Melbourn won 20-0

Having seen our seven match winning run ended at Cambridge the previous week, and with the top two having gained ground by posting 4-1 and 5-0 victories whilst many of ours were 3-2, the 2nds were under a little pressure to deliver a comprehensive win away to bottom side Frank Lee (… who we only beat 3-2 (18-8) at home). A little pressure apparently helps as the boys and girls ruthlessly delivered a 20-0 mauling.

The first on were Bradshaw and son, Kate B (1) taking on Dan Foster and Will B (4) up against Daniel Pereira. Lets start with Will’s match, which was entirely one-sided as his movement and shot-weight were too much for Daniel. One particular pattern repeated many times: Will drops into the front backhand corner, Daniel rushes up to it and counter-drops into the same corner. He then stops, clearly expecting this pattern to be a winning one (maybe it is against his typical opponents) but Will was mobile enough to get back into the front corner, pick the counter drop up and send a trickle boast around the front corner that Daniel couldn’t get to. This was just one way Will won points in a landslide 3-0 victory.

Meanwhile next door Kate was taking on Dan Foster, who is an old foe on the Cambs scene. This one wasn’t as totally one-sided as Will’s match but was still a cruise for Kate as her patterns of driving Dan back and then pouncing on lifted defensive shots to attack the front corners were exposing the Frank Lee players movement. Kate was always in command of things as she rattled through a 3-0 win that saw the side 2-0 up.

It was 3-0 in double quick time as Sean Hamilton (5) proved much too strong for Paul Walker. This one went Sean’s way on his movement and his shot depth, repeatedly catching Paul out in the back corners. When the Frank Lee player did try and hustle forwards Sean’s crisp shots went past him before he was ready, Sean racing through 3-0.

Whilst that was happening Colm O’Gorman (3) was making heavier weather of beating Mat Williams, particularly in the first game which got close and tense at times. A key shot, with the score at something like 10-8, was a backhand half-volley from Colm that flubbed just above the tin and dropped for a winner. Luck of the Irish. Having scrambled through the game, Colm adjusted in the next two to hold a higher ‘T’ position as a counter to Mat’s effective (and unexpected) attacking boasts, and also a pattern change to counter-drop off the boast rather than driving for depth, as driving was just sending it back to Mat as he covered the back corners. These tweaks saw Colm win going away, 3-0.

The final match on was the tightest of the evening as Jan Brynjolffssen (2) took on James Hustwayte. The opening game saw Jan generally a point in front but also unable to shake James off as the home player stayed in the battle, and Jan also made a few uncharacteristic mistakes. Certain patterns were working for him, though, such as driving James into the deep backhand corner [what a novel Squash tactic!] and also straight counter-drops on the forehand off the boast that worked more by width, clinging to the side wall, than by their shortness. However, the second game was level pegging at 10-all until James made about four consecutive errors on what should probably have been his kills. Let off the hook Jan stepped it up a notch in the third, especially towards the end of the game as he gained increasing control of the ‘T’ to complete a 3-0 win.

The aim for the evening of 20 points was secured, and we were all done before 9pm. On to the bar… and for the team on to a final pair of fixtures against top two sides Hunts County and Stamford. We are 15 points behind Hunts and 27 behind Stamford, which are big gaps at this stage, but with the head-to-heads and also with Stamford due to visit third-in-the-table Cambridge 3s this week (level on points with us and so also needing to win) it is not all over yet.