Premier DivisionThe top two in the Premier division of the Southend & District Table Tennis League both had convincing wins this week, but both did drop the odd point or two along the way. First up was Thorpe Bay A who beat Rawreth C 7-2. Skipper John Poysden was undefeated against Eric Green, Bruce Kettle and Babul Mcleod, but Mark Stones and Paul Whatton dropped a game each against Kettle and McLeod respectively. Zayd and Yas Mauthoor were in solid form for Rawreth A as they were victorious over Thorpe Bay B 8-1. The only blot on the Rawreth A copybook was a good win for Kieran Skeggs over Kevin Read. Their clubmates Rawreth B had a good 7-2 win this week against Hadleigh Forum A with Arron Chandler and Andrew Halling winning all their games against Jim Stait, Dave Bassett and Bertie Makolli. The Hadleigh wins came from Makolli and Bassett who both got the better of Paul Brown, in the former’s case 11-9 in the 5th game. There was one whitewash this week and that came for Brand Identity A, much to the chagrin of the two-man Rayleigh Mill side of Rob Harris and Steve Maltby. Simon and David Jacob and Steve Muth proving too strong on this occasion. Duncan Taylor DRS Premier Division Division 1A strong Hockley B side ramped up their push for the top of the league with an impressive 7–2 away win at Hadleigh Forum B. Unbeaten David Colwill was the Player of the Match. However, he was well supported by both Joerg Poeschus and Dennis Squirrell each taking two victories. Tony Jacks was the star for the home side, gaining both their victories. Invicta A maintained the top spot, though, with an 8–1 home win over Rawreth E. Both Lee Marson and Tony Ayliffe had hat tricks whilst the visitor’s Chris Aukett came from behind to beat Steve Marr in five sets and claim Rawreth’s only success and deny Steve his triple. It’s proving a bit of a struggle so far this season for Stanford Le Hope A. This week saw them visit Mapledene. A treble from POM Mike Johnston, aided by two from Steve Woodley and one from Lin Roff gave the home side a 6–3 win. Ian Sangster got two for Stanford and Peter Weatherall chipped in with a single. Despite only having two players (not for the first time this season) for their trek to Canvey A, Rawreth D’s Justin Jeffery and Charlie Kauders Boothby were more than a match for their hosts’ three players. Justin’s performance was outstanding - winning all three, whilst Charlie managed two wins to take the match 5–4. Lentern again put out a strong side for their visit to Hockley C. However, they hadn’t planned for the fine form of the home side’s Tarun Goel. His POM hat trick, with two wins from Aaryan Valsa, gave his side a 5–4 win. Gus Heath took two for Lentern, and both Ian Cranstone and Paul Sims got one each. David Barnes Drs Div 1 Division 2 It may be early days in the League, but already there seems to be a gap appearing at the top of the table, where RESSC have opened up a six point gap from Hadleigh Forum C in second place and they, in turn, are six points clear of Stanford B. At the bottom, and excepting Rawreth F who have only played one game, bottom of the table Hullbridge A are nine points adrift of Canvey B two places above them. John Holland, Bob Skews and Ron Coutts made up the winning RESSCteam as they beat Canvey B 7-2, with John and Bob both recording hat tricks. Terry Giddens and Kevin Walsingham both got the better of Ron who just edged out Des Duffield in five sets for his point. Terry had a 2-1 lead against Bob but lost the last two sets 11/1/ 12/10. Despite a man of the match performance from Stanford B’s Robert Salvage, Hadleigh Forum C ran out 6-3 winners with Mark Everard, Satwant Gill and David Thomas sharing the points. Mark Downey of Stanford can count himself somewhat unlucky to come away without a win, losing two of his games in five sets. Rawreth F finally got their season underway against Hullbridge A but unfortunately fielded only two players Mike Hayes and Simon Neale. These two were, however, more than a match for Hullbridge winning 6-3 and only dropping one set all night. Team of the Week – RESSC Player of the Week – Robert Salvage Paul Strutt Drs Div 2 Division 3The closest match of the week was the encounter between Stanford C and Invicta C which resulted in a 5-4 win for the home side. Stanford skipper Mark Farley was the player of the match with a perfect, straight sets, maximum. He was well supported by Randy Santiago who picked up a brace of wins. Although all the Invicta players made contributions, it was not quite enough. The Invicta B side enjoyed better fortunes, with a 6-3 victory over Canvey C. David Barnes led the way with a hat-trick, but he was pushed all the way by Trevor Hayes, eventually getting over the line 11-9 in the final set. This was a good team performance by Invicta as Steve Lennox, with two wins, and Sarah Ball, with one win, also chipped in. Che Martin was Canvey’s best player, recording two wins. Hockley D made it five wins from five games, and head the table, after overcoming Hockley E 6-3. Anthony Molisso and Ron Rogerson were both unbeaten, although Ron was taken to the deciding set by both Ellis Marley and Graham Gregory before eventually coming out on top. Ellis and Graham, along with teammate Keith Denyer ending up with a win apiece after beating Ben Brown. Jean Catley took the individual honours with a maximum for her side as Hadleigh Forum D visited Hullbridge B and left with a 6-3 win. She had good support from newcomer Tom Adcock who picked up two wins and Sineh Ball with a single. Dan Stewart was the best player on the night for the young Hullbridge side. He recorded two wins and pushed Jean all the way before falling short at 7/11 in the final set. Ollie Milchard secured the other point for the home team. Dave Woolmer Drs Div 3 | 
SDTTL Season 2022-3 Reports: Week 5
