Chantry vs Active4Less 1, 1st Nov 2016

The Chantry squash team continued their winning start to the season with a good victory over Active4Less, although the match ended up closer than looked likely early on.

Most of the guys at Active4Less have been playing team squash against us for years now, so Martin Miller was underwhelmed to find out he was playing Vinnie at 4.  Sure enough he couldn’t deal with Vinnie’s power and accuracy and was soon muttering and looking to the marker for any assistance he could get.  But that was all to no avail as Vinnie ran out an easy winner 15-7, 15-5, 15-12.

Meanwhile on the other court John G was playing Tim Seaton.   John was still looking for his first ever win at team squash so was the hungrier player as he ran out the winner 15-7, 15-12, 15-12.

So two games up and just one more required from the top 3 strings – surely this one was in the bag?

With Mark once more arranging to be late to avoid having to mark a match, Paul C at 2 and Carl at 1 were next on court.  Paul was up against Paul Drakes, and foolishly decided to use a freshly restrung racquet from the outset.  Paul C couldn’t get used to feel of the new strings and went down 7-15 in the first.  Swapping back to his old racquet helped winning the 2nd game 15-11 before narrowly losing the 3rd 14-16.  Then finally Chantry Paul takes control and wins the 4th easily 15-4.  But his opponent comes back strongly and Paul D takes the 5th 15-11 to keep Active4Less in the match.

Carl is having a tough time on Court 2 muttering something about “ringers” between games as he is outclassed by Matt.  Carl does get a consolation game but goes down 6-15, 13-15, 15-12, 7-15.

So all to play for in the final match as Mark turns up just in time to take on Rob St Ledger who has been ill for some time and this is his first team game for over 6 months.  His lack of match fitness shows quickly as Rob is gasping for breath midway through the first game.   Mark puts the first game away easily 15-7.  The second game should follow in the same way with Rob stuck at the back of the court, but Mark proves stupidly generous and steadfastly refuses to win with easy drop shots and keeps driving the ball back to where Rob is standing.  But eventually Mark manages to win 15-12.  After a good talking to in the break, there is hope that Mark will win the next easily, but he continues to make life hard for himself and the whole game is nip and tuck.  Eventually though he runs out the winner 16-14 to take the game and match for Chantry.

Afterwards, Vinnie treats us all to his new madras-spiced chicken noodles and dumplings, which is met with much appreciation and disappears quickly, so that there’s only enough leftovers for Carl to take one helping home with him.

Chantry aren’t the only team with 3 wins out of 3, with Haileybury 3 sharing top spot with us.  Next up for Chantry is Gosling away on 8th Nov.  Gosling won their first two matches but then got thrashed by Nuffield, so it could be a chance for Chantry to continue their winning streak.