In the season’s penultimate round of fixtures in Division 1 following a very successful Closed Championships,Hockley C confirmed their second place position with an emphatic 9 – 0 whitewash of visiting Mapledene. The division’s restricted champion William Evesham and team mates Elliot Brackenbury and Stephanie Haddrell were all unstoppable, dropping only one set each all evening.
Visiting Canvey A were not phased by Wakering A’s Barbara Chabior’s new titles of Ladies Singles and Doubles champion. The new holder was well beaten by both POM Peter Cray and Ray Wilson in a 6 – 3 Canvey victory. Martin Shaughnessy was again the host’s best player winning two, with Barbara getting the other point.
Bottom side Hadleigh Forum C put up a spirited fight against visitors Stanford Le Hope B. A Paul Fawell hat trick, with two wins from Graham Farmer, gave Forum only their second victory of the season. Colleague Mark Everard was unlucky not to get the better of Mark Moxham, losing 14 – 16 in the fifth set. Stanford’s Mark and Ladies and Mixed Doubles winner Tina Hutchinson gained one contest each for the visitors, whilst Robert Savage won two.
Basildon B hosted Hadleigh Forum B in what was both sides’ last match of the season. An excellent maximum from Over 70s runner up Dave Woolmer and one success each for Tony Jacks and Anthon Ranjit-Singh were sufficient to give Forum a 5 – 4 away win. Jenne Seibolt had two victories for Basildon and Kieran Wood and Chudi Ukpaka one each.
Report by David Barnes
With matters looking very much settled at the top of Division 2 it’s far from decided at the bottom. Whilst Basildon C’s fate was sealed by an 8-1 defeat against Hockley E who goes down with them will be decided in the final week of the season. Matchpoint C occupy that position at the moment but only because Invicta B, who have the same number of points, have won more games. Four points above them lie Hockley E. The final games see Hockley go away to Invicta whilst Matchpoint C must take on their own B team in the other. Bearing in mind the B team could clinch second place and promotion with just two points that will be an intriguing encounter. The C team will have the advantage of knowing exactly how many points they require as they play after the Invicta/ Hockley match. The only definite permutation available is that Hockley will be safe if they get four points. Hockley will go into their match, however, without talisman Dave Chenery who is unbeaten in the three games he has played so far.
The week started with champions Wakering B completing their season with a thumping 8-1 defeat of Stanford B. It wasn’t all one sided though as Michael Grout had to twice come back from two sets down before beating Randy Santiago and Mike Trendell with that pattern being repeated yet again as Trendell lost to Andy Deadman. Otherwise there was another hat trick for Callum Turner, Grout completed his also and Stanford’s solitary point came courtesy of Peter Moxham’s straight sets win against Deadman. Stanford will finish their season in a respectable fifth place.
The other match at the top of the table saw Canvey B take on Hockley D and a Brian Bissenden inspired performance saw them edge a 5-4 win. The evening started well for the Islanders winning the first two games but Hockley hit back in style winning the next five games. Bissenden was at the heart of this winning all his matches and just dropping one set whilst team mates Howard Collins and Paul Strutt added the extra points beating Kevin Walsingham and Tony Westwell respectively. Last game of the evening saw Terry Giddens defeat Collins in five sets coming back from 9-6 down in the final set to win 12/10. Canvey stay second in the table at the moment but having completed their season it seems likely Matchpoint B will push them into third place. Hockley will finish fourth whatever their result from their final game next week against Stanford.
Hockley E’s win against Basildon C could turn out to be the game that saves them from any threat of relegation giving them a useful four point buffer between themselves and rivals Invicta and Matchpoint C. The fate of this game was virtually determined after the first two games of this match as firstly Richard Coulon withstood a two set comeback from Richard Reibold and won the decider 13/11 and then David Chenery overcame a 2-1 deficit to beat Michael Elemide 11/8 in the fifth set. After that things went entirely Hockley’s way as they won the next six games until Elemide gained a late consolation point beating Coulon in straight sets. Richard Kidd pipped Chenery for the POTM award getting just his second hat trick of the season the first one coming also, against Basildon. Basildon take the wooden spoon then in this division and must now start planning for next season in Division 3.
Matchpoint B travelled to Runnymede with hopes of finishing second still strong but again unable to field their strongest team with no sign of John Lott, Hannah Harbour or Dennis Squirrell. Added to that they knew they would probably be facing Tony Millward who had lost only one match all season. In the end however the two replacements in the side called up from the C team, Richard Sloman and Samuel Morgan, proved more than adequate support for regular Colin Barham as they ran out 6-3 winners. Matchpoint started brilliantly with young Morgan coming back from 2-1 down to beat Millward in five sets winning the last two 13/11 12/10. Richard Sloman then stepped up to beat Steve McQuillan on his way to a POTM performance which also included a comeback win against Millward in five sets. Morgan finished with two wins but was denied a hat trick by Steve Wisbey who edged him out 13/11 in another five set match. Barham got the other point for Matchpoint whilst Wisbey finished with a brace for Runnymede and, unusually, Millward finished with just one win.
Team of the Week – Matchpoint B
Player of the Week – Richard Sloman
Report by Paul Strutt
With the destination of the Division 3 title already decided, attention has turned to the
battle to be runners-up.
Hockley ‘F’ have occupied second place for much of the season and, in the 2-week
break for the Closed Championships, they played a couple of rearranged matches.
Their opponents in these matches were the junior teams of Evolve ‘B’ and Hockley ‘G’
and no mercy was shown in either, as they recorded successive 9–0 victories. Gary
Beck and his team are clearly doing all they can to get promoted.
In the scheduled matches in week 25, they were first out of the blocks as they
entertained Stanford ‘D’. Although the visitors were only able to field two players,
Hockley failed to take full advantage, as none of their team were able to lower the
colours of Martin Winter, who has been in good form all season, and turned in an
unbeaten performance. So, with a 6/3 victory here, Hockley completed their fixtures for
the season, and set a stiff target of 24 points from 3 matches for their rivals, Evolve ‘A’,
to pip them for second place.
They set about this challenge in determined fashion, with a 9-0 win over Wakering ‘C’.
Miles Bygrave, who has been their stand-out player this season, duly delivered again
with a perfect hat-trick, well supported by his team-mates Teddy Kent and Sasha
Syderenko.
In the battle between two teams at the lower end of the division, Evolve ‘B’ achieved
only their second win of the season, recording a 7/2 win over Matchpoint ‘D’. Zac
Eighteen was the POTM with a maximum with his comrades, Joseph Omigie and
Charlie Renshaw, adding a double each.
The other match this week saw Hockley ‘G’ entertain Canvey ‘C’, and it was the visitors
who prevailed. Young Alex Carruthers, in only his second match led the way with a fine
maximum. Andy O’Rawe was also unbeaten, and David Coverley added a brace as the
Islanders returned home with an 8/1 victory. George Higgins was the solitary point
winner for Hockley.
With one round of scheduled matches to play, Hockley ‘F’ have 112 points, but they
have completed their fixtures. Evolve ‘A’ have 98 points but still have two matches to
play. Game on in the race for second spot in Division 3!
Report by Dave Woolmer