Sdttl 2016/7 Season
Week 10 Reports
Premier Division A fluctuating match ended in a narrow 5-4 win for Castle Point A over Rawreth B this week. It was an evening where every player won a match. However, the Man of the Match was Brandon Coachman with an impressive hat-trick. He and Scott Dowsett are regulars in the Chelmsford league but both were making their seasonal debuts in the Southend League.
The match result was never in doubt when a below strength Customs A side came up against the inform Thorpe Bay A team of John Poysden, Paul Sayer and Mark Stones. Only one game extended beyond three ends leading to a 9-0 win for the title-chasing Bay.
League leaders, Hullbridge A registered an emphatic win as they defeated Warehouse A 8-1. The only blot on their copy book was a fine win for Harry Small over Richard Brown.
Rawreth A kept up the pressure on the other leading clubs with a 6-3 win over Rayleigh Mill. Tony Halling (pictured in his match against Steve Maltby) was again unbeaten, offering a masterclass in dealing with the high-quality defense of Duncan Taylor. Minda Sinkus did well to take Halling to a 5th game and went on to beat George Reeves and Kevin Read.
It was good to see Pete Saunders make his season debut for the normally unchanged Thorpe Bay B team, helping his side to a 7-2 win over Stanford-le-Hope A. Andrew Paton secured two excellent wins over Saunders and Richard Stubbington in reply for the beaten side but Keiran Skeggs was in outstanding form, claiming an excellent hat trick.
Duncan Taylor, Premier Div. DRS
Division 1 Hadleigh Forum B are 10 points clear at the top of the table, despite not having a game this week. All the matches this week were close affairs with the biggest winning margin 6-3.
Canvey A are still chasing in second and had a good 6-3 win over Hullbridge C this week. Ray Wilson with three and Phil Puckey adding two proved to be the winners for the Islanders. Everyone else in the match contributed one match and point. Hullbridge are without the services of veteran Bill Smith for a while until his shoulder recovers, no doubt from the first use of his Forehand smashes in over 70 years!!
Lentern C remain in third position despite losing 6-3 to Rawreth C who move up to fifth. John Blackman was unbeaten on the night including a close fought victory over Martin Archie, 11-9 in the fifth set. Gary Mccarthy added two for Rawreth and Martin Archie added two for Lentern. Andy Deadman did well to earn a point, playing up to the C Team for the first time.
Invicta A are in fourth, bringing to an end the winning run of Hullbridge D by 5-4. Steve Marr and Michael Piper scored two for the Invicta team, with Neil Daines adding the fifth. No-one was able to beat the improving Ben Matthews who was unbeaten, winning two of the matches in the fifth set.
Hadleigh Forum C are in sixth and won 5-4 this week against Lentern D. Tony Mace and Graham Farmer scored two apiece for Forum, Whilst Chris Crooks was in good form winning all three for his team. With Mark Everard adding a point in a win against out-of-form Dave Kirston, Forum took the win.
Lentern B were unable to make any progress this week going down 6-3 to Castle Point B, still desperate for points at the bottom of the table. Barrie Delf with three, Tony Ayliffe with two and Martin Roberts with his first victory in this division took the points for Castle Point. John Lott put up his normal resistance with two points, unluckily losing to Barrie in the fifth set 11-8. Steve Appleby added one extra point while Malcolm Henstock was pointless.
In the final match this week, Warehouse B had a close 5-4 win over Hockley B, Berti Makolli and Micky Baker scored two each and Tony Wright added the last point with a 5 set win over Keith Abbott. Dave Colwill was unbeaten for Hockley but only Alan Tideswell was able to add an extra point.
Barrie Delf, Div 1 DRS
Division 2 Canvey B had an up and down couple of matches. Firstly they overcame near challengers Hockley C 7 – 2. Three wins for Talbot Wiseman and two each for Tony Westwell and Des Duffield completed a comprehensive home win. Joe Lock and Stuart Adshead won one each for Hockley. However, Canvey’s next match was away to leaders Hullbridge E and their fortunes were vastly different. Talbot Wiseman was their only player to register a win, as maximums from Adam Jackman and Reece Harris-Griffiths gave the Hullbridge youngsters an impressive 8 – 1 victory.
