South Bank: Monday December 2nd 2013

A team from the club assembled at South Bank Squash Club for the 1st leg of our annual double header against the Civil Service.

Knowing the potential strength of the opposition I had checked to see who was playing and was relieved that their #1 Tim Burrell would be absent.

Our #2 Peter Culver contacted me on Sunday night to pull out with an injury but Alasdair Niven stepped in at short notice as a replacement.

First on were Howes and Mosley at 4 & 5. Howes soon went into a 1-0 deficit by losing the 1st game for 1 point.
Recovered in the second but returned to form by losing the 3rd again for one point. Finally waking up he managed to hop to a scrappy 3-2 win.

Meanwhile on the other court ex World Masters champion Richard Mosley was showing true sportsmanship by contriving to lose the 1st in the same way as Howes. Wining the second and third but falling asleep to lose the 4th 9-0.
However he returned to form to close the match out 9-1 in the fifth.

Next on were the 2 & 3 strings. Alasdair Niven being thoroughly professional and winning a good match 3-0 while Dilly Rosser fresh from a weekend in Wolverhampton, playing in the West Masters, managed to frustrate the Civil Service captain of the day Charlie Greenwood with his array of miss timed winners to emerge a 3-1 victor.

Last on was our guaranteed winner at #1 Stuart Hardy, who also had spent the weekend in Wolverhampton.
Unlike Dillwyn, Stuart had had a successful Masters Tournament and had reached the final of the 55 group where he had a hard match against the much younger Jeremy Goulding, losing in 35 minutes. The last thing he needed was to see arriving a VERY young and fit looking opponent, Chris. Trying his best Hardy was unable to get to the front of the court as many times as the ball and so lost 3-0.

We all adjourned to a local pub for hamburgers and a few beers and caught up with news of old friends.
Overall a very fine evening as we have a poor record against the Civil Service and a victory is always more satisfying than a defeat.