D&G Squash League week beginning Monday 10th Nov

Peter’s Fish & Chicken Bar were guests of Bard Vet this week at Nunholm. It was a very tight, tense and turbulent contest with Peter’s Fish & Chicken Bar winning by a “Whisker” 3 –2 (13 –10).

Tuesday night brought together two well matched teams and although Specsavers won more games Thornhill triumphed by winning more matches.

On Friday an early top of the table clash in League 2 was won by SCSC with a 3-2 win (13-10) over Cisco Systems.

Division One

Peter’s Fish & Chicken Bar v Bard Vet

At No1 Jim Wells got off to a blistering 2-0 lead against Robin Ridley, but Robin’s sheer grit and tenacity evened the match at 2-2, this was just the shock Wellsy needed as he cruised home in the 5th to secure a well deserved 3-2 victory and player of the match award.

At No 2 Jim Scriven and Davy Rodgerson entertained the balcony with another closely fought 5 set match with Jim having the upper hand in the 5th and gaining a 3-2 victory.

At No 3 Keith Gristwood battled hard against Mike Service, each set was very close, but Keith eventually conceded 1 –3 to a very determined Mike.

At No 4 Sue Strachan put up a brave fight against George Burnie, with a display of excellent squash and conceded a 0-3 defeat, which unfortunately this score did not truly reflect the closeness of the match.

At No5 Allan Miller faced Bard Vet’s new recruit Graeme Shuttleworth, Allan’s skill and experience proved too much for the enthusiastic young sub Graeme and he secured a comfortable 3-0 victory.

Division Two

Thornhill v Specsavers

First on court was Graham Anderson for Specsavers against Roy Weir. After a shaky start Graham took control of the match running out a 3-0 winner.

The second game looked to be going the same way, but for the Thornhill man this time, Tom Burns came out of the blocks at a rate of knots taking the first game against Peter Allen 9-0. The old guy was a bit shell shocked, but managed to sneak the second game and at one each it looked like he might make a game of it, however Tom had different plan and powered to a 3-1 victory .

George O’Neill played Archie Park at 3 and in Archie’s own words George just crushed him, a fine display of quality squash.

Next on court Carol Black vs. Brian Dick and once again the Thornhill player seemed to be running away with the game and at 2-0 down Carol was staring down the barrel , but Carol found a belief in herself and came back to 2-2 before being narrowly defeated.

So it was down to the number one’s Geoff Dean for Specsavers against Robert Grierson. It was a full blooded hard hitting game with no quarter given. Robert had a mission and although Geoff got the second game the Thornhill man’s determination saw him win 3-1.

So the match games ended 10 -9 to Specsavers but with Thornhill receiving bonus points for games won.

The final score was 12-10 to Thornhill in another fine night of squash.

SCSC v Cisco Systems

On Friday in an early top of the table clash in League 2 the first games were the No5’s Peter Hickman for SCSC against Iain Anderson and the No1’s, Colin Davies for SCSC playing Chris Bellwood.

Experienced player Peter found Iain a bit of a handful and after a close first game that Iain won 9-7 he then went on to take the 2nd 9-3. Peter however dug in and slowed the pace of the game down and forced Iain into a few mistakes which allowed Peter to sneak the 3rd game 10-8. Iain came out the stronger in the 4th game though and went on to win it 9-2, so a good win for Iain 3-1.

The match between multi Castle Douglas Club Champion Colin and Chris was well controlled throughout by Colin who displayed a great array of shot variation that had Chris second guessing all match. Colin winning through 9-4 9-1 9-4 and a 3-0 win to maintain his 100% winning record this season.

The No.4 match was between Nick Langford of SCSC and Raymond Currie of Cisco. This was the first meeting of this duo and the first game was pretty cagey with both players struggling to get an advantage. Raymond however got the first game point which he took at 9-5 and in turn the 2nd game 9-4. Nick seemed to let his head go down after the 2nd game and Raymond ran away with the 3rd 9-0 without Nick getting a serve! A 3-0 win for the Cisco No.4.

On the other court was the No.3’s match between Doug Walker of SCSC and Chris McCutcheon. This turned into a highly entertaining match between the experienced Doug and Chris who is only in his 2nd season playing team squash.

Doug took a tight opening game 10-8 but Chris hit back with the 2nd 9-1. Then the 3rd & 4th games were shared, 9-7 the score in each so that led to a deciding 5th game. If Chris could take it then a team win was on for Cisco and with Chris getting to a 6-3 lead it looked on.

