Sdttl 2016/7 Season Week 19 Reports
Premier Division In what promises to be a very tight title race could Rawreth B have delivered a fatal blow to their A team’s chances of regaining their crown. Only time will tell on that one but this week Rawreth A & B teams played each other and it was the B team who came out on top. However on this occasion it wasn't Matt Spero (is he human after all) who was MoM but Ross Saxby who picked up 3 excellent wins while still ending up on the losing side. At 4-3 down Bruce Kettle took on former Southend Men’s champion Kevin Read and picked up a great win in 5 close sets. It was then all down to Eric Green who won a tense 5 setter against Lee Prentice to finally take home the spoils. The outcome being that Premier title is wide open with the 3 top sides still with all to play for. In other Rawreth B news, it is good report that Babul McLeod was back from illness and playing well at the Hullbridge Closed at the weekend. Welcome back Babul.
Another player going into that Hullbridge Closed in good form was Reece Seddon as his hatrick was enough just to tip the balance in his Hullbridge B side’s 5-4 victory over Warehouse A. It was a competitive nights table tennis culminating in a nail biting decider with Tim Cramphorn just edging webmaster Berti Makoli. All three members of losing side, Makoli, Kim Shead and Martin Turner contributing to their total.
Hullbridge A kept up their pressure on the other top sides with an 8-1 win over Hadleigh Forum. Sam Hume and Kevin Caldon with three wins, able assisted by Dave Bowles with two. A good win for John Tendler over Bowles for the consolation. It was a similar story for other title hopefuls Thorpe Bay A as they recorded a win by the same margin over Stanford le Hope. This time it was Rahul Sharna with the lone win against John Poysden.
Not often the efficiency of the South Essex train schedule have a major impact on a fixture but that was indeed the case as Castle Point and Rayleigh Mill were left a player short by players not being able to get home from London in time. With both teams having a player missing and Peter Radford and Colin Chatfield too strong for the Castle Point side on this occasion, the overall score was 6-2 to the Millers.
Duncan Taylor, Premier Div. DRS
Division 1 Another big win for the league leaders, Hadleigh Forum B, this week 7-2. Lentern C can consider themselves somewhat unfortunate however as all of the 5 set games went Forum's way. Mick Tappenden and Tony Jacks led the way with maximums whilst Martin Archie and Mark Jupe picked up the wins for Lentern over Dave Woolmer. 150 points is the target for the team before anyone can catch them, but realistically, this would need Rawreth to win all their games 9-0, so a more realistic target is 135 to scoop the title.
Canvey A are still in second despite losing again for the fifth time in a row, this time 5-4 to the much-improved Hullbridge D. Ben Matthews continued his comeback and great form to take all three points with Matt Rolfe claiming the other two, losing out 3-1 to Canvey’s Phil Puckey, who scored two for the Island team. With Ray Wilson and Terry Giddens each picking up one point, it left the islanders short for the victory.
Third placed Invicta A were hoping to consolidate their position but came unstuck against a rejuvenated Hullbridge C team who were on fire and won 9-0. In this one-sided game, the Hullbridge team of Lin Roff, Andy Seaman and Bill Smith proved too strong for the Invicta team who had Dave Barnes playing up from Division 2. The closest match of the night was between Steve Marr and Bill Smith, with Steve racing to a 2-0 lead before Bill won the next three games, 6, 8 & 7. It is hoped that Bill’s shoulder injury will hold to the end of the season.
Warehouse B continued their winning ways with a 6-3 win over Hockley B, including youngster James Spencer for the second time this year. With a good allround team effort, James, Berti and Mickey Baker all scored two but no-one was able to overcome Dave Colwill for Hockley who picked up all 3 of their points, Keith Abbott coming closest losing two 5 setters.
Lentern D came up against bottom club Castle Point B this week and an inspired Captain’s performance from Tony Ayliffe saw him take his first 3 pointer in Division 1 for the Castle team. With Mike Grout adding two and Keith Neville one, the Castle Pointers won only their fourth game of the campaign 6-3 to earn some much needed points. No-one was able to make any impression for Lentern with everyone scoring a point. They will need to show this type of resilience if they hope to avoid relegation which is looking unlikely at this stage in the season.
Lentern B have stopped the rot and won their first game in 8 matches, going back to the beginning of November, by 5-4 against Hadleigh Forum C. With Paul Sims leading the way with a hattrick and John Lott adding two the victory was assured, but Mark Everard with two wins for Forum did mean it was 4-4 going to the last game.
