Finals Night 2004
-click pictures to enlarge-

The Stamford Squash Club Finals, a culmination of competitions held through out the season with players John Plantranging in age from 8 to 60 plus, was recently held at the club courts. Afterwards the trophies were presented by John Plant.

Tania with the Juniors

The Junior section was the first to be played, with the under 11's starting proceedings. Liam Barnard and Sam Olver overcame some dogged resistance from Edward Barlow and Joseph Chedd in the semi finals to reach the final. The two juniors played with great skill with Liam dominating the front court he raced in to a 20 - 14 lead however Sam regained his focus and power to pull back to within a point , the comeback was short lived with Liam producing a powerful backhand drive to take the honours 21 points to 19.

The over 11's final was a family affair the first of three, between Josh and Will Goodwin a competitive tie with Josh prevailing 3 games 0. The victory testament to his many solo training sessions.

The juniors were presented with their trophies by Stamford Squash Clubs World Ranked ladies player Tania Bailey and were later privileged to play against their hero.

Sam Paul

The Copperstore on the night competition resulted in a father and son final between Paul and his son Sam De Brulais. Sam playing with great skill made all the running pushing his father to all areas of the court and eventually won 15 points to 7.

The Super Veterans competition for the over 55's was won by Mick Lewis who's contrast between power and a delicate lob serve proved to much for fellow Graham finalist Maurice Mosdell. The Super veterans plate competition was won by Graham Wright whom beat off a gutsy performance by Roger Banks 3 games to 1.

The veterans competition for over 45's saw Graham Wright beat Maurice Maurice Mosdell in the plate competition 3 games to 0 for his second trophy of the day.  The final of the veterans competition was a tense affair between Dave Dave Battersby and Mark Davies . Mark took a comfortable 2 games to 0 lead however Dave pegged the score back to 2-2 and the fifth game was a classic in which Dave had the edge and won 9-5 to win.

Ian

The Handicap final produced some exhilirating squash between Ian Burnhams driving game and Pauls Smith touch and lob style. Paul started on plus 1 to Ians scratch score with American scoring to 15 points each game. Ian took the first game and it was not long before the spectators realised that this would go to 5 games as Paul rallied and took the second it was nip and tuck all the way with the score in games reaching 2-2. Paul started the fifth the better of the two but Ian clung on, the score proceeded to 14 -10 in Pauls favour , Ian dug deep and played some of his best squash to take the tie 15-14.

John Lawrence

The Chase Plate competition for all players played with normal scoring was the culmination of the day. The plate competition with John Fields being pushed hard by Lawrence Ball and the score of 3-0 did not reflect how hard this final was.

The main event the final of the mens competition was contested by Paul York and his brother-in-law Richard Barker. Paul was looking for a record 10th Paul Richard mens title and their was trepidation in Richards play . Paul took the first game comfortably. However, Richard pulled himself together narrowly losing the second and then changed his tactics by playing more drop shots and took the third. Richards mobility made the fourth game eventful and his retrieval was something to behold. But Pauls power and experience took the fourth game and his tenth Championship 3-1.

In the pub.... Lawrence explaining what Rich should have done to beat Paul! Andrea and Mark Graham explaining the finer details of his wins to Martin Betts The Bailey Family Tania explaining to Paul why he dropped a game to Rich in the Final!
Paul York Speech...
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