SQUASH: Thornbury B can celebrate their great promotion

A GOOD-spirited Thornbury B team secured promotion to the Bristol and District Premier C division with a match to go by beating Gordano A by four matches to one.

There were good 3-0 wins for Mark Toseland and Chris Hutchence but tough matches for the other players on the night.

Dale Curtis dug deep and fought back from 2-1 down to win his match 3-2.

Alex Mcmillan got off to a blistering 9-1, 9-1 start but the match slipped away from him and lost 3-2.

The final match saw Justin Edwards lose the first two games but turned on the gas in the third to win 9-0 and went on to win the match 3-2. It has been a very good season for the B team, losing only once so far and the chance to clinch the division title next week.

The C team lost 3-18 this week to David Lloyd “Lovecars”. Steve Morely, David Macdonald, Nigel Tovey and Cliff Hall all lost 0-3 to very strong opposition.

Mick Dixon played well at fifth string though to win 3-2 against a very awkward opponent.

The “Mick Flick” drop shot was pulled out of the hat a few times, and much admired by the opposition after the game.

It is mathematically possible for the C team to survive in Division One this year but will require very big wins in the last two matches of the season.

The D team got a vital win away against Shepton Mallett winning by three matches to two. Colin Preece cruised through his match to take it 3-0 whilst Viv Bailey-Gard always looked in control during a 3-1 win. Ian Johnson dug deep to win what turned out to be the deciding rubber by taking it 3-2 after a gruelling encounter. Nick Clifton lost out 3-1 whilst Pete Bowen lost 3-0 to his hard hitting opponent. The D team are now second in the league but in this extremely tight division could either gain promotion or even be relegated with one game to go.

Thornbury E suffered a disappointing loss in their last game of the season against Weston. Missing two key players to unfortunate circumstances, the Es lost out in all five of their matches.

Graham Dono put up the best fight of the evening being edged out 3-2 whilst James Jenkins and Matt Brown lost out 3-1 with Nigel Ball and Ian Doherty failing to pick up any games. It looks likely that the E team will finish third out of the five teams in the league which is probably a fair position given the levels of squash played over the season.