Boughton Park Squash Club
Team matches 2001/2
The Neville South Memorial Trophy
Fixtures/Results 2001/2
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Team matches 2002/3
Fixtures/Results 2002/3 Season
Team matches 2003/4
Worcestershire Squash League 2005/6
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Altered Images I v Boughton Park
On 3 October 2001 we kicked off the new season with an away game in Bromsgrove.
At the 7.30 start time only 3 of our team had arrived at the venue, so our team captain, Ray Burrows playing number 2, was first on court. He played his usual game (lots of mistakes and missed let/stroke opportunities) and went down by 3 games to 1.
Meanwhile our latest recruit, Martin Hatt (playing number 5)shrugged off his rustiness (last time he played was Christmas Eve) to win the first game but this proved too good to last and he went down 3-1.
Our long serving Club Captain, Greg Edwards, playing number 4, took a while to judge the pace of the game or see or hit the ball, and lost the first two games 9-0 9-0! He made something of a comeback in the third game losing 9-5.
Chris Jones had a slow start, perhaps worrying about his wife who he had just left in Worcester A and E! He lost the first game but won the next three reasonably comfortably.
Last on court was our number one, Roger Cale. He came up against a young hard hitting lad who covered the court very well. There were many exciting long rallies and Roger did very well to take the tie to a fourth game.
Final match result : Altered Images 18pts. Boughton Park 6 pts. Player of the week : Roger Cale.
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Boughton Park v Haybridge Sports Centre, Hagley.
We started our Worcestershire League Division Four home fixtures on October 10 with a whitewash 5-0 win.
Martin Hatt, making his home debut won comfortably 3-1 at number five.
Number four Greg Edwards spent more time in the bar with his opponent than on court, winning 3-0 as comprehensively as he lost last week! Perhaps it was because his opponent this week was a woman!!
Chris Jones had an easy 3-0 win and some are beginning to question his ranking position at number three.
Number two Ray Burrows lost the first game 9-4 but came back strongly to win the next three games comfortably.
Roger Cale had a few argumentative moments and at 1-1 it looked as if the tie could go either way, but he pulled through to win 3-1 to round off a 20-3 points victory for the home side.
Man of the match Martin Hatt for his decisive marking!
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Boughton Park v Hagley III
Hagley III turned up at Boughton Park with only 4 players on Wednesday, October 17, so number five Martin Hatt (fined a match fee of £7 for turning up late) missed out on a game but secured 3 points for us without serving a ball.
Chris Jones made heavy weather of beating the Hagley number 3, but eventually came through 3-1.
Number four Greg Edwards must still have been dreaming of his last opponent, the shapely Jane, as he tamely lost the first two games. He made a comeback to win the next two and in a tense decider he missed the opportunity to score an unlikely win, losing 10-8 in the fifth game.
Number one Roger Cale, still having trouble with basic rules was foot-faulted on his first serve; he never recovered and lost in double quick time 3-0.
It was left to our Captain Ray Burrows, to pull the match out of the fire; he had a poor, slow start but when he got the serve for the 3rd time when 0-4 down, he ran through to win the first game 9-4. The second and third games were tense tight affairs, in which Ray kept his cool to come through 9-8 and 9-7 to secure a player of the match performance.
Final result: Boughton Park 16 points, Hagley III 7 points
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Boughton Park v Alcester
On November 7 Boughton Park entertained Alcester (formerly Stratford Leisure) in the Worcestershire League Division Four.
After a late start, Martin Hatt (playing No 5) quickly made up time winning the first game 9-0 against Bev Bosworth, but then Martin lost concentration a little, losing the next game and making hard work of finally winning 3-1. He will be fitted with blinkers next time he plays female opposition.
Chris Jones (playing No 3) had a hard tight battle with Alcester's captain, the experienced Dave Cox, but came through convincingly at the end to win 3-0.
So far so good, but sadly the evening soon went pear-shaped when home team captain Ray Burrows (No 2) and Greg Edwards took to the courts. Ray put in his worst performance to date, loosing tamely 3-0 to Maron Wyatt and Greg (playing No 4) struggled to last the pace of a hard-hitting game going down 3-1 to Gary Harman. Perhaps Greg was still suffering the after effects of the late night 'coffee evening' following the AGM and Quiz the previous Friday!
