AFTER the mid season Christmas break both of Okehampton’s squash teams returned to action with home games against Torquay squash club.

The firsts were up against Torquay fourths and went down in a close match. With Torquay only able to bring four players, the string five match was conceded.

At string four Dan Yeoman had a close match against a young opponent, just running out of steam to lose 2-3. In the string 3 match Justin Gliddon lost 1-3 while at string two Phil Allin enjoyed another epic encounter that involved plenty of hard running from both players. Phil pulled victory from the jaws of defeat by winning the final game 17-15 to win 3-2. This meant that the match hinged on Phil Kemsley’s encounter at string one. Despite a tight match, Phil eventually ran out of steam to lose 2-3. This meant a 2-3 defeat overall, 11-16 in points.

The second teams encounter was not quite as close against Torquay fifths. Both Tom Wilkins and Dave Harwood found it hard going against their respective opponents to lose the string five and four matches 0-3.

At string three Stuart Lord started brightly, winning the first game easily. However, the effects of recent illness meant that Stuart was unable to maintain momentum, eventually losing 1-3.

Shane Vallance at string two found good rhythm and width in his game to win 3-1. At string one match Shawn Jones also played some fine squash to accompany his hard running but came up against an opponent who just had a little too much - and Shawn eventually lost out 1-3 and the team 6-18 loss on points.