A stunning first season for the Grafton third team saw them win Division 9 with a game to spare.
Little did they know on 7th October that the first match of the season was also to be the most important and provided a springboard to future success. A 5-0 win over their nearest rivals Warlingham was not quite as easy as it sounds as four of the matches were won 3-2 and in two of these our heroes came from 0-2 down!
Even a supper of sausages on sticks, which left one Antipodean team member wondering what she had let herself in for, could not dampen this debut win. Following up this impressive performance with a win against Ebbisham made the team early season favourites for the title and after eight successive wins before Xmas with the loss of only four matches the title seemed done and dusted. Roll on Xmas and the team dually returned to action and were beaten for the first time, going down 3-2 at Ebbisham. At the time a disappointing result – but a wake up call – and another six successive victories followed – pivotal being the home 3-2 win against Warlingham (coming from 1-2 down).
By the end of the season the team were truly invincible with Sutton throwing in the towel without a fight. Many players excelled. Captain, Chris Pierce, played the most games winning 9 of 13, and Will Excell and Neil Henderson both went through the season unbeaten.
Special mention to; Brett Cockbill – the first player to lose a match(!), Karen Michalakis – our first female team member for many years who lost to an 11 year old; Richard Nicol – the tallest person in League 9.
Playing regular team squash has improved the games of many of the team but the most improved player and undisputed player of the year must go to Graeme Emerson with a clean sweep of a dozen wins – even taking time out for a mid-season break in Barbados did not derail the cunning Scot! Well done to everyone and lets hope that the core of the team can stay together to take on the challenge of League 8.
THIRD TEAM LEAGUE CHAMPIONS
| P | W | L | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Team | 15 | 14 | 1 |
| Graeme Hogarth | 9 | 8 | 1 |
| Brett Cockbill | 8 | 7 | 1 |
| Julian Sanders | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Neil Henderson | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Chris Pierce | 13 | 9 | 4 |
| Richard Nicol | 8 | 5 | 3 |
| Graham Emerson | 12 | 12 | 0 |
| Karen Michalakis | 7 | 5 | 2 |
| Will Excell | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| Richard Barker | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Peter Gray | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Tim Martin | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Jeremy Chantry | 1 | 0 | 1 |
