Melbourn lost 2-12

Melbourn 1sts were hoping to bounce back from a heavy defeat the previous week when they travelled to take on Berkhamsted 2. The result of the first meeting of the teams this season, a 9-4 home win, suggested this was possible, but a closer examination led to a more cautious note – Mike, who had played #3 for Melbourn in that win was at #1 on this one… whilst Berko had gone the other way, their #1 and #2 from the first meeting playing at #2 and #3 in the return. Both teams apparently stronger at home – weird, huh?

First on court for Melbourn was Liam Murphy (3), who was also making his summer league debut after re-finding his form (and enthusiasm) recently in the internal box leagues, which saw him reverse an earlier call to sit out team squash this summer. If anyone wasn’t aware this was Liam’s appearance in Herts Summer Div.2 would have figured it out when he paused at 7-all in the first to ask the marker “Er, what are we playing up to??”. The question was indicative of more than just an unfamiliarity with the format of this league – Liam had been playing very well up to this point, producing clean, considered, classical Squash, but the sub-text was this was all a bit more draining than internal box leagues, and by 7-all he was blowing and looking for a break to recover his breath! Following the enquiry five straight points slipped away, which was the deciding factor in the opener. Game 2 followed the same pattern, Liam playing very well and competitively up to 7-all but then running on empty for the remainder to fall two down. Encouragingly Liam’s lungs and legs kept going all the way through game three, which was nip-and-tuck up to 13-all. Hopes were raised that he might sneak a game, and therefore a point for the team, only for Keith to find a great backhand length and then follow it up with another forced error to seal the 3-0 win. The game scores (Liam first) were 9-15, 8-15, 13-15.

Next on was Jan Brynjolffssen (2) against Kevin Hall. This was a nice, pacy game from the outset as the ball sat up on the warm courts, making kills difficult. Kevin was true to his shot-making style and doing most of the attacking, whilst Jan stretched and chased to retrieve and then tried to counter-punch. All well and good, but the home player was always that little fraction stronger on this pattern and therefore went 1-0 up. Game 2 followed went similarly, with Jan trying to focus on not giving up the front wall but getting drawn into doing on a handful of occasions – not many in number but of decisive effect as the game went away 15-11. Jan had found himself 6-2 down in both the first two games, but then bucked this trend in game 3 as he took advantage of a brief drop in levels from Kevin… and also got some really helpful bounces particularly out of the deep backhand corner. Jan clung to this advantage having established it, rebuilding the cushion each time Kevin threaten to close it up to pull a game back. Now on the board, it was Jan’s turn to lose concentration at the start of game four. He found himself 6-2 down once again. Groundhog Day. When this got to about 10-4 the situation looked rough, but from that point Jan played his best and most consistent Squash of the evening, gradually clawing back the deficit to draw level at 13-all and then take the next two points to level up. This was great… but swiftly proved to by pyrrhic as the effort involved left the Melbourn player drained at the start of Game 5. Kevin pounced to build a significant advantage… not 6-2 this time but instead 11-1! Oops. That was really unrecoverable, though Jan was trying as he saved three match balls from 14-4 down. Serving out on the fourth one was not a clever tactic, though. Hard fought, but still a loss overall with the scores 10-15, 11-15, 15-11, 15-13, 7-15.

Jan’s result meant Melbourn had lost before Mike Herd (1) was able to get on court against Richard Carr. But there were still bonus points to play for, and Mike started very well in pursuit of one of them pulling off some lovely drop shots as he kept the opener level pegging despite Richard catching him out a few times with unexpected boasts. Towards the end of the game the ratio of Mike’s drop winners to Richard’s boast ones changed and did so in the Berkhamsted player’s favour. That got the opener, a similar pattern holding through most of the second as Mike found himself two games down. However like Liam and Jan before him, Mike put on his best showing in the third, producing some lovely retrieving and also stepping up the court to kill when the opportunity presented itself. That saw him to 14 first. When the first of these game ball chances was well saved there was an “Uh-oh” feeling as Richard had already proved how relentless he can be when he needs it. Which is exactly what he was. Having seen mumble opportunities come and go Mike earned himself chance mumble plus one at 15-14. This time he served directly into the back nick… but Richard not only clawed the ball out, he hit it tight enough that Mike was forced to lunge to dig it up himself, which led to something the Berko player could put away. Another pair of deadly boasts did the rest as Mike fell 10-15, 6-15, 15-17.

Melbourn skipper Jan commented “I knew we were in for a tough night when I saw the team orders. Berkho had the stronger player in each match and clearly deserved their 3-0 win. But we can be proud of making them work hard for it, and particularly that all three of us refused to give up but instead made things more difficult for the home side as we got further behind!”