WEEK 2 REPORT WINTER LEAGUE 18-19

                             Week 2 Reports

Premier Division

Thorpe Bay A’s good start to the season continued, but a welcome return to the league from Kieran Lally meant it was only a 6-3 win for the Bay over Hullbridge B. Lally won all his three games against Paul Sayer, Mark Stones and Paul Whatton, but didn’t have it all his own way with one win in 4 sets and two victories that went down to the wire in five games.

Mark Rudland was the star performer as Warehouse B recorded their second win of the season, this time against Hockley A. Rudland along with his brother Simon were unbeaten while Ian Wall and Matt Stringer go the better of Warehouse’s Martin West to make it a 7-2 scoreline.

Rayleigh Mill reversed their week 1 score by recording an 8-1 home win over Stanford le Hope. Rahul Sharma, with the win over Colin Chatfield for the visitors with Peter Radford and Duncan Taylor remaining unbeaten on the night.

In the final game this week there was a Father v son dual as Adam Jackman and Hullbridge C took on father Richard and his Brand Identity team. On this occasion it was Richard and Brand Identity that came out on top winning 8-1 overall. A mention must go to Dan Zeffie who picked up the sole Hullbridge win, a great scalp in the shape of Chris Jacob.

Duncan Taylor DRS Premier Division

 

1st Division – 

Week 1 top catch up on here. A flying start to the season for Brand Identity B, who overcame Hockley C to win 9-0 and take a week 1 lead in the standings. With David Jacob and Mick Grout carrying on from the strong finish to last year and with ‘reserve’ player Chris Jacob making up the numbers, they made short work of the Hockley team with only one game going the full 5 set distance. Keith Abbott, Harry Sawford and Joe Locke were the unlucky recipients of the strong start for Brand.

Relegated Hadleigh Forum B posted their early intentions by taking a good 7-2 win over newly-promoted Rawreth D.  John Tendler, who has dropped into Division 1 this year, made his mark winning all three games and was ably supported by Tony Jacks and Dave Woolmer with two apiece. Colin Barham had a good win over Tony Jacks and Sam Thompson over Dave Woolmer for the consolation Rawreth points. Olivia Jones was unlucky to come up against such a strong side in her first Division 1 game.

There was another 7-2 result for the seasoned heads of Canvey A who also got the better of a newly-promoted team in the form of RESSC. Andrew Murray was the in-form player for Canvey winning all three games and could be one to watch this year. Terry Giddens and Peter Cray added two each to make up the Canvey total. Rob Skews got the better of Peter Cray winning 11-7 in the fifth and when the two ‘funny’ bat players met it was newly recruited Kevin Smart who got the better of Terry Giddens, which made up the RESSC points in what could be a long season for the RESSC team.

All the other results were 5-4 which shows what a close Division this will be this year.

Customs A started strongly with a good 5-4 win over Hullbridge D. Roy Thomas with his customary hattrick and Dale Winton Gutteridge with two great wins made up the winning points for Customs. Lin Roff was the pick of the Hullbridge players winning two with Andy Seaman and returning injured Bill Smith both winning one each, the latter using a newly found forehand that seems to have crept into his game to supplement the inconsistent backhand. This may spell disaster to other players if he can get both working at the same time!

Lentern B’s Gus Heath scored a maximum for their 5-4 win over Rawreth C. Peter Lucraft added the other two points in two close 5 setters which turned the match Lentern’s way for Rawreth, all the players registered points but no-one could get close to the funny bat of Gus. Garry Hartgrove won two of his games with Trevor Ward and Chris Aukett both scoring against Sue Body but ending up just shy of the win.

Newly promoted Hullbridge E showed that they were fairly due a spot winning 5-4 against Invicta A. A good all round team performance saw the youngsters from Hullbridge home with Harrison Sadler and Will Skelt both scoring two points and James Goddard adding the final winning point. Michael Piper played well for Invicta setting out his stall for the coming season by winning all 3 games, including a close 5 setter against James. Steve Marr added the last point although was unlucky not to add a second losing a tense first match against Harrison who did well to take the fifth game 11-13. Tony Ayliffe took James to 5 sets losing 11-5 in the fifth but unable to make any impression on the other two.

Finally, Hockley B were looking for an immediate improvement on last year’s lowly position and put up a good battle eventually going down 5-4 to Lentern A, who finished in 3rd spot last year. New recruit, Elaine Sayer, who should do well at this level, and Peter Cranmer scored two each for Lentern, with Martin Archie adding the fifth vital point. New player for Hockley, Chris Ballard, scored a maiden hat trick and looks to be a danger in this Division to anyone but Alex Barnetson was the only other Hockley player able to add a point with Josh Copeland unable to figure in the points although both did take Peter Cranmer to 5 sets so could have given a different result.

 

On to Week 2

Hadleigh Forum B recorded their second 7-2 win, this time against Rawreth C, to head the table at Week 2. John Tendler was once again unbeaten and maintains his 100% record, with Tony Jacks and Mick Tappenden adding two each for a strong performance. Garry Hartgrove continues to be the strongest player for Rawreth scoring their two consolation points and only losing to John in 5 sets after being 2-1 up in games. John Blackman and Colin Clements were unable to make much impression in the games for Rawreth, leaving them without a win.

Lentern A also recorded a second win by 8-1 against Hullbridge E to sit at second in the table. Elaine Sayer and Martin Archie scored maximums with Peter Cranmer adding two. Matt Rolfe scored the single point for Hullbridge with a win over Peter with Ben Matthews and Adam Deadman unable to add to the score.