However a run of unforced errors from Chris who maybe saw the finishing line meant Doug got to 8-6 and match ball. Chris did save one match point but Doug regained serve to clinch a 9-6 game and a 3-2 match win for SCSC.

This left the match score 8-7 in favour of Cisco with 2 match wins apiece. So the pressure was on for the No.2’s match between Faith Sinclair of SCSC and Lindsay Johnston. Now this was always going to be a tough match for Lindsay as Faith is a former World Masters Champion at Squash back in 2003.

Lindsay sneaked a tight 1st game 10-8. Then, however, Faith’s class showed through as she won the next two games 9-0 9-2. The 4th game saw Lindsay battle back well to take it 9-3 and set up a deciding 5th game. Faith knew the importance of this game and played some really top class squash with her serving being of the highest quality. Lindsay was always on the back foot and Faith ran out a convincing winner 9-0 to secure a 3-2 win which clinched the overall match for SCSC 13-10.

A truly great advert for squash from the top two teams from League 2 and this result moves SCSC to the top of the league after three games played.

Man of the match for SCSC was Faith Sinclair for securing her win and the match for the team and for Cisco Iain Anderson was voted MOM by the SCSC team for his performance at No.5.

After a three-week break, Dumfries were looking to continue the form that had seen them win their last two matches in the league and climb the table into fifth place.

It would be a tough test for the Dumfries side against an Ayr team that had not lost a game for one-and-a-half years and was currently sitting in third place in the table.

Dumfries took the lead after only five minutes.

The first attack broke down for Dumfries but and interception and a neat through-ball saw John Bennett lay the ball off to Eliot Waterhouse who scored a sublime goal with his back stick which looped over the keeper and into the net.

A second goal followed in the 10th minute when Jimmy Clark played a nice pass to Toby Austin who slammed the ball into the bottom corner of the goal.

Dumfries continued the pressure and goals three and four followed in the next 10 minutes.

Waterhouse doubled his tally in the game when he smashed the ball past the keeper again.

Clark then got himself on the score sheet when a shot from the top of the Ayr area was saved by the keeper and the cat-like reactions on the Dumfries forward saw him react quickest and flick the ball into the goal, picking up a slight injury in the process.

The best chance for Ayr came from a penalty corner, which was well flicked on towards the top corner.

Moscrop was beaten but a brave stop on the line from defender Ross Wilson saw him stop it from entering the goal and was cleared to safety.

The second half started as the first had ended with both teams playing some nice hockey but it was the team from Dumfries that was to score again.

Austin found himself just in front of the Ayr goal as the ball was passed into him and he swept it past the keeper to give Dumfries a comfortable lead.

Dumfries had more chances to score from penalty corners, Clark saw his effort deflected wide and Iain Callander also saw his shot go wide.

The final goal for Dumfries was scored again by striker Clark, his shot from just inside the area flew past the keeper to round off the scoring .

Ayr did have a really good chance to pull one back in the dying seconds of the game but Moscrop was not willing to give up a second clean sheet in a row.

A neat through ball saw the Ayr winger burst clean through and in a one-on-one situation Moscrop pulled off a superb stop and kept the clean sheet intact.

A superb team effort from Dumfries saw them win comfortably against tough opposition and could see them climb into second place in the league with two games in hand against most other sides.

The man of the match was awarded to Eliot Waterhouse who scored his first league goal for Dumfries and then followed it up with a second soon after.

He also had assists for two of the other goals for Dumfries.

The next match for Dumfries is away to Hillhead 4s who have had a mixed start to the season.

Selected players are asked to meet at Dumfries Sports Club, Nunholm on Saturday at 11.30.

Anyone interested in playing hockey is invited to the King George V Park, Dumfries on a Tuesday from 6pm-8pm.

Team: S Moscrop, R Wilson, J McCoskry, G Edgar, I Callander (C), J Bennett, S Robertson, A Ross, J Clark, T Austin, E Waterhouse. Subs: B Chambers, J Busby.

Dumfries and Galloway Standard

The Nunholm courts were treated to their own fireworks night when Cisco Systems took on Kings Arms Hotel, Lockerbie. Cisco had a few call offs from the week before so there was a new line up this week.

Plus Castle Douglas squash section playing under their new name of Stewartry Community Sports Club (SCSC) had a convincing win against a very sociable Specsavers team.

