1st Team Match Report
3rd December 2019

Southport & Birkdale 1st Team v Crewe Vagrant’s 1st Team

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The best crowd we have ever had for a 1st team match was attracted by the chance to see the Women’s New Zealand Number one / World Number 6 and Commonwealth Games Gold Medalist, Joelle King, making a guest appearance for S and B.

The evening kicked off with S & B’s number 4, Arron Ken, facing Crewe Vagrant’s Dan Bradley.  Arron has had a good season with some outstanding wins to date. His confidence showed in this match with Dan Bradley making so many errors under pressure. A comfortable victory for the S & B player.

          Result S & B win 3 – 0               Score    11/7 11/6 11/5

Playing at five for S & B on court 2 was S & B’s Howard Nuttall.  Howard also had a relatively easy contest against Vagrant’s Paul Chapman.  Our man had far too much skill and experience going through winning three easy games.

 Result S & B win 3 – 0              Score 11/4 11/7 11/4

Next up on the show court our guest player, Joelle King.  Her opponent, a rising star of England squash, 18-year-old Lewis Anderson.  Lewis recently took the bronze medal in the World under 19 championships in Kuala Lumpur.  So, we were in for a good contest.  Joelle had to play well to take the first two games. But this wasn’t going to be over quickly. Game three was an easy ride for Lewis. In game four he drew level after a tie break to set up a thriller fifth. This game again needed a tie break with the youngster showing he has the mettle to play against the best. The result was an upset for the S & B supporters but they saw a match of superb quality.

          Result S & B lost 2 – 3               Score 11/8 11/9 2/11 10/12 11/13

Meanwhile, on court 2 our number three, Lucas Hughes, was involved in a battle with Crewe’s Ollie Hudson.  Lucas started well playing his hard-hitting style took him to an early lead. But Ollie Hudson s a class act.  The following three games were a superb battle with all games very close.  Game four was the best with Lucas giving everything to draw level. But the high scoring game ended with a Vagrants win.

          Result S & B lost 1 – 3               Score 11/7 9/11 8/11 15/17

With the match all square the number one clash between Danny Massaro and Jan Van den Herrewegen was a very tall order for our player. Jan is a very talented, world ranked player. Danny always gives his best as he gave his opponent a run for his money.  But the Belgian was always in control.  

          Result S & b lost 2 – 3                Score 9/11 6/11 6/11