Keith Adams fired a hat-trick in his first appearance of the season to boost Danbury TTC
who will be looking to improve on just 7 victories from their 20 fixtures completed over
the first two weeks of the season.
Division 1
An Adam Brewer hat-trick led Writtle A to a 7-3 home win over a Danbury B side who
slipped to their second straight defeat at the start of their division one campaign.
Brewer beat Dan Anderson in three games, Ian Wall in four and took the decider in his
match with Sam Lowman. Danbury’s Wall and Lowman narrowly missed out in the
doubles encounter to the Writtle team. Aidan Lees and Josh Bickles fired trebles as
Chelmsford A maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a 9-1 victory over
Chelmsford B. The ever-improving Felix Reeve took his largest league scalp to date with
a 3-1 win over Harry Chivers – Reeve started last season in division three where he
posted a 57% win rate. Keith Adams won all three matches as Danbury C took their bow
for the new season with an 8-2 win at Danbury A. Adams dropped just one game and will
be hoping to take that early season form into Danbury’s upcoming matches with Writtle
A and Chelmsford A.
Division 2
Lloyd Bennett-Smith was the star of the show as his Maldon A were held to a 5-5- home
draw with Buttsbury A. Bennett-Smith beat Jamie Elliott in three games, David Gatheral
in four and young talent Grace Liu in five. Felix Reeve hit a hat-trick as Chelmsford C
cruised to an 8-2 home victory over Danbury E. Reeve won two of his matches by a 3-0
scoreline but was made to work hard by Tony Forster and had to rally from 2-1 behind in
order to take the win. Another commanding win for early pacesetters Hatfield Peverel A
as Alastair Piper went one better than last week with a treble, Julie Johnson also won
three in her first appearance of the season. Ian Whiteside prevented Martin Archie from
a successive hat-trick with a come-from-behind 3-1 win. Two wins apiece for Trevor
Carter, Richard Storey and Bob Garson gave Writtle B a 6-4 home win over Old
Chelmsfordians B. Mick Richardson proved the toughest nut to crack for OCA with two
victories of his own, though missed out in a five-gamer with Garson. OCA’s David Porter
was the man to prevent a treble from Garson. After two wins last week, Gary Ward fired
his first hat-trick of the season in Writtle C’s 6-4 away win at Galleywood B. Ward
dropped just one game on the night but his match with Mark Glenister was a tight 14-12,
14-12, 13-11.
Division 3
Chelmsford D are top of division three having registered their second 9-1 victory of the
season, this time at home to Writtle E. Mike Johnston fired his second treble of the
season and he was assisted by Dusan Doszkoty and Alex Tkachuk who won three and
two matches respectively. Despite the final scoreline, Writtle put up a good fight with
Neil Thompson winning the opener over Tkachuk in five games and Malcolm Storey
taking Doszkoty the distance. Buttsbury B, Galleywood C and Writtle D currently sit
behind the leaders equal on 11 points after two fixtures. Buttsbury B and Writtle D
played out a 5-5 draw with Buttsbury’s Harry Sawford dropping just one game from his
three wins. Writtle Matthew Brown and Ryan Pitt gave Sawford a taste of defeat in the
double contest whereby they conquered Sawford and Keith Abbott in five. Gary Copsey
fired another hat-trick as Galleywood C earned a 5-5 draw at OCA C. The OCA team
failed to take a game off Copsey who has dropped just one game in his six wins so far
this season. The closest match of the night was OCA’s Luke Richardson’s 3-2 success
over Nathan Blore – Blore had won games two and three 13-11 and 18-16 before the
Richardson fight back.
After three defeats (two in five-gamers) last week against title favourites Chelmsford D,
Neil Freeman won all three matches in week two to help Hatfield Peverel B to a 6-4 away
win at Danbury G. Freeman had to overcome Denis Balic in the opening contest of the
night which was only settled in the fifth and final game. Freeman and Paul Mulley
recovered from 2-0 to beat Danbury’s Balic and Louis Gunn – Gunn like Balic only saw
singles defeat at the hands of Freeman. Danbury H could only field two players in their
clash with Danbury J though H’s Peter Harverson won all three of his singles matches to
take his record to five wins from six this season. Harverson beat Oliver Ware in three,
Terry Hyland in four and had to recover from 2-1 down to get the better of Dave Marsh in
a match which saw the J team take the honours 6-4. Hyland and Marsh beat Harveron
and Steve Buer 3-1 in the doubles.
