A New Year and it was back into league action for the players of the Southend & District Table Tennis League and it was a welcome return to a player who hasn’t played in the Southend league for some time but will be well known to many of our players. Ben Warner made his debut for Rayleigh Mill and it didn’t take long for Ben to remind us what a good player he is as he dispatched his three Matchpoint opponents with the loss of only one game. Colin Chatfield also weighed in with three wins giving the Millers a 6-3 win to kick of 2026. Good wins for the Matchpoint trio of Harry Sawford, Stephen Heard and Debbie O’Neill over Steve Maltby for their three points.
Rawreth B started the year like a team looking to challenge for the title all the way till the end of the season as they opened up 2026 with a 9-0 drubbing of Invicta A, Kim Shead, Keith Adams and Arron Chandler all unbeaten on the night.
There were also strong wins for both Thorpe Bay teams as the A team beat Brand Identity 8-1 and the B team beat Basildon A 7-2. Hatricks all round for Paul Sayer, Ian Wall, Kieran Skeggs and Keith Willett but some notable consolation wins for Charles Yeung and Les Hoey over Justin Jeffery and David Jacob over Mark Stones.
Rawreth A also had a debutant playing up from their C team in James Grimston. Grimston picked up a win against Ian Sangster which along with three wins from Chris Penrose and two from Charles Sweeney gave Rawreth a 6-3 win over Stanford A.
The final match of the week was a tight affair as Hadleigh Forum helped by a maximum from Mark Mulley managed to sneak a 5-4 win away to Hockley A, Dan Patynski and Stuart Adshead with two wins each for the home side.
Report by Duncan Taylor
The New Year fixtures kicked off with what could possibly be the title-deciding match. Second place Hockley C entertained the leaders Hockley B. Things were pretty even early on – the B team took the first two rubbers through Dave Colwill and Player of the Match Joe Odegbami. Then the C team levelled it with wins for youngsters Will Evesham and Elliot Brackenbury. The penultimate game of the evening, between Will and Dave, was the most closely fought, with the first two games being won by Dave 18 – 16 and 15 – 13. Will then pulled back, winning the next two, before succumbing 6 – 11 in the fifth. The last rubber of the evening was rather an anti-climax with Joe displaying his supremacy over Steph Haddrell, retaining his 100% record, and closing the tie as a 6 – 3 victory for the B’s. Credit to the youngsters Will and Elliot, who demonstrated excellent play and made the B team fight all the way for their victory,
Rawreth C could only muster two registered players for their visit to Canvey A, so it was no surprise they went down 6 – 3 to the Canvey team of Ray Wilson, Bob Skews and Lee McGonagle. However, none of the Islanders could get the better of the visitors’ Adi Kamma. Ray Wilson came closest, taking him to a fifth set before losing 7 – 11.
In a tight match between Wakering A and Basildon B, the outcome wasn’t decided until the final rubber of the match. There were many close contests, with Basildon’s Tony Molisso’s 15 – 13 fifth-set victory over Jeremy Giffin the closest of them all. The final rubber went to Barbara Chabior, giving Wakering a 5 – 4 home win and Barbara the Player of the Match award.
A hat trick from veteran Tony Jacks gave him the POM prize, and also gave his Hadleigh Forum B side a 6 – 3 win on their visit to Mapledene. Tony was aided by two wins for Dave Woolmer and one from Mick Tappenden, whilst Lin Roff got two, and Dawn Baldry one for the home side.
Report by David Barnes
Canvey B have started the new year in Division 2 with a bang as they thumped Hockley E 9-0 and have narrowed the gap significantly between themselves and second placed Matchpoint B. The Islanders, Terry Giddens, Trevor Hayes and Tony Westwell didn’t drop a single set against relegation threatened Hockley although the home team weren’t helped by an injury mid match to Amar Al-Soufi who had to concede his games against Hayes and Giddens. Hockley now sit just one point above bottom placed Basildon C who have played a game more.
