After a somewhat cocky preview, Dave Potter gave the students of York University high expectations concerning the performance of the 1sts men’s squash team this year. Most of the team did not win 3-0, as he predicted, but all the players performed impressively to defeat Lancaster 4-1.
First on court was the ever-improving Sam Westmoreland. He battled hard in the first game, at times placing the ball sublimely. Yet, he made a few errors which were capitalised on by his opponent, Nick Costa. The Lancaster man went on to take the first game 11-9.
In the second set, Costa started to exercise real pressure on Westmoreland forcing him to make a few more mistakes. Costa took the second set 11-8 to put himself in a commanding position.
Soon, the Lancastrian was up 10-6 in the third set after some excellent placement. However, Westmoreland would not give in so easily and produced some fantastic shots to claw it back to 9-10.
Yet, the deficit was to prove insurmountable and Costa came through 11-9. Westmorland had put up a courageous fight but his opponent was just too good.
Next up was Myles ‘dark’ Knight.
He made a slow start, an early error permitting his opponent James Flanagan to take an early lead in the opening game. Knight could not recover in time and lost the first game 4-11.
However, in the second game he looked a different player and triumphed 14-12 courtesy of some brilliant placement.
He continued to be brilliant in the third game: Flanagan produced some great shots but the Dark Knight surpassed him and took the game 11-8.
However, in the fourth game, Flanagan brought it back to level pegging. He won a mammoth of a rally giving him the lift he needed to win the game.
In the final game, Miles pulled out an early lead, but then let it slip. However, he recovered to prevail 11-8, showing great control in the latter stages of the game.
What a performance!
Then it was the turn of squash veteran turned reporter, David Potter. In the opening game, Potter sent his opponent, colloquially known as “sex pest”, all over the court and took the first game 11-5.
The “pest” then hit back in the second game with some excellent placement.
The third game, however, was a tighter affair. Potter’s shots were precise but the pest was equal to him for the majority of the game. However, Potter prevailed, playing an unreachable shot to take a 2-1 lead.
The “pest” was not done though and played some quality squash to overcome Potter 7-11 in this game.
In the final game, “Sex Pest” pulled out a 5-9 lead but the determined Potter was not to be brushed aside so easily. He took six points on the bounce to prevail 11-9 and take the match. Great stuff!
Next on court was Matt Lewis. In the opening game his placement was absolutely superb and he won 11-5 in what seemed like a couple of minutes.
He went on to win the second game 11-5 as well at times making the sport look effortless.
He wrapped it up in the third game winning 11-2, striding purposefully around the court as though it was his country estate, occasionally breaking into a little jog.
Last on court was Ed “the cannon” Shannon. He walked straight into the first seed’s position in the team; he walked all over his opponent in this match.
In the first game, he stormed to an 11-0 victory courtesy of some quite beautiful play.
He won the second game 11-2 with similar ease. His opponent’s points were even greeted with laughter and cheers from the crowd.
There were more cheers for James Hill as he took three points in the third game but he was simply treated to a masterclass by “the cannon”.
At the end of the match, Potter praised the performance of all his players saying they “were all brilliant. Now, it’s time to go to the pub.”
After three hard-fought encounters, Lewis and Shannon assured victory, and the four points, with some otherworldly squash.