John Henderson & Sons Squash Leagues

Week Beginning 10/11/08

Division One

At No 4 Sue Strachan put up a brave fight against George Burnie, with a display of excellent squash and conceded a 0-3 defeat, which unfortunately this score did not truly reflect the closeness of the match.

At No5 Allan Miller faced Bard Vet’s new recruit Graeme Shuttleworth, Allan’s skill and experience proved too much for the enthusiastic young sub Graeme and he secured a comfortable 3-0 victory.

Division Two

Thornhill v Specsavers

Tuesday night brought together two well matched teams and although Specsavers won more games Thornhill triumphed by winning more matches, first on court was Graham Anderson for Specsavers against Roy Weir, after a shaky start Graham took control of the match running out a 3-0 winner , the second game looked to be going the same way, but for the Thornhill man this time, Tom Burns came out of the blocks at a rate of knots taking the first game against Peter Allen 9-0 the old guy was a bit shell shocked, but managed to sneak the second game and at one each it looked like he might make a game of it, however Tom had different plan and powered to a 3-1 victory . George O’Neill played Archie Park at 3 and in Archie’s own words George just crushed him, a fine display of quality squash.

Next on court Carol Black vs. Brian Dick and once again the Thornhill player seemed to be running away with the game and at 2-0 down Carol was staring down the barrel ,but Carol found a belief in herself and came back to 2-2 before being narrowly defeated, so it was down to the number one’s Geoff Dean for Specsavers against Robert Grierson a full blooded hard hitting game with no quarter given Robert had a mission and although Geoff got the second game the Thornhill man’s determination saw him win 3-1, so the match games ended 10 -9 to Specsavers but with Thornhill receiving bonus points for games won the final score was 12 10 Thornhill, another fine night of squash.

SCSC v Cisco Systems

on Friday in an early top of the table clash in League 2. The first games on were the No5's Peter Hickman for SCSC against Iain Anderson and the NO1'S Colin Davies for SCSC playing Chris Bellwood.

Experienced player Peter found Iain a bit of a handful and after a close first game that Iain won 9-7 he then went on to take the 2nd 9-3.Peter however dug in and slowed the pace of the game down and forced Iain into a few mistakes which allowed Peter to sneak the 3rd game 10-8. Iain came out the stronger in the 4th game though and went on to win it 9-2, so a

good win for Iain 3-1.

The match between multi Castle Douglas Club Champion Colin and Chris was well controlled throughout by Colin who displayed a great array of shot varaition that had Chris second guessing all match. Colin winning through 9-4 9-1 9-4 and a 3-0 win to maintain his 100% winning record this season.

The NO4 match was between Nick Langford of SCSC and Raymond Currie of Cisco. This was the first meeting of this duo and the first game was pretty cagey with both players struggling to get an advantage. Raymond however got the first game point which he took at 9-5 and in turn the 2nd game 9-4. Nick seemed to let his head go down after the 2nd game and Raymond ran away with the 3rd 9-0 without Nick getting a serve! A 3-0 win for the Cisco NO4.

On the other court was the NO3's match between Doug Walker of SCSC and Chris McCutcheon. This turned into a highly entertaining match between the experienced Doug and Chris who is only in his 2nd season playing team squash. Doug took a tight opening game 10-8 but Chris hit back with the 2nd 9-1. Then the 3rd & 4th games were shared, 9-7 the score in each so that led to a deciding 5th game. If Chris could take it then a team win was on for Cisco and with Chris getting to a 6-3 lead it looked on. However a run of unforced errors from Chris who maybe so the finishing line saw Doug get to 8-6 and match ball. Chris did save one match point but Doug regained serve to clinch a 9-6 game and 3-2 match win for SCSC.

This left the match score 8-7 in favour of Cisco with 2 match wins a piece. so no pressure on the NO2's match between Faith Sinclair of SCSC and Lindsay Johnston. Now this was always going to be a tough match for Lindsay as Faith is a former WORLD MASTERS Champion at Squash back in 2003.However Lindsay sneaked a tight 1st game 10-8 but then Faith's class shown through to win the next two games 9-0 9-2. The 4th game saw Lindsay battle back well to take it 9-3 and set up a deciding 5th game. Faith knew the importance of this game and played some really top class squash with her serving being of the highest quality. Lindsay was always on the back foot and Faith ran out a convincing winner 9-0 to secure a 3-2 win which clinched the overall match for SCSC 13-10.

