Henley jump to top of the table

In round 8 of Oxfordshire’s top division Henley first team entertained Abingdon, league leaders and county champions for the last two years. Henley won the tie 3/2 (16/9) to leapfrog Esporta Oxford and go level with Abingdon in joint first place.

At first string Rick Weatherall, over 40’s international, was leading the young England international Joe Brooke 2/1, when his lack of recent match play took it’s toll and he lost the last two games and the match 3/2 to the younger and fitter Brooke.

At two Luke Power took the opening game on a tie break against Welsh over 40’s number one Steve Evans. However, loose play from Power let the gutsy Evans take the next two games without dropping a point. Whilst Power played better in the fourth game, Evans was too strong and took the game and the match 3/1.

Harry Carr was not performing to his usual high standard, although was still able to beat Steve Rogers 3/0 at third string.

At four, Nyall Driscoll disposed of Tom Welstead 3/1 with some clinical finishes, only dropping a game trying to close out too quickly.

At fifth string Sam Carr did not play to his capacity, but his opponent, Gary Cross played well. In the end, Carr was too fit and duly won 3/2 to take the match.

Henley 2nds travelled to Oxford Brookes to play Oxford Racquets 2nd team. Henley played well, despite missing two regular players, and won 3-2.

At (1) Paul Talbot was no match for Henley’s 1st team regular Stefan Stanton 3. At (2) Paul Sayers played Mike Molanari, and although some good relays lost 1-3. At (3) James Knight beat Richard Callaghan 3-1 through a combination of skill and excellent revivals. Four and five string matches both went to the wire. Derek Oswald beating “Seb” 3-2 (after saving 2 match points) and Terry Whiter narrowly losing to John Cripps 2-3.

Henley 3rd team were due to play Esporta however the away team could not raise a team so Henley 2nd team had a relaxing week with a 19-0 victory.

Henley 4th, who have struggled to field a team in recent weeks travelled to face the top of the table team Witney. Hopes were not high!

Andrea Mica started nervously at 5th string, but came back well after a poor 1st game to push his opponent hard. Andrea came up short, losing 3-0.

4th string James Gildersleve lost the 1st game, but produced his best squash for some time to defeat an opponent 35 years his junior 3-1.

Match of the evening was at 3rd string, where 14 yr old Jonathon Betts played his best match yet for the adult teams, keeping the pressure up, and forcing errors from his much more experienced opponent for a 3-0 win.

At 2nd string Simon Stone, returning from a lay off and jet lagged was rather off the pace, losing 3-0.

Paul Ireland at 1st string came up against a very determined and hard hitting player, and despite a sterling effort which deserved winning at least 1 game, lost 3-0.