Melbourn won 17-5

Week two of the Cambridgeshire Leagues Division 3 season pitted Melbourn against a bunch of familiar faces, but not in a familiar location as Saffron Walden’s home courts at the Lord Butler Leisure Centre in their town have been closed after new owners of the centre found a problem in the roof above the courts, which they apparently have no plans to fix. This means the ‘home’ side now face a 1-hour round trip to Great Dunmow in Essex to play their home games. They have our sympathies, and we hope Squash can happen in Saffron Walden itself at some point in the near future.

N.B. This match report is once again a collaborative effort. Report writer identified ahead of each string.

Jan writes:
The match itself got underway in unusual fashion, with the 1st strings. This pitted Kate Bradshaw against Chris Gray. Kate was playing her first competitive game in a number of months after a spell out injured and was making her return to action for the 2nds rather than the 1sts. This showed in a couple of ways in the first game – the rustiness resulting in some mistakes in both shot execution and tactics, and dropping down a team seeing Kate walk off thinking she had lost the game when she fell 11-9 behind! It looked like Kate might make the most of her second chance when she immediately reversed the deficit to lead 13-12, but Chris took the next three rallies to win the game anyway.
The other issue, the tactical and execution one, was addressed from game two onwards as Kate accepted that the front court (her key strength) was also where Chris wanted to play and had his best shots, but that she had the beating of him by playing a deeper and more conservative game than is her usual wont. This resulted in claiming the second comfortably, and racing into a 5-0 lead in the third. We then got the Bradshaw-wobble as Chris was allowed back in, the game eventually ending in a tie-break. But when Kate won that 16-14 she had the match basically sewn up as Chris was patently out-on-his-feet by this stage. Game four was hardly a cakewalk but Kate was always ahead and in control as she won 13-15 15-8 16-14 15-12.

Liam:
Colm O’Gorman (5) came up against an opponent that nobody ever likes to play against - someone who plays tennis!! Colm was clearly the superior player winning 3-0, but a mixture of an 'unusual' playing style from Charles Arthur, awkward angles and mental tiredness from Colm, made it trickier than usual.
Despite winning each game, Colm's tendency to play the shot a squash player wouldn't want, did not mean Charles would respond in the same way. Each break between games involved a conversation on informing Colm on what his opponent didn't want, namely playing straight and low where he couldn't volley or cut the ball short. Elongating rallies and moving Charles back and forth saw Colm comfortably close the match out 15-9, 15-9, 15-10. Nice one Captain!

Colm:
Next up at string 2, Liam Murphy was against the highly ranked Mark Scott. Liam has been in excellent form, but this would present a challenge Liam has not faced. Mark was quick to assert his authority and forged ahead to lead 7:1. Liam however was not in the mood to let the first game go easily and found his rhythm. Using his fitness and determination, he retrieved brilliantly and started to step forward more. Liam took 5 points in a row to battle his way back to make it an even game at 8:8, we were in for a great contest. Each player fought for every ball, staying within a point of each other. Both players had a chance to take the game, Liam missing the opportunity at game point, Mark took it narrowly.
In the second, Liam was able to keep it close, but let Mark get ahead at the crucial time. Some marginal calls along with unforced errors were very frustrating for Liam, giving Mark the opportunity and he was able to take the game. While Liam was feeling hard done by, he overcame the frustration quickly and started the third game in confident mood, dictating the playing, introducing more variety to his game and putting his opponent under a lot more pressure. He was especially able to move Mark to the back corners before some deft drops, taking point after point. It looked as though Liam had figured out his opponent's game too. Mark however responded and adapted, helped with some luck and very clever play, in particular a number of accurate lobs to the back corners. He brought it to 13:13 and had the momentum, taking the third game and the match (Liam’s scores first) 15-17, 6-15, 13-15.

Jan:
Gareth Jones (4) finally got on court as the fourth match of the evening, having been all prepared to go on first. He found himself up against a very familiar face – current Melbourn member John Goodfellow, who played for the 2nds for a season recently but is has a much deeper association with Walden as he is their vice-captain.
How well did Gareth know John? Maybe a mix of too well, and not well enough. John is a clever, tricky, handy player at our level – he has a tendency to put the ball in positions that require twisting and turning to reach rather than necessarily outright winners. His opponent is constantly finding their movement messed with, and balls that in terms of location on the court may appear attackable but in context of how the player needs to move to reach them are not really like that.
This was close to a perfect strategy for unsettling Gareth, who couldn’t resist the apparent openings to attempt to bash winners even if it meant starting to swing whilst the ball was still behind his back! A half-court ball is attackable come what may, right? This led to frustration for both the Melbourn player and his teammates because i) he knew he was making errors and ii) they could see if he just played sensibly he was going to win.
The latter point was emphasised by Gareth reining himself in and by doing that having just enough to win the first game. He also edged the second, though this time he was of making it hard for himself was by floating his drives down the wall and trying to wrong-foot John on every kill when John was waiting patiently to see which way Gareth would go. Game three finally saw all the foibles ironed out as Gareth hit crisp drives down the walls and took the kill chances into the open court. That, finally, saw the best Gareth, the one we see in training sessions, emerge. And with it a 15-11, 15-13, 15-11 win was secured.

Gareth:
Last match of the evening was Jan Brynjolffssen (3) vs ‘Derek’ [Ed - aka Kirk Archibald 😉]   Pressure was off as the match was already in the bag, but that didn't stop Jan being determined to put in a decent performance. First game proved a bit tricky. ‘Derek’ was cutting the ball out early and looked to be on great form. 1-0 down. Time for some amazing advice – “Don’t let him take it early!” Jan upped his game and tightened up his line and length. Fitness also came into play and Jan started to take control. 1-1. ‘Derek’ continued to put up a decent fight but couldn't cope with Jan's consistency and extended rallies. 11-15, 15-10, 15-10, 15-7 in the end with Jan very much in control in the final game.

Job done. 4-1.

Colm said this was “Another good performance by the team which is great early in the season. Special mention to Liam who competed so well against a highly ranked opponent, unlucky not to get more from his match.”