Edge clinch winner-takes-all clash
ALL four Summer League teams from our local squash clubs took to the courts a week ago last Thursday, for the final round of fixtures in the North West Counties South Division.
And the fixtures compiler had unwittingly set up a ‘winner-takes-all’ finale for one of them, as second-placed Prestbury 1 travelled over the Edge to take on leaders Alderley 1 - knowing that a victory by 10 points or more would see the side from Bollin Grove become champions.
With just the one defeat apiece all summer, the protagonists looked set for a closely-fought decider. But an exceptionally strong Alderley Edge line-up put the visitors well and truly to the sword in the course of a 5-0 victory that ensured the title would reside in SK9 rather than SK10.
Mike Brauckmann and Matt English both won their first games to pick up two consolation points for Prestbury, in the hope those might secure the runners-up position.
Two teams - Buxton and, as coincidence would have it, Prestbury 2 - had the opportunity to leapfrog into second. And, in a further twist, both were ending their campaigns against sides from Bollington.
Bolly’s Leisure Centre played host to the ‘Bucks’ from Derbyshire, who might have travelled west with some confidence - knowing that Bollington 1 had chalked up only one Summer League victory. But wins for Mark Collins, Tom Binder and Daz Glaser saw the latter team edge the contest by the odd match in five - and Buxton, in the process, amass only enough points to draw themselves level with Prestbury 1.
Prestbury’s other team required 18 points to become runners-up outright. A rather tall order - albeit one they very nearly fulfilled by beating Bollington 2 3-2 at Bollin Grove. Wins for Keith Tolley and the in-form 14-year-old Jonny Murray (against Martin Ogden and Will Jordan, respectively), together with a walkovervictory at fifth string, saw the hosts home. But Bolly’s Christian Ogden and junior James Walton beat Nathan Mayers and Dave Jones to deny their hosts maximum points... and, agonisingly (although rather neatly!) to leave Prestbury 2 as part of a three-way second-place tie.
Whoever said the Summer League lacked excitement?! Its more serious, business-like winter variant kicks off in the second half of September.