Thorpe Bay A were in ruthless mood in the Premier Division of the Southend and District Table Tennis League as they only dropped three legs all evening to an Irons A side packed with experience. John Poysden, Joe Kennedy and man of the match Paul Sayer eased to a 9-0 win to cement their place in top spot.

Thorpe Bay B knew they were in for a tough night as two of the first three games of their match against Brand Identity A went the distance. However through three wins for Kieran Skeggs and two apiece for Gurj Bhambra and Richard Stubbington they managed to take the match 7-2.

In the final game of this week it was another Masterclass from Hockley A’s Andy Cunningham, who picked up three wins against a Rawreth C side of Babul McLeod, Steve Tilson and Tim Cramphorn. Hockley completed a 6-3 win as Ian Wall (2) and Sanjay Saptarshi added to Cunningham’s hat trick.

In Division 1 second placed Lentern B continued their recent fine run of form with an 8-1 demolition of visitors Canvey A. Martin Archie’s hat trick made him Player of the Match, but it was a close call between him and colleague Peter Lucraft, who was also unbeaten. Peter had to work hard, though, to overcome Canvey’s Lee McGonagle, eventually squeezing home 11-8 in the fifth. Ian Cranstone got Lentern’s other two wins, but missed out to Ray Wilson in the very first rubber of the evening. A Mick Grout maximum gave him a well-deserved POM accolade for leaders Brand Identity B as they overcame Hockley C 6-3. A special mention has to go to the visitor’s Joerg Poeschus for inflicting only the fourth defeat of the season upon the home side’s Barrie Delf. Barrie went on to take two other wins and Adam Jackman added another, whilst Harry Sawford got one for the visitors and Joerg ended up with two wins.

Rawreth D’s George Davis was unfortunate to be on the losing side when his team entertained third place Invicta A. Young George won all his contests and rightly took the POM award. However, two wins each for Invicta’s Steve Marr, Lee Marson and Tony Ayliffe leaves them still in contention at the top.

A Peter Weatherall hat trick was the main stay in Stanford Le Hope A’s home win over Hadleigh Forum B. Peter was assisted by two wins from Pat White in a 5-4 victory. Skipper Dave Woolmer was Forum’s star, taking two wins, with Anthon Ranjit-Singh and Tony Jacks managing one each. It was a close match with some great games, and the result wasn’t finally settled until the fifth set of the final rubber of the evening.

Visiting Hockley B were victors over Rawreth E, thanks to the unbeaten David Colwell, whose trio of successes gave him the POM award in a 6-3 win for Hockley. Team mate Stuart Adshead added two wins and Keith Abbott one. For the home side, Trevor Ward won two and Gary McCarthy won one.

There were two thrilling last gasp 5-4 victories in Division 2 as an Evie Knaapen inspired Hullbridge A edged out Stanford B and a Tony Westwell inspired Canvey B did the same to Wakering.

Evie took three more big scalps in her match beating Chris Crooks, Robert Salvage and Steve King only dropping one set in the process, and with Debbie O’Neill and Jack Riley both beating the luckless Steve King, Hullbridge now sit very comfortably above the relegation places. Chris and Robert shared the points for Stanford.

At the other end of the table Wakering have now fallen out of the promotion places suffering their third successive defeat and Canvey B are now just three points behind them in fourth place. Tony Westwell’s hat trick and a brace from Terry Giddens made the difference, while Zac England got a brace and there was a point each for Paul England and Stewart Mills.

In contrast to the other games Hadleigh Forum C couldn’t have had an easier win than their 9-0 demolition of a two man Selbourne side. Graham Farmer, David Thomas and Satwant Gill shared the honours for Hadleigh who maintain their second placed position in the league now fifteen points clear of Wakering, albeit having played a game more.

Runnymede have only won two games this season but all their defeats have been by 5-4 or 6-3 score lines and unfortunately for them that run continued against leaders RESSC losing 6-3. Bob Skews picked up his sixth POTM award of the season with another hat trick dropping just one set all night, and he was supported by a brace from Richard Gill and one win from Mike Worship who got out of his sick bed to play. Phil Digby got two wins for Runnymede and Dmitry Kisil got one.

MegaZone lost ground in their pursuit of Hockley D at the top of the table in Division 3 after they were beaten 7-2 by Stanford C. Mark Farley and, player of the match, Vaughan Chambers both put in unbeaten performances, with Randy Santiago adding the extra point.  Jonathan Allen and Steve McQuillan with a point each for MegaZone.

Meanwhile, Hockley D took advantage with a 7-2 win over third placed Invicta D, who, with games in hand, were looking to break into the top two.  It was not to be unfortunately, as hat-tricks from Jeremy Giffin and Tony Molisso and a single win from John George did the damage. Invicta’s points came from Sarah Ball and Michael Keeble. A blank night for David Barnes but he came close in his game against John, but eventually went down 8-11, 13-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9.

A fine maximum from Canvey C’s Trevor Hayes proved to be in vain as his side went down 6-3 to Hullbridge B for whom there were 2 wins each for Roger Sherman, Dan Stewart and Alex Deacon.  The closest game of the night saw Trevor just get the better of Alex, eventually winning 11-7, 11-13, 9-11, 13-11, 11-9.