Border Reivers 12-8 Grange 5
Iain Gorman 0-3 Josh Stokes
Iain Gorman was a last minute call-up for the team as Graham bensted called off due to an emergency literally one hour before kick off. Although Gorman couldn’t be faulted for effort, Stokes proved too strong for the Borderer. The first game was tight and had plenty of rallies. But Stokes was just that wee bit more accurate and took it 15-12. Although Iain Gorman never stopped running for the ball, Stokes shots were just that wee bit out of Gormans reach and Grange ran out 15-7, 15-7.
Del Sharratt 0-3 Andrew Light
This game was closer than the soreline suggests. Although Andrew took a 10-5 lead in the first game, Del clawed it back to 11-9 with a series of aces that found the nick. But Andrew stayed focussed to take it 15-10. In the second game, Del quickly took control and again some awesome serves made it 6-1 to Del. But Andrew got in with a drop shot that was too good for Del and then rattled off a series of points to go 7-6. With control now with the City boy, he took the second 15-12. The third game started as a mirror image to the second, with Andrew Lighbt shooting away to a 6-1 lead with some unreturnable serves. Del never really got a grip of this game and was always chasing it eventually going down 15-8.
Pat Spence 3-1 John Wallace
The tie started close, more than 80 years of experience between the players meant the shots were well thought out. Spence had a great technique to send the opponent the wrong way, he would set up the same for every shot and it left Wallace guessing where the ball would go. Although the first couple of games were really close, Spence’s fitness won through as he motored away and wrapped up the tie 17-15, 12-15, 15-7, 15-3.
Amir Hosny 3-1 Jonathan Hughes
This was tie of the night, Hughes had previously been unbeaten against the Borderers but Hosny won out. The first game went 15-12 to Hughes, the shots were fast and tight and great squash was played, neither player wanted to give up and it was just occasional nicks that won the points. The second game was 15-12 to Hosny. Amir didn’t seem to tire and again this was a great display of squash by both players- The points were won by changing from full length to drop shots or vice versa. During the third game, Hosny knew his opponent was weaker at the back of the court on his backhand so Hosny sent most of his shots to that corner and the tactic won with 15-8 to Hosny. The fourth game Hughes tightened up his back hand and was dominating the rallies, able to stand on the t-line and make Hosny do the running. At 14-6 to Hughes he seemed to start swiping his shots and Hosny got the serve back, Hosny seemed to relax and this helped him play tighter shots as he expected it to go to a fourth game, but a relaxed Hosny soon had the game at 14-14 and Hughes couldn’t deal with the pressure as well as Hosny and the Reivers player took it 18-16 for thw 3-1 wictory.
Tony Elliot 3-0 Josh Bain
This tie was pretty straight forward for Reivers top seed; Josh Bain showed some glimpses of a great player and was able to put the ball pretty much where he chose to. But Tony was just equal to anything Josh could throw at him and won out 15-11, 15-6, 15-6.
Gala Captain Del said “It was always going to be a tough tie after Bensted pulled out just before the match started, it meant I had to shuffle things around and it was fantastic that Iain Gorman could step up at short notice. This puts us above Grange 5s in the table so it was an important victory.”