Ian Robinson reports
UniSport Guildford made the long journey to Exeter - the longest away fixture on the calendar and were not disappointed. Exeter Diamonds have a dream squad but struggled on the night for availability of their star names. UniSport on the other hand do not have quite the same luxuries but live for the day when availability is a problem for the opposition, which, surprisingly, is more often than one might suppose. This was just one of those occasions and UniSport Guildford took advantage of the opportunity in a hard nosed professional way, as befits some of the veterans in their side. Not available for Exeter Diamonds were Australians David Palmer, Natalie Grinham and Stewart Boswell as well as Jonathon Kemp, all of whom would have made a vast difference to the home team's fire power. UniSport Guildford had their regular line up - Mick Biggs in for Phil Rushworth - with no real surprises but had the gun loaded and ready to fire.
First on the range was the in form and unbeaten in nearly two seasons, Alison Waters who wasted no time in convincing onlookers that she was hungry to get the job done quickly and this despite the recent disappointment of losing in the final of the National Squash Championships in Manchester. Emma Chorley resisted but mainly without exerting enough pressure on Waters to make a difference. In the end Waters got UniSport off to a sound start with a comfortable 3 - 0 win, putting the first point on the board 1 - 0 to the visitors and continuing her unbeaten run.
On the main show court, Steve Meads was confronted by yet another youngster - well there is a train of thought that says they are all youngsters for Steve these days - in the shape of England Junior, Tom Pashley. Youth versus experience. Meads has been in good form recently and especially had a good showing to the last 16 of the National Championships. He was quickly into his stride building up a lead playing contained and disciplined squash interspersed with enough winners to stay ahead and clinch the first game. The second game followed a similar pattern with Meads controlling most of the play and not allowing Pashley a platform, as hard as he tried. It was tight towards the end of the game but when it mattered Meads found the telling blow and took a 2 - 0 lead. In the third, Meads delivered more of the same and increasingly Pashley became frustrated and lapsed into error as Meads moved away and banked a solid hard working 3 - 0 win to put UniSport Guildford 2 - 0 into a lead.
While the match score was exciting the Guildford supporters, a disaster was befalling them on the outside court as Mick Biggs found James Snell in good form and this combined with Biggs' inability to control the ball in the hot bouncy conditions meant that this was a short and rather one sided contest much to the disappointment of the Guildford player. The score does not often lie and scoring a mere 8 points left Biggs with much to ponder. The margin for Guildford was now reduced to 2 - 1.
The ever popular Stacey Ross never fails to entertain with his skill, but now was the time when a result was the much needed order of the day. Rob Sutherland is another young upcoming tough nut to crack and his all-round athletic ability and solid consistent game were likely to be a testing challenge for Ross. The first game was decidedly edgy with Ross not looking particularly comfortable, but after levelling at 8 - 8 he somehow managed to do enough to stay in front and clinch the game, which took the pressure off him. The second game was again close to 5 - 5 when Sutherland benefited from some loose play and some errors and came storming back to equalise 1 - 1. The third game followed a similar pattern with Ross gradually taking more control of the middle of the court putting Sutherland under more pressure and after tight exchanges Ross suddenly found a degree more confidence and control and took a 2 - 1 lead. Everything pointed to a four game win if Ross could only return with the same tactics and confidence. He did not and the fourth game followed a similar pattern but this time it was Sutherland who moved away after the tight early exchanges. At this stage it was too close to call and it all depended on who got the better start in the fifth. The Guildford player fell 2 points behind, but then just as quickly pulled them back and then started to play with the assurance that allowed him to control the play and force errors from Sutherland who will be disappointed at the outcome of the final game. It was too close to call but the Guildford supporters were happy to take the narrow win and make the long journey home with a lot more cheer than might otherwise have been the case. This was a marvellous 3 - 1 win on the scoreboard for UniSport Guildford and Jesse Engelbrecht still had the opportunity to add another point and boost his own confidence after recent set backs.
The opening phase of the match between the number 1 strings was very strange. The lightening fast Mohamed El Shorbagy took it upon himself to slow ball right from the start of the match against Jesse Engelbrecht. This was perfect for Engelbrecht as it allowed him to hit his winners with rare abandon as if in some practise routine organised by the coach. This was compounded by a string of errors from the Egyptian World number 30. This made for very strange watching indeed, only partially explained by the fact that Shorbagy did not seem to be in the best of health after recent exploits on the World tour in Sweden and Finland. The second game was not much better as far as the Exeter number 1 was concerned, but this time the margin was 11 - 7 - a little easier for Engelbrecht who played the right shots at the right time to build his lead. Predictably the third game saw Shorbagy begin to warm to the challenge a little more but it was still Engelbrecht who made his way to match ball first. Engelbrecht had one chance to make good and clinch what would have been an extremely good win for him, but in the end he hit an unconvincing cross court backhand drive straight onto Shorbagy's volley and with no second invitation needed the home player hit the winner. At this point, there was what could be construed as a poor refereeing decision against Guildford but in reality the rally at match ball was the decisive factor. After that Shorbagy warmed to the task and started to control the match in a way that had not been in evidence at the start and it became increasingly difficult for Engelbrecht to get back into the match and control it in a way that he had been able to do in the first 2 games and for most of the third. Engelbrecht will rue his missed opportunities but as the crowd roared Shorbagy on, it was a fitting end to an absorbing evening's squash.
UniSport Guildford were delighted to come away with an unexpected 3 - 2 win against all the odds and move off the bottom of the table and that against the team that started the day as league leaders. This was just another day in the sporting book of upsets, but made some tired Guildford bodies look forward to the run into the end of season with huge enthusiasm. Guildford were royally entertained in every sense by the Exeter Diamonds club and perhaps next time the welcome won't be quite so cordial.
There is still the postponed fixture against PNH Properties Chichester to fit into the calendar but that apart the next match sees the University faithful welcome TWP St Georges Hill to the Varsity Centre, all in the shadow of the emerging steel frame of the new Squash Centre which is fast becoming a part of the Guildford skyline. Book early to see the action on Tuesday 10th March starting at 7pm.
Ian Robinson
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