Ouch – wake-up call so early in the season… The dark and stormy evening should have been fore-warning enough that there was trouble on the way. And I can’t say that anyone played particularly badly, it was rather a case of our opponents playing particularly well.
Mark was up first against Rob: first game quickly done – no problem. Second game – wheels detached. His opponent found his rhythm was deadly on anything short. This made life difficult as Mark was struggling to get a good length. Nevertheless, the next two games were hard fought, but Rob had the edge to close it out. Lost 1-3.
Louis on next for his inaugural 6th B game. Unfortunately for him, he was playing against Alex – a very handy player returning to squash after several years of frequenting various bar stools. First game was a slaughter. Next game saw Louis getting his mojo back – not enough to trouble Alex though. In the third game Alex was huffing and puffing and the legs were definitely wobbling a bit. Some untimely errors from Louis, however, meant that he couldn’t capitalise on this enough and that was it. Lost 0-3.
Looking bad already and only halfway into the evening – Nigel up next against the schoolboy energy (and attitude) of James. The rallies were long and hard fought. In each game James bolted out ahead, then I reigned him in and thought I had enough to finish it, only for James to tighten it a bit more and take the victory. Thought I had turned the corner in the third game when his legs finally looked to be tiring and I had changed from the slug-fest to floated shots, but it wasn’t to be, James took the honours. Lost 0-3.
So was it to be a 16 point drilling so early in the season. Danie was our last hope at saving the blushes. Up against Che. I can’t say it was the prettiest squash I’ve seen. Indeed, this was no Mona Lisa, rather more Hieronymous. But effective for Danie – First game was easy peasy. Next two went to Che. With Danie looking down the barrel he had to tighten up his game – and did. Some (very) dubious calls from the marker saw the players deciding between themselves on the lets/strokes… And lo and behold, Danie scraped through and averted complete disaster for the team. Won 3-2.
The games were followed up with some fantastically cold beers in the pub – with iced beer mugs nogal. It was too late for food, so we had to settle for hops. Next week is against Jeppe who had beaten Bryanston the previous week. Could be tough times ahead.
Overall result: Lost 4 - 14
