Sidmouth Squash Club, as predicted, ran out comfortable victors over second from bottom club Dartington 3rds, writes Rob Cann.

Rob Cann set the ball rolling with a comprehensive 15-8, 15-4, 15-7 win over fellow fifth string Ed Pettinger. Rob didn’t allowed Ed to settle and punished every loose shot to contiue his winning run since the mid season break.

Fourth string Paul Clare, despite losing the opener, won comfortably against Dartington's Ian Bailey.

The opening tie-break loss only galvanised Paul’s resolve and he raced through the next three games to win 16-17, 15-7, 15-11,15-7. The team result was secured when second string Chris Marriott beat opponent Andy Newsom in straight games. Andy never really got to grips with Chris's game and, try as he did, he could not halt Chris's winning sequence eventually going down 11-15, 10-15, 6-15.

The rubber of the evening took place at third string when a well below par Dave Maskill scrambled home 3-2 against Dartington's Giles Clayden.

Dave squandered numerous opportunities and became increasingly frustrated at being unable to close out rallies and games. The match eventually concluded in the fifth game, which Dave did win, however, he was extremely unhappy with the performance.

The evening play was concluded with a well-deserved victory for Sidmouth top string Nigel Desousa. Having lost out to opponent Pete Exley at Dartington in November, Nigel was determined to reverse the scores. The eventual 15-12, 15-9, 15-13 result was a complete reverse of the 2-3 result back in November and testament to Nigel’s improvement week on week.

The win gave captain Rob Cann selection problems leading into the do or die tie with leaders Newton Abbot where a win would go a long way to securing a top two place and promotion.