A strong squad from Gala squash Club made the journey up the A7 to Collinton Castle Squash Club for the latest round of the East of Scotland Squash Conference. Pat Spence, Luis Molero, Del Sharratt (capt), Ruaridh Kohler, Rachel McAleese and Joy Borowska competed against players from The Grange, Watsonians, Edinburgh University and the hosts, Collinton Castle. The games were point-a-rally to 11 and 2 games per match – this was a short sharp format!
Last time round at Gala the Borderers narrowly missed out and they wanted to make amends this time. The whole team played well and the event was opened by Gala Captain Del Sharratt taking the scalp of Edinburgh University’s James Cottam 2-0 (12-10, 11-8); this was followed by a series of draws as the games went Rachel McAleese 1-1 Evie Coley (Edin Uni); Pat Spence 1-1 Jim McConnell (Watsonians) and Luis Molero 1-1 Jamie Dalrymple (Grange); Ruaridh Kohler got Gala’s next victory beating Jame Turing (Edin Uni) 2-0; Joy found the going a bit tougher as she was out fought by Edin Uni’s Katy Welford 2-0 (12-10, 11-9)- Joy then had to withdraw from the tournament due to a hip injury.
Del’s good form continued in the second round of games with a victory over South African player JamesTuring, then Pat Spence turned on the Skill as he triumphed 2-0 against local favourite, and last years player of the season, Gordon Robertson. There was a lot of long rallies in this one as the players covered every inch of the court but Pat’s concentration held out and he took the match. Luis Molero then beat Jim McConnell 2-0, Rachel beat Katy Welford 2-0 and Ruaridh got a second victory as his boasts and drop shots proved too clever for Edin Universities Anthony Bulling and he took it 11-7, 11-5.
Gala’s Ruaridh Kohler maintained a 100% Record beating James Cottam 2-0, Del drew 1-1 with Anthony Bulling, Pat beat Grange top seed Jamie Dalrymple 2-0, Rachel beat Prateek Bawa (Edin Uni) 2-0 and in what is proving to be a bit of a rivalry now Gordon Robertson was victorious over Luis Molero.
Ruaridh and Mark Hooper (Grange) got joint man of the match awards as they were both 100% victorious in the event.
In the overall team scores Gala regained the title with 24 pointe, The Grange 21, Edin Uni 11, Watsonians 7 and Collinton Castle 7.
Mark Hooper and Ruaridh Kohler -joint Man of The Match
Several of the players after the event .