BOTH the Okehampton squash teams experienced a downturn in form over the last weeks, suffering a number of heavy defeats.

Okehampton first team travelled to Exeter Golf and Country with a weakened team and missing Phil Kemsley at string one. With Tom Parsons making his first appearance for the team it was always going to be a tough battle to pick up points and they went down to a heavy 2-20 defeat.

Okehampton second team welcomed a strong Fort Stamford team to the club. Again, the team were always going to face a tough battle but it was not helped by a couple of players being off-form on the night.

Jack Barkwell at string five put in a battling performance, eventually going down 2-3 and at string one Shawn Jones continued his fine form and excellent mobility around the court but also went down 1-3.

The second team made the long journey away to Barnstaple, and this time it was the seconds turn to have a couple of important players missing. Both Pete Twort and Dave Harwood stepped into the team and both enjoyed tight battles against their seasoned opponents, eventually losing 2-3. Both Jack Barkwell and Stuart Lord struggled a little playing up, with both going down 0-3. With Shawn Jones unavailable, in the string one match Shane Vallance had a series of long rallies against a skilled opponent but also eventually went down 0-3. This resulted in a heavy 4-20 loss. Both teams hope to field stronger teams in the coming weeks and begin to pick up more points.