Melbourn won 4-1

“Oh, the Cup? We need to complete that, don’t we…”

After a break of a few weeks following the completion of Division 3 the Seconds were back in action at Peterborough in the Hereward Cup Semi, something the side had qualified for way back in the mists of time (Thurs 11th January was the QF date).

The Hereward is for clubs in Divisions 3 and 4 of the Cambs Leagues, which meant the 2s were a strong contender to reach the final having finished third in Div.3 in the bread-and-butter. But doing that meant seeing off a dangerous Peterborough outfit – the seconds had won both the league meetings between the sides, but each time by three strings to two, and with one of the three strings in our favour being itself a 3-2. Every string was assumed to matter, then…

The hosts got off to the quick start as Kate Bradshaw (1) found opponent Shane Maelane was not her ideal opponent – despite playing clean and proper Squash (a positive as far as Melbourn’s International star is concerned) Shane was also swift in chasing down Kate’s drops and then nimble in the front corners to counter-attack. Kate’s options were either to alter her strategy… or to attempt to double-down and go even tighter on her drop shots. She went for the later option, which resulted more in atypical misses into the tin than the winners sought. Kate’s best game was the second which she got to game point in, but when she eventually lost that on a breaker the writing was on the wall, Shane winning 3-0. Good to watch, though – nice clean lines and properly constructed rallies.

Meanwhile on the other court Jan Brynjolffssen (2) was taking on Renzo Rozza Gonzalez. The two had meet in the league at Melbourn, Jan winning 3-0 in a lung-busting game but one where he generally had more shots than Renzo. Game one suggested something along the same lines here, only for the Peterborough player to strike back to make it a game-all. That leveller came courtesy of a slow start from Jan – game three saw a medium start and a good finish as the score went from 5-5 to 14-5 in his favour (eventually won 15-6). This accompanied a change-up in tactics, the work and extended rallies of the first two game having slowed Renzo’s foot speed meaning the front corners were now open for Jan’s drops. A lightening start to game four to establish a 5-0 lead was consolidated through this to see Jan home for a 3-1 win. One string all.

Second on the glassback was a clash of the captains as Colm O’Gorman (3) took on Carlos Correia. To a large extent this match was about Carlos, as many of his matches are – his touch and attacking shots are exceptional; his movement not so much. Colm had to start rallies switched up, keep himself high and trust that counter-drops didn’t need to be stone dead, merely up. Though ‘merely up’ undersells the difficulty in getting some of Carlos’ kills from unlikely positions back! The first saw Colm somewhat caught in the spiders web, losing it on an extended tie-break, but from the second on the Melbourn skip had his opposite numbers measure – it was never easy, no rhythm was possible and the constant lunging is exhausting, but Colm overcame all of that to win each remaining game 15-10 or thereabouts to claim a 3-1 success. 2-1 to Melbourn.

Following on from Jan on the ‘other’ court was Matt Walker (5) and Pierre Caruso. Pierre has some nice shots on him, and gives the ball a decent pop, but from the opening exchanges it was clear Matt had the stronger game – it was just a question of whether he could deliver it. The game one mark was 7/10: good enough, some errors but a surge towards the end got Matt home 15-8. Game two was down to 6/10 as the error rate climbed and Pierre came into it. But when things got clutch towards the end Matt opted to play solidly, and proved he could win rallies by driving down the wall as well as by his trademark cut-out volleys. Little in it (15-12 or so) but a two game lead was a major one. Especially as Matt was then on fire in game three. This would score as 9/10 only due to falling 2-1 down early on and needing two goes at match ball. In between those two it was near perfection as Matt moved beautifully, cutting off Pierre’s attempts to push him deep, and dropped and volley-dropped superbly. There was one backhand drop at 13-2 that was breathtaking – hit with pace from the back of the court directly into the nick when it fizzed out along the floor. Superb. And 3-1 on strings, so Melbourn were in the final.