Cisco Systems v Kings Arms Hotel

Iain Anderson was on first at number five against Rob Ash. Iain had been laid up with a virus days before and it showed as Moffat hotelier Rob took the first game 9-5. Iain bounced back to take the second game 9-5 but Rob upped the tempo again and scraped a 9-7 third game.

That knocked Iain and Rob went on to take the match with a 9-1 game in the fourth. A 3-1 win for Rob.

The other game on first was at four between Chris “Tigger” McCutcheon and James Banco which saw Tigger come out of the blocks the quicker to take the first game 9-5.

James found his top game going into the second and won that 9-5 and pushed on to take tight third and fourth games 9-7, 9-6 to record a 3-1 win.

It was up to captain Raymond Currie to stop the rot and playing at three he was up against George Dinnin.

This pair has had a few scraps over the years and this was no difference with no one wanting to give an inch.

The first game went to George 9-6 and with Raymond 0-7 it looked like 2-0 but Raymond worked his way back into it and went on to sneak it 9-7.

This seemed to knock George back as he also lost the third 9-3.

Onto the fourth game and it was a caget affair with Raymond racing to a 6-2 lead but George drew it level at 6-6 before Raymond pushed on for a 9-6 win. Overall score 3-1 to Raymond.

Petar Zutic and Martin Proudfoot faced each other at two and they shared the first two games so with it at 1-1 Petar upped the tempo and played consistently to go on and record a 3-1 victory for Cisco.

So going into the clash of the number ones the overall score was 8-8.

Number ones match on Court three was between Scott Graham and Bruce Robertson and it was a cracker – with great shot play from both players rallies were long and competitive but Bruce held the upper hand going into the fourth game with a 2-1 lead.

Scott however clawed his weary way back to level at 2-2 and take it to a fifth and deciding game and what a game it was.

Bruce took the early initiative but Scott came back to get to 8-5 and match ball which he couldn’t take.

Bruce then won three points in a row to take it to 8-8.

Scott set the tie break at two and Bruce got to match point but Scott regained serve to take it to 9-9.

By this time it was near 10pm and the computer-programmed lights went out so they had to finish the game on court four.

Scott kept serve and forced Bruce into an error after another great rally to take the fifth game 10-9 and the match 3-2.

With so much at stake in this final match and with its eventual outcome that both Scott and Bruce were named man of the match by both teams.

Overall score Cisco Systems 14 Kings Arms Hotel 10.

Stewartry Community Sports Club v Specsavers

Castle Douglas squash section playing under their new name of Stewartry Community Sports Club (SCSC) had a convincing win against a very sociable Specsavers team.

At five Steve Smith won 3-1 against a determined and stubborn Peter Allen. Peter narrowly missed out on the first game but after a gritty performance he levelled in the second. Steve upped the tempo in the third and had Peter struggling from then on in.

A worthy display by Peter who seems to be enjoying his squash even more now he is in his middle 60s.

At four Simon Mein was always in control against Graham Anderson keeping him pinned at the back and dictating from the front, score 3-0.

At three new boy Doug Walker had a close encounter with hard hitting George O’Neill with each game scoring close. George began badly but once settled won an entertaining game 3-1.

At two SCSC did well in securing the services of ex-over 50s world champion Faith Sinclair before she was snapped up by one of the other Dumfries teams.

Faith is a great asset to the Stewartry club and displays a fine example of how to play tight squash. Faith played Carol Black and after a thrilling first game 9/6 she went on to win 3-0.

At one old stalwart Colin Davies polished off Stevie Easthill with a 3-0 victory.

The annual secondary schools squash competition will be held on Monday, December 8 at 6.15pm for a 6.30pm start.

It will be held at Lockerbie Squash Club, Glasgow Road, Lockerbie, which has held the event for a number of years to promote the game of squash among secondary school pupils.

An invitation has been made by the club to all secondary schools in the region to encourage as many pupils to take part.

The format of the competition is a singles event and is open to both male and female pupils of all abilities.

The winner of the event will get the Ian Sloan Trophy, which is currently held by Iain Anderson of Dumfries High School.

The club is hoping for a good turnout and look forward to receiving the necessary entry forms back from all schools as soon as possible but if anyone needs further information they can contact the club secretary Harry Earl on 01461 204686 or Nunholm Squash Club junior convenor Raymond Currie on 01387 257036.

There is no entry fee for the competition and all court usage is free.

Eye protection will be provided also.

Dumfries and Galloway Standard

Try something different as a Christmas present this year. Membership vouchers for the Dumfries Sports Club are available from the club at £5 each and are redeemable against membership costs.