A truly great advert for squash from the top two teams from League 2 and this result moves SCSC to the top of the league after three games played.
Man of the match for SCSC was Faith Sinclair for securing her win and the match for the team and for Cisco Iain Anderson was voted MOM by the SCSC team for his performance at NO5.

Specksavers v Kinks Arms (Lockerbie)

Another very competitive 2^nd division league game Specksavers vs. Kings Arms on Tuesday night, both divisions in the Henderson leagues look like going to the wire this year First on court Graham Anderson (Specksavers) was in a hurry to get to his rehearsals for his part in a Christmas nativity play so Rob Ash duly obliged and won the game 3-0. Geoff Dean playing at 3 and having just played a league game went straight on and won a very tight and hard fought game against Gary McCauley 3-2, so at one all this was going to be a close match. George O’Neill playing some stylish squash cruised to a 3-0 victory against Martin Proudfoot. Carol Black played James Banco to a standstill but James huffed and puffed and in an epic match scraped a 3-2 victory, so at all square it was left to the number one’s to decide the match Steve Easthill v Bruce Robertson a pure pleasure to watch these two guys play squash a couple of gentlemen on court and an example to younger players of how to behave, anyway Stevie ran out a 3-1 winner to give a narrow victory to Specksavers and another good night had by all.

John Henderson & Sons Squash League Division 1

Peter’s Fish & Chicken Bar played hosts to Noblehill Garage this week at Nunholm.It was a very close, competitive and highly entertaining match with Peter’s Fish &Chicken Bar securing a well deserved 3 –2.(15 –8 ) victory.At No1 Jim Wells and Malcolm McCubbin entertained the balcony with a super display of excellent squash, Malcolm took the first game 10-8,then Wellsy regained control and powered his way home in the next three games to win 3-1.

At No 2 Jim Scriven got off to a flying start and 2-0 lead against Raymond Kirk, Raymond fought back and took the third game 9-3, which was just the wake up call Scriv needed and he fired home in the fourth to claim a hard fought 3-1 victory.

.At No 3 Keith Gristwood  put up a tremendous fight against against John Thin in this nail biting five set match, John took the first two sets, Keith fought back to even the match 2-2 and to have match point in the 5^th, but he eventually lost 9-10 to a very tenacious John and conceded the match 2-3.

At No 4 Sue Strachan   was on fire against Geoff Dean, she took control in the first game and never let up, the 3 set match was fast, furious and full of Strachan flair which had Geoff stunned into submission with Sue securing a very convincing 3 –0 victory and an enthralling display of “Girl Power” which also earned her player of the match award.At No5 Allan Miller (the old boy)  took the first game against the young and very talented Chris Bellwood, Chris then settled into his game  and proved too hot to handle and Allan conceded the match 1-3.

John Henderson & Sons Squash League Division 1

Peter’s Fish & Chicken Bar played hosts to Finite Engineering this week at Nunholm.It was yet another closely fought contest with Peter’s Fish and Chicken Bar having the edge and securing a hard fought 3-2 (14 –7) victory.

At No1 Jim Wells and  Garry McKean  entertained the balcony with some long and excellent rallies , Jim took the first two games, but Garry was hot on his heels and clinched the 3^rd, Wellsy then regained control and cruised home 9-3 in the 4^th to win 3-1. At No 2 Jim Scriven was on fire against Jock Glendinning, his pace, skill and power proved too much for Jock as he ran off with a comfortable 3-0 victory.At No 3 Keith Gristwood battled hard against Graeme Fraser, however Graeme had the upper hand in each game and Keith eventually succumbed to a 0-3 defeat.At No 4 Sue Strachan  was in total control against the young and upcoming Chris Mc Cutcheon, it was a highly entertaining fast paced match with Sue once again exerting “Girl Power” and securing a 3-0 victory At No5 Allan Miller  and Lindsey Johnstone entertained the balcony with a thrilling five set match, however Lindsey’s fitness proved too much for Allan in the 5^th and he conceded a narrow 2-3 defeat..