The last match of a long, hard season took us on a nostalgic trip (for me) to Gosling stadium – having not played there for over 22 years! The evening started badly with the news that the A120 was closed (due to discovery of a body part so I found out today) causing us to have to follow a (new) learner driver all the way to Sawbridgeworth. However Daren’s team bus got us over to Welwyn in less time than it took us to get to Sawbo. On arrival we parked near the biggest building on the site only to be informed by Junior Jake that we were going the wrong way and had a five-minute walk across the car park to the squash courts.
On the way home after the match we found the A414 closed in Hertford causing another diversion adequately navigated by Daren’s Tom Tom.
Oh well – the end of another season. Maybe we’ll do better next year.
What? Report? Report on the squash? No… you don’t really want to know about that do you? Oh OK then here goes….
First up were the 2 Stattos – skipper Ian versus skipper Mike – at string 3. The 1st was a close battle which I always felt I was winning – and duly did 15-13. The 2nd was fairly even for a while but then Mike asked where Mr Tinny was tonight – and no further invitation was needed – along came Mr Tinny and the game slipped away 7-15. By this time the non-stop movement of Mike was draining the energy out of my legs. My inner self was whispering “get some length” but my outer self (legs and arms) said ‘get stuffed’ and proceeded to continue tinning. The 3rd and 4th both went 10-15 for a 1-3 loss. 2 good points – the new bat felt great and the calf muscle felt OK!
On the other court Ian S had to put goggles on to combat the glare and skis to combat the slippery sanded floor. He was up at string 5 against Ged. The first was a titanic battle which Ian just scraped 15-13. Unfortunately the skis then broke and the goggles steamed up and the 2nd went 2-15. A little more competition was engendered in the 3rd which went away 10-15 and the 4th soon slipped away 7-15 for a 1-3 loss.
Daren took over on the blindingly bright court against Matt at string 4. The 1st saw Daren struggling to push Matt about court and he went down 7-15. The 2nd was slipping away but Daren, having donned sunglasses to combat the glare, made a great comeback to take it 16-14. The 3rd saw Matt’s long arms and legs defying Daren’s twisty tricky shots and a 9-15 loss ensued. “Don’t like playing tall people” says Daren – and duly lived up to that by losing the 4th 7-15.
Gosling’s normal 1 and 2 were on holiday so they pulled in replacements – both of whom were stronger than the regulars! Jake was up at 2 against Steve. Despite again playing some good squash a few too many errors at the end of long rallies saw him lose the 1st 8-15. The 2nd went the same way – good rallies, great gets and an error at the end – another 8-15 loss. The 3rd saw the errors disappear and Jake was on top all the way through playing judicious lobs, boasts and drives, forcing his opponent all around court. Unfortunately he was pulled back at the end to go down 13-15 for a 0-3 loss.
Up at string 1 was Rob against youngster (and mate of Jake) Adam. The 1st saw Rob playing some good squash but Adam was active all over court and with Rob making a few unforced errors he went down 9-15. The 2nd saw Rob fighting hard and playing quality shots but Mr Tinny visited at the wrong time and he went down 8-15. The 3rd saw a number of controversial marking decisions which caused a little discussion but that didn’t take away from the quality squash on show. Rob took a good lead by varying the game and forcing errors from Adam but just as it looked like Rob was about to take the game a few unforced errors saw him go down 13-15 for a 0-3 loss.
Gosling have gone through the season unbeaten and despite us losing 0-5 and having our worst score of the season – 3-20 – we were at least competitive in all 5 matches.
That’s the lot for the year – thanks to everybody who played – the 10 regulars and 3 stand-ins.
Cheers
Ian
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