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The
Last Day
It came down to the wire in the North-West Counties, with
three teams in contention for the division one title with
one match to play.
Northern beat leaders Lancs 4-1 to set a target, but Grove
Park won 5-0 away to Heswall to claim the title for the
first time ... |
06-Apr-10:
Northern (380pts) 4-1 Lancs (372pts)
Andy Whipp 3-1 Pete Billson
Aqeel Rehman 3-0 David Campion
Dominic Hamilton 1-3 Chris Morrison
Chris Tasker 3-1 Matt Siddaway
Chris Clark 3-1 John Gilmartin
Heswall (335pts) 0-5 Grove Park (384pts)
Jaymie Haycocks 0-3 Lawrence Delasaux
Chris Truswell 2-3 Dave Barnett
Sean Hunter 1-3 Yawar Abbas
Mike Beecham 2-3 Morgan Hibberd
Mike Potter 0-3 Ky Hibberd
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Grove Power to Inaugural North West Title
Yawar Abbas reports from
Heswall
Grove Park
overwhelmed a spirited Heswall side to claim their first
ever North West Counties League title and match their female
counterparts who recently claimed the Cheshire Ladies
League.
The Hibberd twins got things rolling against Mike Beecham
and Mike Potter and while Ky ground out a tough 3-0 win over
Potter, Morgan looked in trouble at 2-1 down against
Beecham. News came through that the Northern were already
two up, but Morgan dug deep and came through in five.
Next up Dave Barnett to play Chris Truswell, which looked
close on paper, and so it proved. The match swung to and fro
to an inevitable fifth, with neither player able to
establish dominance. The Grove Park player finally won
through and with captain Yawar Abbas grinding out a 3-1 win
over Sean Hunter on the back court, Grove were close to
claiming the points needed to guarantee the title.
Results from the Northern confirmed the league title was
indeed theirs as The Lancashire’s Chris Morrison beat
Northern’s Dominic Hamilton, leaving Grove Park 1 point
ahead with one match to play.
Lawrence Delasaux and Jaymie Haycocks played out a furious
first game before Delasaux took control to complete an
emphatic 20-5 win and historic first league title for the
Cheshire club.
Northern beat leaders Lancashire
but Grove Park take the title
John Cunningham reports from the Northern
Aqueel Rehman beat David Campion 3- 0, 11-6, 11-3, 11-4, a
close fought 1st game with Aqueel taking control in the 2nd
and 3rd games
Chris Clark beat John Gillmartin 3 – 1, 8-11, 11-5, 11-3,
11-3, an excellent 1st game for Gilmartin but was unable to
maintain control, Clarke upped his game and played some good
shots and lengths to win.
Chris Tasker beat Matt Siddaway 3 – 1, 11-6, 11-3, 5-11,
11-5, excellent rallies Tasker forcing Siddaway into making
errors, can Siddaway make his usual comeback after winning
an excellent 3rd game, unfortunately not as Tasker once
again takes control.
Dominic Hamilton lost to Chris Morrison 1-3, 12-14, 11-3,
10-12, 9-11, what a great game of squash with both players
making great returns, Hamilton just seemed to make an error
at the wrong time, this win by Morrison helped Grove Park
win the title.
Andy Whipp beat peter Billson 3-0, 11-8, 11-3, 11-5, great
skill from both players there was only ever going to be one
winner though, even when Billson went 5-0 up in the first.
Grove park finish in 1st with 384 points following a 20-5
win at Heswall.
The Northern finish in 2nd place with 380 points
Lancashire Health & Rackets finish in 3rd place with 372
points
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01-Apr-10:
Grove Park storm into
contention as Lancs slip up
A weakened Lancashire Health and Rackets Club were
comprehensively beaten by relegation threatened Prestbury,
to take the North West Counties League to a thrilling
deciding week.
Prestbury called up their Scottish Internationals, Alan
Clyne and Stewart Crawford who duly delivered wins for the
Cheshire club. Captain, Glen Ragou and Mike Lomas matched
their efforts with Matt Siddaway providing the only win for
Lancs.
The Lancs slip allows Grove Park back into the title race as
they delivered a hard fought win against basement side
Chester, with wins for Lawrence Delasaux, Yawar Abbas, Ky
Hibberd and Liam Foster.
Meanwhile, the Northern maintained their challenge with a
4-1 win over Warrington leaving the top three separated by
only 5 points.
With the Northern taking on Lancs in the final week of
fixtures and Grove Park set to visit fifth placed Heswall,
the title could still go to any of the top three!
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29-Mar-2010
Super Siddaway Puts Lancs In Box Seat
Yawar Abbas reports
 Two
incredible comebacks by the young Matt Siddaway have
left The Lancashire Health And Rackets Club on the
brink of clinching an inaugural North West Counties title as
the biggest league in the world heads towards a thrilling
conclusion on April 6th.
The fixture list has thrown together the top two in a
potential ‘winner takes all showdown’ as The Lancashire are
lined up to face The Northern in what is likely to
decide the destination of the title.
