Sdttl 2016-7 Season Week 6

In their second match of the week there was an excellent MoM performance from Matt Spero, whose fast free-flowing attacking style was too hot for the Hullbridge B side, as he helped Rawreth B to a 5-4 win. He was ably supported by Eric Green and Bruce Kettle who picked up one each. Reece Seddon and Glen Johnson continued their good form, both winning a brace.

Elsewhere, Hockley proved too strong for Stanford with Liam Squirrell in outstanding form taking all three of his games. Rahul Sharma was the only player to take points from the Hockley team with two wins.

And Finally this week, Warehouse A came up against an in form Thorpe Bay B side and went down 9-0. All three Thorpe Bay players performed very well but Kieran Skeggs in particular was “on fire”.

Duncan Taylor DRS

Division 1:-  Hadleigh Forum B continue to set the pace at the top of the league, this time with a 7-2 win over Invicta A. No-one on the Invicta side was able to get to grips with the ‘funny pimple’ bat and style of Gus Heath who returned 3 points for Forum and was ably supported by Tony Jacks and Dave Woolmer with two apiece. Steve Marr saved the Invicta blushes with two good points winning 11-7 in the fifth set against Tony Jacks.

A two-man Canvey A team remain in 2nd place but slipped further behind the leaders losing 6-3 to Rawreth C, who are catching up on their missing games which may have been different if they could have fielded a full team. Veteran and old codger, Mike Worship was able to foil the abilities of Terry Giddens and Phil Puckey with his anti-loop play, although Terry did take him to the fifth set with his own pimpled bat. Phil Puckey and his explosive backhand were enough to see off Gary McCarthy and John Blackman to earn two points for the Canveyside. 

Lentern C join Canvey on level points and games after a strong 8-1 win over Hockley B. Brian Spencer and Mark Jupe were unbeaten with Martin Archie adding two. Dennis Squirrell saved the Hockley club’s blushes in a good win over Martin with three other games going to the fifth set in favour of the Lentern side.

Hullbridge C had a close fought 5-4 loss to Hadleigh Forum C with Bill Smith and Lin Roff scoring two apiece for the Hullbridge team.Veteran Bill Smith was able to take away Russell Bright’s 100% record with a 3-0 straight sets win, utilizing his newly-discovered forehand attack. Russell Bright and Anthon Ranjit-Singh provided the main points (two each) for the Forum win in a match where no-one was unbeaten, Richard Gill unable to build on his first win last week.

In the final match this week, there was a very close encounter in an excellent night’s play of table tennis. Hullbridge D managed to snatch a 5-4 win over Castle Point B in a match where no fewer than 7 games went to the fifth set. Everyone gave their all in the matches where solid defense and a fair number of nets and edges played their part. Matt Rolfe was the hero of the Hullbridge team with three points, coincidentally winning 11-8 in the fifth set in all of his games. Ably supported by a returning Ben Matthews who again took all his games to five sets, winning two of them, including a nail-biting 13-11 win over Tony Ayliffe. Mike Grout was the stable influence on the Castle Point side winning two of his games in a strange match where the score on another night could have been 7-2 either way. 

Barry Delf DRS

Division 2:- The two Canvey teams in Division 2 turned in good results this week to leave them both placed well in the league. Canvey B consolidated second place with a 7 – 2 home win over Warehouse C, whilst Canvey C’s 6 – 3 away win at Invicta B pushed them up into fourth place. Maximums from stalwarts Talbot Wiseman and Tony Westwell made the B team’s win comfortable. Similarperformances from the Harry Keys and Stuart Curhamdouble act did the same for the C team.

Hullbridge E’s youngsters were un-phased by visitors RESSC. Only Rob Skews offered any resistance in a comprehensive 8 – 1 home win. Reece Harris-Griffiths and James Goddard were both unbeaten, whilst a special mention should be given to Will Skelt who managed two wins on being called upon to play up from Hullbridge’s H Division 3 team for his first match at the higher level.

Wakering turned in a good performance to overcome Hockey C 5 – 4. Home team Hockley’s Josh Copeland was unfortunate to land up on the losing side, having won all three of his matches. However, two each from Wakering’s Stewart Mills and Paul England, with one from Zac England, in an all-round team effort, settled the fixture for the visitors.

For their trip to Castle Point C, Runnymede gave a second outing of the season to experienced Tony Millward, and his hat trick led them to a 5 – 4 victory. Mark Sayce’s pair for Castle was the pick of the home side’s efforts.

David Barnes DRS

Division 3:-   There were big wins for Canvey D and Warehouse D this week, whilst Customs B have moved rapidly up the table and sit third. Invicta C came out on top in the closest game of the week edging out Hullbridge F 5-4.

Canvey D ran out easy 8-1 winners against Warehouse E but the Warehouse team did put up a fight, Tom Jarvis having to face two five set matches against Lindsey Carroll and Joe Bennett whilst Lindsey also grabbed the consolation win over Rob Mcdonald. Steve Robinson and junior Tom Jarvis both won their three for Canveywho move into first place.

Warehouse D went one better with a 9-0 thrashing of Hockley F. Phil Mardle, Ro Brett and Simon Lisner the winning team and they move up to 5th place. 

Hockley F remain without a win so far this season.

Customs F have surged up the table in recent weeks their latest win a 6-3 triumph against Hockley E. Richard Kidd achieved the perfect hat trick not dropping a set all night and he was backed up by a brace from Amar Al Soufi and one from Mark Rose. Hockley started the evening well and actually led 3-2 at one stage but Customs fought back impressively. Roger Sherman played well to pick up two wins for Hockley whilst Kevin Blythe got the third.

Invicta C just overcame Hullbridge F by the narrowest of margins the match being decided in the last game of the evening when John Golding completed his hat trick with a straight sets win over Paul Malone. Invicta had earlier led 2-0 and 4-2 but braces from Ann Lane and Sue Reece ensured they stayed in the game until that final match. John Gould and Keith Baxter got the other points for Invicta.

Team of the Week Customs F

Player of the Week Richard Kidd

Paul Strutt DRS