For example what would be better than a year long present of a junior membership from a relative? New junior members (under 18s) can get a year’s membership this Christmas for £30. That’s under 60p a week.

They can be obtained from behind the bar at the club or by writing to the Membership Secretary at Dumfries Sports Club, Nunholm Road, Dumfries, DG1 1JW with a stamp addressed envelope and a cheque payable to Dumfries Sports Club.

Dumfries Sports Club took to the football field recently in a cross border clash against visitors from the North-East. The club’s victorious side can be seen here resplendant in their purple kit.

A victorious DSC United FC

Dumfries U16s tied for top spot in the Dumfries and Galloway U16 Tennis League last week. However the title went to the A team from Beechgrove Moffat on games difference.

Four teams contested the league, Nunholm Dumfries, Castle Douglas and Beechgrove Moffat A and B. The league was played on two Saturdays, September 27 in Moffat and November 2 in Dumfries. Three teams, Moffat A, Dumfries and Castle Douglas finished level on points.

The winning Moffat team was awarded with the Peggy Swallow Trophy in a presentation at Nunholm.

Anyone wishing to get fit who has not always known how to go about it is welcome on a Monday night at Nunholm at 6.30pm to take part in a structured six-week programme organised by coaches Margaret Gray and Susan Graham. Last week’s initial session attracted more than 30 people who were split into groups according to ability.

Meanwhile in a busy weekend of races, 23 members of Dumfries Running Club took part in the Stranraer 10k on Saturday and the Derwentwater 10-mile race in the Lake District on the Sunday.

Seven members joined a field of 212 at the Stranraer 10k which is rapidly developing into a popular addition to the local circuit of races.

Best placed club runner was Jonathan Dale in seventh place in an excellent time of 37.41.

Peter Hutchison had a strong run in 89th in 50.53 as did debutant Alan Manson who was pleased to finish in 138th in 56.39 narrowly in front of Jo Needham in 57.56.

Another debutant, Beatrice Queen was thoroughly delighted to dip under the hour in 59.52.

And keeping it in the family, her husband Danny and daughter Sarah, both running for Dumfries Border Harriers had very solid runs in 42.40 and 47.43 respectively.

Family bragging rights however go to nephew Paul Craig who trumped them all in 41.44.

Keeping up his recent good form since the Loch Ness marathon, Bill Love timed his race superbly by beating the hour mark by two seconds and heading off first time race entrant Alan McKean by two places and 40 seconds.

On a beautifully crisp autumnal morning Keswick and the Lake District were in their Sunday best for the 500 entrants for the 10-mile race round Derwentwater.

This classic race, which celebrates its golden anniversary next year is a strenuous test on a very scenic but hilly route from the Moot Hall in Keswick round the lake returning via Portinscale.

With a light dusting of snow on the highest peaks the beauty of the landscape was in sharp relief and even helped runners struggling with the steep climbs in the second half of the route.

Best performance came from Paul Hart in 25th place in 59.50 in front of Sandy Shankland who ran a typically strong race in 41st in 63.06.

Les Hill was delighted to get round the course in his rehabilitation from injury in 68.12 and 94th place, even if it was several minutes below his previous standards.

Peter Hill ran well in 69.12 in 106th place and held off Stephen Mohan, who knocked three minutes off his time from 2007, by six places and 25seconds.

Carolyn Hunter Rowe was 200th in 76.09 in front of David Breen who also knocked several minutes from last year’s run in 77.23.

Jo Zakrzewski did well even to finish in 78.47 having been plagued by a stomach upset.

Richard McDougal thoroughly enjoyed his run in 78.50 particularly as he headed off Mike Trant by four places and 10 seconds.

Chris Adams ran well within himself in 81.58 a bit below his best due to celebrating Halloween a bit too enthusiastically.

Liz Smart in 84.35 particularly enjoys this race as does Vicky Little who was a bit below her best in 87.18 having been troubled by a hip injury.

Rachel McDougal ran well in 92.47 and Susan Graham continued her steady improvement and gained another PB in 115.48.

On the same morning in the Lakes, Kerry Willacy ran her first ever club race over the nine-mile long very rocky Ullswater Trail race and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge in two hours 15 minutes.

Dumfries and Galloway Standard

The Tennis Ladder is now in operation. There are ladders for Men, Ladies and Juniors. They provide an easy way to continue your tennis over the winter months. With the floodlights it might almost be Flushing Meadows!

