There was no surprise in the Southend Premier where Thorpe Bay A overcame their B side 8-1. Worth noting though a great win for Rich Stubbington over Paul Sayer in the last game of the evening. It was a great win to save the whitewash. There was a great battle between Gurj Bhambra and John Poysden which Poysden managed to take 3-1 but the standout game was the third which went all the way to 20-22. Interesting to see if any player can win a longer game than that this year.
Brand Identity continued their strong start to the season with a thumping 9-0 win over Hockley A. Simon Jacob, Richard Jackman and Steve Muth all going unbeaten although Jacob and Muth were pushed all the way by Tarun Goel and Sanjay Saptarshi, both just getting over the line late in the 5th game.
In a game from last week there was a very tight affair as Rawreth B beat Brand Identity 5-4. Player of the match Keith Adams took all of his three games while team mate Norbert Fullerton weighed in with a brace. David Jacob, Simon Jacob and Richard Jackman all managed to beat Sid Dorn for the visitors while David also notched a great win against Fullerton.
There was a clash between first and second in the Division 1 when Lentern entertained Stanford A this week. The visitors came away with an impressive 7 – 2 win and consequently leap frog their hosts into top spot. Stanford’s POM Mitchell Jones continued his unbeaten run, and Ian Sangster and Pat White added a further two each. Lentern’s Paul Sims got both their victories.
Perennial high finishers Brand Identity have started to rise to the surface again. A 6 – 3 home win over Hadleigh Forum C moves them into third place. Yet again veteran Barrie Delf was POM with a hat trick, whilst Jennifer Harrison got two and Dale Gutteridge one. Tony Mace was the visitors’ best player taking two wins. Mark Everard got the other one, edging past Dale in the fifth set.
Invicta A retain fourth place courtesy of a narrow 5 – 4 win away at RESSC. No player was undefeated. John Holland and Bob Skews each got two for the home side, a feat matched by Invicta’s Tony Ayliffe and Steve Marr. Lee Marson’s single win for the visitors was enough for the result to go their way. Closest rubber of the night saw Marr overcome an unlucky Holland in the fifth set 13-11.
Canvey A had a fine win at home against struggling Hockley C. Ray Wilson’s unbeaten three gave him the POM award and both Peter Cray and Joanna Hills got two wins each. Brian Bissenden and Paul Strutt got one each for the visitors. Veteran Strutt had to work particularly hard to overcome Hills.
There were two hat tricks for Hadleigh Forum B in their excellent 8 – 1 demolition of visitors Rawreth Megazone C. Skipper Dave Woolmer took the POM accolade, but Paul Fawell also won all three. The sole success for the visitors was Garry Hartgrove’s five-set victory over Mick Tappenden.
Rawreth Megazone D’s Mike Hayes extended his unbeaten run to take the POM honour in his side’s 7 – 2 home win versus Mapledene. Noah Unstead also won three and George Davis one. Andy Seaman and Charles Yeung shared the Mapledene’s points. The home side are now level on points with their C team.
With Division 2 league leaders Basildon A out of action this week focus fell on the challengers and, in particular, second placed Matchpoint A who had an opportunity to take the top spot. Their opposition were Hockley D, yet to win a match this season, so perhaps the result was never in doubt. A 7-2 win for Matchpoint proved the point but it was not enough to elevate them to the top and they stay in second just one point behind.
The match itself was a little closer than the score suggests with four games going the distance but that certainly didn’t include Evie Knaapen who raced through her games in three sets to take another POTM award. She was supported by Harry Sawford and Jeremy Giffin who both won two games but failed to get the better of Paul Strutt who won both matches in five sets. Jeremy, back from injury, had his fitness fully tested as all his games extended to five sets. He set the tone for his matches as his first set against Paul Ogden went to 18-16 before winning 12-10 in the fifth. That 18-16 scoreline featured again in his match against Ben Cook, this time losing, but he successfully came back from two sets down winning the last two sets at a canter 11-2 11-2. His final match against Paul Strutt again found him two sets down but, despite levelling the score, the more experienced man held on to win 11-8 in the decider.
