Premiership/Division 1
Stamford v Hunts County
Wednesday 12th October 2011.
Team: Rob Vivian; Simon Barker; Dave Robinson; Dave Spooner; Simon Morris
Lessons, Long games & Losing.
The first home match for Stamford 1 was with a weakened team, due to the noticeable absence of Bez and Alistair, our top two players for the first half of the season.
Up first stepped Morris, who had a hard fought match against Andy Reynolds. In the past Simon has had the upper hand but Andy arrived at Stamford to even things up, with all the games going to the wire with the visitor becoming the victor (1-3).
Team captain Spooner made a rare appearance, due to the weakened team, at number four string. Even though carrying an injured, poorly shoulder, the true trooper he is became the hope of the team, leading 2-0 only to be eventually beaten by his worthy opponent Paul Goodwin (2-3).
Next up was Robinson, who was taught a squash lesson by Hunts County regular John Mitchley. The consistent retrieving by “Mitch” coupled with Robinson’s lack of fitness made for a short match with the Hunts County number three winning comfortably(0-3).
Barker, also playing up a position, took to the court with the right frame of mind, hunting and chasing the ball down at every opportunity. His opponent Colin Griggs, put his coaching skills to good use moving Simon around into every corner, eventually wearing down “the housewives’ choice” to win in safe margins (0-3).
The team was greatly strengthened by the appearance of Rob Vivian at number one. Although Rob starting the match off well being neck and neck at one all, his consistent and quality game was unfortunately still not good enough to overcome the slow, methodical grinding technique of his opponent James Powley that could wear the most patient of men down (1-3).
Next week we are away at March for another challenging fixture, fingers crossed for a win this time!