Everything hinged on the two No 1's but Boughton’s Roger Cale totally lost the plot in dropping a 7 point lead in the second game before losing 3-0 to Pete Dunnett.
The highlight of the night for the Boughton team being the ‘upgraded’ meal at the Balti - even if it did cost £2 extra!
Boughton’s man of the match was the only player still with a 100 per cent record - Chris Jones.
Match result : Boughton Park 7 points, Alcester 15 points.
Boughton’s record now is: P4, W2, L2, Pts49. |
Altered Images II v Boughton Park
Boughton Park were away to Altered Images II at Bromsgrove on November 14 with a team that saw a couple of changes for the first time this season.
Team captain Ray Burrows started at No1 and was first on court. He made a slow start but recovered to get to 1-1. He then had a heavy fall and found the pace of Stu Warner difficult to live with, eventually losing 3-1.
Ian Collett (No 5) had a brilliant first game, winning 9-0, but promptly lost the second! He then came back well to win his first match of the season, 3-1 against Rob Krick.
Jimmy Allen (No 4) had a comfortable time against Brett Taylor, winning 3-0. His tricky push-shot was nearly always a winner!
Martin Hatt (No 3 and playing higher up the order) had a tight, hard tussle with Ian Tanner and at times it looked as if he might go under, but he stuck in well to come through 3-1.
Chris Jones, playing his final game before he undergoes ‘cosmetic’ surgery, had a good tussle with Rob Hill and won 3-0. His performances will be missed so, best wishes Chris and hurry back!
The drinks flowed and the curry was very good - a good evening all round!
Man of the match was Martin Hatt.
Match result: Boughton Park 18 points, Altered Images II 5pts.
League record: P5 W3 L2 Pts67.
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Nunnery Wood II v Boughton Park
Boughton Park came up against a stong Nunnery Wood second team on Friday, November 23 and went down four games to one.
Ian Collett (No 5) played 'traitor' Dave Brace (ex-Boughton Park player) and lost 3-0, Martin Hatt (No 4) played Dave Meredith and lost 3-0, team captain Ray Burrows (No 3) played Lloyd Grandison and lost 3-0 and Roger Cale (No 2)played Martin Futrill and also lost 3-0.
The team was at least contemplating extra time in the bar, until Phil Wilde (No 1) selfishly delayed things!
He was nowhere in the first game, losing 9-1, but then he dug deep and started to run the excellent stroke-playing Steve Goodwin ragged. Some superb squash was played by both, and Phil, playing his first game of the season for the team, came through magnificently to win 3-1.
Match result: Nunnery Wood 18 points, Boughton Park 3 points.
Boughton's man of the match: Phil Wilde.
Record: P6, W3, L3, Pts70. |
Boughton Park v Malvern SC II
On December 12, Boughton Park played host to Malvern Squash Club Second team.
Our No 5 Martin Hatt, must have had a Christmas lunch, because he never got going against Hugh Webber, losing 6-9, 5-9, and 3-9. His new strings seemed more like elastic bands - none of his usual power was seen.
On the other court No 4 Greg Edwards was struggling almost as much against Alex, losing 3-9, 4-9 and 4-9.
Jimmy Allen, playing No 3, got off to a great start, winning the first two games against Mark Read 9-7 and 9-1. Jimmy then went to sleep and lost the third game 0-9, he had now lost confidence and the initiative, and lost two more games 6-9 and 6-9.
A whitewash now appeared on the cards, with the visitors strong at Nos 1 and 2, with Dale Wilde and Tim Cossali-Francis the opposition.
Team captain Ray Burrows served twice to Tim at 8-6 in the first game but then lost it 8-10. The second game was just as close, with Ray coming out on top with another 10-8 scoreline.
Ray then won the third 9-1 only for Tim to respond winning the 4th game 9-0. Tim took a 5-1 lead in a tense 5th game but Ray fought back, despite persevering with a boast shot that failed to clear the tin on 8 out of 9 tries. He pulled back to 6-6 and three good serves saw Tim wilt under the pressure for a great win.
