WINTER LEAGUE 16-17 WEEK 24 REPORT

Southend & DTTL Report for Week 24

• Premier Division 

Before we get onto this weeks’ fixtures there are two games to catch up on played on the week of the Southend Closed Championships. In the first match Dave Page was in great form totally befuddling the Warehouse players in a 6-3 win for Castle Point A. In the second match, a re-arranged match from earlier in the season, we saw Rawreth B walking away with the spoils beating Stanford le Hope 8-1. On a very enjoyable evening Andy Paton picked up the consolation win for Stanford in beating Simon Neale 11-9 in the 5th. However it was Eric Green who mixed solid defence with tremendous forehand winners who picked up the MoM award.

Onto this week and a 7-2 win for Lentern A over Castle Point. Castle Point fielded a Team of Jacob's for the first time with Chris playing with his two sons Simon and David who was playing up from Div 2 but was able to hold his own, taking Ian Wall close. A good win for Chris over Django Fung earning good league ranking points.

An interesting turn at the top of the division when title chasing Thorpe Bay A lost 5-4 to A Hullbridge B side of Gary Young, Glenn Johnson and Tim Cramphorn all of who recorded  good wins against Basildon Singles Champion Paul Whatton. Hullbridge A took advantage of the favour done by their B side by themselves recording a 7-2 win over Thorpe Bay B with Keira's Skaggs recording good wins for the Bay over Stuart Gibbs and Dave Bowles. The other title contenders Rawreth A also took their chance with a 9-0 win over Hockley A.

Elsewhere there was a good win for Stanford le hope over Rayleigh Mill with both Rahul Sharma and Chris Hancock registering hatrick over Colin Chatfield, Rob Harris and Steve Maltby. And finally there was an 8-1 win for Rawreth B over Customs with Roy Thomas picking up a good win for the consolation over Eric a Green.

Duncan Taylor DRS

• Division 1

With Hadleigh Forum B’s game against Hullbridge D being postponed this week, it left a chance for the chasing pack to close up.

With 2nd placed Rawreth C playing 3rd placed Hullbridge C, you would have expected a close game however Hullbridge ran out 7-2 winners. With Andy Seaman unbeaten and Bill Smith and Lin Roffadding two each, no-one in the Rawreth team could make much impact but they still hold 2nd place by 3 points and a game in hand.

Lectern C in 4th place also had a rough time, losing 8-1 to HadleighForum C. Charles Yeung and Russell Bright both scored hattricks for the Forum side with Mark Everard adding two, Mark Jupe putting the fly in the ointment with his win over Mark and moves the Forum C team out of relegation troubles.

Meanwhile, two other teams near the bottom are having trouble this week. Firstly, Lentern B lost 7-2 to a strong Warehouse B team. Martin West and Micky Baker were unbeaten for Warehouse with Tony Wright adding an extra point, but losing to John Lott and Malcolm Henstock, who was playing against his old team, picking up the points for Lentern.

Lentern D also lost 6-3 to Hockley B and move into second from bottom in the league, level on points with their B team. Dave Colwillhad a comfortable night with three wins for Hockley aided by Dennis Squirrell with two. In a match where everyone won a game all the Lentern players added a point.

Barrie Delph DRS

• Division 2

A rearranged match, postponed from earlier in the season, was notable for one particular encounter where there was never any doubt about the name of the winner. When Invicta B entertained Rawreth D, the penultimate pairing saw the home side’s David Barnes up against David Barnes for the visitors, in their first ever meeting. For the record, the home side’s player was victorious. However, thanks to a hat trick from Rawreth’s Sam Thompson, the visitors ran out 6 – 3 winners.

Run away leaders Hullbridge E recorded their twentieth win out twenty, away to Warehouse C. Maximums from player-of-the-match Reece Harris-Griffiths and Adam Jackman contributed to an 8 – 1 win. Warehouse’s face-saving win came courtesy of James Spencer.

RESSC continued their recent good form with a 7 – 2 home victory over Basildon Hospital. Stan Dyson was their star, winning all his three, whilst Ron Coutts and Bob Skews added two each. Kevin Smart got both Basildon’s points.

