With one more round of matches to play before Christmas things are really hotting up in the title race for the Premier Division of the Southend & District Table Tennis league. I reported last week that there were just two points separating Thorpe Bay A at the top and Rawreth B in second place, well after this week’s results, make that one point.
Thorpe Bay A suffered a rare defeat at the hands of Rayleigh Mill who had both Liam Squirrell and Duncan Taylor in their side this week. It was Squirrell who led the way with three wins against Paul Sayer, Mark Stones and Ian Wall with Taylor picking up wins against Wall and Stones meaning a good 5-4 win for the Millers. Rawreth B clawed one point back on the leaders as they were able to win 5-4 themselves against a depleted Thorpe Bay B team. I say depleted in that they only have two players, that said, two very strong players in Kirean Skeggs and Matt Spero. The Thorpe Bay pair picked up two wins each but couldn’t get the better of player of the match Dan Zeffie. Special mention to Gary Young who played some great table tennis but was so unlucky to lose 14-12 in the 5th to both Spero and Skeggs.
Elsewhere it was a familiar story for Stamford A as a Mitchell Jones hat-trick was all they had to show for their trip to Hockley A, two wins each for Sanjay Saptarshi, Matt Stringer and Dan Patynski for the home side. And finally a really close battle for Invicta A as they just managed to pip Hadleigh Forum 5-4. A real team effort with two wins apiece for Steve Marr and Tony Ayliffe and a good win for Paul Sims over Neil Barker.
The ding-dong battle for the top spot between the two Hockley teams in division 1 continued again this week. Last week the C team closed the gap on the B team, but this week the gap has widened again.
There was no festive spirit when leaders Hockley B visited Stanford Le Hope B. They thumped their hosts 9 – 0 and barely lost a rubber, with maximums from Joe Odegbami, David Colwill and Stuart Adshead.
Hockley C were given a slightly tougher test away to Wakering A. The home side’s pairing of Martin Shaughnessy and Barbara Chabior took one victory each off the second-placed team in a 7 – 2 away win. Veteran Tim Pang and William Evesham each scored hat tricks whilst James Evesham recorded the other win for the visitors.
The contest between the two Hadleigh Forum sides was a keenly fought affair, played in a great spirit, as would be expected between club mates who are also good friends. After six contests the score stood at three all, with all six players having managed a win. However, after this, the B team got the better of their C team colleagues coming out on top 6 – 3. However, it was close, with the final two battles being tense affairs, both only settled in the fifth and final set.
Another one-sided contest took place on Canvey where their A team overcame lowly Basildon B 9 – 0. The home side’s Peter Cray, Ray Wilson and Bob Skews all returned maximums.
The current flu epidemic may have played it’s part in two of this week’s Division 2 fixtures as first Stanford found their squad decimated to the point they could only field Mike Trendell against promotion chasers Matchpoint B ,and Hockley E found themselves without three of their squad albeit they still managed to put out a full team calling on George Clark from their F team to fill the gap.
With no matches for Wakering or Hockley D the focus was very much on the bottom of the table and the clash between Hockley E and Runnymede was crucial for both teams. It turned out to be a significant night for Runnymede who cantered to a straightforward 7-2 win with hat tricks for Steve Wisbey and Andrew Humphris, his first of the season. The evening started well for Hockley with Neal Klyman getting the better of Steve McQuillan but they then lost six games on the trot before John George also beat Mcquillan. Player of the Match Steve Wisbey rounded the evening off beating Klyman. That made it three wins in succession for Runnymede who now sit in a season high sixth position whilst Hockley slip to one but bottom.
Invicta B and Matchpoint C both needed points to push themselves up the table and they produced the closest match of the week Invicta edging it 5-4 so both teams came away reasonably happy. Matchpoint led 2-1 and 4-2 but a late push from Invicta saw them win the last three games to steal the win. Their hero was Trisha Winter whose hat trick included two five set wins against Olly Milchard and Roger Sherman. Winter was actually two sets down against Sherman before fighting back to level and then edge the final set 15/13. Sarah Ball and John Blackman added the extra points for Invicta whilst Samuel Morgan got a brace and Sherman and Milchard one each for Matchpoint. Matchpoint now sit one point above Hockley and Invicta four points above Matchpoint albeit they have played a game more than both their rivals.
Basildon C remain bottom of the table after losing 6-3 to promotion hopefuls Canvey B. They went down fighting though with only one game finishing in three sets. Terry Giddens was the star man for the Islanders with a maximum whilst Tony Westwell added a brace and Kevin Walsingham a single point. Michael Elemide got a brace for Basildon and there was one win for Andy Roff. Canvey move up to third place.
In the final match of the week the plaudits must go to Mike Trendell who was the only player available for Stanford for their game against Matchpoint B but he still turned up and played when the temptation must have been to forfeit the game. Trendell even started his solitary evening with a win against Colin Barham but lost against Lotte Mills and John Lott so at least he didn’t go home empty handed. He might even have doubled that score having taken a two set lead against Mills but she fought back admirably to win the next three sets 11/9 11/9 11/9. This 8-1 win has now given Matchpoint an eight point cushion in second place from Canvey B in third.
Player of the Week – Mike Trendell
Team of the Week – Runnymede
Just two matches played this week in Division 3.
Stanford ‘D’ opened up proceedings with a home fixture against Wakering ‘C’, and it was Martin Winter, with a quick fire hat-trick, who led the way for them. Andrew Jessop added a double, and Toby Cornelius chipped in with the extra point to round off a 6/3 win for Stanford. Joanna Gaudini was the best on the night for Wakering with a couple of wins.
League leaders Invicta ‘C’ have stretched their lead at the top to 20 points following their latest visit to the table. Their opponents this week were Matchpoint ‘C’, who found it tough going, and only Cooper Hill managed to pinch a set in his match against Mike Keeble. Steve Lennox was the POTM here.
Second placed Hockley ‘F’ were unable to close the gap on the leaders, as their match against Hockley ‘G’ had to be postponed due to illness amongst the junior Hockley players.
The match between Hadleigh Forum and Evolve ‘B’ was also postponed due to illness within the Evolve team.
Premier Division report by Duncan Taylor
Division 1 report by David Barnes
Division 2 report by Paul Strutt
Division 3 report by David Woolmer
