WEEK 4 REPORT, PART 2 OF WINTER LEAGUE 21/22

Premier Division

Weeks 4 & 5

Four results to bring you from the Premier Division of the Southend league. This report covers games from weeks 4 & 5 of the season.

Our first game saw a comprehensive win for Hockley A, as they continue their impressive start to the season, 7-2 over Hadleigh Forum A. Andy Cunningham with his usual 3 wins was complemented by another three from Matt Stringer and one from skipper Tim Pang. Good wins for Ylber Makolli and Hamish Innes over Pang for the Forum.

Next we saw Thorpe Bay A lay down a statement of intent that they will not be giving up their title easily this season as they defeated a strong Irons A side 8-1. John Poysden and Paul Sayer went unbeaten against Dave Bowles, Richard Brown and Reece Seddon (nice to see you back Reece) and it was Seddon who picked up the one win against Gurj Bhambra.

Thorpe Bay A were in action again, this time against the team who most would see as their main rivals for the title this year, Rawreth A. New addition Yasir Mauthoor was in fine form and won all 3 against John Poysden, Paul Sayer and Paul Whatton. Mauthoor was ably supported by Kevin Read who beat Poysden and Whatton to record a 5-4 win for the Rawreth side.

In the final game of this week’s report, we saw Brand Identity Apick up a good 6-3 win over Rayleigh Mill. Two wins a piece for David Jacob, Steve Muth and Richard Jackman over Rob Harris and Steve Sawyer. Duncan Taylor proving the only resistance from the Millers with 3 wins.

Duncan Taylor DRS Premier Division

Division 1

This week’s match between Hockley C and Stanford Le Hope Awas a triumph for youth over experience as young Ollie George led Hockley to a narrow 5-4 win. Ollie won in straight sets against Stanford’s Dave Hancox and Chris Crooks, and then successfully overcame a fightback from experienced Peter Weatherall to win 11/2 in the final set, after leading 2 - 0. Ollie was backed up by Joerg Poeschus who won two, but failed to overcome Peter, losing 12/10 in the fifth set. No joy for Brian Bissenden who lost all his games.

The other Hockley team, Hockley B, were away at Runnymede Clater in the week. The home team’s vastly experienced Tony Millward had too much in the tank for any of the visitors. However, Hockley’s Dave Chenery, Joerg Poeschus (again!) and Stuart Adshead had the last laugh with two wins apiece in a 6 – 3 away success.

Mick Tappenden was Player of the Match for Hadleigh Forum Bin a 6 – 3 home win over Invicta A. With skipper David Woolmer unavailable, Forum C team’s Satwant Gill was a good stand-in for the B team, winning two. Tony Jacks added another. For Invicta, Tony Ayliffe was their best player, gaining two successes, with David Barnes grabbing a fortunate additional win.

Charlie Kauders Boothby has pride of place in mentioning the Rawreth D vs. Brand Identity B fixture. With his team still struggling to find three players for any match, this week Charlie was the only player to stand up and play. In his first contest Charlie gave Mick Grout a bit of a fright before succumbing 3 sets to one. Otherwise, it was plain sailing for the visitors with Mick, Barrie Delf and David Jacob all dominant in a 9 – 0 win.

The Canvey A regular trio of Peter Cray, Ray Wilson and Terry Giddens each won twice in a 6 – 3 victory against visitors Hadleigh Forum C. Paul Fawell got two for Forum and Mark Everard won one.

The match between Mapledene and Ashingdon had to be postponed for a later date.

David Barnes DRS Division 1

Division 2

Just for a change I’ll start with this week’s player of the week which honour goes to Pete Wetherall of Stanford. Not content with playing in two matches on the same evening for Stanford C and D he then turned out the following night for Stanford A in Division 1. Nine matches and seven wins in two days – he must enjoy his table tennis!

Pete’s best performance came in the all Stanford clash between their C and B teams which resulted in something of an upset as the C team ran out 6-3 winners inflicting a first defeat on their clubmates. Pete and Chris Crooks both recorded maximums with team mate Andrew Jessop missing out losing to John Handscombe, Vaughan Chambers and Robert Salvage.

Pete’s second performance of the night was for Stanford Dagainst somewhat tougher opposition in the shape of table toppers RESSC.  So it proved as RESSC ran out 7-2 winners. Two good wins for Pete however, as he overcame Rob Coutts and Bob Skews. Dave Reynolds was the man who made the difference for RESSC winning all his games.

These results leaves RESSC three points clear of Stanford B who remain second.

Brand Identity C fell to their first defeat of the season as they were edged out in a 5-4 thriller by Canvey C. They actually led 4-3 but a late fight back gave the Islanders an exciting win. Daniel Kellard was the POTM and led his team home beating Richard Reibold in the last game of the night whilst team mates Jo Hills and Steve Parker weighed in with a point apiece. Ashokkumar Sivanandam got a brace for Brand Identity and there was a win each for Andy Roff and Richard.

Two more players turning out for a second match this week were Daniel Kellard and Jo Hills who this time with Des Duffield helped Canvey B to a 6-3 win against Hadleigh Forum D. Daniel, in fact, recorded a second hat trick with two wins for Des and one for Jo. Dave Thomas got two wins for Forum and Jean Catley the other point.

A two man Wakering team managed to stay in touch with the leaders as they beat Invicta C 6-3 with Stewart Mills and Paul England taking the honours. The closest Invicta got to recording a win was the first game of the evening as Keith Baxter extended Stewart to five sets but after that Keith, Jonathan Gould and Brendan Raja couldn’t muster another set between them.

Invicta’s B team did a little better winning 6-3 against Hockley D. Steve Lennox and Mike Keeble shared the points but team mate Sarah Ball missed out losing to John George, Alwine Jarvis and Graham Gregory. A first win of the season for Invicta but a third straight defeat for Hockley.

                               Player of the Week – Pete Wetherall

                                   Team of the Week – Stanford C