R7: Nottingham suffer at Pontefract

psl-nottingham
psl-nottingham

Round 7: Air-IT Nottingham vs Pontefract

On Tuesday Air-IT Nottingham travelled to bottom of the league Pontefract for a relegation clash. Nottingham were missing their no.1 meaning all squad players would be playing higher up than normal.

With Pontefract fielding two National Champions from The Netherlands and Austria and a player who reached the British National finals at the weekend, it was always going to be a tough night.

5 Hana Ramadan (0) v Fiona Moverly (3) 5-11, 10-12, 9-11

The Nottingham University no.1 Ramadan found the going tough at the start of the night being beaten 11/6 in the opening game. The second and third games were close. Ramadan was moving well and hitting hard but Moverly is in great form at the moment and too much of the match revolved around her length and accurate straight attack. 3-0 to Moverly

4 Matthew Broadberry (1) v Patrick Rooney (3) 7-11, 5-11, 11-9, 3-11

The opening match on court 4 saw Broadberry battle hard against another inform Pontefract player Patrck Rooney. The first game went Pontefract’s way, 11/6 with Rooney controlling the middle and Broadberry having to work hard to stay in contention. The second game followed a similar pattern with Rooney controlling most of the play.

To Broadberry’s credit he stuck in, kept pushing and was rewarded in the third, taking the game 11/9 to give Air-IT Nottingham their first point of the evening. A tough third seemed to have taken its toll by the start of the fourth with Rooney again gaining control of the middle and with it the game

 3 Mark Fuller (3) v Aqeel Rehman (2) 7-11, 11-6, 11-1, 5-11, 11-7

This was always going to be a tough encounter with two fit and fast players on a hot court. The first went Rehman’s way 11/7 only for Fuller to find a way back in the second. By the third game Fuller looked to be well in control taking the game 11/1. The run of form was not to last with Rehman pushing hard in the fourth to level the game and set up a decider.

The fifth started off tight only for Fuller to pull away in the middle to take Air-IT Nottingham’s first match of the night.

2 Chris Fuller (0) v Laurens Jan Anjema (3) 4-11, 6-11, 9-11

Anjema stared the match hitting hard punishing lengths into the back corners pushing Fuller away from the middle. After losing the first game 11-4, Fuller came back strong at the start of the second. Up to 6-6 there was nothing to separate the two players and the squash was a very good level with both players hitting tight and accurately.

It was a tough end to the game for Fuller with Anjema finding some good winners to take the game 11-6. The third started the same way with both players again hitting well but in the end Anjema had slightly better quality, closing out the game 11-9.

1 Eddie Charlton (0) v James Willstrop (3) 4-11, 7-11, 7-11

With the match already over, a very entertaining game finished the night to seal a 4-1 victory for Pontefract. Charlton played well throughout but Willstrop is back playing well and in the end was too clinical for the Nottingham talisman.

Air-IT Nottingham are now struggling near the foot of the PSL table only 9 points away from bottom. The next match is at home in two weeks time against Coolhurst in a must win match to avoid relegation.

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