Galleywood C continued their late-season charge and now sit in second position in division three following a 9-1 home win over bottom side Writtle E.  Colin Blore and Nathan Blore went unbeaten for the hosts who are a point behind leaders Chelmsford D having played two fixtures more. A 7-3 away win at OCA C means third-placed Buttsbury B trail Galleywood by just two points having played a fixture less. Paul Sturton and Harry Sawford won three apiece for the visitors – the former recovering from 2-1 down against Tom Barker in their match.  Luke Richardson got the better of Buttsbury’s Jeremy Giffin over five ends before teaming with Barker for a 3-2 win over Giffin and Sawford in the doubles.  Hatfield Peverel B pulled off a 5-5 draw at Chelmsford F despite only fielding two players and facing an unbeaten evening from Cleon Fernandes.  Peverel’s Paul Mulley beat Dion Fernandes 3-2 but lost to his brother Cleon by the same scoreline (12-10 in the fifth). Matthew Brown not only fired a hat-trick but completed the set of playing for Writtle’s B, C and D teams in the same week in Writtle D’s 5-5 draw with Danbury H.  Brown’s teammate Malcolm Henstock chipped in with two wins – the first of which was an entertaining 9-11, 13-11, 10-12, 11-7, 11-3 win over Ken Wilding. Gordon Gatheral won twice for the hosts but fell in three to Brown.

Division four leaders Hutton A were back in action with a bang as they posted a 9-1 home victory over eighth placed Highwood A. Alex Ware and Oladapo Owolabi fired trebles with two wins from Charlie Ware as Hutton sit 18 points clear having played one fixture more than nearest challenges Buttsbury C who posted a 9-1 away win at Chelmsford G thanks to trebles from Oscar Hutt and Gary Carr. Third-placed Maldon B lost a little ground despite a credible 7-3 away win at Danbury K who slip one place to fifth.  Chris Ravenhill led the way for the visitors with three wins though he was taken to five by Richard Allen who himself went on to beat Marty Englander 13-11 in the deciding game of their meeting. Englander later had a five-gamer go his way when getting the better of Dave Oxley-Goody. Russell Hall won all three as sixth placed OCA D inflicted yet another defeat on Danbury M – this time by a 7-3 scoreline.  The first of Danbury’s three wins on the night came thanks to a Steve Martin fightback in his match with David Bishop where he rallied having found himself 2-1 down. Neil Wood’s treble was in vain as his Hatfield Peverel C side lost 6-4 at home to Danbury L – a result which leaves both sides in equal ninth position.  Wood’s evening was anything but straight-forward having found himself 2-1 down against John Manning in the opener before recovering from 2-0 down to beat Greg Cooper. Cooper and Manning won their other singles matches and combined for a 3-1 doubles win against Wood and Samuel White. David Woolmer won all three singles matches on debut for Galleywood D though it was not enough to prevent his side falling to a 7-3 loss at the hands of fourth placed Buttsbury D.

The most anticipated fixture of the week in division five was between leaders Buttsbury E and second placed Hutton B with the latter showing their title credentials by posting an 8-2 away win. Charlie Gould won all three of his matches though it could have been different had Buttsbury’s Francesca Hart been able to find a way across the line when holding a 2-0 lead in their match up. Hart beat Hutton’s Lee Vallis in four before sister Freya got the better of Gheorghe Nita in a match which went the distance. Nita later earned a measure of revenge by beating Francesca in four.  Eighth-placed Galleywood E cruised to a 10-0 win over Anglia Ruskin University though the match card shows all three ARU players extended their Galleywood opponents to fifth-game deciders in a fixture which included a number of other close matches.  Steve Peacock, Darren Wright and Doug Blaber were the successful trio on this occasion. Chelmsford H beat Hatfield Peverel F 9-1 thanks to trebles from James Grindlay and Peter Davenport. Teammate Jacqui Smith won twice – both victories going all the way to a fifth game. Upset of the week goes to tenth-placed Hatfield Peverel E who won 7-3 on the road at Writtle F who slip to fourth. Davina Brazier and Phillip West won all of their singles matches – both players being taken to five games on two occasions each.  The mid-table clash between Hatfield Peverel D and Highwood B went in favour of the latter by a 6-4 scoreline in a fixture which saw Nicola Pippen finally post a treble having won two out of three in each of her last three outings. Peverel’s Mike Pitt did well to hold his nerve to win a five-gamer against Andy Whiley but later saw a 2-1 lead against Bruce Wickham slip.

There is no change at the top of division two as leaders Buttsbury A and second-placed Maldon A posted identical 5-5 draws in week 24. Maldon had to battle back from 2-0 and 5-3 down in their home fixture with Galleywood B.  Hamish Innes had the most interesting evening of the competitors on show, he lost his opener against Mark Taylor but then recovered from 2-1 down against both Will Goodchild and Mark Glenister.  Goodchild put Galleywood 5-3 up with a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Ross Kirby but Innes held his nerve in the final match of the night to earn the hosts the draw. Neil Want was on fire as Danbury E scored a shock 5-5 draw at leaders Buttsbury A on Friday night. Want’s wins didn’t come easily as he needed five games to get past Rob Burton prior to being stretched in four tough games by David Gatheral before coming through 13-11, 12-10, 9-11, 13-11.  Burton and Gatheral had earlier edged their singles encounters with Tony Forster and Tim Cramphorn in five games. Danbury D moved into the top three for the first time since week 12 with a 6-4 away win at OCA B. Eamonn Hall chose the optimum moment to fire his first league hat-trick of the season and he was well backed up with two wins from Peter Harverson.  Hall dropped just one game from his three wins while Harverson battled back from 2-1 down against both Mick Richardson and Michael Hayes.  Chelmsford C sit in fourth place and they have Kelvin Edeh to thank for his treble in the 7-3 success at Writtle B.  Edeh beat Phil Smith in three and both Trevor Carter and Matthew Brown by 3-1 scorelines while teammate Dusan Doszkoty recovered from 2-1 down to beat Smith in the only match of the night to go five ends. Speaking of Brown, he was called into action for Writtle C and joined forces with Gary Ward to go unbeaten in singles and doubles matches in a 7-3 away win at Danbury F.  Their teammate John Parodi was unfortunate not to post a win with two of his matches going to five games – Danbury’s Alan Scammell overturning a 2-0 scoreline to beat Parodi after Ken Sheard had withstood a Parodi fightback at 2-0 up.

There was only one fixture played in division one this week as Danbury B moved up to second place with a 9-1 victory over Chelmsford B.  Sam Lowman and Ian Wall won three apiece. Chelmsford’s Waseem Qureshi staged a great fightback to beat Dan Anderson 12-14, 11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 12-10 for the visitors only success of the evening though Kelvin Edeh ran Anderson close before going down in a five.