Three results from the Premier Division this week to bring you and the first two resulted in 6-3 wins that followed the same pattern of the player of the match winning three but unfortunately being on the losing side. The first match saw the Rawreth A side of Charles Sweeny, Mike Hayes and Kevin Read beat Irons A with the Rawreth players winning two each against John Monk and Babul McLeod. They were however not able to get the better of Reece Seddon who took his three for the Irons.
The same fate befell Duncan Taylor of Rayleigh Mill who won his three against a Brand Identity team of David Jacob, Richard Jackman and Steve Muth but finished the wrong side of the result as the Brand players all managed to beat Steve Maltby and Rob Harris. Taylor did not have it all his own way and had to fight back from 2 sets down to Jacob mainly down to some inspired play by the Brand Identity man.
The final game this week saw Rawreth B go down 8-1 to the irresistible force that is Thorpe Bay A. Three wins a piece for Mark Stones and John Poysden with the only blot on the Thorpe Bay copybook being a good win for Rawreth’s Keith Adams over Paul Sayer.
Although recording a maximum possible score in a 9 – 0 home drubbing of lowly Hockley C, Invicta A will be disappointed to only extend their slender lead at the top of the Division 1 table by one whole point. Steve Marr was yet again their Player of the Match.
Second place Stanford Le Hope A managed to keep in contention by virtue of a comfortable 8 – 1 victory away to Rawreth Megazone D. Their Peter Weatherall and POM Ian Sangster were both unbeaten, whilst Noah Unstead was responsible for saving the home sides blushes. However, this slip-up for Rawreth meant they fell one place to fourth.
Lentern took advantage of Rawreth’s reversal to move above them into third place. In a good all round team performance they had an excellent 7 – 2 away win at Brand Identity B. The home side’s ‘Mr. Reliable’, Barrie Delf, got both his team’s successes, but a Paul Sims hat trick, and two each for Martin Archie and Peter Lucraft, saw Lentern to victory.
A weakened Hadleigh Forum B were punished by visitors Canvey A. Despite two wins from Forum’s captain Dave Woolmer and one from Mark Everard (playing up from the C team) Canvey won 6 – 3. Stalwart Ray Wilson was unbeaten, Peter Cray got two and Jo Hills one, in a victory that will do Canvey’s league position no harm.
A full strength Rawreth Megazone C team were too strong for home side Mapledene. Both POM Garry Hartgrove and Mike Hayes were unbeaten for the visitors, with Colin Clements adding a further point in a 7 – 2 victory. Mike Johnston and Andy Seaman got one win each for Mapledene.
RESSC recorded a well deserved 7 – 2 home win over struggling Hadleigh Forum C. Bob Skews and Richard Gill got hat tricks, and Alan Dadswell chipped in with a single. Dave Thomas and Satwant Gill got one win each for Forum.
Small margins can make a difference and they did this week in Division 2. A 6-3 win for leaders Matchpoint A and a 9-0 win for second placed Basildon A has left the two teams level on points from the same number of games, but Matchpoint stay top as they remain unbeaten compared to Basildon’s one defeat.
Matchpoint were without their number one player Evie Knaapen against Stanford B and it made a difference as both Rob Salvage and John Handscombe managed to beat young Lucy Elliott and John picked up a further point beating Jeremy Giffin. Both these wins coming in five sets. None of the Stanford boys could get near James Elliott though, who took all his three wins in straight sets to take the POTM award. Jeremy finished with two wins and Lucy picked up her point with a win against Mark Downey. Stanford slip to fourth as a result.
Basildon’s 9-0 whitewash came against Hockley D and although a little one sided the match was played in the best spirit and even managed to provide an insight into Polish swear words. Apparently ‘Djokovic’ is included! On the table Les Hoey completed a perfect hat trick and Arun Joy and Szymon Jarka completed their individual hat tricks, albeit they had to overcome some stern resistance from Paul Strutt who took both to five sets.
Wakering’s number one Callum Turner was back on the table this week and leading his team to a 6-3 win against Matchpoint B. Another perfect hat trick for him with Paul England chipping in with two wins and Stewart Mills with one. Dan Stewart got two wins and Alexander Deacon one for Matchpoint. Wakering move up to third whilst Matchpoint slip to fourth.
At the bottom of the table Rawreth Megazone E met Basildon B and although it resulted in a 7-2 win for the home side there were three five set games and Basildon actually led at one stage Andy Roff getting the better of Bob Garlick. There then followed seven successive wins for Rawreth until Jenne Seibolt picked up a second win again against Bob Garlick. Sandwiched in between were hat tricks for Richard Kidd and Jonathan Allen and Bob Garlick picking up his point against Richard Reibold. It must have been a hard evening for Richard Kidd whose three games all went to five sets. The win pushes Rawreth out of the bottom two for the first time this season and leaves Basildon four points adrift at the bottom.
The closest game of the week turned out to be Runnymede’s home match against Invicta B. The home team found themselves 3-1 down at one stage, pulled themselves level at 3-3, then found themselves 4-3 down. Fortunately, they had the in-form Dmitry Kisil and Steve Wisbey to play and they both won their matches to give the home side victory. Kisil completed a hat trick and Wisbey recorded a brace but there was no joy for Anne Adlington on the night. For Invicta Barbara Chabior won twice with single wins for Michael Keeble and Sarah Ball.
Team of the Week – Rawreth Megazone E
Player of the Week – Richard Kidd
In Division 3 Alex Bowden continued his impressive run of form with another unbeaten performance as Matchpoint ‘C’ visited Stanford ‘C’ and came away with a 7/2 victory. Alex was backed up by teammates Roger Sherman and Max Mayo who each won two games, though neither could get the better of Stanford skipper Mark Farley. As this week’s round of matches gets underway, Matchpoint have hit the top of the table, although it may prove to be a brief stay with their closest rivals yet to play.
The young Matchpoint ‘D’ team faced a tough challenge when high-flying Stanford ‘D’ came to town. Matchpoint got off to the best possible start when wins for Ollie Milchard and Blake Stewart in their opening games saw them take a 2/0 lead. Thereafter, Stanford asserted their superiority and closed out the match with the loss of only one more game. 6/3 the final score in their favour. Ollie picked up the other point for Matchpoint but two wins each for the Stanford trio of Peter Moxham, David Arnett and Andrew Jessop completed their win and saw them return to the top of the table.
Dean Johnson achieved his first maximum of the season for Hadleigh Forum ‘D’ as they recorded a 6/3 win against Hockley ‘E’, and he was ably supported by his teammates, Todd Barker (2 wins) and Jean Catley (1 win). For Hockley, John George was the best player with a couple of wins, and he was close to a win over Dean, before eventually falling short at 11/9 in the final end. Graham Gregory added the extra point.
Canvey ‘C’ were again indebted to Trevor Hayes as his maximum led them to a narrow 5/4 victory over the youthful Hockley ‘F’ side. William Evesham and Elliot Brackenbury both recorded wins over Andy O’Rawe and Alan Owen but it was a blank night for Amelia Taylor. She was, however, agonisingly close to what would have been only her second win of the season. She led Alan by two sets only to fall just short at 11-9 in the decider.
Aaron Price continued his recent run of good form with a brace for Evolve in their match against Rawreth Meggazone ‘F’. Reuben Stracey chipped in with another point but the greater experience of the Rawreth team told, and they ran out 6/3 winners on the night. Jan Thorpe was the POTM with an unbeaten performance with Graham Back (2) and Mike Webb (1) adding the extras.
