UNIVERSITY OF YORK 3-0 LANCASTER UNIVERSITY

York men's firsts squash team are a force to be reckoned with. On Saturday afternoon against Lancaster they were unstoppable.

Players were voicing fears before the fixture that York might not do so well this year, having lost many of their top players to graduation. But they need not have worried, as our boys stopped Lancaster winning even a single game in the whole fixture.

It was a great spectacle for the packed out crowd up in the cramped balcony, and we were all craning our necks to catch a glimpse of the exciting play below.

And we were certainly treated to some drama in the opening match. York's Myles Knight and Lancaster player Robert Gibson were both shouting and slamming the walls with frustration - though it seemed Knight's discontent was the closeness of his win in the first game. A two minute break before the next game, and he managed to get his head back in it, executing two more wins to take the match with ease.

Smart play from York's firsts had Lancastrians desperately diving from one side t'other in a hopeless attempt to catch up. A cheeky dummy here, a stunning counter there, and yet another 3-0 victory was just par for the course on Saturday afternoon.

The most exciting game came in the third match of five, the decider for the roses points given York's unbeaten performance. 2-0 up in games, the two lads took it right down to the wire for the win.

A blow-for-blow slog took the score of the third game to 6-6, and our man only edged ahead at 9-7. It seemed the Red Rose player was going to turn the situation around when a successful flurry took the score to 9-10 York.

But there was no chance, and that flurry turned out to be merely the final death throes of a battered and bruised Lancaster, as he was finished off 11-9, our boys taking the game, the match, and the Roses points, to a roaring cheer from the jubilant crowd.