So after a massive scramble on my part, the 2009 Squash Championship finished in a draw.
The season really was a tale of two stories.
The first half was mine.
I stormed into a 5-1 lead and had won five matches on the bounce before the season was put on hold as Ciaran was born (April) and Robert succumbed to a nasty back injury. We didn't play for months.
When we both returned to the court, I had put on about a stone in weight and was feeling unfit, really unfit.
I remember that match well. Late summer in Houghton Regis.
I'd got myself into a 4-2 lead. Then I felt my legs completely give up on me in the seventh set and had absolutely no energy left in them whatsoever. Every shot that required me to turn and chase was agony and I lost the set. 4-3 now.
No sooner had the eighth set begun when I felt my deteriorating right hamstring get really tight. I was like a man on one leg at that point and Robert kindly offered to stop, but I didn't want to default the set. I played on and lost it anyway. How sensible. The game finished 4-4.
My fitness that night, or lack of it, gifted Robert a draw in a game I should have won.
But if only I'd known how significant that result would be in the season, I might have tried to work on my fitness beforehand.
That bloomin match, in grubby, sweaty, decrepit Houghton Regis leisure centre (my least favourite venue and one were I have a bad record), was the turning point for Robert.
He was relieved to have ended a five match losing streak and it gave him a much-needed confidence boost. My game thereafter, well, let's just say it fell to pieces.
I lost the next five matches on the spin, a disastrous spell that also saw me break two rackets, struggle to get used to a new racket and suffer some shocking, morale-sapping defeats.
I don't know how many times I came home to my beleagured wife and threaten to quit squash for good. Yeah.
My local sports store had also stopped stocking my favourite racket - Head, Liquidmetal 125 - and I'd invested in a crappy Dunlop. I'm not being funny, but it felt like I was swinging with a piece of balsa wood. My wrist vibrated every time I hit the ball.
Enough was enough. I decided to mail order my old racket. Don't know why I hadn't done it before, really.
It made an instant impact.
Lighter yet much, much more absorbent and sturdy. The power flooded back into my shots, and I thought I had the beating of Robert when I gave its first outing. I lost that match narrowly, 6-3, with loads of sets being decided by a fine margin.
So, it all came down to today.
I had to win for the first time since April, before little Ciaran or Brendan had even breathed their first, to save the Championship from going into Robert's grubby grasp for the first time ever.
He took a 2-0 lead without doing anything special, then a 3-1 lead.
A lot of his mis-hit shots were going in and a lot of my drop shots were missing by inches, and while I thought I was making better contact with the ball than he was, I was getting bloody cheesed off that I was 3-1 down.
The fifth set began. I was 7-4 down, but managed to win the next five points on the bounce to take the set 9-7. Scores now 3-2 to him in sets.
I felt I was in touching distance now and I was building up some momentum for the first time in ages, playing well and putting doubt in his mind. I took the next three sets strongly to take the game 5-3 and save the Championship.
We shook hands on a good year's work, but rather annoyingly, the season ended in an indecisive draw again. Scores below.
I'll be doing my utmost to make sure there's a winner in 2010.
2009
2-3
6-1
5-3
5-1
4-2
5-4
4-4
3-8
1-6
0-10
3-7
3-6
5-3
2009 finishes 6-6
Irish Daddy & Robert share the 2009 Squash Championship
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