WEEK 7 REPORT WINTER LEAGUE 17-18

SDTTL 2017-8 Week 7 Report

• Premier Division 

Performance of the week I think has to go to Charles Sweeney who helped his Rawreth A team to a 7-2 win over a strong Lentern A side. As could be predicted Tony Halling won his three games but Sweeney’s three wins over Keith Adams, Terry Guymer and Django Fung shows that Sweeney is playing  his best TT ever this season.

Hat-tricks from Richard Stubbington and Gurjit Bhambra plus 2 wins from Liam Squirrell gave Thorpe Bay 'B' a comfortable win over Hadleigh Forum 'B'.  Forum new signing Ben Matthews gained his sides only point on the night with a 5 set win over Squirrell.  Ben was also involved in the best match of the night, a very tight affair against Bhambra, that was full of ferocious hitting from both players, with Gurj eventually prevailing at 12/10 in the final end.

The experienced Kevin Caldon marshalled the younger members of the Hullbridge A squad, Sam Hume and Reece Seddon to a comfortable 9-0 win over Brand Identity. The only game that looked like it might go the other way was Seddon’s 12-10 in the fifth victory over Simon Jacob. There was another win this week for the ‘up and coming’ over the ‘vastly experienced’ as a Hockley A side with Matthew Stringer (3wins) and Harry Small (2 wins) and aided by Tim Pang overcame the Hadleigh Forum A side of John Tendler, Dave Bassett and Hamish Innes.

Rawreth B were without Matt Spero this week but nevertheless Rayleigh Mill will be very pleased with the 8-1 scoreline that they recorded over their landlords. Peter Radford and Duncan Taylor were unbeaten for the Millers and Colin Chatfield was only denied his three wins by the hard-hitting Bruce Kettle. Another 8-1 win was recorded by Thorpe Bay A who recorded that score against a Hullbridge B side that included Glenn Johnson and Gary Young. It was Young that stopped the whitewash by getting the better of Mark Stones while losing out to John Poysden and Paul Sayer.

In the final match this week Warehouse (Kim Shead, Martin Turner and martin West) proved too strong for Stanford in a 6-3 win although Rahul Sharma continued his great start to the season with a hatrick for the defeated side.

Duncan Taylor DRS

• Division 1

Lentern B are back in the driving seat and leading the division after a convincing 7-2 win over previous leaders Hullbridge E, who, due to other members being away, had to call on help from Will Sklet from their F team and a first runout for Dan Young in this division. The experienced Lentern team rushed into a 7-0 lead before being pegged back in the final two games by Hullbridge. A hat trick from veteran Peter Cranmer, ably supported by two each from John Lott and Martin Archie was more than enough for the victory with Adam Jackman and Dan Young scoring one each for Hullbridge. This leaves Lentern in a good position with a game in hand.

Canvey A are in third place after a two man team consisting of Ray Wilson and Terry Giddens beat Brand Identity B by 5-4. The only success for Brand came from Mick Grout’s win over Terry Giddens with no games going beyond 4 sets and an early night for the islanders.

Hockley C find themselves in 4th place After a good 6-3 win over Hadleigh Forum C who are in 5th. A great team effort with Stuart Adshead leading the way and unbeaten on the night, with Josh Copeland adding two and David Chenery one to take the win. Two points for the reliable Charles Yeung and one from Mark Everard completed the scoring, with Tony Mace, playing up from the D team unable to make any impact.

Any of these top 5 teams can put themselves ahead and are in with a chance of taking the lead, along with Rawreth C and Warehouse B, leaving it wide open for anyone who can string together some good results, although Lentern B seem to be favourites at the moment.

Rawreth C had a good 6-3 win over two-man Lentern C, leaving them 2nd from bottom. ?Trevor Ward was unbeaten for Rawreth and an extra point from Colin Clements who beat Pat White was enough for Rawreth. Chris Crooks played well for Lentern with two points with wins over Colin and Garry Hartgrove. Pat White added the other point for Lentern with victory over Garry.

Invicta A returned to some kind of form to win 8-1 against bottom club, Hockley B. Michael Piper and Neil Daines scored three each with Steve Marr adding two, with the only blot on the copybook coming from Joe Lock’s win over Steve. Joe took Neil to 4 sets and was unlucky to lose 12-10 in the fifth against Michael Piper.

In the final game, Warehouse B had a close 5-4 win over Customs A, mainly thanks to an unbeaten night from Mark Rudland. Berti Makolli added two, only losing to Dave Morgan in 5 sets. Dave added two for the Customs men with Brian Rackham and Dale Gutteridge adding one each, leaving them 3rd from bottom but in touch with the leading group 

Barrie Delf DRS

• Division 2

Basildon Hospital head the division despite going down to a close 5-4 loss to Stanford B thanks to a good allround team performance. Kevin Smart won all his games for the hospital team but was unlucky to end up on the losing team with only Errol Anderson being able to add one more point. John Handscombe and Adrian Armstrong scored two each for the Stanford team with Dan Harris adding the extra point with a win over Sid Hills in the 8th match. Match comments were “Great win by Errol Anderson beating Dan Harris, and getting very close to Adrian Armstrong as well. Kevin Smart got all three but it wasn’t enough to get a victory. Dan Harris was a little off the boil, but it was a very good night all round, a great effort by both teams”.

