Premier Division Week 25

This week saw some great games in the Premier Division with the top two going head to head. Newly crowned Southend Men’s’ Singles Champion Tony Halling continued his good form as he helped leaders Rawreth A overcome nearest rivals Thorpe Bay A 5-4. Haling’s hatrick was complemented by a win a piece for Ross Saxby and Keiran Lally over John Poysden. Paul Sayer and Southend Veterans singles winner Alex Abbot with two each for the Bay.

Elsewhere there were big wins for Lentern A and Rawreth B & C over Warehouse A, Hadleigh Forum A and Lentern B respectively. Matt Spero was back to his best winning all his games for Rawreth C comfortably but the strangest game of the night coming when Simon Neale beat Paul Churn 3-2 but losing the two legs both 11-1!!

Finally there were 7-2 wins for Castle Point A and Hullbridge A over Hullbridge B and Thorpe Bay B although Bay B’s Gurj Bhambra continued to pick up good wins with victories against Dave Bowles and Richard Brown    Duncan Taylor

Division 1 – Week 25
Hockley A were without a game this week but still lead the table by one point with a game in hand.
Customs closed the gap with a convincing 8-1 win over bottom club Runnymede. Roy Thomas and Brian Rackham were both hattrick winners, but Dale Gutteridge’s inconsistency saw him lose to Tony Millward in 3 sets.
Hadleigh Forum B had a great 9-0 whitewash of Invicta A with Dave Woolmer, Anthon Ranjit-Singh and Russell Bright playing up from the C team making up the victorious team. Steve Marr was unlucky for the losers with two of his games going to 5 sets.
Hullbridge C continue their poor run of form this time going down 7-2 to Lentern E with Wayne Farmer being unplayable on the night. Wayne was ably supported with two wins each from Mark Jupe and Brian Spencer whilst veteran, Bill Smith, despite his advancing years, dodgy knees and serves, played strongly for Hullbridge to notch up their two wins.
Rawreth E continued their up and down season, this time losing 5-4 to Lentern D, grateful of the points to avoid relegation. Newly crowned over 70’s champion, Mike Worship had an off-night losing all three of his games in a match where no-one was unbeaten. Peter Pond and Dave Kirston scored 2 for Lentern with Sue Body adding the important fifth point. Trevor Ward and Colin Clements scored two each for Rawreth who have probably now seen their promotion hopes dashed.
Hadleigh Forum C lost a close encounter with Warehouse B 5-4, also in a match where no-one was unbeaten. Tony Wright and James Spencer scored two apiece for the troubled Warehouse team, whilst Tony Mace and Graham Farmer did likewise for Forum. Berti Makoli scoring the important extra point for Warehouse.
In the final match, Canvey A ground out a convincing win over Lentern C by 7-2. Peter Cray and Ray Wilson could not be touched by the Lentern veterans, but were more successful against Terry Giddens, with Chris Crooks, still playing with a back injury, and Malcolm Henstock both getting the better of him. Les Tayler was unable to make any impact on the match    Barrie Delf

Division 2 Week 25

Leaders Hullbridge D returned to the fray this week, winning 7 – 2 away to lowly Warehouse D. Tamas Mezo did his best for Warehouse, winning two games. However, a maximum from Matt Rolfe and two each from Reece Harris-Griffiths and Shannon Rolfe (playing her first game of the season) kept up the promotion push.

There was another Hullbridge / Warehouse clash this week; with Hullbridge E ‘entertaining’ Warehouse C. There was little fun for the visitors though, as they suffered an 8 – 1 hammering. James Spencer’s win was their only consolation. Adam Jackman and Reece Harris-Griffiths’ maximums caused the visitors their problems.

Canvey C continued their recent improved form on their trip to Wakering. Two wins each for Gordon Johnstone and Stuart Curham, and one win for Geoff Banthorpe, gave them a 5 – 4 win in a close match. The home side’s Stewart Mill’s was very unlucky to be on the losing side, despite winning all his three games.

Canvey B narrowly overcame visitors Rawreth F 5 – 4.  No one player starred, but there were two wins each for the home side’s Talbot Wiseman and Tony Westwell, whilst Rawreth’s Adam Hill and Dave Barnes also won two. However, it was Lee McGonagle’s single win that swung the match in Canvey’s favour.

Ever-reliable Ron Coutts recorded another maximum this week. His RESSC side visited Castle Point C and came away with a 6 – 3 win. Ron was assisted by two wins from David Newton and a single from Frank Hooper    David Barnes

Division 3 Week 25

Absences and injuries make the news this week with Invicta B and Customs B suffering as a result.
Invicta’s Richard Verrinder had to pull out of their match against Hockley D after playing just 2 sets of his first match. A back injury caused the problem and this could mean trouble for Invicta long term as Richard is the top performer in the league this year and this could prove to be a big blow to their promotion hopes. On the night it meant that Hockley came away with a surprise 5-4 win Brian Parker winning both his singles for Hockley and Chris Gregory and Mike Keeble a brace each for Invicta.
Customs B have suffered with player problems – namely not enough of them – all season, and just when it seemed they had turned the corner and were picking up some good results they had to field just one player against Canvey D and two against Hockley E. Not surprisingly they lost 9-0 to Canvey but thanks to a hat trick from Richard Kidd and two for Amar Al-Soufi they still managed a 5-4 win against Hockley.
Rawreth Juniors are still looking for their first win this season but they are now beginning to pick up points more consistently thanks to the form of Keenan Ford, who picked up another two wins against Invicta C and was backed up by a first ever brace for Olivia Jones. Unfortunately they fell just short of the win going down 5-4 but the improvement is there for all to see. Keith Baxter swung the game for Invicta winning all his three. Rawreth get my Team Performance of the Week award for their efforts.
Player of the Week goes to Martin Scarfe of Hockley F (I’m not biased!), who is enjoying a fine first season in the league and picked up another hat trick against promotion hopefuls Hullbridge G although he finished on the losing side as they went down 5-4. Dave Booroff and Tony Molisso both picked up two wins and Bill Hoy one. David Chenery got the other Hockley point.
These results leave Invicta B still top but only by three points from Canvey D who have a game in hand. Hullbridge G are third, eight points behind but five in front of their F team who have two games in hand   

Paul Strutt