Melbourn won 17-3

Here we go again, then. Another Winter League season. The 2nds are in Division 3 once more, having finished a comfortable fourth last time out, and with a beefed up squad as it looks like we will have Kate and Ed to call upon, for a while at least. Hopes of a good season are high in that regard.

The first test was against an Ely side newly promoted from Division 4. Like any promoted side the visitors were used to winning, but there is a definite step up in level between Div.3 and Div.4 and this was something Melbourn successfully demonstrated by winning the bottom four strings all 3-0.

The margins of victory may have been the same, but the pattern of the matches varied. For instance skipper Colm O’Gorman (5) had to work his little cotton socks off* to see off Daniel Osborn, who proved to be very fit and tenacious (not the sort of player Colm enjoys facing at all!) but who made too many mistakes. As Daniel tired in games the margins grew, and we all know Colm likes a moan about things being too difficult/exhausting/whatever but the final scores of 15-8, 15-6, 15-6 really do make the match seem more one-sided than it really was.
* - these are green, I assume

Gareth Jones (4) had a challenge to keep concentrating and keep patient against Krystof Kucharczyk. Gareth always had the game and the fitness to win this, it was just a case of knowing when to attack and when to defend, and not to let Krystof have too many half-court balls to play the kill shots he wanted for easy points. I’ll say a few wobbles at times, but then it wouldn’t be Gareth without those – an entirely wobble-free Jones would be a most confusing concept – but nothing like enough to threaten his victory. Gareth won 15-9, 15-5, 15-10.

Third string saw Jan Brynjolffssen in action against Martyn Goodger. It took Jan a while to adjust to Martyn’s wristy play - he later admitted to being an adapted Badminton player, which explains the strong flicks straight form positions where a boast was the Squash shot. Jan’s kept trying to jump the gun, and then find he had to unjump it and reverse his first step. Tiring, slow and not great for balance that. Despite this, Jan was able to build a 12-8 lead in each game… and then promptly blow this so that all three became close. However focus in the critical points allowed Jan to get out of it 3-0, though the first game was altogether too close before he claimed it on a tie-break. Jan won 17-15, 15-11, 15-12.

Showing the way to do it was Liam Murphy (2). Liam has been in excellent form in recent months, reflected in a swap in the playing order with Jan. Key to Liam’s improvement has been playing more regularly, which is helping with both fitness and error rate. The former was much in evidence in this one as the extra bounce in the step meant Liam was able to pull off the exceptional lunges into the corners that use his full 6’4” frame in a near-professional manner. His ability to pick seemingly dead balls up left Martyn struggling for answer, particularly in game 2, Liam winning 15-11, 15-4, 15-13.

That took us on to string 1, and the return of not just one but two familiar faces. First we will say welcome back to Ed Aspeling, who has opted to swap back to Melbourn for this season after playing for Newmarket in the spring. The other returnee was slightly longer term, Rob Davis, who played for us in the 2017-18 season, is now back in the area and representing Ely. This match would prove to be utterly lung-busting, and ultimately rather frustrating for Ed. He knew he was capable of the cleaner Squash after rattling out to 8-2 and 7-1 leads in the opening two games, but Rob gradually wore Ed down in each as he just kept getting it back. Both games went to tie-breaks, the first in particular an epic with Rob eventually prevailing 20-18 (getting the serve in on game ball helped!). Much the same in game 2, though this time the tie-break was a little shorter… but only a little: 16-18 against Ed.
For most of game 3 it looked like a breaker wouldn’t be needed as this time it was Rob leading from the front. However, with the match in his grasp the same gremlins that produced the out-of-court serves in game one struck as Rob got cautious and Ed took advantage to save four straight match balls and claw a 10-14 deficit back. If Ed could have won this breaker, then maybe… but two straight errors gave it to Rob instead as Ed went down 18-20, 16-18, 14-16.

Skipper Colm’s assessment of the evening was “Everyone performed really well tonight, lots of close games that could have gone either way. We're delighted to be back playing as a team after the summer and it's great to kick off with a win against a strong Ely team.”