No 1 Roger Cale played very well in a strangely uneventful match against Dale Wilde, winning 9-1, 9-3, 9-6.
Match result Boughton 8 pts, Malvern 16pts.
If only Jimmy had managed to pull another game out of the bag!
Man of the match goes to Ray Burrows for a gritty performance against a quality player who normally plays at No 1 for the side.
Record: P7, W3, L4, Pts78. |
Boughton Park v Altered Images I
On January 9 Boughton Park entertained Altered Images 1, having lost at Bromsgrove in the first game of the season, 4-1.
First on court was young Sam Bayliss (No 5), making his debut for the season as a last minute replacement for Jimmy Allen, who deemed himself not match fit after the Christmas break! Sam played some good long rallies but Stuart Warner was quick and always dominant. Sam didn't help his cause by ignoring several let and/or stroke opportunities, and he lost 3-0.
The outcome of the next two matches were tremendous results for Boughton players; Greg Edwards (No 3) and Martin Hatt (No 4) were both playing the same opponents from the away leg. Greg won comfortably 3-0 against John Boardman and after a late scare Martin came through 3-1, against Gerry Keates with the final point being a little controversial. At Bromsgrove Greg had been soundly beaten by the same player 3-0, and had only won five points in the three games, so this must be a contender for result of the season!
Team captain Ray Burrows started slowly against the exuberant Stuart Franklin and lost the first game but came storming back to win the next two games 9-0 and 9-2. The contest at this stage seemed over but Ray lost the initiative and a close 4th game and the 5th was a tense affair, with Ray needed 5 match points before eventually coming through 9-7 to win the tie and the match for Boughton.
By now the heating had gone off and number one Roger Cale didn't warm to the task of playing Dave Pullen, who was red hot right from the start and ran out a comfortable 3-0 winner.
Points score Boughton 14 Altered Images 9, a tremendous result compared to the 18-6 defeat in the away tie.
Man of the match this week has to be Greg Edwards.
Record: P8, W4, L4, Pts92. |
Haybridge Sports Centre (Hagley) v Boughton Park
Boughton Park travelled to Haybridge Sports Centre at Hagley on January 16 and suffered a shock defeat after a convincing 5-0 home win in the first half of the season.
Ian Collett (No 5) played James Wilson and he struggled with the movement and hard hitting of his opponent, losing 3-0.
Martin Hatt (No 4), playing the ex-Aston Villa footballer John Chambers won the first game but didn't settle on the cold, slippery, dark court and lost a close encounter 3-2.
Greg Edwards (No 3) continued his winning streak, whatever supplements he was given for Christmas seem to be working as he won for the second week running, 3-0 against Phil Paddock.
Ray Burrows (No 2) followed Martin on Court 2 and played just as indifferently - losing 3-0 to Jerry Dyson.
A talkative Roger Cale (No 1) won the final tie 3-0 against Gary Land without being extended, but exchanged plenty of banter.
Match result: Boughton 8 points, Haybridge SC 14 points.
Man of the match: Roger Cale.
Team captain, Ray Burrows, said: "This was a very disappointing result and we hope to bounce back at Hagley next week!!"
League record: P9, W4, L5, Pts100.
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Hagley III v Boughton Park
Boughton Park were away to Hagley 3 on January 23 and we had to make late changes to the team due to injury (Jimmy 'no show' Allen and Roger 'sicknote' Cale). Steve Gains stepped in and after dozens of phone calls we managed to obtain a number 5 of the stature of Andy Crowther.
With the positive psychology of Steve burning in our ears we drove up the M5 to be met by Hagley's boy wonder, Dave Chater, who took Number 1 this week Ray Burrows to the cleaners in the first two games 9-2, 9-1 and Ray was losing the 3rd game 8-2 but fought back gallently to 8-8 but the rally didn't last and Ray suffered another 3-0 defeat.
Greg Edwards couldn't get over the dizzyness of playing at Number 2 and he quickly lost 3-0 to Andy Cole without using too much ink from the marker's pen.
Number 4, Steve Gains, making his debut, set off really well and won the first two games but then Doug Wilson won the third and Steve was a little fortunate to win the 4th. His speed around the court was impressive and it was a good 3-1 debut win.