Fourth and fifth placed Wakering and Matchpoint B both fell to surprise defeats and it was the in-form Stanford B who took advantage crushing Basildon B 8-1 to record their fifth successive win and move up to third place in the table.
Robert Salvage completed a perfect hat trick with Adrian Armstrong winning his three and David Arnett weighing in with a brace. Ross Letham did best for Basildon beating David and taking Aidan to five sets. This defeat leaves them one but bottom of the table.
Biggest surprise of the week was probably Canvey B’s 6-3 win against Matchpoint B. The Islanders, languishing near the bottom of the table, brought in Andrew Murray for his first match of the season and he responded with a hat trick to lead them to their second win. Des Duffield weighed in with two wins plus one from Tony Westwell. Alexander Deacon, Debbie O’Neill and Dan Stewart all collected a point each for Matchpoint.
The other result that stood out was Wakering’s 5-4 defeat at home to Runnymede. The home team were without their top player this season, Callum Turner, and then found themselves up against an in-form Dmitry Kisil and his hat trick ensured a narrow victory although Steve Wisbey was the match winner beating Stewart Mills in five sets in the final game of the evening. That was one of four five set matches as both teams fought for the win. Andy Humphris had got Runnymede off to a good start in the opening match for Runnymede but a brace each for Andrew Deadman and Paul England ensured the tightest of matches. Wakering drop to fifth with Runnymede in sixth.
Rawreth Megazone E picked up their first win of the season 6-3 against Invicta B who, after their opening week win, have now lost five games in succession. It was an all round team performance from Rawreth with two wins each for Steve Mcquillan, Amar Al-Soufi and the returning Bob Garlick. Good to see him back to full health. Barbara Chabior recorded her own double for Invicta with David Barnes picking up the other point.
Player of the Week – Andrew Murray
Team of the Week – Rawreth Megazone E
In Division 3 Trevor Hayes maintained his 100% winning record, but his hat-trick was not enough to prevent his Canvey ‘C’ side slipping to a 5/4 defeat at the hands of Stanford ‘D’. Stephen Parker added the other point for Canvey but two wins each for Martin Winter and Peter Moxham plus a single win for Andrew Jessop won the match for Stanford.
The match between Hockley ’E’ and Matchpoint ‘C’ was another close affair, only decided in the final game when Alex Bowden completed his hat-trick, to give Matchpoint a 5/4 win. Alex was well supported by Max Mayo who added the other two points. Hannah Harbour was the best player on the night for Hockley with two wins. Richard Coulson and Graham Gregory with a win apiece.
Matchpoint ‘D’ entertained Stanford ‘C’ in a match where every player made a contribution. Stanford’s Randy Santiago was the POTM with a maximum supported by Peter Moxham, with a brace, and Mandy Till who recorded her first win of the season, 11/9 in the final set against Oliver Milchard.
League leaders Invicta ‘C’ had skipper Keith Baxter to thank as they visited Hadleigh Forum ‘D’ and came away with a 5/4 win. Keith was unbeaten on the night and teammates Jonathan Gould and Brendan Raja added a point each. There were two wins each for Forum’s Dean Johnson and Douglas Brown but a blank night for Sineh Ball.
The battle between two of our junior teams went in favour of Evolve who ran out 7/2 winners over Hockley ‘F’. Our reporter at the match was impressed with Evolves’s Aaron Price and Benjamin Berwick who both recorded maximums and proved to be too strong for the Hockley team. Josh Cane, playing his first match for Evolve picked up the other point with a win over Boris Kolev. Hockley’s points came from Perry Lazell and Amelia Taylor who both came from behind to get the better of Josh in the fifth set and notch their first wins of the season. Watched by her father, who admits he was a bag of nerves, Amelia remained calm and held her nerve during a close final set, where she trailed 5-4 before going into a 10-7 lead, eventually taking the match with her second match point.