Match report

Stroud A took on East Glos D at home, a 7pm match start time especially for the GCSE mock exam taking contingent!

First up, Seamus Parker (4) took on Tim Morphew on court 1, each game closely contested with Seamus taking the first two 12-10, 11-7. Tim pushed Seamus into the front and back corners with good delay, winning the third and coming back from a 9-3 deficit in the fourth to claim it 11-9. Seamus showed good concentration and mental fortitude to take the decider 11-6 with sensible basics.

Oli Jewkes (3) played Damian Smith on court 2, pushing Damian to 7-7 in the first, but Damian closed it out 11-8. Damian also took the second and third, with Oli needing to push Damian more into the corners and increase his physicality to take advantage of his relative youth!

Back on court 1, Simon Boucher (5) rolled back the years and played savvy squash to avenge his previous defeat to Rory Anderson in three. Good shot variety, varying pace as well as use of delay saw him through each game, and Simon showed good willingness to chase down the ball.

Sacha Cooper (2) had also lost his previous encounter with opponent Mike Healey, winning both first and second game tie-breaks 13-11, 14-12 to go two games up, before Mike came back 14-12, 11-9 to level the match. Sacha won the battle of wills in the fifth 11-8 to seal a Stroud overall win.

The final match on court 1 saw Tony Richmond (1) hoping to avenge his previous loss last month to Cameron Bryan at East Glos. A solid first game set up a good foundation to build from. Cam tried to play winners and shorten rallies resulting in too many unforced errors, and Tony's decent line and length and good use of delay saw him through to a good win in three games.

A good start to this half, with 3 wins from 3, and a week off next week before playing Monmouth at home.