Duffield Squash Club hosted stage one of the men’s Inter County Championship consisting of teams from Derbyshire 2, Cumbria, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire 2.
Three Duffield players were involved for Derbyshire, John Slater, Kyle McBride and Sam Yallop although McBride failed a late fitness test before the event started. Derbyshire narrowly took 2nd place to make the play offs, Yorkshire comfortable finished top with Cumbria and Lincolnshire finishing 3rd and 4th respectively.
After getting off to a flying start beating Lincolnshire 3-2, Derbyshire were soon put back down to earth with a 5-0 drumming by Yorkshire. This left Derbyshire needing to beat Cumbria in their last game to make the play offs. Things were looking good for Derbyshire as they took a 2-0 lead with Sam Yallop and Mitchell Cook winning 3-0, but Cumbria son fought back, as Paul Bell and James Worsick levelled their matches.
The crucial match took place on the show court in what turned out to be a fiercely contested and often controversial affair. Derbyshire’s Tom Gregory held sway in the decider taking it 11-7, 10-12, 12-10, 12-10 after 69 minutes to put Derbyshire in the play offs!