Match Reports: Lions v Holmer Green

The Lions ended their 2011/12 campaign this week against title hopefuls Holmer Green.
What a contrast the teams provided;

Lions - Tired, old, slow, unfit, injured, hanging on to past glories,

Holmer Green - Energetic, young, fast, fit, in their prime, full of promise

The only similarities between both teams were that they were decked out in fancy sponsored shirts and each had one spectator occupying the balcony

Onto the match (in the 3rd person as is now the style...)
HG have strength all the way through the team whereas Beaconsfield were without their No1 PB, so the odds were stacked against the Lions from the start.
HG 3 & 4 strings had to leave early for a road trip so were on first which meant for the first time this season Fernandez was on time and on court before his usual 9.30pm start time.

Nic took on the fast and furious Tor and DF was up against the fast and furious but slightly less cultured James Harley.
Manley started well hitting his trademark low hard cross court drives and tight volley winners 1-0
Fernandez started slowishly losing a close 1st 0-1
Manley in his efforts to move his bulk around the court trying to keep up with his whippet like opponent pulled a muscle so lost the 2nd badly but fought well in the 3rd losing a close 7-9 before capitulating 1-3.

Meanwhile Fernandez taking lessons from his mentors Foo and McNeil and with the maestro Alexander watching on, floated lifted flicked deceived and sometimes stuttered to a good victory 3-1 bewildering the young buck with a mix of slow slow quick quick slow.

CK at two was always in for a tough match v David Price. Similar in ability to their No1 he is a class act, tall powerfully built and very capable. Unfortunately CK could not get close and went down quickly in 3.

Treadwell (he of ginger pubes and car) was on v Alex Hartley at 1. Alex is Mark's bogey player as his game is not quite enough in every department against another very accomplished young player (Bucks County no5)
Despite a few old classic reverse angles and pokey trademark volleys the magic wasn't quite there and MT went down 0-3 

Talking of 'Magic' (did you see what I did there..) Toby was up at 5 after a long break from div 1 squash and was up against Ossie Mustapha. Both players are larger than the average bear but fast fit and give the ball a good whack. At 5 Ossie is almost unbeatable so this was a v.tough challenge for Johnson. After a weak 1st game letting his oppo dominate the play, he dug in for the 2nd and came close to taking a game. Unfortunately the momentum could not be sustained and the 3rd went away too quickly.
So a 17-4 loss, all over by 9.15, the normal Basmati slops (chaps - do we want this again next year..??), a couple of pints and all done by 10.30.

As it stands looks like we will be a creditable but distant 4th place of 8 teams after 21 matches..
The season was also notable for the lack of a regular Lions team with 20 players representing the Lions.
Thanks to everyone who played up.

Roll on the Club Champ's and Summer Racketball.

Thanks
Dirty