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.