Match: Knutsford 1 Away to Alsager 1

Date: 21st October 2010

5th match of the campaign and 1st team change - far cry from those 'sicknote' 1st teamers last season. Captain Risley missing - was the strain of captaincy starting to show or was he attending a marking course folowing on from last weeks display? Holiday in Portugal actually! First up was Costello at no 4 against Tom Raferty - 1st 2 games shares then recovering from losing the 3rd 9-0 Costello was back on track in the 4th, cruising it 9-7. Things looked good for Costello who seems to like playing 5 setters, unfortunately went down 9-7 in the 5th. Speaking of those who like 5 setters next up was Burkey at no 3 - playing Mike Cole. Burkey was clearly in the mood for a quick finish and promptly disposed of the Coalman 3-0. Afterwards Coalman admitted he knew what to do to win but was not allowed to do it and was not looking forward to playing Burkey - maybe cos he has always lost to him. Smith jnr up against Steve Hammond. Despite some good coaching from Waring Smith jnr never really looked like getting anything from the game. Smith following the trend of his beloved United, good at home, cant win away. Could he be in for a change after todays Stoke game?? Maybe pressure of acting captain was showing - no, he just played crap! Team 2-1 down and with expected win at 1 from Smith snr next match was potentially match decider. What a time for Waring to make his first appearance of the season in the 1st team. Playing Phil 'The Barrel' Shields at 5 - this tie seemed to be a mismatch with The Barrel carrying a good few extra stone than our man. However the Barrel produced an array of dazzling shots that nobody (Barrel included) seemed to know where were going. After first 2 games went to 10-8, i for each player, Barrel lost concentration in the 3rd going down 9-2 but took 4th 9-6. Smith jnrs coaching appeared to be as bad as his squash had been.The final game went to Waring 9-6 to tie the match at 2-2. Waring said afterwards result never in doubt just thought his opponent would benefit from 5 games! On last our reliable no 1 Smith snr vs Richard Hallam- not so reliable with packing his squash bag tho - no shoes, and with petite size 7 feet borrowing a pair was proving hard. Fortunately he was able to step into Burkeys shoes- with a bit of padding. Some high quality squash followed and a lot of Martina Hingis grunting by Hallam. Smith snr went 2 up before losing the 3rd, only his 2nd dropped game of the season. Then Hallam started on court coaching telling himself what he should be doing to win. Smith snr took advantage and wrapped up victory for Knutsford - in the end a commanding 16 points to 9. Up to 3rd in the table!!

Scorecard