There was a derby match this week between Canvey B and C teams with the B team earning the bragging rights with a close 5-4 win. Lee McGonagle and Des Duffield won two each with Talbot Wiseman, playing up adding the deciding game for the B team. Andrew Murray was unplayable on the night and unlucky to end up on the losing side with Simon Baker adding the last point. This leaves Canvey C in 2nd place two points ahead of the B team in 3rd. The on the spot reporter said “An exciting local derby which the B team just edged out as winners by 5-4. Andrew Murray was the man of the match with a well-earned hat trick not dropping a set. Simon Baker had a fantastic win over Talbot who was playing up for the B team.

Wakering find themselves in a strong position in 4th, with games in hand over the teams above them, but without a game this week.

RESSC are another team with games in hand that could be at the top end of the table by the end of the season. This week the old heads of RESSC (apart from Sarah) took on the youth of Hullbridge F in the form of Harrison Sadler, Will Skelt and Abbias Afzal and triumphed 6-3 to maintain their push to the top. One-armed, one-legged, ‘funny’ bat player Mike Worship earned POTM status with three fine wins over the youngsters despite finding himself 2-1 down to Harrison at one stage. Ron Coutts with two and Sarah with one completed the scoring for RESSC with Will Skelt taking two points and scalps for the Hullbridge team and Abbiaz Afzal overcoming Sarah for the final point.

Rawreth D found themselves up against bottom of the table Runnymede and added to their woes with a convincing 8-1 win. Sam Thompson and Colin Barham (refreshed from his recent break) score three each with Jan Thorpe playing up and scoring two to complete the rout. Barry Edgar was able to save his teams blushes with a win over Jan for Runnymede.

In the final match this week, Rawreth E scored a close 5-4 win over Hockley D to help them out wit htheir struggle near the bottom. In a great performance, Andrew Deadman coached himself to an unbeaten night and was backed up with a win apiece from apprentices Keenan Ford and Botond Mezo. In a match where everyone scored, Hockley chairman Paul Strutt, scored two wins, backed up by Harry Sawford and Brian Bissenden with one each to just fall short.

David Barnes DRS

• Division 3 

It may be the thought of Halloween approaching but it turned out to be a horror week for five of the teams in the division as four of them went down 9-0 and the fifth 8-1. Nightmare results for Stanford C, Canvey D, Rawreth H, Rochford TTC and Warehouse D but great for their opponents Warehouse C, Brand Identity C, Hockley E, Hullbridge H and Rawreth F.

Warehouse C’s win takes them to third in the table their team of David Walton, Jonathan Allen and Simon Lister proving far too strong for Stanford for whom Adam Brien got the consolation point against Simon. He also pushed Jonathan all the way eventually conceding from a 2-0 winning position 10/12 9/11 11/3 12/10 11/9.

Canvey D’s first loss of the season to Brand Identity came as something of a surprise, but their side of Ray Baker, Steve Parker and 12 year old Tyler Fleming was a complete change from recent matches and their opponents took full advantage. Andy Roff, Richard Reibold and Colin Smith brought back the spoils only really being extended in Richard’s five set win against Steve and Andy’s identical win also against Steve. This was Andy’s first three pointer of the season.

Apart from Brand Identity, Hockley E are also proving to be something of a surprise package this season carrying on the good form they showed last year. Their experienced team of Phil Pond, Kevin Blyth and Ron Rogerson proved too strong for the youngsters of Rawreth H but there were still some good performances from Emily Kidd, Noah Unstead and Norman ShangChen. An early finish was just what Hockley ordered as their bed time is now earlier than the youngsters! Phil took the MOTM honours not losing a set.

Rawreth F are in a fine run of form notching up their fifth win in a row against Warehouse D. They now sit fifth in the table thanks to a complete clean sweep not losing a set all night. Mike Nunn, Brad Nunn and Jan Thorpe made up the winning team.

Rochford TTC had to concede to Hullbridge H as they were unable to field a side and those nine points move Hullbridge up to 7th.

Hadleigh Forum remain top of the Division after a 6-3 win away at Customs B. Satwant Gill was the star man for Hadleigh backed up by a brace for David Thomas and a league debut win for Ashley Brett. That win came in a tight five setter against Dean Johnson. Mark Rose got two for the Taxmen including a five set win against David 11-9 in the fifth, and one win for Richard Kidd. 

Player of the Week – Satwant Gill

Team of the Week – Brand Identity C

Paul Strutt DRS

Author: via Southend Table Tennis League
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