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| Report: | It was lovely to have first division squash back at Warrington last night. I love playing in front of our plentiful crowd. It must be one of the best clubs in the country to play a team match.
As expected, Grove Park offered up a terrific fight, as they always do. Warrington edged the contest 3-2.
Rui Soares lost to Emyr Evans 11-9 2-11 6-11 11-1 8-11
Ben Smith beat Joel Arscott 11-8 11-5 11-8
Andy Whipp beat Luke McFarland 11-6 11-4 11-5
Charlie Cowie beat Millie Tomlinson 12-10 5-11 11-6 13-11
Rob Taylor lost to Yawar Abbas 7-11 7-11 11-9 11-8 9-11
Whippy was first up on the show court against a very dangerous Luke. Luke took a 2-0 lead last time they played and at 6-1 in the first game last night, it looked like that could happen again. Luke was sending Whippy the wrong way pretty much every rally! The Warrington man managed to steady the ship and with that tins began to stream from Luke's racket. Whippy stayed steady throughout and Luke remained erratic, so unfortunately for Grove Luke just couldn't find his way into the match, so this was a comfortable start for the almighty Warrington Wombats.
On the adjacent court was a real battle. Prolific masters champion Yawar, took what I'd say to be a surprise 2-0 lead. Yawar is steady and accurate with a nice cross-court 'chop' across the front. Rob however, was playing an unusual amount of shots to the front of the court and catching the tin too often. Rob, spurred on by his home crowd, started to fight his way back into the match. Often when somebody has clawed his way back from a two game deficit you'd expect them to complete the comeback, but going into this fifth game it still felt like anybody's match to win. The two players matched each other point for point throughout the last. It seemed destined to go all the way. There was still too much play to the front of the court, and anytime someone did manage to hit a good length it would usually result in them winning the rally. Yawar gave a fist-pump and a yelp when he hit a good drive to go 9-8 up. Rob roared back with a volley drop winner. A Taylor tin gave Yawar match point. Yawar thought he'd won the next point only for the ref to play a let (Yawar was not impressed!!). After many scowls to the ref, he kept his cool (just) to win the next point for a great win for the 56-year-old.
Ben Smith looked pretty classy as he dispatched Joel Arscott on the show court. I can't imagine having legs as long as Ben's, and he uses them well to dominate the court, especially around the back of the service box area. He cuts out decent drives with apparent ease. Joel tried hard but hit too many tins in the process. This was a good match with good competitive rallies, but Ben always looked on top.
On the side court Millie was putting in a good display against the big frame of Charlie Cowie. Charlie is still a little rusty but still an awesome player to be at number 4. Like Luke did, Millie raced to a 6-1 lead, only for Charlie to peg her back and take the first game on a tie-break. Charlie was struggling to get the ball to the back of the court consistently, so Millie generally dominated the rallies, volleying more than Charlie. She absolutely deserved the second game, and Charlie deserved the third as his level started to pick up considerably. Chalie went 6 -0 up in the fourth game, looking superb and confident. Millie won a couple of rallies to stem the tide and Charlie began to wobble. Fatigue set in quickly, and he began to look nervous. Millie has an unwavering, relaxed appearance on (and off) court. She went about her job calmly, rarely hitting any errors yet still using volley drops when she had the chance. Millie found herself 11-10 up and looked destined to force a deciding game.... only to serve out!!! Oh no! Charlie took advantage and hit a couple of good winners to escape with the victory. Looking back this was a pretty massive few minutes for the entire match overall.
Our crowd loved the final match on the show court. The Iberian Prince is a classy player, and Emyr can hit some great winners. Rui started well, controlling the rallies and not giving Emyr chance to play winners from the middle. Just back from the US Open, Rui tired and could not get Emyr away from the middle of the court, and winners started to flow from the Welshman's racket. From Rui's point of view, the pace was too high and this played into Emyr's hands, allowing opportunity for quickfire winners. Slowing the play down slightly made a massive difference for our Portuguese hunk, as he once again gained control of the rallies to win the fourth game easily. However, Emyr did win 3-2 the last time these two played 6 months ago.... Rui's sensible squash continued in the final game and he was always ahead, but Emyr always stayed within touching distance of Rui's score. At 8-6 up to Rui, the rallies suddenly became faster and more frantic, which allowed Emyr to have a few more mid-court opportunities for winners, which he took advantage of very well. The last 5 points went the way of the Grove player quite quickly, therefore Emyr took the victory 11-8 in the fifth.
So, a close 3-2 win for Warrington against a Grove Park team who will definitely be up in the top few places come the end of the season. Next week Warrington take their show on the road, travelling to The Northern, with Ben Smith available again to dazzle us all with his silky skills. |
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