Warrington travelled to the Welsh Dragons of Wrexham, and satisfyingly picked up 19 points. It always helps when we're armed with World No.9 Joel Makin, and teenage sensation, Jonah Bryant. However, it was certainly not plain sailing.

 

Lewis Doughty was first on against World Top 10 Tesni Murphy (Evans). Lewis was feeling fatigued after a trip to Ireland at the weekend, followed by two very long days in Birmingham doing his level 3 coaching course. After a full day of the mostly boring course, the last thing he actually felt like doing was to play squash. He's a professional and he went out and overpowered Tesni to take the first game. The second was not going great as he struggled mentally, and Tesni made the match 1-1. Lewis was a little worked up and was struggling to think clearly. A few wise words from his coach which he took on board, helped him relax and focus on playing quality, accurate squash. Lewis dug deep and found some quality, and won the next two games. This was a match he was expected to win, but Tesni played amazingly well and Lewis really did do well to re-find his composure to claim an important victory (Below).

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, things were not going well for Ollie. He was up against the big Josh Davies. Josh was absolutely 'on it'. Volleying everything he could and rarely catching the tin which he so often does. Ollie looked sluggish but still pushed hard and forced a deciding set, but alas, Josh came up with some sublime volley drop winners and Ollie had to succumb to a 3-2 defeat (Below).

 

 

 

Our superstars Joel and Jonah totally dominated their opponents to both win 3-0. Joel, the Welsh No.1 played Owain Taylor, Welsh No.3. 18-year-old Jonah played 19-year-old, Welsh No.4 Rhys Evans, and showed the Welsh youngster that he has reached another level already. Rhys is an excellent player. He plays very fast, but that is not intimidating to the calm and incredibly mobile Jonah (Below).

 

 

 

 

 

Last on was Charlie. Charlie was cutting the ball into the front corners for fun. he too dominated to win 3-0 (Below). So, overall it was a satisfying night for us, as we extended our lead at the top of the table to 6 points.

 

 

 

Andy Whipp

Photos: Richard Bradbury