 SDTTL Season 2022-3 Reports: Week 12
Premier Division
It was the week and the result we were all looking out for, the clash of the two title contenders as Thorpe Bay Ahosted Rawreth A and it was the home side that came out on top with a quite astonishing 8-1 victory. Rawreth A might not have had their top two performers in Matt Spero and Wanda Syderenko in their ranks on the night, but it was a strong line-up of Yas and Zayd Mauthoor and Charles Sweeney. However, the Rawreth trio were no match for John Poysden, Paul Whatton and Paul Sayer with only Sayer dropping a game to Yas Mauthoor. The result puts Thorpe Bay 8 points clear at the half way stage of the season, which I’m sure will prompt Rawreth into a strong second half in an attempt to reel them back in.
Elsewhere there were 6-3 wins for Hockley A and Hadleigh Forum A over Rawreth B and Rayleigh Mill respectively, with Andy Cunningham (Hockley) and Peter Radford (Rayleigh) the only two unbeaten players in those matches.
So at the bottom end of the table there are two teams in danger at the halfway stage and both Rayleigh Mill, who to be fair have been ravaged with injury, and Hadleigh Forum A will be looking for a much stronger 2023 in an attempt to stay in the top flight. Duncan Taylor DRS Premier Division Division 1
Leaders Invicta A were knocked off their perch this week by second-placed Brand Identity B. The 7-2 home win puts Brand Identity to the top of the pile by the slenderest of margins – one point. Barrie Delf was once again the home side’s hero, winning all his three and talking the Player of the Match award, too. Adam Jackman and Mick Grout each recorded two wins, whilst Steve Marr was Invicta’s best played taking two victories. There was a good evening’s table tennis when Hadleigh Forum Bvisited Lentern. Every player made a contribution, but Lentern’s ex-Forum player John Tendler took the POM honour for his two wins. He wasn’t alone though, as both the home team’s Gus Heath and Ian Cranstone also recorded braces. In a similar vein, all the Forum team (David Woolmer, Paul Fawell and Mike Tappenden) recorded one each. Undoubtedly, the highlight of the evening was a bonus round of tea and biscuits! Mapledene were too strong for their hosts Canvey A. A Lin Roff hat trick led them to a comfortable 7-2 away win and gave her the POM prize. Charles Yeung and Mike Johnston chipped in with two wins each, whilst Canvey’s Ray Wilson was again their best player, earning both his side’s successes. The match was closer than the score suggests, though. Three rubbers were decided in the fifth and final set, one 8/11, one 11/13 and the other 13/15. There was a Rawreth ‘derby’ this week, when the D team hosted the E team. The youngsters of Rawreth D were taught a bit of a lesson by their more experienced club colleagues. Gary Hartgrove and Trevor Ward both recorded maximums, whilst Colin Clements had two successes. Well done to Jake Nelson, who overcame Colin quite easily in the final contest of the night. The match at the Plumberow Primary Academy between Hockley Cand Stanford Le Hope A had to be postponed as the premises were required by the school for their Nativity plays. David Barnes Drs Div 1
Division 2
There were a few surprises in Division 2 this week as league leaders RESSC just avoided defeat for the first time this season scraping home 5-4 against Stanford B, whilst promotion hopefuls Wakering were surprisingly beaten by the same score by a youthful Hullbridge B side. Not being unkind to Rawreth F, but perhaps the biggest surprise of the week was that firstly, they managed to get a full team out and, secondly, they thrashed Canvey B 8-1! Turning to the Rawreth F /Canvey B match first of all, it’s fairly well documented how Rawreth F have, through no fault of their own, fallen behind in their games due to the vagaries of the fixture list and secondly, despite a large squad to call on, they have still struggled to get their best players out together. All that changed this week as Simon Neale, Mike Hayes and Jan Thorpe steamrollered Canvey Bwinning the first four games without dropping a set, led 6-0, and having conceded a point when Trevor Hayes beat Jan, eventually won 8-1. All this against a team sitting fourth in the table! It will be interesting to see just what sort of an impact they could make if they can consistently field this or a similarly strong team. Runaway leaders RESSC came within a whisker of defeat against Stanford B as they found themselves 4-1 down before fighting back to 4-4 leading to a final match showdown between Rob Salvage and Bob Skews. Both players were unbeaten at that stage and Rob must have been hoping he was going to clinch his hat trick as he led 2-0 winning 11/7, 11/8 but only to find Bob was in no mood to pass up his own chance of staying unbeaten. Slowly but surely, he drew level winning 12/10, 11/9 and then finally edged home 11/9 again to clinch the match. Kevin Smart and Ron Coutts were the other points winners for RESSC, whilst Mark Downey and John Handscombe did similarly for Stanford. If third placed Wakering were aware of RESSC’s struggles and hoping to take advantage when they played lowly Hullbridge A, they were soon brought down to earth as youngsters Jack Riley and Evie Knaapen chalked up some excellent wins to clinch a surprise 5-4 win. It was all down to the last match of the evening again as young Jack took on Stewart Mills, and it went all the way to the fifth set before Jack ran out a convincing 11-4 winner. Jack had already beaten Paul England and also clinched another five-set win against Paul’s son Zac, and he was backed up by Evie who beat Paul and Stewart but lost to Zac. There was no joy for Debbie O’Neill of Hullbridge. This win pushes them up a place in the table and shows what a force they could be in the league this season. Hadleigh Forum C cemented their position of second in the table with a 6-3 defeat of Runnymede. Mark Everard finished POTM winning all his games with support from Graham Farmer, two wins, and one from Tony Mace. There were no less than five, five setters, on the night but four of those finished up being won by Forum. Andrew Humphris did best for Runnymede winning two games and losing in five to Mark with just one win for Phil Digby and, surprisingly, no wins for Dmitry Kisil. Paul Strutt Drs Div 2 Division 3
Three matches to report on this week. Steve Lennox and David Barnes led the way with maximums for Invicta B in a 7-2 win against Stanford C. Sarah Ball with the extra point. Mention should be made of Stanford skipper Mark Farley who came close in two five-setters before losing out 11-9 and 12-10 in the final end to David and Sarah respectively. Vaughan Chambers and Peter Moxham were the point winners for Stanford. A good team performance by Hockley E as they overcame Rawreth G by 6-3. Two wins each for Graham Gregory, Ellis Marley and Hermann Maier doing the damage for the home side. Ellis Hartopp was the best player on the night for Rawreth with wins over Hermann and Graham. Ellery Pearson picked up the other point with a win over Ellis Marley. Megazone kept up their pursuit of Hockley D at the top of the table with a 6-3 win over a two-man Hullbridge B. Joe Bennett, Steve McQuillan and Amar Al-Soufi all recorded victories over Jeff Gritzman, but none of the three could get the better of hat-trick hero, Alex Bowden, although Amar came close before eventually coming up short at 8-11 in the 5th set Dave Woolmer Drs Div 3 | 
