Southend & District Table Tennis League 2015-6 Winter Season
Week 8 REPORT, Week Commencing 9nd November 2015
Premier Division – DRS – Duncan Taylor Duncan.Taylor@essex.gov.uk
Week 8 There was another top of the table clash this week as Rawreth A took on Thorpe Bay A. As expected Tony Halling went unbeaten and he was ably backed up by Keiran Lally (2 wins) and George Reeves (1 win) against a strong Bay side of Alex Abbott, Paul Sayer and John Monk. It was good to see Halling senior (Andrew) back this week and in good form for Rawreth B as he put in a match winning display against Hadleigh Forum A. His three wins contributing to the 6-3 win for the Rawreth side. Gus Heath wielded his pimpled bat majestically to a well-deserved hat trick and man of the match performance for Lentern A against Warehouse A, his side coming out 6-3 on top. Gus was also in good form for his main side Lentern B, again winning three in his side’s 5-4 win over Rawreth C. A full strength Thorpe Bay B side was always going to find it hard against a Hullbridge A side of Kevin Caldon, Stuart Gibbs and Richard Brown and the fact that they only had two players for this one made the task even harder. They went down 8-1 in the end with Keiran Skeggs recording a good win over Richard Brown for the consolation. In the final match this week there was a good match for Castle Point against an all sandpaper bat team in the shape of Hullbridge B. Castle Point did well to get the two games against strong opposition with Richard Hutchinson a class above everyone there in an enjoyable match played in a good spirit Duncan
Division 1 - DRS - Barrie Delf bdelf@castlepoint.gov.uk
Week With only 3 points separating the top 4 teams every point is vital at this stage in the season. Hockley A still lead the table by 1 point despite having a rest week and Customs A drop to 3rd, with their result against Runnymede still to be posted. Hullbridge C have moved into second, with a narrow 5-4 win over Lentern E in a topsy-turvy match. Hullbridge raced into a 4-0 lead only for Lentern to level at 4-4, in a match where everyone contributed, and no-one was unbeaten. Andy Seaman and Bill Smith scored two each for the Hullbridge side, with Wayne Farmer reciprocating for Lentern. All the other team members contributed one each leaving the victory with Hullbridge in the final game. Rawreth E move into 4th position with a 6-3 win over Lentern D, but having played a game more than the 3 teams above them. The result could have been different however, in a game where no less than 7 matches ended in 5 sets, Rawreth took advantage winning 5 of these with Colin Clements unbeaten on the night, assisted by John Blackman with 2. Everyone else in the match scored one win. Canvey A lead the chasing group in 5th, with only 2 points separating them from 8th place but 5 points adrift of Rawreth E. A solid performance saw them take a 5-4 victory over Lentern C again in a match where no-one was unbeaten. Ray Wilson and Peter Cray scored 2 for the Islanders, whilst Chris Crooks and Mike Grout did the same for Lentern, Terry Giddens scoring the decisive extra point over Malcolm Henstock in the final game to give Canvey the win. Warehouse B slipped up in their chance to move up the table going down 6-3 to Hadleigh Forum C. In a match which stood at 2-2 after 4 games, Hadleigh then took the next 4 to give them a decisive victory, Russell Bright unbeaten on the night and supported by Mark Everard with two. Berti Makoli scored two for the Warehouse team but was unable to overcome Russell. Hadleigh Forum B were again involved in a close game this time losing 5-4 to Invicta A. No-one was able to dominate but Mick Tappenden and Anthon Ranjit-Singh won two games each for Hadleigh, as did Steve Marr and Neil Daines for Invicta. Standing at 4-4, Steve Marr beat Mick Tappenden 11-13 in the fifth end to take the match and overall victory for Invicta Barrie
Division 2 - DRS - David Barnes dbarnes89@btinternet.com
Week 8 Hullbridge D have taken over at the top of the division courtesy of a 9 – 0 thrashing of Warehouse D. Joanna Hills was the star, but was ably supported with maximums from Cameron Gray and Daniel Payne. Rawreth F’s David Barnes turned in the performance of the week winning all his games against high-flying Canvey B. However, this fine effort was not enough to avoid Rawreth losing 3 – 6 to the visiting Canvey side, for whom Des Duffield, Talbot Wiseman and Tony Westwell all won two each. A Ron Coutts hat trick gave RESSC a narrow 5 – 4 home win over Castle Point C. Two additional wins for Robert Skews swung things in the home team’s favour, whilst Richard Riebold won two for the visitors. Despite Canvey C’s Gordon Johnstone’s matches all going to five sets, lady luck was against him, winning only once in his side’s home match against Wakering. Maximums from Stewart Mill’s and Paul England gave the visitors a comfortable 7 – 2 victory David
Division 3 - DRS Paul Strutt paulstrut@tiscali.co.uk
Week 8 Invicta B opened up a 4 point gap at the top of the table with a crushing 8-1 victory against Hockley D whilst closest rivals Hullbridge G slipped to a shock 5-4 defeat to their own F team as, for the second time this season, they failed to field a 3rd player and suffered the consequences. John Golding, Mike Keeble and Richard Verrinder were the successful Invicta team but the one surprise on the night was the first defeat of the season for Richard who went down in 5 sets to Brian Parker 11-9 in the final set. In the Hullbridge derby 3 of the 6 games played went to 5 sets with Sue Reece flying the flag for the F team winning both her games against Dave Booroff and Tony Molisso. Those two players both won their other games against Bob Shingleton-Smith and Janet Finch but this was an opportunity lost to keep up the pressure on Invicta. Canvey D retained 3rd place but only after a thrilling battle against Hockley F the match going down to the last game of the evening when Ray Baker clinched a man of the match performance beating Martin Scarfe 13-15, 11-9, 10-12, 11-8. 9-11 in a marathon. Martin and David Chenery picked up 2 wins each for Hockley David winning in 5 sets against Rob Mcdonald but losing out in another 5 setter to Ray Baker 15-13 in the final set. Rob and Terry Castle picked up a point each for Canvey defeating young Liam Adshead. Warehouse E cemented 5th place in the table with a solid win 6-3 at home to Invicta C. Steve Chaffey, Lindsey Carroll and Tina Hutchinson all bagged a brace but none of them could beat Keith Baxter, who played a captain’s innings with a hat-trick for the visitors. Invicta remain with just one win so far this season Paul