Hagley were short of players, but luckily for them an old boy turns up to watch and mark and by chance he had some kit in the car and agreed to make up the team. Andy 'spoon' Crowther quickly settled into a rhythm of missing the ball or putting it in the tin or feeding the ball back to the 68 year old, yes 68, Tim Badcock and Tim took advantage by winning the first game comfortably. Ray gave Andy some emergency coaching ready for the second game and Andy responded by losing it 9-0! Without any further coaching he managed to put his game together and take the third game and a 3-2 win now seemed a distinct possibility but Andy found pensioner Tim too quick for him and he lost 3-1.
Martin, playing at Number 3 against Graham Millerchip, fought a close hard battle. At times he was putting his best foot forward and hitting the ball well and at 1-1 it seemed anyones match but Graham had a little more mobility and finally won through 3-1.
Match result: Boughton 5 points, Hagley 18 points.
Man of the match was Steve Gains.
League record: P10, W4, L6, Pts 105. |
Boughton Park v Barnt Green III
On Wednesday, January 30, Boughton played host to Barnt Green 3 in a double pointer, following the cancellation of the corresponding away fixture.
Boughton were strengthened by a rare appearance of on holiday shift-worker Phil Wilde at No1 but Chris Jones, hoping to play his first comeback game after his recent operation, caught the bug from Roger Cale and phoned in sick on the morning of the match. Greg Edwards was brought back into the side at No 4.
Roger (No 2) started on court first, complaining about the lack of heat at the end of the evening. He generated plenty of heat in the match but it was largely misdirected at the marker, Martin Hatt, who let (!) Greg mark the third game, but Roger still moaned about every decision that he felt went against him. The squash from Graham Greensall was too good for Roger on the day, and he lost 3-0.
Meanwhile on court 1 Martin Hatt had a good 3-0 win against Mike Coffee. This was very close in the 3rd game, and again some contentious marking decisions were a feature of the final game.
Greg played Steve Stowe and he started brightly, winning the first game but Steve played good squash and covered the court very well and won the next 3 games conceding only nine points.
Phil took a while to get the measure of a young John Cartwright and he lost the first game but then showed his class and determination and ran out an easy 3-1 winner.
It was left to both the captains to fight it out for the double win bonus points (10) and Steve Powell won the first game. Ray held the upper hand in the second but Steve came back to snatch it - Ray dug in and won the 3rd game comfortably and then had a tremendous tussle with some good rallies and fine squash mixed with too many unforced errors. Ray set up a decider winning the 4th and he took an early lead in the 5th but was pegged back and points were exchanged before Ray got to match point at 8-7. He couldn't press home his advantage and Steve got the decision when asking for a let/stroke on his match point, to win a thrilling, tense, hour long marathon, to the great disappointment of the home team.
Ray came in for some stick for not making it, and the only printable comment was to lay off the sex with Denise before the next match!
Match result (double points): Boughton 18points, Barnt Green 30points.
Man of the Match: Phil Wilde (one more point and it would certainly have been Ray!)
Record to date: P12, W4, L8, Pts123.
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Club Ventura II v Boughton Park
Boughton Park played away to Club Ventura II, Redditch on February 6.
Greg Edwards (number 5) put up a good fight against the experienced Paul Theakson, winning the first game 9-3 and coming back strongly in the third, but Paul took a 2-1 lead and skipped through the next game 9-0 to win 3-1.
Chris Jones (number 3), playing his first team game since his Hernia operation came up against Kirk Wright. Chris found it much more comfortable racing around the court and ran out a strong 3-1 winner 9-1, 7-9, 9-6 9-5 to maintain his superb run of results this season.
Ray Burrows (number two) was beaten by a skillful Brian Jackson after putting in a very lack-lustre display (in mitigation, he was not feeling too good and was ill for the next few days!) losing 9-4 9-0 9-4.
At number one Roger Cale fared even worse against the impressive-looking Pete Small losing 9-1 9-1 9-4.
Jim Allen (number 4) seemed to be suffering something of a crisis of confidence, having just realised age is catching up with him (he's 45 now you know) and he contrived to lose a match he could have won 9-7 4-9 6-9 9-7 4-9.
