Lancaster 5-0 York
Lancaster Men’s Seconds whitewashed the York team 5-0 and took the first two of ten points on offer overall at the squash courts.
In the opening matches of the day Lancaster’s fifth and fourth seeds Ben Jones and Shabz Afzal were comfortable winners.
Jones beat York’s Dan Francis in straight games on court two, winning 11-8 11-7 13-11 in a tight contest which included a tie-break in the final game.
On court one, Afzal was taken to four games by York’s John Perolls, winning 11-8 11-6 7-11 11-6.
Afzal made a brilliant start to the match, winning the first two games before Perolls stepped up his level and took the third game. Afzal rebounded with an 11-6 triumph to wrap up the eventual 3-1 success.
Speaking to SCAN, Afzal said that “I was pretty confident about today’s game since out team has been consistently performing with excellent quality in the North West matches.”
Afzal did confess his “anxiety” following York’s successes across Roses early on Friday, adding that this was his “incentive to earn the points.”
In the 3rd seeds’ contest, Lancaster’s Jack Ross produced a strong performance to beat Louie Sandys in straight games. Having won the first game, Ross was always in control of the match, and his victory sealed the two points by giving Lancaster an unassailable 3-0 lead in the best-of-five contest.
With victory sealed, Lancaster’s top seeds looked to complete the whitewash and earn some retribution for disappointment in York in 2011.
Second seed Dave Thomas was up next on court one, against York’s Ollie Hayes. Hayes took the opener 11-8, yet Thomas struck back to level with an 11-8 win in the following game.
Tensions rose as Haynes won the third game 11-6, with a dazzling display of talent on offer from both players. Thomas, however, showed his better ball control in taking the final two games to complete victory 8-11 11-8 6-11 11-5 11-5.
Afterwards, Thomas commented that “it was indeed a tough game. However, I am really ecstatic about it since I have shown my best shots.”
On the other hand, Hayes was very disappointed with his team’s performance.
Lancaster’s first seed Phil Lowrey completed the whitewash with a straight-games win over his York equivalent, 11-3 11-9 11-6.
Seconds captain Dave Thomas was delighted with his team’s performance.
“Everyone’s worked hard all season and have been succeeding in local leagues. Everyone’s come on massively.”
The 5-0 whitewas was “more than we could expect,” Thomas added.
