Aussie makes it tough for Games hero Matthew but Duffield cruise to victory

If this was meant to be the celebration of Nick Matthew's double gold medal success, someone forgot to tell Cameron Pilley.

World number two Matthew, playing his first Premier Squash League match for Benz-Bavarian Duffield since his Commonwealth Games triumph in Delhi, was given a tough old night by the Australian.

It was the Derbyshire club that took the honours on the night, winning 4-1 against Oxford to avenge their defeat in the final round of matches last season that cost them a place in the play-offs.

The victory was already in the bag before the number one players were even halfway through their first game but that didn't make it any less of an exhilarating contest.

If the forthcoming Ashes series is as keenly fought and as exciting to watch, we will all be in for a treat. The same result will also be welcome as the Englishman Matthew finally came through.

Pilley settled the quickest, going 7-1 up in the first game. Matthew had to save game ball twice at 10-8 and again at 12-11 but made his own second game ball count at 15-13.

But if Matthew thought he was over the worst of it, he was mistaken as he took a painful whack on the knuckle at 4-4 in the second and then saw the Oxford player come back from 8-6 down to level the match 11-9.

That was as close as Pilley was to get to an upset. He did well to save three game balls in the third but ran out of steam in the fourth against the relentless Matthew in the fourth.

"He made it a really tough match for me but that was just what I needed, especially with the World Open coming up," said Matthew. "It was a good workout."

Millie Tomlinson, back in the country at the end of her first term studying at Yale University in the USA, made very swift work of scoring her first PSL victory when she outplayed and demoralised her long-time junior rival Katie Quartermaine 11-4, 11-3, 11-3 in only 17 minutes.

At the same time, Steve Coppinger was having a more testing match against Scott Handley. The Oxford veteran showed plenty of deft touches but was unable to find the speed in his legs to take him to all the places Coppinger dragged him around court and the first two games went to the home side 11-7, 11-3.

Handley, to his credit, did not give up the contest and threatened to take it into a fourth game at 10-8 but the South African took the next four points and the match.

There was very little to choose between Andy Whipp and Andrew Birks in the opening two games.

Birks saved game ball twice before succumbing 13-11 in the first and Whipp had to survive two game balls in the second before making his own second opportunity pay 14-12.

That second game was settled on a stroke call that greatly annoyed Birks, though he did not dispute it, and he was not the same player as Whipp tore through the third 11-6.

The only blot on the night came at number two, when Jon Kemp's return to Duffield ended in an 11-6, 11-6, 11-2 defeat by Borja Golan.

But the overall victory against a side that had won their opening two PSL matches was a sweet one and put Duffield in a solid position with two wins to take into the new year.

Felix Frixou
Benz-Bavarian