Rutland Squash Club round-up
There was a unique moment in the history of Rutland Squash Club when they staged the finals night to culminate the season.
Unusually, there were three players who were each involved in two finals so the order of events was complex.
First up on court was the Willis Plate final between Brian Margetts and Steve Park, which was a real cliff-hanger start to the evening.
In the first game, Brian raced to an 8-1 lead, only to be pegged back by Steve to 8-7.
A crucial out of court serve by Steve at this point enabled Brian to reclaim his advantage and serve out for the first game.
The second game was equally close, going to a tie-break at 8-8 and eventually being won by Steve.
Game three was neck-and-neck all the way, but Brian missed a couple of potential winners and Steve capitalised to take the game.
In the fourth game, however, Brian once again took the initiative and clinched the game 9-5.
The final decisive game was tense and there were rarely more than two points between the players for much of the time, but eventually Brian managed to secure a 9-5 win to take the trophy.
After a brief pause for both Brian and Steve to draw breath, the finals of the Doubles and the Handicap competitions commenced.
In the Doubles final, Brian and his partner Greg Watts were up against Martin Brown and Guy Jones.
The final score of 3-0 to Martin and Guy was perhaps a little flattering as both sides created chances to win the games.
However, a combination of Martin's cunning drop shots and Guy's power hits were too much for Greg and Brian.
The watching crowd enjoyed some long and keenly contested rallies which on occasion did not end up with a let being called.
Neither side wanted to lose, but in the end Martin and Guy overcame a spirited performance from their opponents and were understandably delighted to receive the coveted Doubles Trophy.
Steve Park was back on court in the final of the Handicap competition against the defending champion Rob Halls.
The Handicap competition is scored on a point per rally basis and is best of three games and Steve had a four-point advantage over Rob.
In the first game, Rob managed to close the deficit to 12-12 and then suddenly ran away with seven points in a row to take an unassailable lead and win the game 25-19.
The second game was incredibly close with Steve treating the spectators to some of his trademark diving cross court shots and, at 20-20, the game could have gone either way.
Had Steve not already played a full five-game match the result may have been different, but Rob was relentless in chasing down each ball and dropping short or driving long so that Steve was constantly on the defence, and in the end Rob won the game 25-22 and retained the trophy.
After a short break, the culmination of the evening saw Rob Halls return to the court to play Michael Crawford in the Willis Cup final.
The start of the first game was a tense affair, with the serve changing hands at least 18 times before the score reached 6-6.
At this point, it seemed that Michael tensed up a little while Rob remained more relaxed and played a couple of good length drives to the back of the court which enabled him to take the first game 9-6.
Michael then left the court for the break and clearly gave himself a brilliant pep talk because the second game was over at 9-0 to Michael in the blink of an eye.
Thereafter, Michael began to read Rob’s game really well and dominate the rallies, taking the next two games 9-5 and 9-4.
Trophies and prizes were presented by Bob and Hilary Black who, having joined Rutland Squash Club in September 1975 and therefore notched up almost 100 years of club membership between them, have announced their retirement.
The club chairman informed those present that Bob and Hilary had not only played in the Rutland teams for many years but also been team captains and had then been pivotal to the running of the club as league organisers for the past 20 years.
Their contribution to Rutland Squash Club has been legendary and it was most fitting that they should present the prizes.
In addition to the Finals Night awards, there was also the presentation of the Myles Knauer League trophy for the top two players across the whole 2024-2025 season.
The runner-up was Ben Harford and the winner was Michael Crawford.
The final of the Ladies Cup between Lydia Brownlow and Katharine Gaine is yet to be played.
Anyone interested in finding out more about Rutland Squash Club, please visit www.rutlandsquash.co.uk