Division 4
Maldon B sit proudly at the top of division four with two wins from two following a 10-0
away win at Galleywood D. While the match card reported a ‘whitewash’ it was clear that
Galleywood D were no rollovers as three matches went five games and a further four
went to four games as Marty Englander, Brian Riedling and Chris Ravenhill became the
first team this season to claim a maximum of 10 points. Hutton A have also won two
from two as Alex Ware dropped just one game enroute to a treble in a 7-3 win at
Danbury L. Danbury’s John Manning prevented both Nick Giles and Anthony Barnes
from completing their hat-tricks for Hutton, Giles and Ware won a closely contested
double contest which went the distance. Two wins for Melanie Bonnett and Roger Patient
earned Highwood A a 5-5 draw at last years division five champions Danbury M.
Bonnett’s two wins were in three straight games but she was denied a treble by
Danbury’s Graham Naggs who took the deciding game 13-11. Steve Martin and David
Smith fought back in the double contest to take the fourth and fifth games 13-11, 15-13.
Despite all three players losing their first match of the contest there were two wins
apiece for Frances Hutt, Torsten Greenan and Oscar Hutt as Buttsbury C posted a 6-4
away win at Hatfield Peverel C. Both of Greenan’s wins were from a 2-1 deficit though he
was unable to repeat this feat when teaming with Frances Hutt having levelled at 2-2
against Bob Hillis and Gary Simmons. David Bishop fired a hat-trick and was well
supported by two wins from Russell Hall as OCA D won 6-4 at home to Danbury K. Hall
was denied his hat-trick by a Dave Marsh recovery from 2-1 down. Three singles wins by
Kelvin Edeh were not enough to prevent Chelmsford G from falling to a 7-3 away loss to
Buttsbury D on Friday night. Edeh’s victories over Jenne Seibolt and Kevin Willis were
clinched in the deciding game.
Division 5
It was a good week for junior players in division five as both Joshua Freeman and
Charlie Ware fired three wins apiece to lead their respective teams to 8-2 victories.
Freeman’s three wins were completed with the minimum of fuss against ARU – all three
victories being comfortable-looking 3-0 routs. Ware dropped just two games from his
three matches and teamed with Vicente Beco in a 3-0 doubles win over Bruce Wickham
and Andy Whiley. Martin Goodard fired a hat-trick as Highwood B won 6-4 on the road at
Hatfield Peverel E. Peverel’s Jackie Treacy was the only player from the hosts who was
able to take a game off Goodard, Treacy had earlier beaten Keith Pallett but fell to Mike
Pitt despite holding a 2-0 lead. Two wins each for Stuart Wintle and Matthew Porter
helped OCA E to a 6-4 home win against Chelmsford H. Wintle did well to fend off a
James Grindlay recovery from 2-0 down to take the decider but fell in three straight
games to Jacqui Smith. Wintle beat Peter Davenport in five while teammate Mike
Morecroft came back from 2-1 down to beat Smith. Steve Peacok won three as
Galleywood E won 6-4 at Maldon C. Peacock’s toughest match of the night was with
Kym Eames who he managed to see off in the fifth game.
Chelmsford Junior League division 1A
Joseph Hutt showed good form as he went undefeated in the Buttsbury Bees’ 3-2 home
win over the Chelmsford Lions. Hutt was taken the distance by Chelmsford’s Ethan
Collins who narrowly missed out to Vivaan Babbar by the same 3-2 scoreline. Ben
Robinson completed a fine turnaround to get the better of Babbar in five and teamed
with Collins to take a close doubles encounter. The Buttsbury Bats picked up a first win
of the season with a 5-0 home victory over the Hutton Harriers. Joseph Hutt and Lewis
Woods didn’t drop a game in their singles matches and combined for a 3-1 doubles
success.
Chelmsford Junior League division 1B
Sai Suresh extended his unbeaten record this season as the Chelmsford Leopards beat
the Buttsbury Bears 5-0 in division 1B. Vivaan Deshpande also won twice for the
Leopards and had to recover from 2-1 down against Shay Coughlan – earning victory with
a 12-10 score in the fifth game. The Hutton Hyenas won the battle of two teams who
tasted defeat in week one with a 3-2 home victory against the Buttsbury Bulldogs
despite two wins from Zac Berry of the Bulldogs. Berry fought back from 2-1 against
Michael Bradshaw to take the match 12-10 in the decider.
Jeremy Hill, Press Officer, Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League