Southend & District Table Tennis League 2015-6 Winter Season
Week 7 REPORT, Week Commencing 2nd November 2015
Premier Division – DRS – Duncan Taylor Duncan.Taylor@essex.gov.uk
Week 7 One of the matches that usually goes a long way to deciding the destination of the title in the Premier division was played this week and the result shows how tight the league is likely to be this year in what must be one of the most competitive divisions in years. The final score was 5-4 to Rawreth A over Hullbridge A and it was that man again Tony Halling that proved the difference between the two sides. Halling won his three games and Charles Sweeney and Kieran Lally saw Rawreth over the line with one win each. Rayleigh Mill and Lentern A fought another close match, again a 5-4 score line this time to the Millers. Duncan Taylor went unbeaten although it was as expected a very close match with Django Fung that Taylor only came through 11-8 in the 5th end. Colin Chatfield recorded the Millers other two wins over Lewis Ewers and Norbert Fullerton and Rayleigh's third player Russell Mills was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet as he went down 12-10 in the 5th to Fullerton in a real see-saw battle. There were straight forward wins this week for Castle Point and Rawreth D as they beat Warehouse and Lentern B 9-0 and 8-1 respectively. There was a tighter tussle as Thorpe Bay B overcame Hullbridge B 6-3. Gurj Bhambra, Keiran Skeggs and Richard Stubbington all winning two against a Hullbridge side of John Holland, Glen Johnson and Dick Wyman Duncan
Division 1 - DRS - Barrie Delf bdelf@castlepoint.gov.uk
Week 7 A quarter of the way through the season and Hockley A has hit top spot for the first time. A strong performance saw them win 8-1 against Hadleigh Forum C. Both Alan Tideswill and Matt Nariel achieved maximums with Dave Colwill adding 2, with Mark Everard scoring the consolation for Hadleigh. Customs A have slipped into second, with a narrow 5-4 victory over Canvey A. Roy Thomas with his customary 3 and Brian Rackham with 2 were enough to get the win, despite all the Canvey team scoring, Ray Wilson topping their performance with 2 wins. Hullbridge C still sit in third with a game in hand, 6 points adrift of the leaders. This week a hard fought 5-4 win over Hadleigh Forum B earned them the points, despite a battling hattrick for Mick Tappenden. Two apiece for Andy Seaman and Pete Saunders with a 5th game from Bill Smith was enough for the Hullbridge team. Rawreth E jump into 4th with a 6-3 win over Invicta A, Mike Worship leading the way and unbeaten on the night, supported by Colin Clements with 2. Michael Piper put up the main resistance for Invicta with 2 wins and narrowly losing out to Mike in the 5th, 7-11. There was a strange game in the Lentern derby between their C and E teams, with the E team coming out with a 9-0 win. The C team must wonder what they have to do to get a win however, with 6 of the games going to 5 sets, all won by the E’s. The winning team consisted of Brian Spencer, Mark Jupe and Wayne Farmer, Mike Grout particularly unlucky losing all of his games in 5 sets, 9-11 in the last game. Warehouse B had a good 7-2 win over Runnymede. Berti Makoli and Tarun Goel scored three each for the home team, with no-one from Runnymede able to make much impact. Lentern D secured their first win of the season but still are bottom of the table. A 6-3 win over Hockley B ensured that they also are in trouble at the bottom. Peter Pond with 3 and Brian Farmer with 2 contributed the main points for Lentern, whilst Dennis Squirrell scored 2 for the losers Barrie
Division 2 - DRS - David Barnes dbarnes89@btinternet.com
Week 7 It’s heartening to have got a full set of results submitted this week. A big ‘thank you’ to everyone. After these have all been recorded, the situation at the top of Division team remains very tight, with the top three teams separated by only two points. Castle Point B are in pole position, thanks to a comfortable 9 – 0 win away at Warehouse D. Tony Ayliffe, Martin Roberts and Keith Neville were all undefeated. Second place Hullbridge D edged a close encounter away at Hockey C. Cameron Gary made an unbeaten debut for them. However, the notable feature of this match was a first defeat of the season for Hullbridge’s Matt Rolfe, at the hands of Stuart Adstead. Third place Canvey B overcame RESSC 6 – 3, with two wins each for Talbot Wiseman, Des Duffield and Tony Westwell, whilst Ron Coutts managed two victories for the visitors. Hat tricks for both Jan Thorpe and Dave Barnes gave visitors Rawreth F a creditable 6 – 3 win at Wakering. A fine maximum by Kevin Smart formed the basis for a close 5 – 4 home success at the expense of visitors Canvey C. Mike Smith chipped in with two wins, whilst Geoff Banthorpe bagged two for Canvey. Bottom side Castle Point C succumbed at home to Warehouse C 6 – 3. Harry Small’s maximum for Warehouse made him man-of-the-match, whilst Richard Reibold won two for the home side. Hullbridge E recorded their largest victory of the season. Only a single win for visitors Rawreth G’s Andy Deadman blotted Hullbridge’s copy book in an otherwise faultless display. Both the home team’s Adam Jackman and Dan Zeffie won three each David
Division 3 - DRS Paul Strutt paulstrut@tiscali.co.uk
Week 7 Invicta B keep top spot in the table by 5 points but it’s Canvey D who are now second having been given a 9-0 walkover by Customs B. Hullbridge G are 1 point behind then a 10 point gap to Hullbridge F who have a game in hand. In a result from week 6 Customs B came up against a 2 man Hullbridge G side but a hat-trick from Tony Molisso and a brace from Bill Hoy gave Hullbridge a 5-4 victory. Amar Al Soufi pushed both these players to 5 sets but he conceded a 2 set lead against Tony and then, having been 2 sets down to Bill, again missed out in the 5th. Also from week 6 another 5-4 win this time for Hockley D against Rawreth H. In a closely fought match no one could stop young Ryan Williams recording a hat-trick but 2 wins each from Jason Stringer and Phil Pond and 1 from David Cross saw Hockley home. The crucial match of the evening was a 5 set win for Phil Pond against Matthew Barber which put the home team 4-3 up and David then beat Cho Waai Man in straight sets to take the vital 5th. Hockley D were not so fortunate the following week when they lost 6-3 to Warehouse E. Hat-tricks from James Spencer and Tina Hutchinson won the day for Warehouse with Phil Pond, Kevin Blythe and Jason Stringer all winning against Carolyn Howard. Invicta C have their first win on the board 7-2 against Rawreth I, albeit Rawreth only fielded one eligible player, Matthew Barber, who won 2 of his games but could not get the better of Keith Baxter. Match of the week was definitely the clash between two unbeaten sides at the top of the table, Invicta B and Hullbridge F, and although Richard Verrinder maintained his 100% record this season it was not enough to save them from going down to a shock 5-4 defeat. The scores stayed close all night Invicta edging ahead 2-1 then going 3-2 down, 4-3 down and then 4-4. The final match between Ann Lane and Mike Keeble saw Ann lead Hullbridge to victory winning the vital match 3 sets to 1. Chris Gregory won 1 for Invicta edging out Ann in 5 sets but Paul Ogden and Sue Reece both got braces for Hullbridge with Sue coming back from 2 sets down against Mike Keeble to win 11/8 in the fifth. Paul