Barrie Delf, Div 1 DRS
Division 2 Invicta B must have had high hopes when they started their match away to Basildon Hospital. In the first encounter of the evening, Mike Keeble inflicted only the fourth defeat of the season on the home side’s Kevin Smart. Unfortunately, maximums from Errol Anderson and Jay Shivapujimath lead the home team to a comfortable 8 – 1 win to ruin the visitors’ aspirations.
The winning machine that is the youngsters of Hullbridge E steamrollered on to their fifteenth win out of fifteen matches played so far this season with an 8 – 1 home win against Canvey C. Adam Jackman and James Goddard both scored hat tricks, whilst Canvey’s Ray Baker got one win. Can Hullbridge go all season unbeaten?
The C team came out on top in the local derby between the two Castle Point sides. Again the score was 8 – 1 in a match billed as a home fixture for Castle Point C. The D team’s captain Richard Riebold led by example, but despite his single win, three each from player-of-the-match David Jacob and Sean McNabb ensured the C team’s victory.
Canvey B made short shrift of visitors Runnymede, with a comprehensive 9 – 0 home win. Their victory takes them past the 100-point mark for the season and keeps alive their outside promotion hopes. Promising youngster Archie Blackburn was not out of place alongside Talbot Wiseman and Des Duffield as all three recorded hat tricks.
Despite a valiant effort from Rawreth E’s Botond Mezo, his side were pegged back at second place Hockley C. Joe Lock was Hockley’s star, being undefeated; whist two wins from Martin Scarfe and one from Peter Searle ensured a 6 – 3 home win. Botond’s two wins sere supported by one from Matt Barber.
The closest match of the week was between Warehouse C and Wakering. The home side’s James Spencer was their hero with an unbeaten evening. Graham Back was able to add two more in their 5 – 4 win. Zac England got two wins for the visitors, whilst Cliff Noakes and Paul England added one win apiece
David Barnes, Div 2 DRS
Division 3 Warehouse D were made to fight all the way by Customs B as they sought to maintain their pursuit of promotion favourites Hockley D and Stanford Le Hope B. The Warehousemen were always in front in this encounter but they did not seal the win until the eighth game to go 5-3 up but lost the last to finish with a 5-4 victory. Dave Walton, as ever, completed a hat trick with the tie clinching win against Richard Kidd, and Tamas Mezo weighed in with two but couldn’t get the better of Mark Rose who also got a brace for Customs. Richard and Amar Al-Soufi got the remaining points for Customs.
Invicta C moved up to 6th place after a comprehensive 8-1 win against the youngsters of Hullbridge H. It proved to be a long night for the juniors against a very experienced Invicta side for whom John Golding and Keith Baxter both recorded maximums. Rob West won two but was denied his hat trick by Abiaz Afzal who got the consolation win for Hullbridge.
Hullbridge F picked up only their second 9-0 win of the season as they outplayed Hockley F. Sue Reece, Bob Singleton-Smith and Ann Lane made up the winning team overcoming their opponents easily apart from some spirited resistance from Graham Gregory. He took Ann to five sets losing 11-9 in the fifth and then held a 2-1 lead against Sue before losing the last two sets 11-9 11-3. Hullbridge move up two places to 7th
Leaders Hockley D had their own in house derby against their E team but there was never any doubt about the result. They ran out 9-0 winners with David Chenery, Alex Barnetson and Dan Patynski only conceding two sets all night. I may regret saying this but David and Alex remain unbeaten in the division so far with David only having dropped one set all season!
Fourth placed Canvey D and fifth placed Hullbridge G met at Canvey and thanks to a solid team performance from Tom Jarvis, Gordon Johnstone and Rob Mcdonald came out 6-3 winners all recording two wins. None of them could get the better of Tony Molisso, however, who recorded another hat trick in what is proving to be an excellent season for him, enjoying an 86% average at the present time. The score could even have been closer on the night but Tom Jarvis played really well against fellow junior Lewis Ritchie to come back from two sets down winning the last three sets 11-8-12-10, 11-7. Tom was involved in another five setter against Bill Hoy and after some very close sets clinched the fifth 11-8 to give him the point.
Player of the Week – Tony Molisso for his hat trick against the Islanders
Team of the Week – Customs B for their performance against Warehouse.
Paul Strutt, Div 3 DRS
