It was a story of strong reserve performances this week in the top flight of the Doric Insurance sponsored senior leagues.

Division 1

Reserves contributed strongly to results in 2 of the 3 fixtures this week and this included the top of the table clash between defending champions Lions A and Whistlers A. The Whistlers side were missing Ryan Gilson and Mark Pipet stepped in to great effect courtesy of his impressive singles wins over Ryan Bichard in 4 sets and Steve Ozanne in straight sets. These results were pivotal in enabling the Whistlers side to go outright top of the table by a single point with a 7-3 triumph. Josh Stacey and Dawn Morgan both mirrored the results of Pipet, with Morgan needing the full 5 sets to get past Bichard. The doubles was won by Stacey and Morgan against Foss and Ozanne in straight sets. Foss had a good evening despite the loss for his side as he won all his singles matches, dropping single ends to just Stacey and Morgan in the process.

Lions B's match with Whistlers B was the one fixture where no reserves were present this week and it saw the Lions side maintain their unbeaten record and move into 2nd place courtesy of a 5-5 draw. The draw was their 3rd consecutive stalemate of the season and saw Phil Ogier and Liam Robilliard each earn singles wins over Ben Sharp and Paula Le Ber. Ogier also teamed with Sam Clark to win the important doubles rubber against Lawrence Stacey and Sharp in straight sets. For the Whistlers side Stacey won all of his singles matches and this included a mightily close 5 set win over Ogier in the opening match of the night. Both players were defending their 100% singles records and Stacey edging the deciding end 13-11 means he is now alone at the top of the averages following completion of the first round of matches. His other wins over Robilliard and Clark came in 4 and straight sets respectively. Sharp and Le Ber each earned wins over Clark, however Sharp needed to recover from losing the opener to win in 4, whilst Le Ber needed the full 5 sets to come through in the other crucial rubber of the night.

The final match of the week saw Lions C earn their first win of the season courtesy of an emphatic 8-2 win over bottom placed side Whistlers C, despite missing both Paul Hainsworth and Andy Gill. 2nd Division's Nye Matthew and former Division 1 player Andre De Carteret covered in true style, with each player winning all of their singles matches on the night. They each earned singles wins over Matthew Casey, Ellis Tomlin and Joseph Bourgaize. Charlotte Casey also had her strongest night of the season thus far as she picked up strong wins over Tomlin in 5 sets and Bourgaize in 4 sets. She came very close to finishing off a perfect evening but was edged out 14-12 in the deciding 5th end of the final match of the night by her brother. Bougaize and Casey won the doubles over Casey and De Carteret in 4 sets.

The Division that keeps giving continues to be close with 3 teams all locked at the top on identical points. 

St Pauls A who had previously been part of the 4 sides locked at the top were surprisingly removed off top spot this week after losing 6-4 to 5th placed side Lions F. Matthew was the catalyst for this as the Lions captain continued his strong form from the prior evening's Division 1 reserve performances with another unbeaten night of singles action. He beat Tim Le Page, Maurice James and Trevor Bourgaize, dropping just 2 ends to Le Page during their close 5 set encounter. Caden Brouard beat Bourgaize in 4 sets, whilst Jayden Tucknott also beat Bourgaize over the full 5 set distance. The Lions side made sure of the win when youngsters Brouard and Tucknott earned an exceptional straight set doubles win over Le Page and Bourgaize. Tucknott was very unfortunate not to extend the margin of victory as he was edged out by the narrowest margin when he lost the deciding game 20-18 to James.

That result means that the leading trio are Whistlers D, Lions D and Ravenscroft Panthers A with only 1 individual match separating all 3 on games ratio.

The Whistlers side are officially top by the 1 game from the other 2 and they extended their advantage further courtesy of a ruthless 9-1 win over their E side. Kay Chivers and Keith Opie both beat Stuart Sarre, Darren Sarre and reserve Shane Cotter in singles action as well as teaming to win the doubles against the Sarre brothers in straight sets. Reserve Ken Falla added wins over the Sarre brothers, but was defeated by Cotter in 4 sets which prevented the whitewash.

The Lions side continue to be the best form side in the Division and they beat Lions E 8-2 this week. Chloe Le Tissier and Ian Le Page each won all of their singles matches against Joe Ingrouille, Connor Powell and reserve Terry Trustum. Shelby Timms added a straight sets win over Powell and also teamed with Le Tissier to win the doubles against Ingrouille and Powell in straight sets.

The Panthers side on the other hand had the toughest match of the lot and managed to earn a 7-3 win over Lions G. Craig Dunning and Oscar Pearson each defeated Andy Ferbrache, Brian Ferbrache and James Crocker in singles action to make sure of the win before also teaming to win the doubles clash over Andy and Brian in 4 sets. Each of the Lions players picked up consolation singles wins over Ben Foote.

Division 3