St Andrews (1st) 4 – 8 Stirling (1st)
The University of Stirling 1st squad extended their winning start to the BUCS season on Saturday with a convincing 8-4 victory away to St. Andrews. They followed their whitewash in their opening fixture with a difficult start to the match as St Andrews won three out of the four singles matches.
The 1st team knew they were up against a tough side and this was reflected in team captain David Delday’s post match comments. He said ‘I thought the team played quite well. It was evident after the singles it was going to be a tough contest but I felt everybody rallied together in the level doubles, and in particular the mixed doubles was impressive.’
After a difficult opening to the match and heading into the men’s and women’s doubles matches 3-1 down after the singles it was important the squad played together well as a unit to achieve the desired outcome in the match. In particular, John McGlynn and Fraser Brydon played well as they performed well in the second men’s doubles match beating a good partnership from the St Andrews squad.
Overall it was a hard fought win for the University of Stirling side as they came from behind to record an 8-4 victory. Speaking of their opponents David Delday commented ‘I think the scoreline was a good reflection of the match. St. Andrews were stronger in the singles but we were the better team in the doubles.’
Strathclyde (2nd) 10 – 2 Stirling (2nd)
It was not as good a day for the badminton clubs 2nd team as they were well beaten by an impressive Strathclyde side. In the 2nd teams first season competing in the BUCS league it was definitely an eye opener for the side as to the quality they will be up against in the coming year.
Team captain Rory Cooper said ‘I knew it was going to be a difficult match, and I played the strongest team that I had available to me. However, I wasn’t expecting the Strathclyde team to be as strong as they were. They had a very different team from last year with a lot of new freshers and also people who were from their first team last year but had been replaced by yet stronger freshers.’
It was a difficult start to the season for the 2nd team against one of the strongest teams in the BUCS league. Captain Rory Cooper continued ‘In my opinion they will be one of the strongest teams that we will have to face this season. Although the team played well, I still feel slightly disappointed with the result as it doesn’t justify how well we played. At the end of the day Strathclyde were the better team and we are just moving on and focusing on our next match against West of Scotland this Saturday.’
Despite the loss, Rory Cooper remained upbeat about the forthcoming season and laid out his expectations for the team; ‘ Personally I just want the team to play as well as they can every week, put on a good performance and show a good attitude towards the game and their team mates. I think we stand a good chance of finishing near the top of the league table and I will continue to encourage the team to play to the best of their ability to try and achieve this aim.’
