Tring squash club now have two senior teams in Herts league and one in the Bucks league in addition to ladies, vets and junior teams. On Tuesday the Tring 2nd team playing in Herts league 2 took on Knebworth at home. The second team is a mix of experience and youth.
The captain Keith Warman got things underway this match set the pace in a fast and furious game with Knebworth showing some subtle touch shots. In the first game Keith found himself 8-12 down but bustled his way finally to a 17-15 win. Fitness seemed to be a factor in the second as Keith took the game 15-11. Then the dreaded 2-0 syndrome kicked in and Keith 8-15. At 12-12 in the fourth after a telling rally Keith showed great determination to wrap up the game 15-13 and secure Tring’s first point of the 2010/11 campaign.
Next up saw the less experienced James Armstrong start off at a cracking pace with the Knebworth player showing more experience and some deft drop shots. Although looking nervous James managed a great start taking the first game 15-12. In the second James looked well off the pace losing 9-15. The third saw James play with a lot more confidence and had game point at 14-12 only to serve out handing the initiative back to Knebworth who finally took the game 14-16. Unable to lose any more games and stay in the match James showed great character winning the forth 15-12. With everything to play for James dug deep and at 7-7 in the fifth after a hard fought rally Knebworth played a drop shot which landed in the tin. This shot up until then had been a great weapon and from that point on seemed to have been removed from the Knebworth repertoire. James finally took the initiative and even making two mistakes in a row at 11-13 still managed to hole out, 15-12 to take a hard fought match 3-2.
Martin Harding a familiar face in the Herts league took on another Herts league stalwart in the next match which was played in a great spirit. This spirit was emphasized in the first game when at 12-13 the ball was called out by the umpire and the players both agreed to replay the point. The game was finally won by Martin 15-13. The second game could have gone either way but Martin finally squeezed a 16-14 win. Although Martin was slow to start the third finding himself 5-8 down, true to form he battled back to 13-13 only to lose 15-13. The fourth game saw the longest rally of the match so far at 10-11 with Martin winning the point to make it 11-11 which was enough to spur him onto a 15-13 game win and the match 3-1.
The final match as Knebworth were only able to field a four man team featured Charlie Yerrell playing his first game for the 2nd team and was thrown in at the deep end playing at number 1. This match featured a great variety of shots some powerful some subtle and both players played great boast shots making the rallies lively and unpredictable. It was clear that Charlie set out to dominate right from the start and took and early 7-3 lead only to be pegged back to 7-5. It was nip and tuck up to 10 but Charlie restored control of the game to win 15-12. In the second although still busy Charlie found it hard to dominate but still managed to win 15-10. The final game was a much closer affair and at 14-14 the court lights went out much to the annoyance of the players and spectators. Finally Charlie showed enough composure to win 16-14 in the third and seal a good victory for Tring who took maximum points in their first outing this season. Sam Mueller made up the Tring team but was the unfortunate Tring player who had no opponent on the night and had to accept the walkover.
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