To join players just have to put their names, with contact numbers, on the appropriate list which is up in the main foyer of the Clubhouse. People can just add their names if interested.

More information and the rules can be found here .

The John Henderson & Sons Dumfries and Galloway Squash Leagues got off to a sizzling start this week at Nunholm.

The D&C Lindsay Forestry side downed Peter’s Fish and Chicken Bar in Division One, and in Division Two the Cisco ‘Kids’ whitewashed Thornhill and Specsavers saw off the Stewarty’s Young Guns from Castle Douglas.

Division 1

Division 2

Division 1

Peter’s Fish & Chicken Bar Vs D&C Lindsey Forestry

In Division One Peter’s Fish and Chicken Bar (formerly Lanterna) played host to D&C Lindsey Forestry (formerly Royal Bar) and conceded a narrow 3-2 defeat.

At No 1 “the masters” Jim Wells and Ronnie Carter gave an excellent display of our beautiful game with Wellsy running away with a 3-1 victory against his old friend and adversary.

At No 2 Jim Scriven (League player of the year in 2008) was on fire against Davy Lindsay, both players enthralled the balcony with a very entertaining match with Jim securing a 3-2 victory.

At No 3 Keith Gristwood got off to a flying start against Neil McBryde who hot off the transfer list has been renamed  “the saviour of Lockerbie” but Neil fought back and clinched the game 3-2 which earned him the player of the match award.

At No 4 Sue Strachan (Ladies Champion) battled hard against Robert Grierson – the defector (ex Lanterna player) and once again the spectators were enthralled with a display of excellent squash with Robert gaining a 3-2 victory.

At No 5 Alan Miller put up a brave fight against Kenny Little (the Duracell Bunny) with Kenny running away with a 3-1 victory.

Division 2 

Cisco Systems Vs Thornhill

New Division 2 team Cisco Systems entertained Thornhill in their first home game this week. Playing in his first league game 15 year old Douglas Brotherston in at No 5 was up against Luke Park, one of Thornhill’s younger players. Luke found it a little difficult to settle on the Nunholm courts and Douglas raced to a 2-0 lead in short time. The 3rd game produced some good squash from both boys but Douglas made few mistakes and went on to secure a 3-0 win for Cisco.

On the other court Luke’s Dad Archie was pitched against Chris “Tigger” McCutcheon at No 3 and was a game of contrasting styles. Archie tried to slow the pace of the game down but Chris was driving the ball well and  used the space on court to his advantage. The result was a convincing 3-0 victory for “Tigger”.

Following  Douglas on Court 3 was the Cisco Systems “Auld Yin” Petar Zutic who entertained one of Thornhill’s seasoned players Brian Dick. The Thornhill plasterer found Petar a little too sticky to handle early on and found himself 0-2 down before recovering form and winning the 3rd but Petar regained the initiative in the 4th to go on to win 3-1.

The battle of the No1’s saw Chris Bellwood take on the evergreen Robert Grierson and both guys went at it in a tough first game which saw Robert sneak it at 9-7. Chris changed his tactics in the 2nd game and decided to slow it down a little and try not to get into the hard hitting game of the first. The change was a positive move as Chris won the next 3 games 9-5, 9-3, 9-2 to record a creditable win for the team.

This left 16 year old Iain Anderson to try and maintain the 100% win record playing at No4 against a former Nunholm player Jason Davies. Jason admitted later that he has not played too many games this season yet and was a little rusty! Take nothing away from Iain though who went about the job of getting the win and although he dropped  the 3rd game he was well worth the 3-1 victory.

A cracking start for the young Cisco Systems team who with the 3 bonus points record an 18-3 victory over the Thornhill boys who will be all out for revenge on their own courts next January!

Next game for Cisco is a home game against Kings Arms from Lockerbie - “More of the same please” said non playing captain Raymond Currie.

Specsavers Vs Stewartry Young Guns

Specsavers also got off to a winning start in Division 2 against a very lively team from Stewartry Young Guns (Castle Douglas) except that you probably would not call John Wilson a young gun these day, more like a clapped out cannon, still he was the only winner in a highly competitive game and these guys are only going to get better.

At one Stevie Easthill beat Mark Williams 3-0, Carol Black beat Neil Carmichael by the same score. George O’Neill was stretched by Callum Wilson while the aforementioned John Wilson beat Graham Anderson 3-2. Bringing up the rear as usual Peter Allen had to use his many years of experience to hold off a spirited Scott Davis.

If the rest of the season is played in the spirit of this game then we are looking forward to a great season.