Posh & Dukes-sponsored Sidmouth Squash Club's up and down season continued with a disappointing team performance at Blundell's School, Tiverton, writes Rob Cann.

The 3-2 defeat saw Sidmouth drop from top spot to fourth, but the 10 points secured in defeat mean the team stay in touch with the promotion places.

Rob Cann defeated Tivvy's fifth string Greg Birchmore 15-4, 15-13, 16-17, 13-15, 15-12, playing extremely well early on, he should have won in straight games. Despite allowing a two game lead disappear, he won in the end.

On the adjacent court, Paul Symington, elevated to second string, almost pulled off a famous win against one of the best second strings in the league, Alistair King.

Paul won the opening two games. A lull in intensity saw the third disappear with ease and, with energies expelled, Paul had to admit defeat when losing games four and five to hand Alistair the win 15-10; 15-9; 3-15; 6-15; 9-15.

Sidmouth lost the fourth string match when home captain Chris Boumphrey defeated Sidmouth's Paul Clare. In a seesaw rubber, it came down to a deciding fifth game to separate the players. Chris eventually secured the rubber 15-8, 10-15, 17-16,11-15, 11-15.

After an excellent run of form Alick Russell was elevated to third string and, against a tricky player, with excellent touch, he had to be patient and come from 1-2 down to win. The 17-15, 12-15, 8-15, 15-9, 15-11 scoreline was testament to Alick's perseverance and fitness.

The outcome of the match rested on the top string pairing of Tivvy’s Simon Kingston and Sidmouth’s Nigel Desousa. Having never beaten Nigel in their previous seven meetings, Simon was determined to end the run and capitalised on home advantage with excellent lobbing to find the dead back corners with regularity, Nigel dug in and was extremely unlucky to lose the opening tie-break on a dead backwall nick. From then on, although very much in the rubber, Nigel could not force enough errors or find the winning shot allowing Simon to win the second and third games to conclude the rubber 15-17; 11-15; 12-15.

Tiv’n 2nds 3 (18 pts), Sidmouth 2 (10 pts).