Last night saw a local derby take place in a “neutral” venue, fortunately not because of crowd after the previous tense fixture, but due to the fact that we discovered that Kingfisher are actually a team of Wimbledon Lakeside members who cannot get courts at Lakeside for team squash and therefore play in Tolworth.

Not many international pro players would have expected some of the finest squash around to have been witnessed at the delights of the rather warm and humid Tolworth Recreation Centre, however off set the Spencer team from Burntwood Lane at 7pm with just that intention.  The night started well with all players arriving on time, however the realisation that our squash rackets were about to fall out of the open car boot as we whizzed along the main road probably summed up how things were to follow.

Greeted by a good bunch of lads representing Kingfisher, the rare occurrence of an all-English Spencer team gave many of the Spencer Club fanatics a lot of hope.  And rightly so, the Spencer first team had won every game of the season and were up against second place Kingfisher who we’d beaten 4-1 earlier in the season.

First up on court was Nick, fresh from a debut 3-2 win at number one last week.  Having spent 90 minutes of Monday night doing drills against the Club Captain and also having various discussions before the match about how Nick’s target is to get back to the level he played at as a young 17 year old, Nick found himself against a very strong number two with a lot of good shots and somebody who punished any lose shots with conviction!  Unfortunately his opponent had much the better of the game and recorded a 3-0 win to give the hosts an early advantage.

Niall then went onto the warm courts at third string against a capable player but not somebody who was ever going to beat him.  Niall played a strong match and controlled throughout, apart from a customary 9-8 win in the second set – it wouldn’t be a complete match for Niall without it...!  A fine 3-0 win and plenty of hope ahead.

Whilst both of these matches were taking place, Dan went on at first string against a strong number one who Dan had beaten earlier in the season.  It proved a good and long game of squash, with many very long rallies, some great recoveries from the host, some unbelievably lucky shots, plenty of nicks and some good line and length along the way.  And that was just the first set!  Dan went 1-0 down despite being 8-7 up in the set, took the second, somehow lost the third after being 8-2 up, but then showed fitness and a bit more consistency along the way to a 3-2 victory which kept things looking good for the Spencer boys with the knowledge that the ever-reliable Richard was up next.

Richard’s match then commenced at fourth string, whilst Paul went on at fifth string against an opponent who Paul had beaten in a close match earlier in the season.  Paul had a bad first game but revised his tactics well and endured two close sets which didn’t quite go his way but showed a lot of pride and commitment to the cause.  It wasn’t to be Paul’s day in the end and the entire match went down to Richard’s game.

Fortunately for Spencer, Richard commanded a 2-0 lead and looked to be cruising after a solid start.  It looked like the Spencer unbeaten run was set to continue however his opponent Mike had other ideas and edged his way back into the game with some very consistent and tight drop shots.  The game then changed completely and Mike started to dominate more as he pulled back 2-2.  With five points plus a lot of pride resting on the final set of the whole event, it was very tense although in the end Mike proved to have the finishing touch and won a good match 3-2 to give Spencer their first defeat of the season (and made Richard responsible for texting Alex the result who was still in the process of preparing for his two-year jolly up down South).

Things didn’t go quite the way we’d hoped however plenty learnt from the match, including from those who sat in the back on the way home (!), and we all agreed that more focus is required on having the racket up ready to volley quicker when on the T, better returning of serve down the line, and a lot more line and length needed in general.  Whilst there is plenty to focus on, we are still in a great position with a 23-point lead over Kingfisher with six matches remaining so hopefully we can re-discover the form next week on Weds 27/1 against David Lloyd Brooklands.