COPY SHOP AND BREAKAWAY WILL BATTLE FOR TWO DIVISIONAL TITLES
DIVISION ONE
Copy Shop A (7) Strathallan A (3)
Top seed, Ronan McDonnell, was busy studying so table topping Copy Shop asked Ewan Watterson to step in. His hat-trick proved to be vital as Brian Crellin suffered a rare defeat at the hands of Strathy’s captain, Julian Briercliffe, who won their last leg 11/1. Hadyn McLarney and Andy Patterson took a point apiece from Jane Kneale who played her part with an 11/4, 5/11, 7/11, 11/9, 11/6 victory over Briercliffe and then helped beat him again in the doubles with Crellin.
Copy Shop B (3) Breakaway A (7)
Hard fought hat-tricks from Paul Corran and Malcolm Cummings kept second placed Breakaway within a point of the leaders, who they meet in the title decider next week. Darren Smethurst smashed past Sean Drewry in straight sets but was blocked by Ewan Watterson and Danny Hamill who scored for relegation zoned Copy Shop and then combined to harvest the doubles 11/9, 9/11, 11/6, 10/12, 11/4 against Cummings and Smethurst.
Arbory (6) Travellers A (4)
John Magnall was back on form for third placed Arbory and remained unbeaten in the singles and the doubles which he won with their fourth player, Jason Quirk. Mikhail Tamarov added the other two before losing to Paul Nelson 9/11, 13/11, 8/11, 11/5, 9/11. Nelson, Gary Shilling and Chris Reynolds took Travellers’ other points from Keeran Chan who had pushed Nelson to two tie-breakers.
Tower A (6) Foxdale A (4)
Fifth placed Tower can thank super substitute Graham McFarlane for their narrow victory over sixth placed Foxdale. McFarlane picked up two points by beating both Ruth Bailey and Marc Townsend but he lost to Becky Bayley. John Callow lost to Townsend but bagged a brace by beating Becky 11/5, 6/11, 6/11, 12/10, 11/7 and then Ruth Bailey in four sets. Becky and Townsend both beat Tim Baker but Baker can also claim two points for Tower by beating Ruth and then by joining John to win the doubles.
DIVISION TWO
Travellers C (3) Tower B (7)
Colin Brown’s valuable hat-trick helped haul Travellers clear of the relegation zone but table topping Tower maintained their six point lead by taking the doubles and the remaining points from Jackie Gill and substitute Juan Moore Jr. Gill gave Steve Curtis a fright going to 2-1 up in sets but was edged out 11/9, 3/11, 11/5, 7/11, 5/11. Other than their defeats to Brown, Graham McFarlane and Dave Parsons didn’t drop a set whereas Curtis took five to finish Gill and four against Moore Jr.
Travellers B (3) Foxdale B (7)
Neil Quane and Mike Bayley won the doubles and both scored hat-tricks for second placed Foxdale who look destined to meet Copy Shop B in a promotion/relegation play-off in two weeks time. Fourth placed Travellers took their points from Andy McLarney who lost in straight sets to Stu Douglas, four close sets to Steve Ellis-Pearson and 8/11, 7/11, 11/2, 11/3, 8/11 in a roller-coaster against Dave Stevenson.
Peel A (6) Tower C (4)
Soon to be relegated Tower couldn’t quite make it back-to-back wins although their JD substitute Carl Blatcher played his part by beating Marion Forrest in four sets. Mike Chapman did similar, but he had two 12/10 legs in his four sets win over Forrest who also lost to Dave Callow. Callow came a cropper against Peel’s hat-trick hero Malc Lewis but won Tower’s other point by denying Maggie Mulhern her hat-trick. Chapman and Callow took the first set in the doubles but lost in four to Lewis and Mulhern.
Salmon River Spinners (9) Peel B (1)
Young Ashley Reid did well to beat Colin Barron, but relegation zoned Peel could not purloin another point. Matty Evans came close with a 12/10, 12/10, 8/11, 8/11, 11/9 defeat to Tommy Cowin.
Nigel Beattie didn’t drop a point for third placed Spinners whereas Cowin was stretched to an 18/16 leg against an unlucky Vishal Patel. Barron and Beattie bossed the doubles to win in straight sets against Evans and Reid.
DIVISION THREE
Copy Shop C (3) Breakaway B (7)
Chris Kewley showed his class by blasting past Malcolm Lambert, Rob Sim and Henry Hyde which inspired second placed Breakaway to a well deserved win over top-placed Copy Shop. Just three points separate them now. Although Ben Christian lost to Lambert he beat both Sim and Hyde who also lost to Aaron Faragher. Sim subdued Faragher who was further disappointed by lucky Lambert who survived two match-points to eventually win 10/12, 10/12, 12/10, 11/3, 11/7. Pedro Cardoso joined Sim in another ‘nail-biter’ losing 10/12 in the final frame to Christian and Kewley in the doubles.
Travellers D (4) Peel C (6)
Juan Moore Jr secured his hat-trick for sixth placed Travellers and Alex Buck added their final point by beating Nathan Evans. Fraser Dorling duped Buck and Juan Moore Sr who also lost to Evans and Harry Walters. However, the pivotal match revealed Walters’ will to win and hence he overcame the sometimes brilliant Buck 11/13, 7/11, 12/10, 11/9, 11/9. Fired-up by that win Walters then encouraged Evans to help him win the doubles and the match against Buck and Moore Jr.
IOM Junior Development Two (2) Fortress Management Services (8)
JD’s Calvin and Marcus Koske did the double over Pat Halliwell although Marcus took an extra set to quell Halliwell who is sixty years their senior. Kerenza Baker had no luck against Halliwell or Rhys Yardley and Karen Hassan who scored hat-tricks for fourth placed Fortress. Apparently, the highlight of Halliwell’s evening was her tactical 8/11, 11/9, 9/11, 11/8, 11/7 doubles win with Yardley over the enthusiastic Koske twins.
IOM Junior Development One (2) Copy Shop D (8)
The match result does not do justice to the effort put in by the JD team. Marcus Koske was 2-0 up in sets before losing to George Melvin who had earlier been beaten by both Wael Kassim and Carl Blatcher. Kassim lost 11/13, 11/7, 12/10, 15/17, 7/11 to Chris Aspden who won another marathon match against Blatcher, which ended at an amazing 24/22. Like Aspden, Kevin Drewry won all his matches and they also took the doubles.
MALCOLM LAMBERT
