Semi-Final Upset for the Manor Squash 1st team!!

The Manor underdogs turn over Brampton Manor’s favourites!!

Wednesday 25th April was a good day for the Manor.  We travelled to Brampton Manor as the underdogs in the Semi-Final of the Derbyshire Cup and realised we had a tough test ahead.  The team that Brampton Manor put out would have been good enough to win the whole event and so tension was high upon arrival.

The Manor match ups were as follows: No.1 – Pete Goodings V’s Brendan Hickerman, No.2 – Neil Rossin V’s Phil Scully, No.3 – Jason Walsh V’s Dan Busby, No.4 – Craig Walsh V’s Charlie Wall, No.5 – James Healey V’s Sam Walker.

Quick off the mark was James Healey and he put the team ahead with a 3-2 win, James showing he still has a great battling instinct and he covered the court really well having recently been putting some work into the gym.  It paid off and he won the last game comfortably 11-2 so the hard work is paying off.   Meanwhile Craig was testing nerves and fingernails as he went 7-0 up in 2 games and then proceeded to put 7 balls in the tin two games in a row.  He eventually prevailed with a 3-1 win but it was nervey watching to see if he could keep it out of the tin.  That being said, his game was completely unanswerable for the best part of the match and frustrated his opponent to the point of almost self-destruct.  Some days Craig is unstoppable and unfortunately for Charlie, this was one of those days!  Next up, Craigs brother Jason – who patiently pushed Dan Busby around the court to finish him off in 3 straight games and put the match out of Brampton’s reach.  This meant a semi-relaxing time for Neil & Pete safe in the knowledge that they were already through to the final.  Neil started off slowly and apparently never really got out of 2nd gear, only managing to salvage 1 game, going down 3-1 and not really happy with his performance.  Last on was Pete & Brendan.  Neither player knows what a delicate shot is and they both bullied the ball around with some good shot-making and some quick retrieving, although it was Pete who always looked in control and on top of a majority of the rallies.  Pete lead 2-0 before a lapse in concentration (& the threat from the team of having to wear a “mankini” in the final at Duffield) was highly apparent.  In the 5th Pete again lead but let the concentration slide once more before the tie-breaker seemed to wake him up & that seemed to be the catalyst to regain the focus and it finally finished 12-10 to Pete and a 4-1 win for the Manor.

Happy days all round for the Manor team who are now looking forward to a further upset in the Derbyshire County Cup Final against Duffield on Sunday 29th April 2012 on Duffield’s home turf.  Start time 3.30pm – supporters more than welcome!!!!!!