SDTTL - 2017/18 - Week 6 Reports

Premier Division

There was a ding-dong (not ping-pong) derby this week as Hadleigh Forum A and B met for the first time, with the A side scraping home 5-4. Only one game was settled in three ends and four of the nine matches went the distance, with the pick being Anton Ranjit-Singh’s 12-10 in the 5th win over the otherwise unbeaten Dave Bassett. John Tendler won two and Neil Barker one to ensure the A side came out on top.

It was a night to forget for Rayleigh Mill as they came up against the “Great Wall of Lentern”. That Wall of course was Ian Wall, who, along with his team mates Keith Adams and Edward Ogbebor (and a little help from the net) soundly thrashed Rayleigh Mill 9-0.

It was only one better for Brand Identity this week as they went down 8-1 to Thorpe Bay A, with hat-tricks for Mark Stones and Paul Whatton and a very impressive consolation win for Simon Jacob over Paul Sayer

There was an outstanding night’s table tennis with three matches going to the wire, as Warehouse beat Hockley A 5-4. Martin Turner came back from 6-10 in the 5th to win 12-10 against Tim Pang and the much improved Harry Small showed great maturity and poise to pick up two fine wins and the player the match award.

Keiran Skeggs continued his good form as he won three very impressive games against the Hullbridge A trio of Stuart Gibbs, Reece Seddon and Dave Bowles. Richard Stubbington also added a win over Bowles as Thorpe Bay B just missed out on a famous victory, going down 5-4.

It was a real team effort for Rawreth A as they beat Hullbridge B 6-3. They knew they were in for a tough night when Glenn Johnson picked up the scalp of George Reeves 13-11 in the 5th in the opening match, but three wins for man of the match Charles Sweeney along with two from Ross Saxby and one from the ‘Ace’ were enough to keep Rawreth A’s title ambitions on track.

Duncan Taylor DRS

1st Division

Hullbridge E continue to lead the division despite a surprising loss to bottom club Hockley B, by 6-3. A first unbeaten game of the season for seasoned campaigner Dave Colwill led the Hockley team to their win, with two wins for Joe Lock and one for James Spencer contributing to the team score. Dan Zeffie scored two for the Hullbridge team with Adam Jackman adding the final point, James Goddard unable to add to the score despite leading Joe by 2-1, going down -8, 3, 5, -12, -6

Canvey A took advantage to close the gap and move into 2nd with a close 5-4 win over a strong Hadleigh Forum C. Harry Keys was again the star and POTM for Canvey with 3 wins and Terry Giddens added two to secure the win. Peter Cray, in his first game of the season was a bit ring rusty and was unable to help the score but did take Russell Bright to 5 sets in the first game of the night. Charles Yeung scored two for Hadleigh but with Russell and Mark Everard only winning one each, the victory went to the islanders on home turf leaving the Forum C team in 4th place.

Lentern B were without a game this week but lie in 3rd place and have a game in hand on the two teams above them and have a crunch match this week against the Hullbridge E team.

Hockley C continue to keep themselves in contention with a 7-2 win over Invicta A. The Invicta team had no answer to David Chenery’s ‘funny’ rubbers and he went on to win 3 and POTM. Alex Barnetson also scored 3 and Josh Copeland added the final point. Only Steve Marr and Tony Ayliffe were able to salvage a point each for the Invicta team who find themselves in trouble at the wrong end of the table. Again next week’s match against Hockley B is a crucial match where they need to pick up points.

Hullbridge C continue their topsy-turvy season going down this time 6-3 to Brand Identity B in a close game that could of gone either way. Barrie Delf was playing down for the B team and no-one on the Hullbridge team could find a way past him as he took all 3 points. Mike Grout dug in with his dogged defense and a fair smattering of nets and edges to take two games against Andy Seaman and strong penholder, Mike Johnston. Dave Jacob was in elevated company, but raised his game to get a great win over Lin Roff and will no doubt improve his game in this standard of play. The consolation for Hullbridge is that Lin, Andy and Mike all scored one win which looked unlikely at 4-0 down in the evening, but taking 3 out of the last 5 games.

Rawreth C have settled well into mid-table and had Gary McCarthy back for his first game this season. This made all the difference on the night as Gary went on to win all 3 of his games in a 5-4 win over Warehouse B. Garry Hartgrove and Trevor Ward contributed one each in an allround team effort to take the win with Mark Rudland taking two and Berti Makolli and Tony Wright one each in a match where everyone scored. Warehouse still find themselves near the bottom but do have games in hand.

