In Southend Division 1 this week Basildon A leapfrogged Matchpoint A at the top of the table by a solitary point, by virtue of a slightly better result. Les Hoey and Arun Joy were both unbeaten, as Basildon overcame visiting Hadleigh Forum C 7 – 2. Paul Fawell and Mark Everard got one win each for Forum, and Jenne Seibolt got the home side’s other victory.
Matchpoint A’s 6 – 3 home win over Mapledene was a team effort. Player of the match Harry Sawford scored a hat trick, Daniel Stewart won two, and Debbie O’Neil one for the win. Mapledene shared their points, with Dawn Baldry, Bill Smith and Mike Johnston getting one victory each.
In a close fought match between hosts Hadleigh Forum B and Canvey A, no player was undefeated. POM was Canvey’s Ray Wilson, with two successes, a feat emulated by teammate Bob Skews and both Dave Woolmer and Mick Tappenden for the home side. Thanks to Peter Cray’s single victory, Canvey got a 5 – 4 away win.
The closest match of the week in Division 2, and probably by far the quickest, was the clash between Rawreth Megazone D and Matchpoint B. It was decided in the final game of the evening when Gus Heath completed his hat trick by beating Alex Bowden to give his Rawreth team a 5-4 win and provide something of an upset with Matchpoint currently sitting second in the table.
The match itself swung back and forth throughout the evening a 2-1 lead to Matchpoint turning into a 4-3 lead for Rawreth before the scores were levelled at 4-4. The games themselves, however, were short and sweet only one going beyond three sets. Matchpoint were without veteran members John Lott and Dennis Squirrell and it was left to youngsters Bowden, Max Mayo and Lotte Mills to fly the flag. Heath however, had other ideas, claiming his hat trick without dropping a set and he had good backing from Amar Al-Soufi who won a brace. Jaspreet Singh, for Rawreth, couldn’t cope with the youngsters providing Mayo and Mills with single points whilst Bowden also got the better of Al-Soufi to record his second win. Matchpoint do stay second in the table but an early Christmas present for Hockley C who are just two points behind them with two games in hand.
At the other end of the table Stanford C and Invicta B provided another 5-4 encounter but the games turned out to be a lot longer than the Rawreth match with four games going the distance. Stanford got off to a great start going 4-1 up but then saw Invicta close the gap to 4-3 before winning the next game to clinch victory. Tony Papasifakis and Chris Crooks both won two for Stanford with Vaughan Chambers providing the other point. Player of the match, however, was Invicta’s Steve Lennox who won all his games including two five set matches one, a great comeback against Crooks after going 2-0 down. Sarah Ball got Invicta’s other point with a five set win against Chambers. Invicta stay one but bottom with Stanford one place and four points above them.
Hockley D were another side fielding a relatively young line up as they took on a very experienced Canvey B side and it was the old heads who came out on top with a 7-2 victory. Trevor Hayes was the man in form for the Islanders winning all his games but he was taken the distance by Elliot Brackenbury winning 11/6 in the final set. Des Duffield and Terry Giddens both weighed in with braces with Hockley’s points coming from Brackenbury’s win against Duffield and William Evesham’s straightforward three set win against Giddens. Canvey stay in fourth place fourteen points clear of Hockley in fifth.
Last game of the week saw Runnymede take on high flying Hockley C and found themselves on the wrong end of an 8-1 defeat. It was fairly straightforward for the Hockley boys with Paul Ogden taking the POTM honours closely followed by Mike Worship who also won all his games but not until he edged out Steve Wisbey in a five set Christmas cracker! First set went to Wisbey, the next two to Worship before Wisbey levelled the scores. This was a classic game of attack against defence with Wisbey performing miracles to retrieve Worship’s smashes and it gradually captured the interest of the people watching as the scores edged slowly up to 11-11. Last two points to Worship and the applause of the crowd. Earlier Wisbey had recorded Runnymede’s only point beating Paul Strutt in four sets.
Team of the Week – Rawreth Megazone D
Player of the Week – Steve Lennox
As we approach the Christmas break in Division 3, it is Basildon A who still head the table and remain unbeaten.
In their latest outing, they were again only able to put out two players, but made light of this as Victor Wei and Andy Roff were unbeaten in their 6/3 win over Hockley E. Victor was the player of the match but had to work hard to complete his maximum, finally getting the better of Robert Garlick at 13/11 in the final end.
Invicta C kept up their pursuit of the leaders thanks to a 7/2 win over Stanford D. Keith Baxter led the way with a hat-trick and he was backed up by his teammates Andrew St John and David Barlow with a brace apiece. The consistent Randy Santiago with a double for Stanford.
Hadleigh Forum D have moved into third place after a 6/3 victory over Rawreth Meggazone E. Forum skipper Todd Barker is in good form and his unbeaten performance was the backbone of this win. There was good support for Todd from Ivan Arabadzhiev with two wins and Sineh Ball who added a single. Graham Back was the best on the night for Rawreth with two wins.
So, as we head into the New Year, Basildon A lead the way with 83 points from 12 games, followed by Invicta C with 73 points from 12 games and Hadleigh Forum D who have 56 points from 12 games.
Reports by David Barnes – Div 1 Paul Strutt – Div 2 David Woolmer – Div 3
