THE Okehampton squash teams had contrasting fortunes as they both travelled to the English Riviera for this week’s matches.

While the first team won their second consecutive match of the season at Paignton 3, the seconds went down to Torquay 4.

For the firsts Dan Yeoman at string 5 lost 1-3, being outmanoeuvred by his opponent’s width and good court movement. Justin Gliddon continued his strong start to his debut season with the team, winning 3-1 at string 4. Justin had too much variety of shot for his opponent — and more consistency — finishing a comfortable victory. 

Simon Ramsay at string 3 lost 0-3 after finding the pace of the game difficult after struggling with a strain to his back. Phil Allin at string 2 again won 3-2 against a seasoned opponent. He managed to throw his opponent through his pace round the court, and retrieving everything — keeping good pressure on. Phil Kemsley at string 1 had an excellent 3-0 win, using his touch game to good effect. 

Okehampton won 3-2 with a 15-9 point victory. 

Okehampton second team were given a strong start by a win for Dave Harwood at string 5 as he took taking the last two games strongly to prevail 3-2. Jack Barkwell lost 0-3 at string 3, with a similar scoreline for Stuart Lord at string 2.

Chris Elphick and Shawn Jones, at strings 3 and 1 respectively, both had tight and hard-fought matches against their opponents but eventually both went down 2-3. If these matches had gone the other way, then the team would have come away with a well-earned victory. Unfortunately for Oke they eventually went away with a 1-4 loss, or 7-19 in games.

This week both teams are back at home, with both playing teams from Newton Abbot.