Melbourn won 10-4

The Kardiac Kids was a nickname given to the Cleveland Browns American Football team of 1980 after they had a number of dramatic finishes to their games. Melbourn Squash Club 2nds might be a rather less famous and less watched outfit, but we seem to be channelling ‘dem Browns so far this campaign – match 1 of the summer saw us win by two strings to one, both of the victories being 3-2’s and one (Moises) needing a final game tie-break and a saved match-ball against before triumphing. Week 2 was nearly, but not quite, as dramatic. 2-1 again, but the wrong way around this time, as was the 3-2 string which went against Colm. Jan at #1 had the tie-break in this match, but lost it at a key time (third game, with the score 1-1).

Would our match at Ickleford be less dramatic than those? Yes… but only marginally so. Once again it was still on a razor which club would come out on top until the very last second, even though there were no 3-2’s this time.

First on court was Moises Estrelles Navarro (3), who took on Andy Moody. Moises looked in charge in the first game as he brought out all his strengths of chasing and retrieving, breaking Andy’s game down. Only a slight loss of concentration towards the end of the game, where Moises let three points rapidly escape as he sought to win the game in style rather than simply forcing an error made the score appear close at 15-13. Game two was genuinely that tight though as it went to a tie-break as Moises began, unusually, to slow down. And when Andy edged that on a tie-break that was the writing on the wall for the Melbourn player, the next two escaping 15-9 in each case to add up to a 15-13, 14-16, 9-15, 9-15 loss. The score would have been about the same if both players had called all their strokes… but it would have taken rather less time to get there!

Next up was Matt Walker (2), taking on Andy Phillipson. This one was also exceedingly close for two games as both the first and second went to breakers. Matt was getting frustrated that he wasn’t able to impose his preferred style of play (driving exchange down the wall, get a high ball, drop volley it), feeling the play was scrappy. Too much cross court… but Andy was making it hard to straighten up. However sheer determination got Matt through the opening two, and having established a significant lead he was able to relax more into his game in the three to take it considerably more comfortably and win 18-16, 16-14, 15-9.

That put everything on the clash of Jan Brynjolffssen (1) and Jimmy Muldoon. The match started with both players probing away at each other, with some extended rallies, before each seemed to realise they were best off going for their shots and trying to end things. Unforced errors also played a significant part, Jimmy making a string of them in the latter stages of game one to had Jan the lead, only for Jan to return the favour in game two. Game three saw Jan tighten things back up again, hitting harder and straighter, and also having success in lifting the ball into Jimmy’s volleys, to establish a 2-1 lead. Jimmy dug in though, taking the lead in game four only for Jan to fight back in the latter stages to get to game ball (in this case match ball) first at 14-13. A snatched drop lost this, followed by a serve out at 15-14. Another chance came and went at 16-15, with Jimmy having his turn at 17-16 – Jan saved this with a cross-court return winner. Death or glory. Having squandered a fourth match ball at 18-17 Jan had his fifth opportunity at 19-18… and he really ought to have lost this as well, except Jimmy, up at the front wall and playing a probable winner, saw the racquet handle spin in his hand. This resulted in a flying racquet, the ball in the tin and Jan, having first ducked for cover, relieved to have won 15-11, 8-15, 15-12, 20-18.