A tough baptism for the team tonight, as Carlisle rolled into town with a strong looking B team aiming to get their season off to a flyer. With a couple of early season absentees in the Windscale ranks, our strength in depth was tested and to their credit the 'old stagers' at 4 and 5  had their chances.

At number 5, Dave Hetherington lost a tight opening game that had gone either way up to 11 all against Peter Fox, but couldn't press home the crucial points and lost the first game 11/15. The second was equally tight with nothing between them for the first 12 points, but Dave conceded the next 10 points to lose easily 7/15. Up against it in the tie 2 down, he chipped away in the third to lead at 13/11, but Peter dug deep to retrieve the game and take the tie 13/15 for a 3-0 win.

Steve Carr was next on against Dave Lindsey and a hard hitting game ensued, with Dave taking the first 15/8. Undaunted, Steve reduced the arrears with a steadier performance in the second game to force it into a tie-break and take it 17/15. The third game followed the pattern of the first exactly with Steve making errors and Dave thundering the ball into the back corners for winners, Steve losing it 8/15. As hard as Steve tried he couldn't stop the head of steam that Dave built up and he lost the fourth and the tie 10/15, 1-3.

Mark Hall at number 3 started slowly against Ronnie Carter, but pegged him back midway through the game to 6/7, but the wheels dropped off from there to the end of the first as Ronnie reeled off the next 8 points to take the first 6/15. Mark realised that he needed fewer errors to have a chance and tidied his second game up, so much in fact that Ronnie, other than a four point run when 10/5 down wasn't really in it until then, but Mark recovered taking the remaining points to level the tie 15/10, 1-1. Mark wasn't close in the third as Ronnie hit 6 winners, before Mark bothered the scorer, and then another 6 for good measure to leap ahead, that game was Ronnie's 15/4. The fourth was closer but no cigar for Mark! The points were being shared and at 5/4, 7 all, 10/11 it was anyone's game, Mark even led at 12/11 but couldn't keep it going and Ronnie snuck by to take the fourth and the tie 12/15, 1-3.

Gavin, playing to restore some team morale at 3-0 down came as close as he could in three games to win yet had nothing to show for it on the scorecard. The first game saw Gavin 4/8 down against the wily old Dave Box, until he picked his game up to level the game at nine all, and then they exchanged points until it was 12 all, as had happened in previous games throughout the night the Windscale boys couldn't convert their final few points and Gavin lost the opener 12-15. Undeterred Gavin raced clear in the second game by 5 clear points, only to lose the lead by the time they had played the next 12 points between them, Gavin dug in and forced the pace again but Dave had all the answers to get to game ball. Not giving up Gavin chipped away at Dave's lead until he forced the tie-breaker at 14/14, but that was his lot and Dave took the 2 points needed to win 16/14. The third was a tight affair, with these two well matched and with never more than 2 points between them inevitably it was soon tie-break time again, with as before Gavin not adding to his score losing 14/16, 0-3.

Last up was Andrew Kelly against Tony Hetherington, and in the first game both players got runs of points going, Andrew to lead and Tony to pull the scores close, Andrew to lead again and Tony to repeat the feat, but Andrew pulled away at the end to take the first 15/10. Tony tightened up in the second and Andrew struggled to get points on the board, Tony taking it 15/9 to level the game scores. Andrew was more focussed in the third and a run of early points got him well clear only to see his opponent pull the deficit back and level things at 11 points apiece. Tony was on a bit of a roll and got to game ball, Andrew saved one but couldn't force the tie break, losing 13/15, to go 1-2 down. A herculean effort by both players in the fourth where neither could eke out any advantage on the other saw the score level at 6 all, and it was Tony that pushed on going clear at 13/7 to virtually guarantee the win, but Andrew pulled it back to 11/13 before losing another point, and with Tony serving for the game it looked all over. But once more Andrew fought back with a couple of points to make Tony twitch as the score got to 13/14 and back in the balance, however a mishit from Tony that jumped out of the front corner into mid court wrong-footed Andrew and despite just reaching it Andrew caught the top of the tin with his expected winner to lose the game and tie 13/15, 1-3.

So with not a lot to show for a nights good squash, it's back to the drawing-board for the team who have played one of the potentially best teams in the league first-up!