An Andy Humphries hat trick inspired Warehouse C to a win over Castle Point C. He was aided by two wins from James Spencer, whilst Mark Sayce was again Castle’s star. Warehouse followed up this 5 – 4 home win with a defeat by the same score in their next game away to Basildon Hospital. This time Andy and James could only manage two wins apiece. There were two each for Basildon’s Chudi and Jayan and Shivapujimath, whilst Albert Harrison scraped home 12 – 10 in the fifth against Warehouse’s Graham Back to ensure victory.
Meanwhile, in their next game, Mark Sayce was again on form for Castle Point C as, with help from colleagues David Jacob and Sean McNabb, they defeated Rawreth D 5 – 4 in a close fought match. Colin Braham and Andy Deadman shared Rawreth’s points.
Rawreth E proved generous hosts, handing their visitors Canvey C a 7 – 2 win. An unbeaten night for Steve Robinson, playing up for the first time, was the highlight; although Rawreth’s youngsters struggled to handle Steve Parker’s spin, too.
Anne Addlington’s hat trick lead her Runnymede side to a comfortable 8 – 1 win over visitors Castle Point D. Stalwart Tony Coeshall was also undefeated. There was a first win this season for Castle’s Jenne Siebolt. Bottom club Castle Point D were again beaten in their next fixture, going down 6 – 3 to visitors RESSC. A fine maximum from Bob Skews assisted by Frank Hooper and Sarah Mapes did the damage, whilst John Beddow was again in the points for Castle.
Invicta B’s home match against Wakering went right down to the wire, with the outcome only being decided in the final rubber. Man of the match Zac England won all his three games, whilst Paul England’s two wins ensured a 5 – 4 Wakering win. Richard Verrinder scored two for the home side.
David Barnes, Div 2 DRS
Division 3 With league leaders Hockley D without a game focus fell on the second and third placed teams Stanford Le Hope B and Warehouse D who met at the Warehouse both anxious to improve their position in the promotion race.
It turned out to be a close game but unbeaten Stanford kept their record winning 5-4 with Adrian Armstrong winning his three backed up by ‘Big’ John Handscombe with a brace. Nathan Jones was the player to miss out. Dave Walton picked up two wins for the Warehousemen plus a point each for Conrad Gomes and Simon Lisner. The decisive game of the evening was the clash between Dave and Adrian with four closely fought sets finishing 12/10 9/11 8/11 11/9 but in the decisive fifth it was Adrian who finished the stronger winning 11/5.
Stanford close the gap on Hockley to 13 points with both having played nine games. Warehouse remain third.
Customs B ran out comfortable 6-3 winners against Warehouse E but it could have been a lot closer if Lady Luck had favoured Graham Back of Warehouse. Two of his three games went to 5 sets and unfortunately he lost both coming back from two sets down against Richard Kidd only to lose 11/6 in the fifth and then, even more frustratingly, going two sets up against Mark Rose but then losing the next three by the closest of margins 11/9 12/10 11/9.
Mark and Richard both went on to complete their hat tricks for Customs whilst Carolyn Howard and Larry Lisner were the other points scorers for Warehouse.
A 7-2 victory for Canvey D against Hullbridge F doesn’t reflect the closeness of the games where no less than five matches went to five sets but, decisively, Canvey won four of them. Geoff Banthorpe was in fine form with a hat trick and Steve Robinson and Steve Parker both weighed in with a brace. Sue Reece and Bob Singleton-Smith got a point each for Hullbridge. Spare a thought for Sue all of whose games went to five but only one finished in her favour.
Hullbridge G maintain fourth place after an 8-1 win at Hockley F. Tony Molisso and Lewis Ritchie both recorded maximums and Bill Hoy weighed in with two. Ben Cook was the pick of a young Hockley side taking a set off Tony, losing in five sets to Lewis after leading 2-1 but then finally getting his reward beating Bill in four sets to claim Hockley’s consolation point in the last match of the evening.
There was plenty more young talent on display in the clash between Rawreth F and Hullbridge H with Rawreth coming out on top 7-2 thanks to unbeaten performances from Ryan Williams and Keenan Ford plus one win from Cho Chak Man. Thomas Francis and William Skelt got a point each for Hullbridge. This was Thomas’s first win in the league so a big well done for him.
Invicta C jumped two places to sixth in the table with a 9-0 win against Rochford LTC. Jon Gould, John Golding and Rob West made up the winning team whilst there was no joy again for the Rochford trio of Travis Armstrong, Benjamin Jackson and Gordon Smith.
Team of the Week – Stanford Le Hope B – still unbeaten
Player of the Week – Adrian Armstrong – a match winning hat trick for Stanford
Paul Strutt, Div 3 DRS