Siddaway’s first escape came in the away fixture at fellow
title chasers Grove Park, where he looked down and
out against Ky Hibberd. The home player took a two-love lead
in the deciding tie of the match, only to be denied by the
youngster’s tenacious comeback. Earlier, Stewart Boswell and
Pete Billson had given the Lancashire what looked to be
match winning lead but Grove’s Liam Foster and Morgan
Hibberd levelled, both with five set victories.
Grove Park’s challenge was dealt what was probably the fatal
blow when two nights later in a re arranged fixture against
relegation threatened Prestbury, they once again let a two
love lead in a deciding rubber slip, this time Andy Light
just failed to clinch the match, having answered the late
call up from the second team, going down three-two to Mike
Lomas.
Siddaway then repeated the comeback the following week
against the then league leaders, New Brighton. In a
match that contained no less than four 5 set ties, Siddaway
looked spent at two down against the experienced Ian
Thomasson, but was able to dig deep once more and lift his
club to another three-two victory. New Brighton were then
crushed 18-4 the following week as Bowdon fielded Chris
Ryder in an effort to ease their lingering relegation fears.
Meanwhile, the Northern with arguably the strongest squad,
have struggled to field a consistent team. Club
professional, Andy Whipp has been a key part of Duffield’s
National League challenge and Aqeel Rehman and Andrew
McDougall have both travelled extensively on the PSA Tour,
which has left the North West team short on a number of
occasions. However, the Didsbury club have most of their big
hitters available for the final two fixtures and would
expect to win both matches. Whether this will be enough to
overhaul leaders, The Lancashire, remains to be seen.
The battle to avoid the dreaded drop is equally thrilling,
with up to six team still looking nervously over their
shoulders. With three going down, Chester look to be doomed,
but the other two places are very much in the mix. Recent
champions, Prestbury, are still in the relegation zone
despite regularly calling on the services of Scottish
Internationals, Alan Clyne and Stewart Crawford. Wigan,
Warrington and East Lancs are all in danger, although Wigan
have the security that their second team have virtually
clinched the Division 2 West title, therefore guaranteeing
first division squash for next season.
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08-Jan 2010
North West Counties League hots up
Yawar Abbas reports
The division one title in the biggest squash league in the
world (which includes nearly 350 teams, primarily
from Cheshire, Lancashire and Merseyside playing in 28
leagues!) is too close to call at the half way point, with
six clubs still in with a shout of claiming the North West
Counties title.
The current leaders are New Brighton, who've crept up
the league thanks to fielding a consistently strong team.
The ever present trio of new Wolverhampton Pro, Darren Lewis
and local brothers Mark and Ian Tomason have all contributed
with the Merseyside siblings having lost only 3 and 4
matches respectively.
 Last
season's runners up Grove Park lie in second place
and are lead by rising Hull star, Lawrence Delasaux, who has
leapt up to 79 in the world after only two months on the PSA
Tour and his recent five set victory over Chris Simpson,
secured the match for the Cheadle Hulme club over newcomers
Lancashire Health and Rackets Club.
Although Delasaux's availability will be crucial, the
strength lower down the order has been the key for Grove
Park, with Ky Hibberd and Liam Foster having only twice each
all season.
 Dark
horses for the title would probably be Manchester
Northern. New club pro Andy Whipp heads the team and has
a 100 % record from his eight appearances, but due to his
commitments to National League club Duffield, he will
probably miss matches again second half.
To address this, Whipp has recruited Austrian number 1,
Aqeel Rehman and Canadian Andrew McDougall, to bolster what
is already a strong squad.
 Newly
promoted Lancashire Health and Rackets Club have both
Australia's world number 16, Stewart Boswell and world
number 47, Chris Simpson signed up, together with regular
Pete Billson. Although the Aussie has turned out only once
so far, the team is capable of beating anyone on their day
and have the talented local youngster Matt Sideway lower
down the order providing consistent performances having won
10 of his 12 matches played.
 Fellow
newcomers Heswall led the league for much of the
first half having won 7 of their first 8 matches. Jaymie
Haycocks and Chris Truswell have turned out regularly at the
top end and lower down Mike Beacham and Mike Potter have
been strong at four and five.
National Centre based City of Manchester have fielded, Irish
Champion, John Rooney, Shaun Le Roux and Lewis Walters in
the same team, but suffer when the touring pros are away or
on National League match nights. However, they are not out
of touch and like Lancashire H & R can beat any team on the
night.
 One
team that caught the eye was East Lancs', fielding of
Alison Waters, Laura Massaro and Tania Bailey all on one
night, although the appearance of these three internationals
could not help the team avoid defeat against struggling
Crewe Vagrants.
Along with Crewe, Chester look in trouble and will
need to get South African number one Steve Coppinger playing
regularly to preserve their league one status
With other professionals like Dave Barnett, Eddie Charlton,
Alan Clyne, Stewart Crawford, Aaron Frankcomb, Mark Fuller,
Chris Hall, Joel Hinds, Tom Pashley, Chris Ryder, Steve
Siveter and Alex Stait all qualified, there is everything to
play for in what should be an intriguing second half to the
season.
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Table after 13 Matches
1 New Brighton
200
2 Grove Park
197
3 The Northern
188
4 Lancs Health & Racquets 175
5 City of Manchester
171
6 Heswall
171
Keep up through following
www.nwcsl.org
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