Great night for Guildford

UniSport Guildford 4 beat PNH Properties Chichester 1
Ian Robinson reports

Jesse Engelbrecht 3 beat Alex Gough 0
11 - 5, 11 - 5, 11 - 2

Stacey Ross 3 beat Robbie Temple 2
9 - 11, 11 - 6, 12 - 14, 12 - 10, 11 - 8

Steve Meads 3 beat Peter Genever 1
2 - 11, 12 - 10, 11 - 5, 11 - 5

Jamie Mathews 1 lost to Nafzahizam Adnan 3
13 - 11, 5 - 11, 1 - 11, 6 - 11

Alison Waters 3 beat Dominique Lloyd-Walter 0
11 - 4, 14 - 12, 11 - 4

UniSport Guildford 4 beat PNH Properties Chichester 1

UniSport Guildford welcomed a beleaguered PNH Properties Chichester to the Varsity Centre and cashed in. PNH Properties were deprived of the services of Tim Vail (whose wife was expecting an imminent arrival) and at the last minute Azlan (injury). UniSport were able to welcome Steve Meads back for his first appearance of the new season as well as giving a first appearance to World Deaf Champion Jamie Mathews.

Alison Waters was first into action against Dominique Lloyd-Walter for the visitors - in point of fact Lloyd-Walter is now a local player living and training in Guildford. Waters is in good form at the moment despite not playing quite at her best in the recent quarter finals of the World Open. Lloyd-Walter is a tough opponent these days and it was credit to the improvement made by Waters that she got off to a lightning start and was able to bank the first game with relative ease. The second was a different matter Lloyd-Walter played with increasing confidence and had game ball but in the end the resilience of Waters was enough to take a 2 - 0 lead. Lloyd-Walter was doing a lot of work with the constant speed and pace around the court of the Guildford player and in the end the relentlessness of Waters play was the decisive factor giving UniSport Guildford a great 3 - 0 start to the match. 1 - 0.

Jamie Mathews, the World Deaf Champion, played enterprisingly to take a 1 game to 0 lead against Nafzahizam, the Malaysian, who was a last minute deputy for Azlan his more senior compatriot. After the initial surprise of finding himself a game behind, the visitor started to find his rhythm and using his considerable athleticism to good effect managed to draw level. Mathews was clearly finding the retrieving of the Malaysian disconcerting and increasingly debilitating. He was unable to replicate the quality of shots that had been so effective for him in the first game and alarmingly he lost the decisive third game scoring only 1 point. The Malaysian now was full of confidence and try as Mathews did to force his way back into the match, the visitor was controlling play too well and ran out a 3 - 1 winner to level the match scores at 1 - 1.

Steve Meads and Peter Genever were again doing what they seem to do on an annual basis and that is compete furiously against each other in this fixture in PSL. For the first time and marking the passing of the years, it was removed from the gaze of the Championship Court as both players now play at number 3 in the team order and therefore are condemned to do battle on the outside court. Meads has been troubled by a back injury recently and was reluctant to withdraw but was by no means certain of his fitness to contest. Certainly Genever came out of the blocks at full speed and matched by Meads timidity the score was suddenly 10 - 0 to the Chichester player - it was quickly pocketed 11 - 2 and the Guildford player had to regroup or, perhaps, some grouping at all would have been nice... The second was altogether a more engaging contest from a Guildford point of view, as Meads got into his inimitable style and fought to the end as he often does to steal the second on the tie break. Finding his rhythm, Meads took control of the match and finished off the second win of the night for UniSport Guildford by winning the third and fourth games at 11 - 5. A well deserved win for Guildford meant that a positive match result began to look like a possibility. 2 - 1.

Stacey Ross is now playing at number 2 string for UniSport Guildford and has looked a little short of matches. Celebrating his 35th birthday, he was tested to the full tonight by up and coming youngster Robbie Temple, PNH Properties Chichester, who smelt blood and had good cause to believe that he could win. Temple is fleet of foot and does a passable impression of Peter Marshall with his two handedness. He is a fearsome prospect for the established players, but it was his errors that let him down in the end and he was more than a little influenced to his detriment by the contribution of the match official. Ross playing well in patches did not believe that he was playing well and Temple was totally unfazed by the talented opposition and frequently fired his own brand of winners into the front of the court when least expected. Ross gained in confidence as the match wore on and worked hard to play himself into real form so that the shots started to work. It was a decidedly edgy match and as a result the movement patterns were not great and bordered on the untidy, thus the match official was probably overworked. Both the third and fourth games could have gone either way after the first two games levelled the score. The fifth game was always controlled to greater or lesser extent by the Guildford favourite. It was very jittery until 7 - 7 when Ross managed to find enough resolve to complete the business and hold back the tide of youth for one more year. UniSport Guildford, 3 - 1, had now clinched their first home win of the season, which will hopefully not be their last. The number 1s were still to play.

Jesse Engelbrecht newly appointed as number 1 for UniSport has not been high on confidence since his elevation, but lacks nothing in enthusiasm and commitment. Alex Gough has been a long term fixture in the higher echelons of the PSA rankings but has recently moved to an executive role within the PSA as their newly appointed Chief Operating Officer and is therefore regularly seen in a suit rather than a track suit. As odd as this may seem to his many fans, it has inevitably taken its toll as he no longer commits the time to the hours of work required to maintain excellence at the World Class playing level. Sensing his opportunity Engelbrecht made a positive start and was determined not to be ambushed by his very tricky opponent. Moving smoothly and with great economy of effort Engelbrecht set about asserting his authority over his ageing opponent. It was apparent that Engelbrecht could convert this into a comfortable win providing he could keep his head and concentrate on playing positive error free squash. Gough, try as he might, is not the force that he was last year and was not able to hold back the tide of an increasingly confident Engelbrecht. UniSport Guildford had now increased the winning margin to 4 - 1.

It was great night of squash played in front of a full house at the Varsity Centre against our great rivals from the south coast - it does not get much better than this. It certainly compensated for the disappointing voyage to Bristol where the score was reversed. With Guildford players all coming into form now, book your tickets early for the next match at home to Exeter Diamonds on Tuesday 4th November starting at 7pm.