Match 4 - Writtle Away

So match 4 presents us with another away tie, this time a trip to Writtle. On the morning of the match, the team is rocked by the news that Mr 100%, Colin, has a slight strain and is unable to play. Now we were (and still are) unsure of what he'd actually strained but we came to the conclusion that it must have been his wrist........ However, I'm sure he still managed to use the remote control and watch Chelsea v Barcelona last night whilst he recovered.....! Anyway, we called in a more than able replacement in the form of Adrian and so we were all on our best behaviour as we made our way to the college.

Upon arrival we were immediately ordered onto court! The first matches on were the No.2's Paul v Andy and the No.3's Adrian v Richard. In a keenly contested opening game, the lead changed hands several times and then, despite a dodgy let call going against me at 8-8, I managed to take it 10-8. The next two games were rather one sided and Andy took a 2-1 lead. I battled gamely in the 4th and indeed got to 6-2 up, but with too many errors creeping into my game I couldn't force a decider and Writtle took a 1-0 match lead. On the other court a thrilling encounter was developing and Adrian gained a 2-1 advantage. He then swept into an 8-0 lead in the 4th and looked destined to claim victory. However Richard dug deep and playing some fine squash managed to claw his way back and set up a 5th game. This decider was another tight affair but in the end Richard just edged it and we found ourselves in the now familiar position of being 2-0 down after 2 matches.

The next games on were the 1's Chris v Kris and the 4's Marcus v Ian. Chris started off in determined fashion and took an early 1-0 lead. The squash was high quality throughout with both players displaying some fine shotmaking and good retrieval skills, but the younger Kris soon leveled the match 1-1. The third game was pivotal and Chris looked to be finally wearing down Kris with his cleverly disguised boast. However, it wasn't to be and the home player took a 2-1 lead. The 4th game continued in a similar manner until Kris eventually wrapped up a rousing match, 3-1. And with it, we had our 2nd defeat of the season. Meanwhile in the other match, Marcus made a sluggish start and quickly raced into a 0-8 deficit! He clawed his way back to 6-8 and it looked as though we were going to see our second miraculous comeback of the evening. Unfortunately, he couldn't sustain it and Ian took the 1st game, but it was clear to see that Marcus had found his range as he quickly got back on level terms at 1-1. Marcus lead again at 8-4 in the 3rd but Ian battled back to 8-8. With memories of last week still fresh, when Marcus narrowly lost a vital 3rd game after calling Set 1, there were groans on the balcony as he called "one" again! But this time it worked out nicely and he went on to wrap up a solid 3-1 win.

In the final match, the No.4's Dave and Ian went head to head. "Captain fantastic" simply couldn't get his trademark textbook (boring!) squash going up and down the walls. He rarely threatened and was comfortably beaten in straight sets. Later on it turned out that Ian had once played at a high standard, so no real disgrace in Dave picking up another defeat, although at the moment it appears as though he would struggle to beat an egg!

So all in all, it was a bit of a Halloween horror showing from us as we slumped to a successive 4-1 defeat. Let's hope we can get back on track next week when we welcome Redbridge, if they can find our place this time.....

Results:
Chris v Kris 1-3
Paul v Andy 1-3
Adrian v Richard 2-3
Dave v Ian 0-3
Marcus v Mike 3-1

Clements lost to Writtle 7-18