At least we finished early, with home captain Kirk saying the previous match the club were pushing for the squash to finish earlier, but we then had to wait the best part of an hour for the meal, so we were still quite late back to Worcester.
Match result: Boughton Park 6 points, Club Ventura 18 points.
Man of the Match: Chris Jones.
Record: P13, W4, L9, Pts129.
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Boughton Park v Altered Images II
Boughton got back on the league trail with a home fixture against Altered Images 2 on February 20.
The previous week, captain Ray Burrows was away sunning himself in Portugal and left the team to Greg Edwards, but he couldn't muster a team to face Alcester so the game was postponed! You wouldn't think that with such a team of oldies Valentine's Night would pose such a problem!! But there you are, romance lives on with squash players!
Back to the match. Number 5 (should be playing higher but we're stuck with the ranking) Steve Gains started on one court against Andy Birtles and Chris Jones (Number 3) was on the other court against Robert Krick. Both had comfortable 3-0 wins to give us an excellent start.
Ray Burrows (number 2) and Roger Cale (number 1) were next on court. Ray hadn't played for two weeks and hotel meals have left him bigger than ever but he was still too good for Francis Peplow and won easily 3-0.
Roger complained again that it was too cold (blaming club captain Greg Edwards for his loss - who was six miles away enjoying a family birthday party meal) and he managed to lose all three games 9-7 to Ian Tanner!
Finally on court, playing for the first time in two years for the team, was globetrotter John Warham (Number 4), playing Mel Magregor. John came through two tight opening games, which either player could have won, and finished strongly winning the third 9-0.
Match result: Boughton 17 points, Altered Images II 3 points.
Man of the match: John Warham.
Record: P14, W5, L9, Pts146.
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Boughton Park v Nunnery Wood II
On Wednesday, February 27, Boughton Park played at home to local rivals Nunnery Wood, cap-tained by ex-Boughton player John Mitchell and also including ex Boughton player Dave Brace. Nunnery are well clear at the top of the league table, but we thought we had a chance if Phil Wilde could play. Unfortunately he couldn't get the time off work so 45-year-old Jimmy Allen came into the team at the last minute.
Wanting a warm court, number one Roger Cale was first on court against Steve Goodwin. Roger was no match for the speed and skill of Steve, going down quickly (before the heaters went off) 0-9 4-9 5-9. Meanwhile number two Ray was seeing if he could lose faster and win fewer points on the other court, losing to Mike Futrill 0-9 2-9 1-9. What a miserable start for Boughton.
Number three Chris Jones and number five Greg Edwards proceeded to win some games - Chris took a 2-0 lead against Lloyd Grandison but Lloyd woke up in time to win games 3 and 4. Chris got his game together in the 5th winning it 9-3.
Greg won the first game against Dave Brace but Dave changed his game (so Greg says) and he won the next three games reasonably comfortably. It was left to 45 year old Jimmy Allen (number four) to play John Mitchell and Jimmy played his socks off! He played some of his brilliant little shots and won the 1st and 3rd games to set up a decider. Perhaps his 45 years caught up with him, because he didn't look quite fit enough in the 5th game and John won it 9-2. Nevertheless, it was an outstanding performance against a quality player.
Man of the match was 45–year-old Jimmy Allen!
Match result: Boughton 6points, Nunnery Wood 19points.
Record: P15, W5, L10, Pts 152.
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Boughton Park v Club Ventura II
Boughton Park played hosts to Club Ventura II, Redditch, on March 6.
Roger Cale (number one) and Greg Edwards (number five) were first on the courts. Roger had a close game with Chris Brook-Carter, which was marred by Roger challenging several of marker Jimmy Allen's decisions concerning lets and line calls. The noise coming from court 2 distracted the attention of Court 1 players and after the third game Jimmy handed the marking over to Chris Jones. Eventually, at the end of a tense match, Roger lost 3-2.
Meanwhile Greg was playing out a close encounter with Paul Theakson. There was one contentious point near the end of the third game, with the ball being called down by the marker and Paul 'did a Roger' but without the swearing! After losing concentration and the fourth game for 2-2 Greg came through well to win the 5th game 9-3, having lost 3-1 to the same player at Redditch.
