Its semi-finals time and it was certainly good to see a few ghosts coming out of the closets this week to give their team more of a chance. That being the impact of the ghosts didn’t change much as everything went according to plan. The strong teams dominated and the weak teams suffered but amongst it all were some grudge matches to be settled. Read below to find out if the scores were settled.
FOOTBALL WON 3-0
Football 1 is into the final, even without the use of Matt Smith as they were too strong for a Christchurch 1 team that was missing their No.1 player Jackson Beresford who was out with injury. This didn’t matter to Simon Slade though as he put the fear of god into Adam ‘Terminator’ Odering. Slade who is well known as a tech-guru was reading the movement and shot selection of the Terminator like code. Slade grabbed just one game but arguably could’ve got a second had he not found the tin once too often. None the less Football 1 would’ve won as Jason swung his machette and Smith his hammer to get comfortable enough wins themselves.
SQUASHWAYS 1 WON 2-1
It was a Squashways semi-final derby and the last one that will ever occur with the midlands crew not coming back next half of the season and also with Squashways closure ðŸ˜. That being said Lee Barker wanted to go out with a bang as he beat Jason Oxenham for the first time earlier in the season and followed that up with another 5 set victory. Barker is proof that you don’t need much feeling in your hand to have great touch at the front of the court as he counteracted Oxenham’s power nicely. The difference between the two was consistency which Barker provided; hence his narrow victory over the high graded Oxenham.
FOOTBALL 2 WON 3-0
People were starting to forget what Charlie Barker’s face looked like by this week thanks to his extended absence due to university exams. Even though Barker lacked court time he still managed a comfortable enough win over Dylan Budge. Rumour has that in Barker’s studies that he might have worked out the benefits of a drop shot, allowing him to win without covering 5 miles in a single match. Both Bennett and Hollows had classy victories and against a Burnside team that has struggled all year the writing was on the wall before the matches started. If I was this Burnside team, it might be wise to see if Paddy Mulvihill or Lee Barker want to play a few matches for them next round of interclub.
CHRISTCHURCH 2 WON 3-0
The 3-0 victory to Christchurch 2 doesn’t paint the full picture of this clash as all matches were well contested. A large part of this was due to Court 3 at Christchurch club registering a lower temperature than Mt Hutt. The cold court sparked a controversial decision by Williams and Gardiner who decided it would make for better squash to play with a blue dot ball. (It could be worth others taking note because if two highly ranked A-graders feel the need for the ball change maybe others could do the same at times.) The blue dot proved to be a good decision as the rallies were exhilarating and well contested and best of all no one looked like pulling a muscle. Williams had to earn his win with good length to set up his shorter shots and was countered by Gardiner who is always the thinker on court and great at mixing up his play with winners and impossibly hard to read shots. One would have to say if Gardiner was 10 years younger Williams wouldn’t have got a look in but on this week youth was the reason for Williams’ victory.
The finals will be played at Burnside with Football 1 v Squashways playing the final. Perhaps an equally interesting matchup out of who will get the wooden spoon out of the Burnside teams?
