** Many thanks go to Captain Fantastic for the blog reports this season **
And so to the new Winter season, and Clements 2nd Team find themselves back in the depths of Division 3. An interesting league ahead, for no other reason than Clements 3rd Team have found themselves in the giddy heights of the same division !!
And the 1st match of the season - yes, away to Clements 3 - so that's At Home then ! The match started earlier in the day when Colin advised that he would have to get away early for a job interview at 8.00pm, so please could he go on first (I personally would take the multi-million pound pay-off just received and go and play golf for a year.........) Anyway, he was due to play 3 for us, and contact was made with Nigel who was their No. 3. - he said he would try to be on time, although he might struggle. He did struggle - trying to find a chip shop in Hockley that would serve us food later, and come 7.20ish we agreed to change the order and put Colin up against his old pal Tony Draper at 2nd string. And what a good game it turned out to be; Colin set off like a train, romping through the first set, and looked like he was intent on making his interview on time. However, this was never going to be straight forward, and once Draper found his rythym, it was always going to be a lenghty affair. Tony won the next 2 games, and the rumour spread round the balcony that Colin might "chuck" the next, just to be on his way - well, his competitive spirit and calls from teammates of "you can't lose to a 3rd teamer", inspired him on to a 3-2 victory.
Meanwhile the 5th string had started, with Skip Dave playing Bob Summers. Although from the same club, the 2 had never played each other before. A hard fought tussle ensued with some tough rallies. Dave managed to keep the ball to a good line and length, and together with a couple of tight retrievals at vital times, enabled him to keep a grip on proceedings and close out a 3-0 victory.
The 4th string matches saw Dan play Ian Maulkin. If Dan's Dad had not been the previous combatant on the other court, you would swear Dan had relatives from the snooker world - either Hurricane Higgins or Jimmy Whirlwind White - because that is how he plays squash; he just blows opponents away with a constant barrage of free-flowing shots. Ian put a valiant defence, but was always on the back foot, and Dan secured a 3-0 win.
Our regular No.2 Paul, now found himself at 3 playing the opposition Skipper Nigel Roskams. This turned out to be a sterner test for Paul than he was maybe envisaging. He does look a little on the tired side at the moment - and we thought the sleepless nights were supposed to come after the baby is born, not 5 weeks before ! Lack of a roof over his head appears to be the problem. Nigel played a canny game, using his ability to cut off anything loose, and make telling shots off anything overhead. He deservedly won the second game, and Paul had to keep his concentration to eek out a 4 set win.
A 5-0 whitewash was now a possibility against our fellow club members. Would it happen, or would Marcus Allan manage to raise his game sufficiently to cause an upset in the top string match against Chris ? The first 2 points went the way of the 3rd teamer, and then Chris just showed a different class.......
5 - 0 it was then, but at least they got 3 team points....!
Chris Purkiss beat Marcus Allan 9-2 9-0 9-0
Colin Copeland beat Tony Draper 9-1 3-9 7-9 9-1 9-6
Paul Hodge beat Nigel Roskams 9-7 9-10 9-4 9-4
Dan Summers beat Ian Maulkin 9-1 9-3 9-4
Dave Coates beat Bob Summers 9-3 9-3 9-4
Food, lovely food - but where to get it from. Tony and 2nd Team skip Dave went off in search (much to the disbelief of Tony who normally has a pint in his hand quicker than it takes one of Dan's shots to hit the front wall). The Chinese at Broadway Parade was the answer, with freshly cooked cod & chips, plus a few bread rolls.... and prawn crackers - well that was the Chinese bit.
With Paul (I'm a qualified ref.) Clarke present, the conversation in the Legion focused alot around Dan's footfaults and more bizarrely around tapping the floor boards of the court being a possible penalty point infringement !? Regards the former, the only fault I can see is that he has 2 of them and they are usually in his mouth, and the latter.........well I guess there is more to it than meets the eye.
It was also discussed that there should be a bottle of wine for the best winner in each match - its funny, but I think it was Chris who suggested this - I can't work out why !
Last, but no means least is an Obituary. Yes, the sad loss of Bob Stone, sorely missed by the 3rd Team as is evident by the scoreline, and also by the Club. Hope walking the peaks of Derbyshire is as exciting as Essex League, Bob.