Jimmy (number four) decided he had recovered from his marking enough to go on court next. He had a lively return match against Brian Jeavons and was confident of reversing the scores from a month ago. However, whether it was the marking upset or age catching up with him (he's 45 you know) Jimmy never really looked like pulling it off, and lost 3-1 with Brian’s constant retrieving being the telling factor.
In another return match, Chris Jones (number three) was playing Captain Kirk Wright, with Kirk starting well and taking the first game. Chris then really started moving well, and lost only 6 points in the next three games. Normally, this would be good enough for man of the match, but it was overshadowed by what happened next!
The outcome was down to team captain Ray Burrows (number two), playing a re-match with Brian Jackson (Ray lost 9-4, 9-0, 9-4 at Redditch 4 weeks ago complaining of ill-health). However, Ray put that behind him and using a mix of pace and serves mesmerised Brian and won the first two games quickly, 9-1, 9-1. Brian then responded by winning the third game 9-1. The fourth game was a close tussle in the early points but Ray drew clear to 8-5. He then served close to the body in the left hand court - Brian moved his feet but mistimed his shot and conceded a double hit. He walked off court for the end of the game, not realising it was also the end of the match - he had forgotten he had lost two games in double - quick time at the beginning!!
Match result Boughton 17 points, Club Ventura 10 points. (18-6 to Club Ventura 4 weeks ago, with nine of the same players involved).
Man of the Match: A captain's innings from RAY BURROWS.
League record: P16, W6, L10, Pts 169.
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Boughton Park v Haybridge Sports Centre
Boughton Park played host to Haybridge Sports Centre in a Worcestershire Squash Cup Plate match on Friday, March 8 (which was rather unusual seeing as the club did not enter the main competition this year!)
Number one Roger Cale (court 2) and number four Ian Collett (court 1) started proceedings and it wasn't too long before the only hot air coming from court 2 wasn't from the heaters! Roger again was not impressed with the marking (this time it was Steve Gains who was on the receiving end of his vitriolic outbursts). Roger won the match against Dave Beckitt 3-0 to get us off to a good start, but again the backchat spoilt the evening.
Meanwhile Ian Collett, was trying to concentrate on his court and matched James Wilson for the first few points but after that it was all James and he ran out a clear winner, 4-9, 0-9, 0-9.
Greg Edwards (number three) then played against John Chambers, the ex-Aston Villa centre back. Although Greg played well at times John on the day was too good for him, Greg going down 2-9, 2-9, 5-9.
It was now down to captain Ray Burrows to keep us in the cup. He was playing Gerry Dyson and he lost 3-0 to Gerry at Haybridge a couple of months ago. However, Ray kept up his impressive form of earlier in the week and kept the pressure on Gerry from the first point. Ray made good use of home advantage and the colder, slower court 1 to comprehensively beat Gerry 9-0, 9-4, 9-2.
Steve Gains (number five) was last on court, playing the young inexperienced Luke Beckitt (son of number one Dave), who was no match for Steve, losing 9-0, 9-2 9-3.
For the second time this week Boughton reversed an earlier away defeat. Result: Boughton 3, Haybridge 2.
Man of the match - has to be, for the second time in the week, RAY BURROWS. How come he's suddenly playing so well???
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Malvern SC II v Boughton Park
Boughton Park visited Malvern Squash on March 13 to play against a strong second team line-up.
Boughton were missing their top two regular players, Roger Cale and Ray Burrows, but still produced a fair side with the unbeaten duo of Chris Jones and newcomer Steve Gains playing in the side together for the first time.
Chris, elevated to number one for the first time this season, was first on court with Lorraine Wilde, who is a strong, experienced player, regularly turning out for the Malvern first team.
Chris, however, just never got going in the opening two games, losing 9-3 and 9-2. The third game was a much tighter affair with never more than two points separating the pair until Lorraine managed to get to 8-5. Chris hit back to 8-all in one hand and both served again at that score until a tired Lorraine managed to take the game 10-8 with a couple of good shots leaving Chris with energy to spare.
Meanwhile on the other court Steve Gains (number five) was up against the wily Hugh Webber.
