Highlands and Islands Squash Association league: Forres B fail to make Premier Division split as Inverness B prove too strong

For the last game of the Highlands and Islands Squash Association qualifier league campaign, Forres B would vie with Inverness B to decide if they would end up finishing the season post qualifier league split in the top Premier League or the lower First Division half.

Neil Martin started proceedings for Forres as he took to court against Alan Lobban.

The first game saw Lobban open up a midpoint margin before Martin came right back into contention with some excellent early takes.

At 9-9 Lobban found the killing shots to take the first game 11-9.

The second game saw Martin right on his game and edging the rallies but Lobban was hanging tough keeping right on his tail. Martin will rue this one, as he snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, missing five game points and losing in extra points to let Lobban back in to rob him 14-12 and steal the second game from his grasp.

The third game saw a slightly deflated Martin succumb 11-5 to Lobban who sealed the deal on a 3-0 match victory.

Forres player Billy Montgomery was next on court to face Ness man Dave Massey.

'Monty' was right off the pace in the first game and before he knew what was happening Massey had taken the game 11-3.

The second game saw a much better performance from the Forres man and although it was a tight one he won out 11-9.

Unfortunately Montgomery's hopes of a glorious recovery with that second game win were short-lived. Try as he might he fell foul too often to Massey’s short game and although the next two games were close, Massey had the edge to take them 11-7 and 11-8, taking the match 3-1.

Attention now focused on the number two seed match - could Robbie Watson get Forres back on track with a win against opponent Dan Jenkins?

Watson was right in it in the first game but a slow start saw Jenkins get a four point lead and this gave the Forres man just too much to do. The Forres player just missed out going down 11-9 to Jenkins.

The exertions of the first game saw a tired Watson go down 11-5 to the clinical finishing of Jenkins in the second game.

Watson came back all guns blazing in the third in a nip-and-tuck game but unfortunately at 8-7 his game unravelled slightly as he went too tight for winners.

Jenkins played the better percentages at the end game to win out 11-8 and take the match 3-0. Inverness B were now 3-0 up in matches and 9-1 on points.

Could Graeme Spreng bring some consolation to the night's proceedings for Forres against the exceptional talent of Inverness number one seed player, Jamie Mackay?

In short the answer was no. Spreng was on the rough end of the dreaded 11-0 “'Granny' as he was blown away by the enigmatic bullish talent of Mackay.

Things improved only slightly for Spreng, who was not playing badly, he was just up against an exceptional and resolute player in Mackay. Without further ado Mackay swept to victory taking the next two games 11-4 and 11-1 to seal another 3-0 match victory for Inverness.

In summary this sound defeat by Inverness B (4-0 in matches, 11-1 in points) would see Forres B complete the HISA League season in the First Division post qualifier League split. Inverness B will rightly take their place in the Premier Division.