Aspley and Northumberland win National Cup
17th June 2008by Paul Houghton
The listing was posted by England Squash
The National Cup Finals were held last weekend at Nottingham Squash Club, with David Lloyd Aspley and Northumberland taking the men’s and women’s titles respectively.
The National Cup features the winners of each County League Premier Division (or equivalent) taking part in a series of Area qualifying rounds culminating in the Finals weekend.
With four men’s teams and four women’s teams competing, the finals were run on one day, playing the semi finals in the morning and the 3/4 play off and final in the afternoon.
The Women’s National Cup was contested by four teams making their debut at the finals. The first semi final saw Warrington face Nottingham with the East Midland side edging victory 3-2, while Northumberland booked their place in the final beating Coventry 5-0 in the second semi.
Coventry and Warrington contested the 3/4 play off in great spirit, with Coventry taking the tie 3-2. Northumberland, led by current Girls U17 National Champion Kimberley Hay, proved too strong for Nottingham as they took the National Cup back to Northumbria with a 4-1 victory.
The Men’s semi finals saw David Lloyd Aspley take on a young Wycliffe College side. Wycliffe put up a great fight but were not strong enough, with DL Aspley going through to the final with a 5-0 victory. Abingdon then faced Hazelwood for the second final spot. Hazelwood were back for the second year running, after finishing 3rd in 2006/7, and they made sure they went one better by defeating Abingdon 4-1.
The final was a fiercely competitive one, and with the tie at 2-1 to Hazelwood the pressure mounted on the Underhill brothers from Aspley.
Rich Underhill, celebrating his 19th birthday, made it a double celebration by winning to make it 2-2 overall, and leaving it poised for a tense finish as Jon Underhill went into a 5 game battle with Hazelwood’s Keith Timms. The match lasted 78 minutes with Underhill the victor, clinching the National Cup to add to their Premier League and County Cup, making it a treble winning season for David Lloyd Aspley.
Team Captain Todd McQuilkin after the victory – “We still cant believe what we have achieved, it is amazing that in 3 years since we put this team together we have managed to do what no other team has done before by winning all 3 competitions! Next season we expect the chasing pack to strengthen their squads, which can only be a good thing for squash!”
David Lloyd Aspley- National Cup men's winners
David Lloyd Aspley with trophy
Wycliffe
Coventry
Abingdon