Devon Squash League division 4

Tavistock v Dartington

TAVISTOCK put out a strong team in anticipation of a difficult match. Each team has five members who are graded 1 to 5, 1 being the strongest player.

First up and playing at number 5 was Mike Gray, who was playing Roger Sands for Dartington. Roger took the first two games without too much trouble, but Mike clawed his way back, chasing the ball down and taking the third game 9-5. But it was not enough and Roger took the fourth and deciding game 9-5.

Stuart Cox, playing number 4, played Peter Exley and took the first game 9-6. The second was closer, going to 8-8. Stuart opted to set 1 and lost the next point, bringing the match all square. He then showed his superior fitness, mixing a variety of attacking boasts and tight length. He won the third game 9-7 and took control of the fourth and deciding game, winning 9-4. giving a match score of 3-1.

At number 3 was the experienced Colin Grice taking on Jason, a canny player. Jason narrowly took the first game 9-7 although Colin looked to be in control of it the whole time and must have wondered how he let it slip. Going down 1-0 proved enough to spur Colin on. Taking advantage of his superior fitness he went on to play excellent squash, winning the next three games 9-2, 9-4 and 9-6.

Next up for Tavistock was Andy Gauler playing number 2 against Chris Woodward. Andy was on excellent form and only conceded 10 points in the entire match which he won 3 -0.

That victory gave Tavistock the overall match leading 3-1 taking the pressure off Steve Tripp at number 1. This was fortunate as unusually for Steve he was unable to find any form coming up against a strong Dartington number 1, Graham. The first game was close with Steve narrowly losing 9-8. In the next two, Graham found his form and made all his shots, including some excellent winners, to which Steve had no answer, losing his match 9-8, 9-4, 9-2. Tavistock won the match three games to two.

Tavistock have had a good start to the season winning four out of the five games played.