Barrie Delf DRS

2nd Division

Another ‘short’ week this week, thanks to the fixture list, with only four matches taking place. This is because 2 teams dropped out at the last minute, causing gaps during the season: hopefully next Season Div 2 will have a full compliment of 14 Teams.

The meeting between Wakering and Canvey B saw the previously unbeaten Adam Deadman lose at the hands of veteran Tony Westwell. It was an excellent night for Tony, winning all his three. One victory each for Gavin Warner and Des Duffield ensured Canvey came away from their visit 5 – 4 winners. Adam won his other two games, whilst there was one win apiece for Wakering’s Zac England and Stewart Mills.

A hat trick from William Skelt gave Hullbridge F the edge in their 5 – 4 home victory over Runnymede. Scores swung one way and another with Toby Zeffie unfortunate to only win one, losing 11 – 9 in the fifth set in two of his matches. Barbara Shead and Tina Hutchinson shared Runnymede’s points, while Ellena Hart got the home side’s other win.

Invicta B scored a morale-boosting 6 – 3 home win over Hockley D. Andy Humphris inspired them with a maximum, whilst Barrie Murphy won two and Mike Keeble one. Harry Sanford was the pick of the Hockley side, with two victories and Neal Klyman chipping in with one win.

In the Rawreth E vs. Basildon Hospital fixture everyone contributed something. Matthew Barber won two with his colleagues George Davis and Keenan Ford adding one each. Two each from the medics’ Mike Smith and Albert Harrison, with a single contribution from Sid Hills ensured them a 5 – 4 away win.

David Barnes DRS

3rd Division

Warehouse D and Hockley F provided the match of the week with the Warehousemen clinching a 5-4 victory by winning the last game of the evening with the scores tied at 4-4. This was the only time that Warehouse were actually in front and, in fact, were 3-1 down early on. With five matches going to five sets it proved to be an exciting evening with Graham Back turning in a match winning performance winning all his games, although it was Steve Higgins who won the vital ninth coming from 2-1 down against young Alex Summers, before clinching the final set 11-3. Steve finished with a brace with Jim Higgins missing out. David Cross got two for Hockley with one each for Alex and Keith Denyer.

The Divisions top two teams both won again. Hadleigh Forum putting in a strong all round team performance to win against Warehouse C 6-3, with David Thomas, Satwant Gill and Tony Mace all winning two. Conrad Gomes got a brace for the Warehousemen with Tamas Mezo getting the other point. Conrad had two very good wins against David and Tony and only lost to Satwant in five sets after leading 2-0.

Canvey C keep second place after an impressive 7-2 win away at Hullbridge H. In form Talbot Wiseman picked up another hat trick and Geoff Banthorpe and Gordon Johnstone weighed in with two apiece. Brian Farmer and Tony Molisso got a point each for Hullbridge in what must have been a comparatively short match, with seven out of the nine games completed in three sets.

Invicta C completed their victory over Rochford LTC even more quickly as they won 9-0 against a two man team. Chris Gregory, John Golding and Richard Verrinder made up the winning team with no match extending beyond three sets.

Sitting third in the table are Hockley E who won 7-2 against the youngsters of Hullbridge I but there were some good performances from Daniel Mansfield, Joe Buscombe and Ben Hoskins. Joe, especially, was 2-0 up against Andrew Strutt, but resisted a strong fight back which took the match to a fifth set before he clinched it 11-9. Against Kevin Blyth he impressed again, this time finding himself 2-0 down but, listening to good advice from his coach, he found the right tactics to use against a very defensive player and won the last three sets 11-9, 12-10, 11-7. Man of the match however, was Brian Parker of Hockley who was far too steady for the youngsters winning all his games. He was well supported by Andrew and Kevin who won two apiece.

Brand Identity C moved two places up the table to fifth after beating Hullbridge G 7-2. John Beddow continued his fine form with another hat trick and Colin Smith and Richard Reibold both won two. Bob Shingleton-Smith got both points for Hullbridge showing great spirit to come back from 2-0 down against Colin and 2-1 down against Richard to get the wins Sue Reece and Ann Lane missed out for Hullbridge.

There were more good performances from the Divisions young players as Rawreth G took on Customs B. Robert Bates took Mark Rose to five sets in the opening match of the evening before losing 11-7 in the fifth, and Emily Kidd and Norman Shangchen also both went to five against Alex Clark and both ran out winners. Mark and Richard Kidd, however, had too much experience for them and both claimed hat tricks on the night.

Player of the Week - Conrad Gomes – just missed out on a hat trick but definitely his best performance of the season so far.

Team of the Week - Warehouse D – for their last gasp win over Hockley F

Paul Strutt DRS