Week Commencing 18th September 2014
Premier Division - DRS Duncan Taylor duncan.taylor@essexcc.gov.uk
The two teams that contested one of the tightest Premier Division title races ever last season were keen to show that this year it will be no different as both recorded 9-0 wins. Rawreth A welcomed their D side into the top flight with a whitewash, a particularly good performance from Lee Prentice after his summer break. Champions Thorpe Bay A were equally impressive with a maximum result against Hadleigh Forum A, with hat-tricks from Alex Abbott, John Poysden and new signing Paul Sayer. Elsewhere there were 5-4 wins for Rayleigh Mill over Warehouse, Nicole Syderenko making a return to the league and showing some good form, and Castle Point A over Rawreth B with 6 games going to 5 sets, Reece Seddon particularly unlucky losing his three in 5 sets. Thorpe Bay B kicked off the season with a 6-3 win over Hullbridge B, Gurj Bhambra in fine form with three wins and there was a first day defeat for another Hullbridge team as the C team went down 5-4 to Rawreth C. Another point of note from that match was a welcome back to the league after 10 years (it surely can’t be that long) to Graham Hurry who is back playing for Hullbridge, welcome back Graham Duncan
Gurj Bhambra, (Thorpe Bay B) hat-trick against Hullbridge B.
Division 1 - DRS - Barrie Delf bdelf@castlepoint.gov.uk
Invicta A enjoyed a great debut game in Division 1 beating two man Lentern E 8-1 to go joint head of the table. Neil Daines and Steve Marr were unbeaten on the night, with Malcolm Henstock getting the consolation point for Lentern against Richard Verrinder in a close 5 setter. The Lentern B team were also faced with only two players when they played Customs A and ended up with the same result, an 8-1 win, Paul Churn and John Lott with maximums for Lentern and Dale Gutteridge sparing Custom’s blushes with the win against Steve Appleby. The other debut team, Hockley A, found it tough going against Canvey A and especially Ray Wilson, who scored three for the night, Canvey running out 7-2 winners. Ray was supported by Gavin Warner and Terry Giddens with two each, although player/coach Tim Pang managed to win two for the Hockley team. Young Liam Squirrell showed what a good prospect he is losing two of the games in 5 sets. Hadleigh Forum B fared better against the B team of Canvey coming out 8-1 winners. Dave Woolmer and Mick Tappenden scored maximums with Peter Cray getting the better of Tony Jacks to score the only point for the Islanders. Hadleigh Forum C showed their class, by also recording a 7-2 win against the youngsters from Hullbridge D who have moved up from last year. Russell Bright scored the maximum 3 and Tony Mace and Graham Farmer with 2 each for the Forum team, but Zoe Davies continued where she left off last year scoring the two points for Hullbridge. On the other side of the coin, the old heads from Lentern C won 6-3 against Rawreth E, with Mike Grout, Les Tayler and Chris Crooks scoring two each but no-one could beat Steve Buer who scored all the points for the losing Rawreth team, who gave a debut to the young Justin Jeffery. The final result for this week, saw Lentern D win 6-3 against Warehouse B. Peter Pond scored a maximum for the visiting Lentern team supported by Peter Lucraft with two. Sam Langton performed well for the Warehouse team beating both Peter Lucraft and Sue Pond but losing in 5 sets to Peter Pond Barrie
Division 2 - DRS - David Barnes dbarnes89@btinternet.com
Pre-season title joint favourites Hockley B and Warehouse C both showed their form in the opening week of the season. Mickey Baker was undefeated for Warehouse’s visit to Castle Point B as they recorded a 7 – 2 win. Jonathan Allen and Peter Maslanka pitched in with two games apiece, whilst Martin Roberts secured both points for Castle. Hockley B recorded the same score at home to two-man Rawreth F. A maximum from Paul Strutt scoring a maximum for Hockley, whilst young Matt Stringer, making his debut in Division 2, made a good start with a victory over Rawreth’s Adam Hill and then, in a tremendous game against the much-experienced Andy Nunn, just missed out on a second win going down 12 -10 in the fifth. RESSC’s combined experience was too much when they entertained the youngsters from Rawreth G, with Ron Coutts and Frank Hooper both undefeated. Aaron Crisp saved the visitors’ blushes. Wakering’s return to the division started with a narrow reversal when Hullbridge F were their visitors. Despite a maximum from Paul England, two wins each from Tony Molisso and Joanna Hills and one from David Booroff meant the home team went down 4 – 5. Thanks to a maximum from Steve Bottom, Warehouse D had a comfortable 7 – 2 win over Castle Point C. John Beddow collected all the visitor’s points. Basildon Hospital gave visitors Hullbridge E a difficult time, with the visitors’ Paul Ogden recording their only point as Hospital finished comfortable 8 – 1 winners. Both Dean Baker and Kevin Smart recorded maximums for the home side David
DIVISION 3 - DRS Paul Strutt paulstrut@tiscali.co.uk
Only 3 games to report on this week with the youngsters of Hullbridge G and Rawreth I both suffering 8-1 defeats against the more experienced sides of Customs B and Invicta B respectively, but in the other match, as might have been expected, Hockley D and E teams went the distance with the D team earning a narrow 5-4 win. Customs proved far too strong for Hullbridge with Reece Harris-Griffiths picking up the consolation point against Gaye Dean, but Richard Kidd and Amar Al-Soufi both scored maximums to give them a great start to the season. The match between Rawreth and Invicta, however, was far closer than the score suggests, with 5 matches going the full distance. Robbie Appleton picked up Rawreth’s solitary point beating Matt Keeble but also went to 5 sets against John Golding, and Ryan Williams went to 5 against Mike and Matt Keeble but lost in both. As might have been expected the evergreen John Golding picked up the man of the match award. The Hockley derby was won by the all-round strength of the D team for whom Philip Pond and John Jolley picked up 2 wins each with Jim Nariel winning the 5th. None of these could defeat Brian Parker, however, who gained a maximum on his debut for Hockley. Brian has not played in the league for a short while and it was good to see him back in action. Roger Sherman, also making his debut for Hockley, beat Jim Nariel to record his first win in league table tennis Paul
