Match 6 - Clements 3 'Home'
Well, the BIG result of the night is that Hodgey is a DAD !!
A little boy named "James"
Congratulations to him and Lorraine, and we wish them all well.
The minor event happening was Le Crunch Part 2, between the Clements 2nd and 3rd teams, for bragging rights in Division 3.
With Paul withdrawing at the last moment (no team commitment there then !), Chris was drawn in to keep the top end of the order in tact.
First on were the "old warriors" Jim Newman and Paul Kenyon (combined age 156 I think). But who was playing for which team; in fact Jim had been brought in as super-sub for the 2nd team to replace Greg who struggles to understand what "a week on Thursday" means. The odds seemed stacked against Jim - he had already stated that Paul is a bit of bogey man for him (he's not on his own there then), and his allegiance to the 2nd team seemed abit tenuous in that he has played a couple of games for the 3rd team already, and seemed to spend much of the evening cheering on the 3rd team players. Was it a surprise then that he went down 3/0 ? It also turned out that Marcus had put a wager on Paul to win, and Jim seemed to find it no problem in paying the £12 match fee. Further financial irregularities unfolded when it was discovered that the match marker (Paul Clarke) is "in the pocket" of the 3rd Team with under-the-counter payments in kind of cheap food and drink. Match-fixing ? - surely not in Essex League Division 3 East......
Meanwhile, Dave had gone on against Ian Maulkin. It is maybe an understatement to say that Ian would love to "get one over" on the 2nd Team skipper, and it started out in his favour as he raced to a 6-0 and then 7-2 lead. However Dave hung in there, turned it around and served out to nick the opening game 9-7. That seemed to take the wind out of Ian's sails, and Dave took the next 2 games with a solid performance.
Overall match score now 1 - 1.
The next 2 matches on court were then to be crucial. Adrian v Tony Draper, and Colin v Nigel Roskams.
It was one of these occassions when you needed to have eyes on both courts as the drama ebbed and flowed. Colin was coming back after his calf injury, and looked abit cautious in losing the first; however he opened up a 7-0 lead in the 2nd game, and after Adrian and Tony had shared their opening 2 games, Adrian also opened up a substantial lead in their 3rd - Advantage 2nd Team. Within 5 minutes this had been turned on its head, with Nigel storming back to take the 2nd game 10-9, and Tony also recovering to take their 3rd 10-8 - Advantage 3rd Team.
Colin then seemed to find the right tactic to de-rail Nigel, achieving better width and keeping it away from Nigel's deadly overheads, winning the next 2 games to bring their match level; this seemed crucial as Tony was dominating the 4th game against Adrian - at 8-2 up, it looked like Tony's lob & drop had got the better of Adrian's line & length. However, the Fat Lady had not Sung ! Repelling numerous match balls along the way, Adrian clawed his way back to an unlikely 10-9 win, which now levelled this match - Team honours even, although you felt the pendulum had swung back to the 2nd Team. This was born out as Colin continued to dominate his match to open up an 8-3 lead; this time it was Nigel who dug deep, and he defied 6 match balls, all the time eating away at Colin's lead till he was within a point. One retrieving boast from the back corner that died agonisingly at the front, defied belief - you could see Colin wither at the prospect of allowing his winning position to disappear. In the end, Nigel offered up the one mistake Colin needed to secure the match. 2 - 1 to the 2nd Team soon became 3 - 1 as Adrian finally toppled Tony in what had been an epic match of great quality and drama.
And so to the No.1's of Chris v Marcus Allan. With the overall match decided, Marcus seemed relaxed and set off like a train playing some fast and decisive squash which seemed to take Chris by surprise. Marcus opened up a commanding position, only to drop his level at the crucial game-winning stage. Chris managed to settle just in time to establish a foothold and eventually scrape through to win the game. Marcus seemed to have lost that initial gusto in the second, and Chris's superior squash abilty saw him secure that, and then the third.
And so a 4 - 1 win to the 2nd Team, but how different it could have been...........
No hard feelings lead to an enjoyable evening in the Legion. Tony's lost match balls were only mentioned every 5 minutes....!
Dave served up a lovely curry with all the trimmings.
A toast of good luck was made to Paul and Lorraine (baby had not been born at that stage).
Talk of how old Paul and Jim really were, and had they set a new Essex League record for combined age - no, that had been achieved by Paul v Helmut, or was it Paul v Dai Rees, or Paul v ......! We are only jealous Paul, and dream that we will still be able to fly round a squash court like you do.
Chris beat Marcus 9/8 9/5 9/0
Adrian beat Tony 6/9 9/6 8/10 10/9 9/6
Colin beat Nigel 4/9 9/10 9/1 9/3 9/7
Dave beat Ian 9/7 9/3 9/3
Jim lost to Paul 2/9 5/9 3/9
Clements 2 - 17 points
Clements 3 - 7 points
Thanks to Dave for the report again. I'd just like to say that I am committed to the team and that I was only looking out for the future of it! So I'd like to post a picture of the club champion 2025! :-)
A little boy named "James"
Congratulations to him and Lorraine, and we wish them all well.
