DARREN Gray lived up to his number one seeding with victory in the premier Schwabe Trophy at Bourne Club’s squash finals night.

Gray and Richard Hargreaves, two of the club’s best players, met in the final. Hargreaves had played sparkling squash to reach the final, but could not reproduce that form and Gray controlled the match with tight shots and good length to which his opponent had no answer. Gray ran out a 3-0 winner, 9-2, 9-2, 9-2.

In the handicap final, fourth-team captain Alan Carpenter was unable to overcome an eight-point deficit against dark horse Clive Bertram who played squash above his handicap level. Carpenter was unable to get close enough to put pressure on and Bertram won in three, 15-5, 15-9, 15-11.

The doubles was a re-run of the previous four finals, with Jonny Calow and Dan Kirkland proving too strong a pairing for Ian Baird and Joe Collett. Although the rallies were long, Calow and Kirkland had all the answers and made it five titles in row with a 15-9, 15-13, 15-8 victory.

Perhaps the closest squash came in the Plate competitions, with a thrilling finale to the doubles. John Holmes and Bedford Lloyd claimed the narrowest of victories with a last-gasp winner in the fifth over Alan Cave and Soh Anwar. All the games were close and with the long rallies, the final lasted well over an hour, the score being 15-10, 12-15, 12-15, 15-13, 15-14.

Anwar had to go straight back on court to play Grant Miller in the handicap Plate final. Again, it was a see-saw match and again Anwar lost out, 15-13, 15-12, 12-15, 12-15, 15-12.

Not content with these two marathons , Soh Anwar dragged himself on court yet again for the final of the Schwabe Plate. Showing signs of exhaustion, Anwar surrendered 3-0 to Clive Bertram, who collected his second trophy of the evening.