This meant the final match on was a dead rubber, though Gareth Jones (3) and Josh Filmore didn’t know this when they got underway as the fifth string game was still going. This was a last chance for a Melbourn 2nds player to take Josh on as the kid (and his Dad) are imminently moving abroad… and when Josh re-appears he won’t be Under 13 anymore and is basically certain to be too rich for Melbourn 2nds blood (Josh is no.3 in England in his age group!). Gareth knew this was his one and only chance to get a win over this particular opponent – he hit the court running, pounding away at his kill shots and rushing Josh into errors. This saw Gareth take the first comfortably and the second slightly closer, with a bit of a wobble emotionally from Josh mid-game. Gareth’s hopes were high that Josh would fold mentally in the third (… its happened before) but the opposite happened, which is a sign of the youngster’s increasing maturity. Instead he dug in, reduced the errors and got on the board as Gareth’s own focus drifted and with that the game changed. Josh was now confident and cut the mistakes out totally in the fourth which he won all-ends up. Gareth had been pegged back to 2-2 and in trouble. But Gareth has lots of experience he can fall back on, which meant he could turn game five into a battle. An all-the-way battle as it went to a tie-break. Both players had match balls, but in the end it was Gareth who triumphed 3-2, celebrated… and then was confronted by sniggering teammates to tell him it was unnecessary effort as we were already into Saturday’s final either way. But a win, one to remember if and when Josh appears on the pro circuit, and a 4-1 overall success for Melbourn.

Melbourn lost 17-9

The final match of the league season sent the Seconds to Hemingford Grey to play the side a place behind them in the Division 3 table, Hunts County 3rds.

The match would decide third place in the final table – the Seconds final chance of finishing runners-up and being promoted to Division 2 expiring when Cambridge 3rds had won their game earlier in the week. Hunts, meanwhile, were assured of at least fourth going into the final round of games, and were just about within striking distance of overtaking us to claim third… but they need to win by 13 points to do that. This meant the Seconds target from the evening was 8 points, as that (due to the maximum of 20 from a fixture) would be enough for an all-time best finishing place.

The first match on pitted Sean Hamilton (5) against Billy Bremner. Sean appeared on his way to a comfortable opening game when he built an 11-4 lead, only for a loss of focus to prove just how little there was between the players. Despite Sean digging in after losing 8 consecutive points to force the game to a break, he somehow found himself a game down. Focusing on what had worked (pushing Billy back) saw Sean win the next two, but now he was in a battle. And Billy is a wily customer. This was most notable by the Hunts player employing an unusual body serve that repeatedly cramped Sean up. Whatever Sean tried, such as adjusting his position to be literally in Billy’s half of the court, he couldn’t make the space to play as he would rush back to where left comfortably close to the wall before Billy had actually served. Worst of both worlds. This particular play probably only generate four or five points for Billy but that was enough to the Hunts player to take the fourth narrowly, and then amid tense scenes (including one unlikely off-boast return winner from Sean from another handcuffing serve!) the same in the last. Sean exited the court hugely frustrated with himself at somehow losing 16-18, 15-9, 15-10, 13-15, 13-15. This, however, did provide two of the eight points Melbourn were after.

Next door on the glass back Jamie Ware (4) was taking on Sam Hewson. Jamie started ice cold and looking nervous, losing the opening game heavily, but found his way into things in the second. This also went against him, but not in the same one-sided manner, which meant he was in the game. The third saw Jamie finally begin to produce the Squash we know he is capable of, getting himself back into the contest, but ultimately being two games down was untenable against a younger player and Jamie was beaten 3-15, 12-15, 15-12, 8-15. But that third game, dredged out against the odds after how the opener had gone, took us up to three from the evening.