Hockley B wasted no time in winning their match 9-0 to move up to 3rd in the table. Brand Identity B were the opponents who have now started in a strange way with a maximum win and defeat in the first two weeks to leave them in 5th spot. Dave Colwill, Alex Barnetson and Stuart Adshead were the successful players for Hockley who had no problems against Dave Jacob, Mick Grout and Sean McNabb with only one game going to 5 sets.

Despite losing 6-3 to Hockley C, Canvey A take 4th place in the table. Once again Chris Ballard scored a maximum for Hockley to retain his 100% record, assisted by Joe Locke with two and Dan Patynski with one to take the overall win. For Canvey, Terry Giddens, Andrew Murray and Peter Cray all scored one for the island side.

The pills must be working for veteran Bill Smith who came up with a Hat trick (for the first time since January 2017) for Hullbridge D to help his side with a good 5-4 win over Lentern B moving them up to joint 5th . Young player Will Skelt played up for Hullbridge and scored a crucial final match winning point, with Rod McLennan adding the other. All players scored for Lentern B with Sue Body leading the way with two points, Mark Jupe and Wayne Farmer adding only one each to the tally leaving them at 7th in the table.

Two promoted teams met this week and it was Rawreth D who turned the table on last year’s Division 2 champions, RESSC by winning 6-3. Sam Thompson put in a star performance winning all three with Caroline Cole adding two in her first game and Colin Barham one to get a good win. Again, all the players from RESSC scored a point each with Rob Skews, Kevin Smart and Ron Coutts making up the team leaving them dangerously near the bottom of the table. Surely they will need to unleash their bionic man, Mike Worship, shortly to see if he can make an impression on this strong league.

Barry Delf DRS Division 1

 

2nd Division

Stanford Le Hope B surged to the top of the table with an 8 – 1 home drubbing of Hockley D. Both Brian Spencer and Adrian Armstrong were undefeated, with Chris Crooks adding the other two. Gary Linzell was responsible for Hockley’s only win.

Invicta B remain unbeaten, although their visit to Warehouse C proved a close-run thing. David Barnes was POM in a 5 – 4 victory. Both the home side’s Simon Lisner and Invicta’s Barrie Murphy scored a brace each. Unluckiest player on the night though must surely be the visitors’ Mike Keeble. All three of his matches were lost over five sets, losing them 11 – 6, 15 – 13 and 12 – 10 respectively.

Rawreth F could only muster two players for their visit to Canvey B. However, a splendid performance from Botond Mezo, winning all his matches, made it touch and go. In the end Canvey’s Talbot Wiseman overcame Jack Himpfen-Jones in the final rubber of the night to give the home side a 5 – 4 win.

Rawreth E were also playing away but fared much better than their F team. A family double, with both Bradley and Chris Nunn scoring maximums, saw them come out 7 – 2 winners at Hullbridge F.  Ellena Hart and Dan Mansfield won one apiece for Hullbridge, whilst Rob Clarke got the visitors’ other point.

Talented youngster George Davis showed he will be a force to be reckoned with this season with a fine unbeaten performance for Rawreth G, leading his side to a 5 – 4 home victory over Brand Identity C. Andy Deadman gave a steady two-win contribution in a supporting role. For the visitors, there were two wins for John Beddow and one each for Colin Smith and the returning Martin Roberts.

Runnymede were able to field a couple of their big guns when hosting Canvey C. Dmitry Kisil was unbeaten. However, the performance of the night went to the visitors’ Jo Hill who overcame the much-experienced Tony Coeshall 11 – 9 in the last of a five-set battle. Tony recorded two wins and Tina Hutchinson one in a 6 – 3 victory, whilst Jo won two, and Ryan Williams one for Canvey.

David Barnes DRS Division 2

 

3rd Division

Stanford C became the first team to chalk up two wins from two games as they triumphed 7-2 against Hockley E. Max Russell led the way with his second hat trick in successive weeks and was backed up by two wins each for Mark Farley and Mark Downey. Ron Rogerson and Ben Cook got a point each for Hockley but spare a thought for Andrew Strutt who went to five sets in all of his matches but ended up without a point.

Stanford’s C team didn’t fare as well losing 5-4 to Warehouse D in a match decided on the final game of the evening. Despite the defeat Stanford youngster Sami Hughes took the man of the match honours remaining unbeaten with Vaughan Chambers picking up their other point. Joe Bennett and Graham Back got two each for Warehouse with one for Lindsey Carroll. The experienced Graham Back won the decisive game beating debutant Mandy Till. This was the first time that Warehouse led in the match!

Hockley G fared better than their counterparts as they managed to edge home 5-4 against Canvey D. Geoff Banthorpe was always going to be the one to beat in this match but although taken to five sets by Roger Sherman he stayed unbeaten and took the man of the match title. Ray Baker got the other point for Canvey. Roger and new boy Rod Godfrey won two each for Hockley with young Alex Summers getting the other point.

The youngsters of Rawreth H proved no match for Hullbridge G romping to an 8-1 victory. Andy Roff and Sue Reece both scored hat tricks with Bob Shingleton-Smith winning two. Emily Kidd did the best for Rawreth beating Bob in four sets and only going down to Sue in five.

Rochford appear to be struggling already this season as they were unable to field a team for the second week giving Hockley F all nine points.

Player of the Week – Max Russell

Team of the Week – Stanford C

Paul Strutt DRS Division 3

Author: via Southend Table Tennis League
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