Fergus hopes to double up on home soil

Fergus Richards is hoping to make the most of home advantage to claim his second domestic title of the year.

The top-ranked Bridge of Allan Sports Club star recently won the Scottish Squash Gold event at Newlands in Glasgow and is top seed for this weekend’s Gold event at Minewood.

After posting a fine win for the BoASC first team, sponsored by The Birds and Bees, last week against Edinburgh University which moved his side into second place in the East of Scotland Division One, Richards is relishing tournament action on his home boards but admits he will be a marked man.

The Scotland No.4 said:“I’m really looking ahead to the senior gold event at Bridge of Allan but it’s going to be tough. Having won in Newlands there will be a bit of a target on my back

“That said I’m looking forward to the challenge of winning again and that’s definitely my aim and with the tournament at Minewood it will definitely add to my motivation.

“For me I’m really excited to be playing at Bridge of Allan. It’s a club that has looked after me incredibly well over the last four years or so and I have loved representing and being a part of it and it will be nice to see some friendly faces over the weekend. Hopefully I can do the club proud and repay their faith in me by making it a home win.”

After recovering from illness Richards, who will be joined in this weekend’s field by clubmate Kyle Penman, was delighted to post a straight game victory in the top of the order clash with Edinburgh University’s John Meehan and views it as ideal preparation for this weekend’s action.

“I was happy with how I played against John as I’ve had a tough couple weeks with illness,”said Richards.

He added:“I took a lot of satisfaction with how clinical I was in the second and third games after edging out a close a first game on the tie-break.”

Despite four game defeats for skipper Robin Bairner and No.2 James Dougan, club champion Roddy Campbell claimed a five-game victory that saw a share of the spoils that took the firsts within a point of leaders Heriot Watt University.

Meanwhile the seconds edged a tight match on games countback against Edinburgh Sports Club 4 with Chris Turlik and Andy Meldrum posting the decisive wins after No.1 Ollie Hunter and No.3 Jamie Campbell lost epic five-game encounters.