One story dominates the news in Southend Division 2 this week and that is the end of Matchpoint B’s John Lott’s unbeaten run. After 24 successive wins Lott finally met his match at the hands of Hockley C’s Hannah Harbour who defeated him in four sets 5/11 7/11 11/7 5/11. Hannah had in fact stepped up from her normal D team duties to help out her Hockley team mates and she recorded an impressive maximum on the night as Hockley pulled off something of a surprise win running out 7-2 winners. Paul Ogden and Paul Strutt provided the support both winning two games each but falling to Lott. No wins therefore for Dennis Squirrell or Max Mayo and the defeat drops Matchpoint to fourth place with Hockley C now second and Canvey B third.
At the other end of the table Invicta B ended a 10 match losing streak by beating fellow relegation strugglers and bottom of the table Matchpoint C 5-4. This down in no small way to John Blackman who recorded his first hat trick of the season, backed up by Steve Lennox who won two five set battles against Ollie Milchard and Roger Sherman. Invicta are now two points above Matchpoint who stay at the foot of the table.
Fellow promotion contenders Canvey B beat Runnymede 7-2 with Trevor Hayes taking the POTM honours with two wins apiece for Tony Westwell and Des Duffield. Tina Hutchinson was the points provider for Runnymede and spare a thought for Barrie Edgar who led 2-1 in matches against Duffield and Westwell but finished up losing both in the final set
Despite the absence of Hannah Harbour Hockley D were in good form against Stanford C with Elliot Brackenbury firing a perfect hat trick, William Evesham winning two and Ben Cook claiming the other point. Chris Crooks got a brace for Stanford and Peter Moxham the other point in the only five set match of the night against Cook. Hockley sit in a comfortable fifth place but nine points adrift of fourth placed Canvey.
Player of the Week – Hannah Harbour
Team of the Week – Hockley C
Report by Paul Strutt
With neither of the top two teams in action this week in Division 1, Rawreth Megazone C took the opportunity to move into third place courtesy of a 9 – 0 home thumping of bottom team Hadleigh Forum C. Paul Brown took the POM award, although Garry Hartgrove and Trevor Ward were also unopposed. Credit should go to the Forum team (of David Thomas, Mark Everard and Todd Barker) for their commitment.
Brand Identity B could be being drawn into the bottom end of the table. Their visit to Canvey A saw them on the wrong end of a 7 – 2 scoreline. Canvey’s Ray Wilson again took the POM prize and his team mates Bob Skews and Andrew Murray added two victories each. Jenny Harrison was Brand’s best player, securing both their points.
Having lost his 100% record last week, Wakering’s Callum Turner returned to his undefeated ways with a hat trick on his team’s trip to Hadleigh Forum B. However, Forum were too strong for the rest of the Wakering side, with David Woolmer, Michael Tappenden and Jim Stait each managing two wins. There were some close five setters in this match and Wakering could have picked up at least one more point.
Report by David Barnes
We are into the business end of the season in Division 3 and it is now a two-horse race in the chase for the title. Basildon A have headed the table all season and as they, and their close rivals, Invicta C, approach their last four matches, Basildon hold a seven point advantage.
In this week’s round of matches, Invicta hit the table first and recorded a 6/3 win over Canvey C. Maximums here for Trish Winter and POM Andrew St John and, in reply, there was a win apiece for Canvey’s Ray Baker, Che Martin and Steve Parker.
Basildon had to wait until the end of the week to show their hand and, when they did, they were ruthless. They only conceded two sets in a 9/0 win over a young Hockley F side who have found the going tough this season, but who will surely benefit from the experience. Richard Riebold was the POM here, with Andy Roff and Dave Walton also unbeaten.
Elsewhere, Hockley E travelled to Rayleigh to take on Rawreth Meggazone E and emerged as 7/3 winners. Robert Garlick and George Clark were both unbeaten on the night, with Keith Denyer picking up the extra point. For Rawreth, there was a win apiece for Graham Back and Ro Brett.
The junior teams of Matchpoint D and Evolve came together and a close match ensued. Matchpoint started well and led 5/2, but Evolve came back to win the last two games, the final score being 5/4 in Matchpoint’s favour. Samuel Morgan was the POM after a flawless hat-trick, well supported by Blake Stewart with a double. Nova Narayanan was the best on the night for Evolve recording two wins, with his teammates Leo Goodey and Ben Berwick picking up a win each.
Finally, there was another 5/4 outcome in the match between the D teams of Hadleigh Forum and Stanford. Douglas Brown (3) and Todd Barker (2) were the point winners for Forum but Douglas had to work hard for his hat-trick with both Randy Santiago and Andrew Jessop extending him to a deciding set. Randy won his other two games with Andrew and Mandy Till each adding a point