Newport get a win at last

Peter Creed reports

It was a dark wet Tuesday night, in the well-supported squash club that Newport’s PSL team were seeking their first win.  With a slightly weaker side that usual the Pontefract players made the long treacherous drive to the Welsh team for a bottom of the league clash. With players like James Willstrop, Lee Beachill and Saurav Ghosal missing from their starting line up, Greg Tippings picked a worthy side to gain that crucial win that could take the Port off the bottom.  6:45 approached, and still no away side was present. Was the first win really going to be a walk over? No, the young Pontefract team arrived and within 20 mins the teams were announced and the first matches were starting.

Stacey Preece vs Anna Santa-Maria were the 1st match on court 2. Both players started off very tentative, with rallies being won quite quickly due to nerves of their first appearance being very evident. Stacey began to take control around the middle parts of the each game, and broke away playing the important points better than her opponent. Anna has a good variety of shots, but errors at crucial times cost her the match, as Stacey continued to apply good pressure to win 3/0 (11-7 11-7 11-6). A good performance, and it’s a shame Stacey doesn’t get the chance to play more Wispa events due to other commitments, as the effort and quality is there.

David Haley Vs George Wileman was a battle of the youngsters on court 3 “Sam Williams Court”. Dave began well and took an early slender lead of 6-3 producing some good control around the middle of the court, followed by some quality finishing shots. A minor lack of concentration allowed George to take advantage of a few errors from Dave, as he began to react instead of taking the initiative. George’s confidence began to grow, and Dave’s movement and confidence started deteriorating. The Pontefract youngster seemed to notice this, and took his opponent in short when possible, which paid big dividends as he took the match 3/2 (11/13 11/9 11/4 9/11 11/6).

Number 3 String was between myself Peter Creed and George’s older brother, Sam Wileman on court 2 the “K Newall court”. The first game was a well-fought affair, where although the score was close, Peter didn’t deserve to even take the game to tie break. After a few minor adjustments and some stern words from C.Robertson, Peter started to hit better length and applied more pressure on his opponent. Peter continued to take more control after this and the errors for Sam began to grow.  A few scrappy rallies, rugby tackle from Sam on match ball gave the crowd some joy, before Peter Closed out the match 3/1 (12/14 11/7 11/3 11/6).

Rob Sutherland Vs Karen Malik was a very quick encounter as Rob minced the opposition in 16 mins. I didn’t get to see most of the match but the points I did catch Karen wasn’t the most energetic and gutsy player I’ve seen. After watching quite a few Indian PSA players who play with their heart and run everything down, I was quite surprised to see a lack of effort from the 17 year old, maybe he wasn’t 100%? Bob took the match 3/0 (112 11/4 11/3).

Last on court was Campbell Grayson “GB” our adopted Welsh Kiwi who has been living at the WIS for the last few months, against an out of sorts Harinder Pal Sindu. This was a very fast paced match where both players attacked at will. Campbell’s quick hands got him out of ferocious rallies many times, and although Harinder hit a lot of accurate kills and volley drops, his error count was also to high to compete with the Kiwi looking to put a good performance on his last match for Newport’s PSL team. As Campbell said “ay I was on fire then ay”, and came out with the win 3/0 (11/3 11/5 11/8).

This concluded the night and Newport’s first win in their debut PSL season, which took them above their opposition and off the bottom of the north group. Thanks to everyone who came to support and all the sponsors and organisers for a good night.