Only two results to report on for week 5 of the Premier Division of the Southend & District Table
Tennis league but two resounding victories for two of the top sides.
Thorpe Bay are used to winning and often winning 9-0 but seldom will they come out from a game
having not lost a single set. But that is indeed what happened last week when they crushed Hockley
B by the maximum win margin. The result may have been slightly different but Hockley were
without their talisman Andy Cunningham who may have troubled the triumphant Thorpe Bay trio of
Paul Sayer, John Poysden and Ian Wall.
The second game was nearly as one-sided as a Rawreth A side of Liam Squirrell, Kevin Read and
Charles Sweeny beat Hadleigh Forum A 8-1. Neal Barker with a good consolation win for Forum over
Sweeny.

Lentern consolidated their position at the top of the Division 1 table with a comprehensive demolition of home side Hockley C. Only Hannah Harbour, playing up from Division 3, offered any resistance for Hockley, as Lentern ran out 8 – 1 winners. Hannah’s five set win over John Tendler was one of the biggest upsets so far this season.

An 8 – 1 home win for Stanford Le Hope A over RESSC moved them up into second place. Mitchell Jones was their POM with a maximum, a feat matched by colleague Peter Weatherall. Veteran Mike Worship got the visitors’ consolation, overcoming Ian Sangster.

Stalwart Trevor Ward’s steady defensive style was the foundation for Rawreth Megazone C’s home win over Canvey A. His hat trick, together with two wins from Garry Hartgrove and one from Gary McCarthy, saw them come out 6 – 3 winners. Ray Wilson got two wins, and Joanna Hills one for Canvey.

Invicta A had a similar 6 – 3 result when they entertained Rawreth Megazone D. Steve Marr was again POM with three wins, with Tony Ayliffe adding two, and Lee Marson one. Cleon Fernandes was the away side’s most successful player with two wins, whilst Adi Kamma got their other victory.

The clash of the two Hadleigh Forum sides saw the “away” B team easily overcome their C team hosts 7 – 2. Paul Fawell was POM, winning all his ties, as did team mate Tony Jacks. Mark Everard and Tony Mace recorded one win each for the “home” side.

Mapledene and Brand Identity B contested a close-fought match, with Brand edging it 5 – 4. Skipper Barrie Delf was again POM and made the difference on the night. Jenny Harrison and Mick Grout got their side’s other successes. Dawn Baldry and Mike Johnston each won two for Mapledene.

The youngsters of Matchpoint A finally found themselves up against some stiff opposition this week in Division 2 as they came up against promotion hopefuls Wakering both teams with unbeaten records so far. The fact that Matchpoint just came out on top in this one, 5-4, was down to the sparkling form of teenage protégé Evie Knaapen who maintained her own unbeaten record with the perfect hat trick. This included the scalp of Callum Turner who, prior to this, had not dropped a set so far, let alone a game. Callum has already experienced life in Division 1 and the Premier league so this is a good indication of just how far Evie can go. James Elliot provided the support with two good wins against Zac and Paul England whilst Callum had to be satisfied with two wins against James and Lucy Elliot. Paul and Zac both also got the better of Lucy albeit she was unlucky against Zac twice being in the lead before losing in five sets.

Whilst the youngsters were dropping points the slightly older Basildon A team were chalking up yet another 9-0 success against Rawreth Megazone E. They boast not one, but two, unbeaten players in Les Hoey and Arun Joy and their win now sees them eight points clear of Matchpoint A and ten points clear of Matchpoint B. The A team do have a game in hand. Szymon Jarka was the other hat trick hero for Basildon and Jaspreet Singh did best for Rawreth taking Arun to five sets.

The remaining three fixtures all finished with 6-3 scorelines with firstly Basildon B getting off the mark with their first win of the season beating Invicta B. Jenne Seibolt took the POTM honours recording a perfect hat trick and two wins for Richard Reibold and a single for Andy Roff completed the scoring. Mike Keeble, Steve Lennox and Sarah Ball all chipped in with a win each for Invicta.

A strong start and finish for Canvey B against Stanford where Tony Westwell and Des Duffield both recorded five set wins against John Handscombe but otherwise it was Stanford who dominated. Led by Robert Salvage with a maximum, two wins for Adrian Armstrong and one for John their win keeps them fifth in the table with just one defeat so far. Tony finished with two wins for the Islanders.

Finally Matchpoint B maintained their place amongst the leaders with their 6-3 win against a still winless Hockley D. Hockley’s cause wasn’t helped by having to make a late team change but they did get off to a good start with Neal Klyman coming back from 2-1 down to beat Ben Murray in five sets. After that, however, Jack Riley led Matchpoint to victory with a maximum, Ben recording two wins and there was one win for Debbie O’Neill. For Hockley Neal picked up a second win against Debbie as did Tony Molisso but there was no joy for Gary Beck, called up from the E team, although he did take sets from Jack and Ben.

Team of the Week – Basildon B

Player of the Week – Jenne Seibolt