Relentless Prestbury march on towards league title

THE latest round of matches in the men’s North West Counties League once again saw our three local squash clubs experience a mixed bag of results.

Not that there was any hindrance to the relentless progress being made at the top of Division Three South East by Prestbury 1, who chalked up yet another maximum 20-points haul by seeing off Alderley Edge 4.

Further down this division, Prestbury 2 and Macclesfield Squash 1 both went down 4-1 against, respectively, Alderley’s Third Team and Crewe Vagrants 2. But first-string players, Chris Dunkerley (Prestbury) and Rob Alcock (Macclesfield), did achieve impressive individual wins in the process.

While Bollington 1 had a free week, the club’s flag was flown in fine style by the Second Team, who moved up to fifth place with an emphatic 5-0 victory over Grove Park 5 in Division Four South.

Prestbury and Macclesfield Squash 2, however, are becoming increasingly entrenched in the division’s bottom two places. And their causes were not aided by heavy defeats at the hands of Radbroke Hall 1 and Grove Park 6.

In Division Five South, the six-match winning run of Prestbury 4 came to an end as they were edged out 3-2 by Radbroke Hall 2. Tom Richards, in his final appearance for Prestbury before relocating to Bristol, came close to signing off in fairytale fashion but valiantly lost the deciding match in four games.

Bollington 3, meanwhile, secured a notable scalp in triumphing 3-2 over table-toppers Alderley Edge 6.

Prestbury 5 lost 5-0 to Buxton 2, but could boast the largest age-difference between team-mates as cub chairman Alan Batchelor, at 70 years young, lined up alongside 14-year-old junior Jonny Murray.

Local bragging rights were at stake in the Ladies Cheshire League Division Two - with Prestbury enjoying a 3-2 defeat of Bollington.