York RI 1 v York 7

York 7 had won the league with a game to spare, they have gone through the season with 1 loss against their own club side York 8 first match of the season, since then they averaged 17 points per match, something we achieved only 4 times in the whole season. So favourites for the win we were not.

Playing at 5 Peter took the glass back. York 7 Captain Brian got the evening rolling with a display of accurate winners to the front.
Jess played the quality squash everyone thinks they play against ex-RI regular Tom who’s relentless retrieval game was enough for the win in 3.
Rob employed his usual slightly frantic power game and was looking good but Gordon saw off the challenge in four tight games.
Richard pitted his game against Ed, an ex-RI regular who at 6’4″ is inches taller than anyone at the RI currently. A range-finding first game pushed Ed deep and with the heat still up from the Jess’ match (I sometimes wonder if Jess is cold-blooded) both players slowly took on the appearance of tomatoes. An impressive win from Richard in 4 given the success of his opponent through the season.
The delightful York 7 no. 1 Chris played a great attack but came up short against the retiring York RI Captain Ian Ball, the match being a fairly good example of Chris’ strong short game and Ian’s dislike of playing people with a strong short game. A good reminder that the game score of squash really hides the tale of the match, a 3-1 win to Ian which was 55-51 in points, super tight.

Ian B v Chris H – 3-1
Richard D v Ed F – 3-1
Rob H v Gordon L – 1-3
Jess D v Tom R – 0-3
Peter R v Brian L – 0-3

York RI 1 v York 7
7-16

To boost our confidence, we can look at the number of points York 7 won against their opponents throughout the season. Going into the match with an average of 17 points per fixture, our strong away performance in the first half of the season, it gave us the chance to end the season with a better-than-average performance against the division winners.
We needed to limit York 7 to 19 points, which meant that if one player won a game, that would suffice. However, with two of us securing the W, York finished the season with an average of 16.94 points. Notably, against RI1, they scored just 30 points across the two fixtures, marking their lowest score of the season. I am proud of that accomplishment.

After the match the winners were awarded the Eddie Fisher Trophy for the winners of Div 5. Named after the Thornton Le Dale stalwart of 20 years playing in the 5th division, Eddie sadly succumbed to depression in 2024 and we have named this trophy in his memory.

York & District Squash League 2024/25 Division 5 Winners York 7
L-R: Gordon L, Ed F, Chris H, Captain Brian L, Johnny V, Tom R

Last point in our 2024/25 season.