In a close contest, Castle Point C just squeezed past home side Wakering 5 – 4. The match was decided in the final game of the evening. Castle’s Sean McNabb won this in the fifth set despite the valiant efforts of the home side’s Zac England. Sean was player-of-the-march with a hat trick. David Jacob got Castle’s other points, whilst Zac was unlucky to finish on the losing side.

Second place Hockley C were made to work hard for a 5 – 4 away win at Rawreth D. Martin Scarfe and Stuart Adshead both recorded two victories, whilst Neal Klyman added one. Andy Deadman, playing up from the E team, fought hard for two wins for the home side, whilst Ken Field and Sam Thompson got one each.

Rawreth E were hosts to bottom side Castle Point D and were pushed all the way to get to a 5 – 4 win. Andy Deadman was again the star, winning all his three; John Beddow and Richard Riebold got two victories each for the visitors, whilst single wins for both Jack Himpfen-Jones and Rob Appleton settled things for Rawreth.

Despite Runnymede fielding the vastly experienced Tony Millward, visitors Invicta B achieved a rare 5 – 4 away victory. David Barnes and Barrie Murphy each won two and Mike Keeble chipped in with one. It was no surprise Tony recorded an unbeaten evening, being a different standard.

David Barnes DRS

• Division 3

With just 5 or 6 games left to the end of the season and the promotion places virtually decided it’s a case of playing for positions now in  Division 3.The top four of Hockley D, Stanford Le Hope B, Warehouse D and Canvey D have their own mini league at the top of the division and below them there is now a cluster of clubs from 9th to 5th separated by just 6 points. 

At the time of going to press Hockley E hold the highest position after their 9-0 win against RochfordLTC. Andrew Strutt, Phil Pond and Kevin Blythe madeup the successful team. This is their highest position in the league so far this season.

Hullbridge G are sixth and, despite putting out their strongest team against Warehouse D, they went down 7-2 and now have only one win in their last six games. Conrad Gomes took the man of the match award with a hat trick which was matched by Dave Walton but he had to come back twice in two five set matches against Dave Booroff and Tony Molisso to claim those wins. Phil Mardle got the other point for Warehouse whilst Dave and Tony got a point each for Hullbridge.

Also in the mid table pack were Invicta C and Customs B who, not surprisingly, produced a tight, hard fought but sporting game finishing 5-4 to the Taxmen. Keith Baxter of Invicta took the individual honours winning all three including a really tight five set victory over Mark Rose 11-9 in the fifth. Dave Youngman was the only other winner for them coming through in another five set match against Amar Al-Soufi. The Taxmen proved they were just the stronger all round team however, thanks to a brace each for Mark and Dean Johnson and one for Amar. That leaves Customs with the bragging rights in seventh place and Invicta in ninth.

Sandwiched between those two are Hullbridge F in eighth who won 6-3 at Warehouse E. Sue Reece was in fine form again winning her three games without dropping a set and she was well supported by Bob Singleton-Smith who rolled back the years to also win his three but only after two hard fought five set wins. He had to come back from 2-1 down against Joe Bennett before winning the last two sets 11-8, 11-3 and then resisted a fight back from Mike Webb winning the deciding set again 11-3. Mike, Joe and Steve Chaffey all picked up a point beating the luckless Paul Malone.

At the bottom of the table Rochford LTC are cast well adrift and it looks like Warehouse E will take the next spot as they are six points behind Hullbridge H who have two games in hand. Hockley F occupy 11th spot some twelve points behind Rawreth F who went down 7-2 to Stanford Le Hope B. Peter Handscombe won his three and was well supported by John Handscombe and Nathan Jones who both won two. Special mention however to 9 year old George Davies who beat Nathan and John. He came back from 2-1 down to beat Nathan 11-9 in the fifth and then had an impressive four set win against John.

Hullbridge H are in twelfth place after pushing league leaders Hockley D to lose 6-3. They were 3-3 at one stage thanks to two good wins for Harrison Sadler against David Cross and Brian Parker and William Skelt’s five set victory also over Brian. None of the youngsters could cope with Hockley’s Jim Nariel however who won all his three and with two wins for David and one for Brian the leaders stay clear at the top.

Paul Strutt

DRS

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Author: via Southend Table Tennis League
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