Following on from Jamie’s match Matt Walker (3) took on Marcus Lattimer. The first game saw Matt mostly dictating the play, getting ahead but then wobbling slightly as the line approached. However his lead was enough to see him one up. But the seeds of the second were planted in the first as this one started closer and once again Matt was on the edgy side as the conclusion approached. That was enough for Marcus to take advantage and level. Game three saw Matt steel himself to play the drop volleys that are the cornerstone of his game. Marcus was quick around the court, but not quick enough for these, and with that Matt was 2-1 up. Was this our first win of the evening? No, because the fourth was tighter and once it got close Matt got risk averse again. He hoped Marcus would miss to see him home, but Marcus didn’t. It went to a tie-break, but when this went against Matt the writing was on the wall – he eventually lost 15-12, 13-15, 15-6, 14-16, 10-15. Another one that had got away from a Melbourn player (on another night, on another night…), but also two more points to the total – we were up to five now.

That meant skipper Colm O’Gorman (2) could deliver the decisive points if he was to see off Rick Watson. Colm did it. And how. The key shot in this match was Colm’s backhand volley drop, which was absolutely on fire – the balcony agreed at the conclusion that he made around 10 and missed only one. And these were not played with margin for error either but millimetres above the tin and straight into the nick. Rick is a quick player around the court, but these were far too good for him. As was Colm’s general play, when he constructed the rallies to his game-plan – drive Rick back and then step in to kill. Apart from a brief spell going off-message in game two when well up (14-6) this was one-way traffic… and even that one ended with Colm finally get a chance to play one of his killer drops-shots to see off the game 15-13 and generally break Rick’s spirit. Colm won 15-8, 15-13, 15-10, which took Melbourn up to 8 points on the evening and limited Hunts to 17 max – third place was ours.

Everything was settled before the 1st strings, Jan Brynjolffssen and Sean Brodderick, took to the court – Hunts had the win on the night, Melbourn had third in the table. So it was just about the head-to-head. Both Jan and Sean have been around the Cambs Squash scene for a while, but somehow they had never played before. So the start of game 1 was a case of feeling each other out… and for Jan looking for some kind of feel on his serve. Sean had his measure, especially in the latter part of the game, winning it comfortably and the second even more straightforwardly as Jan fought hard but was always a step behind in the rallies. Game three saw Jan take a “throw the kitchen sink” approach, setting up the court, going for his shots and generally looking to cut things out as much as possible. This worked exceptional well, pulling a game back… but also served as a template for Sean to do the same in reverse as he waltzed away with game four to complete a 3-1 win. The game scores (Jan first) were 11-15, 7-15, 15-7, 3-15.

And that meant the evening ended up 17-9 in Hunts favour. Which, when added to the league table, left the Seconds third out of ten in the Division 3 table, with 246 points having won 12 of our 18 games. All of these are team records. It was a good season…

Melbourn won 16-9

Melbourn 1sts rounded off their Division 1 campaign, or at least the regular season part of it, with a 16-9 win at bottom-of-the-table Ely 1sts.

Gareth Jones (5) made an impressive debut for the 1sts as he recorded a straight games win over Lee Moll, overcoming initial nerves to play some of his best Squash in the third. Ely struck back though as Kate Bradshaw (4) fell 3-2 to Jack Woor despite Bradshaw twice recovering from a game deficit, quickly followed by Mark Oppen (3) being beaten 3-0 by Jack’s brother Jamie Woor.

Vinod Duraikan (2) pulled the side back level pegging with a solid 3-1 win over Chris Purkiss, but it still looked like the 1sts were heading for defeat when Chris Shaw (1) fell two games to love down to Ben Mitchell. Shaw fought back though, winning the next three 11-5, 11-4, 11-7 to give Melbourn overall victory.

The win kept the 1sts 8th in the table, but the side are only now 4 points ahead of March, who have a game left whilst the 1sts have completed all their fixtures. Dropping to a final position of 9th seems almost certain, and that will mean winning a play-off with the runners-up from Division 2 to retain top flight status for another season.