The minor event happening was Le Crunch Part 2, between the Clements 2nd and 3rd teams, for bragging rights in Division 3.
With Paul withdrawing at the last moment (no team commitment there then !), Chris was drawn in to keep the top end of the order in tact.
First on were the "old warriors" Jim Newman and Paul Kenyon (combined age 156 I think). But who was playing for which team; in fact Jim had been brought in as super-sub for the 2nd team to replace Greg who struggles to understand what "a week on Thursday" means. The odds seemed stacked against Jim - he had already stated that Paul is a bit of bogey man for him (he's not on his own there then), and his allegiance to the 2nd team seemed abit tenuous in that he has played a couple of games for the 3rd team already, and seemed to spend much of the evening cheering on the 3rd team players. Was it a surprise then that he went down 3/0 ? It also turned out that Marcus had put a wager on Paul to win, and Jim seemed to find it no problem in paying the £12 match fee. Further financial irregularities unfolded when it was discovered that the match marker (Paul Clarke) is "in the pocket" of the 3rd Team with under-the-counter payments in kind of cheap food and drink. Match-fixing ? - surely not in Essex League Division 3 East......
Meanwhile, Dave had gone on against Ian Maulkin. It is maybe an understatement to say that Ian would love to "get one over" on the 2nd Team skipper, and it started out in his favour as he raced to a 6-0 and then 7-2 lead. However Dave hung in there, turned it around and served out to nick the opening game 9-7. That seemed to take the wind out of Ian's sails, and Dave took the next 2 games with a solid performance.
Overall match score now 1 - 1.
The next 2 matches on court were then to be crucial. Adrian v Tony Draper, and Colin v Nigel Roskams.
It was one of these occassions when you needed to have eyes on both courts as the drama ebbed and flowed. Colin was coming back after his calf injury, and looked abit cautious in losing the first; however he opened up a 7-0 lead in the 2nd game, and after Adrian and Tony had shared their opening 2 games, Adrian also opened up a substantial lead in their 3rd - Advantage 2nd Team. Within 5 minutes this had been turned on its head, with Nigel storming back to take the 2nd game 10-9, and Tony also recovering to take their 3rd 10-8 - Advantage 3rd Team.
Colin then seemed to find the right tactic to de-rail Nigel, achieving better width and keeping it away from Nigel's deadly overheads, winning the next 2 games to bring their match level; this seemed crucial as Tony was dominating the 4th game against Adrian - at 8-2 up, it looked like Tony's lob & drop had got the better of Adrian's line & length. However, the Fat Lady had not Sung ! Repelling numerous match balls along the way, Adrian clawed his way back to an unlikely 10-9 win, which now levelled this match - Team honours even, although you felt the pendulum had swung back to the 2nd Team. This was born out as Colin continued to dominate his match to open up an 8-3 lead; this time it was Nigel who dug deep, and he defied 6 match balls, all the time eating away at Colin's lead till he was within a point. One retrieving boast from the back corner that died agonisingly at the front, defied belief - you could see Colin wither at the prospect of allowing his winning position to disappear. In the end, Nigel offered up the one mistake Colin needed to secure the match. 2 - 1 to the 2nd Team soon became 3 - 1 as Adrian finally toppled Tony in what had been an epic match of great quality and drama.
And so to the No.1's of Chris v Marcus Allan. With the overall match decided, Marcus seemed relaxed and set off like a train playing some fast and decisive squash which seemed to take Chris by surprise. Marcus opened up a commanding position, only to drop his level at the crucial game-winning stage. Chris managed to settle just in time to establish a foothold and eventually scrape through to win the game. Marcus seemed to have lost that initial gusto in the second, and Chris's superior squash abilty saw him secure that, and then the third.
And so a 4 - 1 win to the 2nd Team, but how different it could have been...........
No hard feelings lead to an enjoyable evening in the Legion. Tony's lost match balls were only mentioned every 5 minutes....!
Dave served up a lovely curry with all the trimmings.
A toast of good luck was made to Paul and Lorraine (baby had not been born at that stage).
Talk of how old Paul and Jim really were, and had they set a new Essex League record for combined age - no, that had been achieved by Paul v Helmut, or was it Paul v Dai Rees, or Paul v ......! We are only jealous Paul, and dream that we will still be able to fly round a squash court like you do.
Chris beat Marcus 9/8 9/5 9/0
Adrian beat Tony 6/9 9/6 8/10 10/9 9/6
Colin beat Nigel 4/9 9/10 9/1 9/3 9/7
Dave beat Ian 9/7 9/3 9/3
Jim lost to Paul 2/9 5/9 3/9
Clements 2 - 17 points
Clements 3 - 7 points
Thanks to Dave for the report again. I'd just like to say that I am committed to the team and that I was only looking out for the future of it! So I'd like to post a picture of the club champion 2025! :-)