Hockley E may have finished with two players but Stanford C could only start their match with two against Invicta B. Fortunately for them Vaughan Chambers and Mike Trendell were in fine form Chambers claiming a hat trick and Trendell a brace as they clinched a 5-4 win in the final match of the evening. Sarah Ball got Invicta’s only win with an excellent five set win against Trendell. The win cements Stanford their mid table place fifth in the league.
Matchpoint B fell foul of injury and sickness losing their top two players Hannah Harbour and John Lott so a much changed team took to the table against Hockley D. Richard Sloman and Ollie Milchard stepped up from the C team to join young Lotte Mills and they were just pipped 5-4 on the night. Sloman was the POTM with a hat trick and Milchard provided the other point coming back from two sets down against Paul Ogden to win the last three sets 15/13 17/15 11/8. The only other five set match was the one between Sloman and Paul Strutt which finished 13/11 in the deciding set. Brian Bissenden joined Strutt in winning two matches and there was a single win for Ogden. No joy on the night for Mills. Hockley are 14 points adrift of Canvey B and 15 adrift of Matchpoint but do have two games in hand on both of them.
Tony Millward led Runnymede to a narrow 5-4 win against Matchpoint C. He not only secured a perfect hat trick but also clinched the match for Runnymede in the final match of the evening. Steve Wisbey provided the other two points for the home side whilst Ollie Milchard got two wins for Matchpoint plus there was a win each for Richard Sloman and Samuel Morgan.
Wakering continued their inexorable march to the Division 2 title with a 7-2 win against bottom of the table Basildon C. A hat trick for Callum Turner and two wins each for Mike Grout and Paul England gave Wakering the win but there was also a glimmer of light for Basildon in the performance of Wayne Mcalear. He made his debut for the home side having not played for a few years and was rewarded with two good wins against Grout and England. He could prove to be a useful addition to the Basildon team as they fight to avoid relegation.
Team of the Week – Stanford C
Player of the Week – Richard Sloman
Report by Paul Strutt
Our first match of 2026 saw Invicta C travel to Stanford to take on their hosts ‘D’ team. The outcome was a 7/2 win for the visitors and a good team performance. Mike Keeble and Steve Lennox both recorded two wins for Invicta. Their teammate, Harry Venables, had won his first two games, as he took on Stanford’s Martin Winter in the final game of the match. Martin was also unbeaten at this stage and must have been eyeing up a maximum as he went into a 2-set lead. Harry, however, had other ideas and hit back to take the next 3 games to complete his hat-trick and take the POTM.
Hockley ‘F’ lost a bit of ground in their pursuit of Invicta at the top of the table, after a narrow, 5/4 win over Evolve ‘A’. Hockley skipper, Gary Beck, led the way with an unbeaten performance, and he was well supported by George Clark who recorded two wins. For Evolve, there was a double for Teddy Kent and a win apiece for Harley Dowding and Sasha Syderenko.
The young Hockley ‘G’ side had a good 6/3 win over Matchpoint ‘D’. There were two wins each for the trio of Perry Lazell, George Higgins and Kris Chankov, with Perry picking up the POTM. David McHattie was the best on the night for Matchpoint with a brace and Cooper Hill picked up the other point.
Hadleigh Forum ‘D’ have climbed to fourth in the table thanks to a 7/2 victory over Canvey ‘C’. The ever consistent Jan Thorpe came up with another unbeaten performance, with his teammates Jean Catley and Dean Johnson adding to wins each, although neither could get the better of Canvey’s Steve Kemp.
Evolve ‘B’ welcomed Wakering ‘C’ to the Megacentre, but it was the visitors who returned home with a 7/2 win under their belts. Jonah Omigie and Oliver Willson recorded a win each for Evolve, but Deepak Nanda, with a maximum, and Joanna Gaudini and Kamil Pachalko with two wins each for Wakering secured the victory.
Report by David Woolmer
