This week Invicta A put their collective noses slightly ahead of their title rival Stanford A thanks to an impressive 8 – 1 demolition of third place Lentern. Steve Marr and Lee Marson were unbeaten, whilst Wayne Farmer overcame the home side’s Tony Ayliffe 10 – 12 in the fifth set of the last contest of the evening to gain Lentern’s only point.
Stanford had a close encounter away to Mapledene. A hat trick from POM Ian Sangster and two from Peter Weatherall got them over the line 5 – 4. Anthon Ranjit-Singh got two for the home side, and Lin Roff and Andy Seaman one each.
In a bottom of the table clash between Hadleigh Forum C and Hockley C, Hockley’s recent improvement continued as they overcame their hosts 8 – 1. Eamonn Hall was POM with three wins, a feat emulated by team mate David Chenery. Satwant Gill saved Forum’s blushes by overcoming Brian Bissenden in five sets.
Adam Jackman was Brand Identity B’s POM for an unbeaten performance in his side’s 6 – 3 home win over Hadleigh Forum B. Barrie Delf added two more and Mick Grout the other one. Forum’s Dave Woolmer, Paul Fawell and Mick Tappenden each won one.
Veteran John Holland’s recent run of good form continued as he again took the POM award for a maximum in RESSC’s 6 – 3 home defeat of Rawreth Megazone C. Teammate Richard Gill got a brace and Bob Skews one. Cleon Fernandes claimed two, and Gary McCarthy one, for the visitors.
Rawreth Megazone’s D team went down by the same 6 – 3 score as their C team when they entertained Canvey A. Yet again Ray Wilson was Canvey’s main man, winning all his three. However, it was a team effort, with Peter Cray winning two and Joanna Hills one. Jake Nelson was the home side’s best player, winning two, whilst Colin Barham got their other victory.
A tiny gap has emerged at the top of Division 2 this week as Basildon A slipped to a surprise 6-3 defeat at the hands of Stanford B and there is now a three point gap between them and leaders Matchpoint A who also won 6-3 against Canvey B.
Basildon were unable to field their strongest team and had to call on Andy Roff from their B team alongside Stephen Walters and stalwart Les Hoey. Unfortunately it was only Hoey who carried the Basildon flag winning all his matches whilst Roff and Walters both fell to a strong Stanford side of Rob Salvage, John Handscombe and Mark Downey. Walters came within a game of picking up an extra point but after fighting back to 2-2 against Handscombe he succumbed 11/9 in the decider.
Matchpoint A came up against the revitalised Canvey B who have been inspired by Andrew Murray in recent weeks but they weren’t strong enough for the league leaders who had their own inspirational leader in Evie Knaapen. Any hopes of an upset by Canvey disappeared in double quick time as Knaapen dismissed Murray in three sets and Matchpoint then rushed to a 5-0 lead. The Islanders finally fought back as Murray, Tony Westwell and Kevin Walsingham all picked up points with wins against Jeremy Giffin and Lucy Elliott. Giffin can feel a little aggrieved at getting just one win as two of his games went to five sets and his match against Murray became something of a marathon losing the last two sets 15/13, 20/18.
Matchpoint B look to have added more strength to their basically young squad with the addition of Stephen Heard. With one hat trick already under his belt in his debut match he notched up another one in his side’s 7-2 win against Runnymede this time winning a perfect nine sets. That included defeat of the always difficult Dmitri Kisil plus Steve Wisbey and Andrew Humphris. Jack Riley and Alexander Deacon lent their support to Heard with two wins apiece both falling to defeat against Kisil. Matchpoint stay fifth in the table.
One place higher Wakering maintained their position winning 7-2 away at Basildon B with Zac England leading the way with a hat trick supported by two wins from Paul England and Stewart Mills. Andy Roff, playing his second game of the week, picked up another point beating Mills in the last game of the evening, and Ross Letham got Basilsdon’s other point coming back from 2-1 down to beat England senior 12/10 in the fifth. He also pushed Mills all the way to five sets but this time it was the Wakering man who took the decider by the same score.
Invicta B have only won one game this season, their first match against Hockley D 7-2, and despite a long, hard fought game featuring five, five set matches, they never really came close to repeating that feat, the home team getting revenge emerging victorious 6-3. Hockley had their own problems with the late withdrawal of Ben Cook and had to call on Keith Denyer from their E team to fill the gap. Whilst he didn’t win a game he did extend Sarah Ball and Mike Keeble to five sets and helped inspire two maximums from Tony Molisso and Paul Strutt to give Hockley the win. There couldn’t have been more of a contrast between these two performances as Molisso won his games losing just two sets (his first maximum of the season) whereas all of Strutt’s games went the distance. Strutt certainly did it the hard way coming back from 2-1 down against Keeble, 2-0 down against Ball and then conceding a 2-0 lead against Barbara Chabior before winning the final set 11/9. This was Hockley’s third win in four games and eases any fear of being dragged into the relegation battle. Invicta stay ninth in the table.
Player of the Week – Tony Molisso
Team of the Week – Matchpoint B
Robert Garlick led the way with an unbeaten performance for Rawreth Meggazone ‘F’ in Division 3 as they recorded a 6/3 win over Hadleigh Forum ‘D’. Graham Back added a brace, with Ro Brett winning the extra point with a fifth set win over Sineh Ball. Indeed, it was a case of what might have been for Ro as she narrowly lost in the deciding set to both Douglas Brown and Todd Barker.
Stanford ‘C’ were in action twice this week. In their first outing they travelled offshore for their match against Canvey ‘C’, but, with Trevor Hayes and Steve Kemp in dominant form for their hosts, they returned to the mainland following a 6/3 defeat. A win each here for the Stanford trio of Mark Farley, Randy Santiago and James Parker, but Farley came so close to adding another point. He took the first two sets in his game against Hayes before he was eventually reeled in, losing the last three sets 11/6, 12/10, 13/11.
At the end of the week, it was a two-man Stanford team that took on the young Hockley ‘F’ team. On this occasion, the experience of Farley and Santiago told, and they ran out 5/4 winners. Hockley’s only point won on the table came from Elliot Brackenbury with a straight sets win over Santiago.
The first Matchpoint ‘derby’ of the season saw their ‘C’ team keep up the pressure on the league leaders, Stanford ‘D’, as they saw off the challenge of the ‘D’ team by a margin of 8/1. Maximums here for Roger Sherman and Lotte Mills. Richard Sloman picked up the consolation point for the ‘D’ team with a win over Alwine Jarvis. No luck on the night for either Oliver Milchard or Blake Stewart, but they were involved in some close games with Oliver going the full distance against both Mills and Jarvis.
As we near the halfway point of the season, Hockley ‘E’ and Invicta ‘C’ are in a group of 3 teams hoping break into the top 2. In their meeting this week, it was Hockley who came out on top. Hannah Harbour was their star with a hat-trick as they were 7/2 winners on the night. Her teammates, Richard Coulson and Ron Rogerson gave good support with two wins each. Keith Baxter was Invicta’s best player with two wins.