Steve started well and although falling behind 7-3 raced through in one hand to take the first game 9-7.
Hugh responded in the second game and went 6-0 up before Steve finally got going again and brought the score back to 5-7. Hugh then regained the serve and went on to take the game 9-5.
The Malvern man then dominated the next two games with little opposition from Steve who fell away quickly losing 9-1 and 9-0 for a 3-1 defeat.
Greg Edwards (number three) was also on court playing old adversary Mark Read. Greg started well with Mark not really on his game and after a nip and tuck session Greg had a final run of four points to win the opening game 9-5.
Greg then played some of the best squash of his season to go on and win the second game. From 4-3 down he won six points on the trot to take it 9-4.
Mark came out even more wound up for the third game but after some early exchanges Greg got 5-3 up. However, a determined spell by Mark saw him charge through to win the game 9-5. There was never much in the early stages of the next two games but once again Mark just had the ascendancy during the final points to win 9-3 and 9-4 for a 3-2 success.
Martin Hatt (number four) never really got into the game against Aleks Stojanovic and lost the opening game 9-0. He was 8-0 down in the second game before securing his first point in a 9-1 loss.
An improvement in the third game saw him with the slight advantage of 3-2 at one stage but Aleks powered away again to win 9-4 for a 3-0 success.
Last on court was Jimmy Allen (number two) who was up against the Malvern team captain Tim Cossali-Francis, who usually turns out at one.
The opening exchanges were very close with rarely more than one point between the pair. Both players served more than 20 times but Tim finally took the game 9-7. Jim, however, was playing a determined game and felt he was getting the measure of the court.
This proved to be the case during the second game when after s close opening couple of points, Jim raced into a 6-1 lead and then took the game 9-2.
The next two games followed a similar pattern with Jim’s accurate drops putting Tim under more and more pressure and Jim took those games 9-3 and 9-5 to win a consolation for Boughton.
Man of the match was Jimmy Allen.
Result: Malvern 18points, Boughton 6points.
Record to date: P17, W6, L11, Pts175.
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Alcester II v Boughton Park
On Thursday, March 21, Boughton played their final league match of the season, the re-arranged match at Alcester (A first time visit for Boughton, luckily one member of the team had detailed directions!!!!).
If ever there was a match of two halves, this was it! Steve Gains (No5) and Martin Hatt (no4) started against David Stokes and Bev Bosworth respectively. Bev seemed to be timing the ball and moving better than when she played at Boughton in November, but the hard-hitting Martin was too strong for her, winning 9-4, 9-7, 9-3. Steve also won comfortably, despite a bit of a scare in the third game, winning 9-4, 9-4, 10-9. What a start - nearly home and dry!
Greg Edwards (No3) and Jim Allen (No 2) (celebrating the start of his 46th year!) then took to the courts against Chris Byrd and Maron Wyatt, and everything started going pear-shaped! Greg struggled to stay with the youthful Chris and he certainly unlucky not to be granted a let when was moving to the back corner at speed. Greg put up a fight for two games, but lost 9-6, 9-6 and 9-2. Meanwhile Jim also struggled against the canny Maron, whose game was all round too good on the day for Jim (still dazzled by all the candles on his cake, no doubt), who lost 9-3, 9-6 and 9-1.
Team captain Ray Burrows was playing at No1 (Roger Cale still being omitted for disciplinary reasons). Alcester No 1 Pete Dunnett beat Roger 3-0 at Boughton so by now all the smart money was on an Alcester win (in fact, you would have to be pretty dumb to risk any on Boughton at this stage).
Ray started slowly and got even slower, but he did manage to get to 7-7 in the second game! With a bit of coaching from Greg the final score might have been very different! Pete won 9-0, 9-7 and 9-2 to give a match result of Boughton 6 points Alcester 14 points (Someone on the balcony was heard to say "Come back Roger - all is forgiven!").
Man of the match was Steve Gains.
Final record: P18, W6, L12, Pts181.
There will be an end of the season 'Awards' Evening on Wednesday, April 24. Courts booked from 6.45pm onwards. Balti House booked for 9.45pm. No match fee, all those who have played for the team this season welcome. Please sign up on the courts noticeboard.
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