A team from Marsa Squash Club in Malta visited the club over the period 26th to 28th November and played no less than 20 of our members (of which 8 were juniors and 8 were ladies) over 3 matches. Details of all matches are at the end of this article.
Why Malta ?
Dave Watson, a long standing member of the club owns a family apartment there and in 2007 invited a group of 5 members to join him on a Squash Tour. The tour has since become an annual affair and over the years the bond between ourselves and the Marsa Club has gone from strength to strength culminating in this their second visit to England’s green pastures. Indeed, Dave and the Marsa Team Captain, Carl Camilleri, have become very close friends.
The first match got underway on Thursday with the youngest (Erin Vitty) taking on the eldest (Charles Cuschieri) and after a tense 2nd game, with Erin winning the 1st 11/2, she showed her youth and went on to win 3/1. At the same time Michelle Robertson played a very controlled game against Mark Wright winning 3/0.
Next up was Gordie Robertson and Dave North. Gordie who is renowned for being a bit of a slow starter duly lost his opening game against Keith Attard. You wouldn’t normally use the words Gordie and athleticism in the same sentence but he rolled back his considerable years and coupled with a hint of consistency won the next 3 games dropping 7 points in each. Meanwhile, Dave North was staging a bit of a comeback against Thomas Milllward, recovering from 2/0 down to win the 3rd 12/10 but couldn’t quite keep up the momentum, closely losing the 4th 11/13.
Lesley Vitty against Christer Gustavson was, after a close fought 1st game over quite quickly. Christer is the ‘Roadrunner’ of the Malta team and regularly spends up to 30 minutes skipping before a match but after a very determined effort by Lesley in the 1st game she wasn’t able to keep up with Christer who ran out the victor, 3/0. The final match between Derek Collins and Paul Borg was a game of 3 ‘halves’ with Derek taking the first two games and Paul taking the next two to level the match. Derek then raced to 8 points only for Paul to come back again and level the match at 8 all. With almost nothing between the two and forcing Paul to make an error, Derek finally won 11/8.
We all retired to the bar for a well earned drink followed by a Chilli Con Carne supper. Friday’s match was bit of a short affair with two retirements through injury. Derek’s opponent was already carrying an achilles tendon injury and after his first visit to the right hand front corner in the first game, Carl was unable to recover and had to concede the match. Shortly before this Sarah Bedford- Jones’s opponent, Mark Wright, ended up in much the same position but with a different injury - a pulled calf muscle.
In between these two walk over’s was still some very good matches, the highlight of which was Stuart Mitchell against Thomas Millward. Stuart took an early two game lead with some controlled hitting but then for some unknown reason his head went ‘walkabout’ which allowed Thomas to take the next two. Fortunately for Stuart he managed to regroup and get his act together winning 11/7 in the 5th. Once again Christer proved too fit for his opponent, Jem Stack and although Jem took the 2nd game 11/6, Christer’s speed and retrieving game gave him a 3/1 victory. Can anybody stop the ‘Roadrunner’? Dave Watson and Clive Lucas, our ‘hip op’ players took on Keith Attard and Charles Cuschieri. Keith was just a little too strong for Dave but Clive, playing in his first competitive ‘singles’ match since his operation put in a solid performance beating his old adversary, Charles, 3/1.
Ian Campbell had a quick run out against (stand in player for Mark Wright) John ? but with John not really expecting to play, Ian was far too strong for John, as was Paul Borg over Keith Linsley. After a quick beer in the club 18 of us descended upon the Ahad Restaurant on Gosforth High Street. During the meal there was a lengthy discussion about who was going to go into ‘town’ and to where, the result of which was the whole of the Malta team, except Mark who was injured and on crutches, was escorted by Dave Watson, frequenting a few of the more popular watering holes until the ‘wee small hours’.
Saturday’s match was against a team of our junior’s as requested by Carl. I’m not quite sure what the Maltese were expecting but they were certainly surprised by the quality!
Sophie Bedford-Jones, James Appleby and Tegan Younger all put in solid performances and Emma Delgaty’s match against Charles Cuschieri was a nail biting affair that went to the wire, with Charles narrowly winning 11/7 in the 5th.
Could Josie Barker stop Christer the ‘Roadrunner’? With both players very fit, athletic and on top of their games, who was going to crack first? Josie narrowly won the 1st game 11/8 due to better consistency. The 2nd could have gone either was with Christer edging it 12/10. After two uncharacteristic errors from Christer during the last two rallies, Josie won the 3rd 11/8. The 4th was another close fought affair with Josie maintaining her form and edging it 12/10 to win 3/1.
The final match was between Tom Wight and Paul Borg. With Derek having played Paul on Thursday he was able to pass on some vital tactical information which proved to be invaluable to Tom. The tactic was to keep the ball tight and deep on the right hand side of the court (on Paul’s backhand). Thereafter, Tom would be able to exploit any weak return, which he did with relative ease although it has to be said that maybe Paul was suffering a little bit from ‘a late night on the Toon’. Nevertheless, Tom stuck to his task well and won 3/0.
After drinks and a Steak n’ Ale Pie supper we bid farewell to our visitors who unanimously agreed we belonged to a “very nice club”.
As a token of their appreciation they very generously left a sum of money which they wished to be used for junior development. We will certainly use it wisely. Very many thanks Guys.
Match Results
Thursday 26 November Derek Collins 3 - 2 Paul Borg 11/9, 11/9,/10/12, 5/11, 11/8 Lesley Vitty 0 - 3 Christer Gustavson 10/12, 5/11, 5/11 Dave North 1 - 3 Thomas Millward9/11, 7/11, 12/10, 11/13 Gordie Robertson 3 - 1 Keith Attard 6/11, 11/7, 11/7, 11/7 Michelle Robertson 3 - 0 Mark Wright 13/11, 11/9 11/5 Erin Vitty 3 - 1 Charles Cuschieri11/2, 9/11, 11/7, 11/8 Northern 4 - 2 Marsa
Friday 27 November Derek Collins 3 - 0 Carl Camilleri (retired injured) Keith Linsley 0 - 3 Paul Borg 5/11, 6/11, 5/11 Jem Stack 0 - 3 Christer Gustavson 8/11, 11/6, 3/11, 5/11 Stuart Mitchell 3 - 2 Thomas Millward11/8, 11/5, 7/11, 11/13, 11/7 Dave Watson 1 - 3 Keith Attard 4/11, 5/11, 11/8, 5/11 Sarah Bedford-Jones 3 - 0 Mark Wright (retired injured) Clive Lucas 3 - 1 Charles Cuschieri11/6, 10/12, 11/2, 11/9 Ian Campbell 3 - 0 John ? 11/1, 11/2, 11/4 Northern 5 - 3 Marsa
Saturday 28 November Tom Wight 3 - 0 Paul Borg 11/6, 11/4, 11/7 Josie Barker 3 - 1 Christer Gustavson 11/8, 10/12, 11/8, 12/10 Tegan Younger 3 - 1 Thomas Millward11/9, 11/8, 6/11, 11/3 James Appleby 3 - 0 Keith Attard 11/5, 11/3, 12/10 Emmas Delgaty 2 - 3 Charles Cuschieri7/11, 12/10, 8/11, 11/7, 7/11 Sophie Bedford-Jones 3 - 1 John ? 11/6, 5/11, 11/6, 11/1 Northern 5 - 1 Marsa
