Top met bottom in Division 2 of the Southend Table Tennis League but there was no Christmas cheer for bottom club Basildon B who fell to a 9-0 defeat compounded by the fact they only had two players. Victors Matchpoint A did receive a small present from their own B team however, who took two points from second placed Basildon A giving the A team a five point lead at the top of the table as we enter the Christmas break. Elsewhere the chasing pack of Stanford B and Wakering both chalked up wins against Invicta B and Rawreth Megazone E respectively, whilst the clash between Runnymede and Canvey B turned out to be the closest match of the week ending 5-4 in favour of the Islanders.
Matchpoint’s A demolition of Basildon B was pretty clinical with only two matches going beyond three sets, closest of which was Lucy Elliot’s five set defeat of Jenne Seibolt taking the decider 11/8 after Seibolt had recovered a two set deficit. Harry Sawford and James Elliot made up the winning team.
Rivals Basildon A beat Matchpoint B 7-2 and the most resistance came from Stephen Heard who beat Szymon Jarka and Arun Joy and pushed Les Hoey hard going down 11/6, 11/13, 10/12, 12/14. His first defeat this season. Otherwise the Basildon boys were too strong for Roger Sherman and Debbie O’neill.
Barbara Chabior put on a virtuoso performance for Invicta B against high flying Stanford B picking up just her second hat trick of the season with excellent wins against Rob Salvage, John Handscombe and Mark Downey. Unfortunately team mates Sarah Ball and Mike Keeble were unable to provide sufficient support and they slipped to a 6-3 defeat.
Another player recording a second hat trick of the season was Wakering’s Paul England who, together with son Zac England, led their team to a 7-2 win over Rawreth Megazone E. Dad outshone son on this occasion not dropping a set all night whereas Amar Al-Soufi and Jonathan Allen both took the younger England to five sets. Either way England rules! Andrew Deadman got the other point for Wakering.
The final game of the week played out by Runnymede and Canvey B turned out to be a real Christmas cracker as the home side, 1-0 and 2-1 up, then went 3-2 and 4-3 down before forcing a last game play off. There were three five set matches and the star performer for the second time this week turned out to be a player on the losing side, Andrew Humphris. His closest match was against Tony Westwell coming back from two sets down then winning the last three 11/8. 11/6, 11/7. Steve Wisbey got Runnymede’s other point whilst for the Islanders Des Duffield and Kevin Walsingham both won two and Tony Westwell, one. Walsingham got the crucial final game beating Wisbey.
Team of the Week – Canvey B
Player of the Week – Barbara Chabior
Division 1
Invicta A’s lack of strength in depth was again highlighted this week with only two regular players available for their away match at Hadleigh Forum B. Whilst they still managed to win, the narrow margin of their 5 – 4 victory leaves the door open for their rivals for the top spot. POM Steve Marr was unbeaten and Tony Ayliffe got two victories. Tony Jacks was Forum’s star, winning two. However, he was pushed all the way by Invicta’s stand-in player.
Stanford Le Hope A seized the opportunity to move above Invicta to the top of the table (yet only by one point) with an emphatic 7 – 2 home win over Rawreth Megazone C. POM Derrick Pearson and Russell Bright were both unbeaten, but Rawreth were unfortunate to lose Garry Hartgrove through injury in his very first contest of the evening. Team mates Trevor Ward and Gary McCarthy won one each.
Third placed Brand Identity B made up ground on the leaders by virtue of an 8 – 1 home win over Rawreth Megazone’s D team. However, they greatly benefited from two no-shows for their opponents. The match went ahead as one of the visitors was said to be on their way. Unfortunately, they never arrived. This must have been particularly galling for the one Rawreth player who did make it – Caroline Cole – as she had travelled back from France on the day of the match. Still, she had the satisfaction of beating Brand’s John Lott to ensure her visit wasn’t entirely wasted.
After a couple of postponements, Lentern made up for lost time with a 7 – 2 home win over bottom of the table Hadleigh Forum C. The visitors (like Rawreth Megazone C) were unlucky to lose David Thomas through injury in his first encounter of the evening. Paul Sims was Lentern’s POM and Wayne Farmer was also unbeaten. Mark Everard got both Forum’s successes.
The clash between Canvey A and Mapledene was a very close run affair, with no less than five rubbers going to five sets. The usually dependable Ray Wilson slipped up against Dawn Baldry, losing 11 – 6 in the fifth set. However, Peter Cray took over responsibility for his side, winning all his contests and taking a well-deserved POM honour. Dawn was Mapledene’s star player with two victories whilst Andy Seaman and Anthon Ranjit-Singh got one each, leaving the home side 5 – 4 winners.
Hockley C entertained RESSC a little too generously. Their visitors went away with an 8 – 1 victory, thanks to hat tricks from both Bob Skews and John Holland. Brian Bissenden saved the hosts from ignominy by overcoming Alan Dadswell.
Division 3
The clash between the ‘C’ teams of Stanford and Invicta opened proceedings in the last round of fixtures before the Christmas break. Trisha Winter turned in an unbeaten performance for Invicta and, with a couple of wins by Keith Baxter and one by David Youngman, they came away with a 6/3 win. Randy Santiago recorded two wins for Stanford and James Parker added the extra point.
Stanford ‘D’ were only able to muster two players for their trip to play Rawreth Meggazone ‘F’. This was not a problem for Martin Winter and Vaughan Chambers who were both unbeaten on the night and Stanford headed back up the A13 with a vital 6/3 win to maintain their challenge at the top of the table.
Hockley ‘E’ were also 6/3 winners in their match against the juniors of Hockley ‘F’. John George led the way for them with a hat-trick and the POTM honours. Keith Denyer chipped in with two wins and Ben Brown scored their other point. For the ‘F’ team, Elliot Brackenbury had good wins over Keith and Ben, with Kris Chankov also getting the better of Ben.
League leaders Matchpoint ‘C’ made the journey to Westcliff to take on Hadleigh Forum ‘D’ and, thanks to maximums from Roger Sherman and Max Mayo plus a brace from Richard Sloman, they were comprehensive 8/1 winners. Forum’s only point on the night came courtesy of Douglas Brown who beat Richard in 4 sets.
Finally, Canvey ‘C’ travelled to Rayleigh for their match against Evolve only to discover that the fixture had been cancelled because the venue was not available. After a discussion between the team captains, it was agreed that Canvey should be awarded the 9 points.
And so, at the end of the year it is Matchpoint ‘C’ who head the table with 81 points from 12 matches. Stanford ‘D’ occupy second place with 74 points, but they have played one game less. Canvey ‘C’ and Invicta ‘C’ lie in joint third place, both with 70 points from 12 matches played.
The leading players so far are Alex Bowden (Matchpoint ‘C’) with a 100% winning record, 24/24 and Trevor Hayes (Canvey ‘C’) with a 97.22% winning record, 35/36.
