Southend & DTTL 2016-17
Week Report 27
• Premier Division Hullbridge A took another step closer to winning the Premier division with a comprehensive 7-2 beating of Rawreth B. Usually it's Kevin Caldon who ends up picking up the MoM award for Hullbridge, however on this occasion that award goes to the younger Sam Hume who won his 3 matches beating Matt Spero, Babul Mcleod and Mick Hayes. Matt managed to serve off at deuce in the 5th, while Mike picked up the loudest cheer of the night on winning a point after losing the first 17 points of his match with Sam
Rawreth A kept up the pressure on Hullbridge with an 8-1 win over Castle Point A, maximums for Charles Sweeney and Kevin Read with Castle Points sole win coming from Richard Jackman over the ‘Ace’ George Reeves.
There were three games this week that finished 8-1 in scoreline with Thorpe bay A, Thorpe Bay B and Hockley A overcoming Warehouse A, Hadleigh Forum A and Customs A respectively by the same margin. The Lentern A side of Paul Brown, Django Fung and Debbie Auvache went one better by recording a 9-0 whitewash over Stanford le Hope A
Duncan Taylor DRS
• Division 1 – Hadleigh Forum B were given a scare this week by Canvey A in a seesaw match that ended in a win for the Forum team by 5-4. Canvey rushed into a 3-0 lead including a close win for Phil Puckey 12-10 in the fifth set against Mick Tappenden, only for Hadleigh to win the next 3 games to tie the match at 3-3. It was then tit-for-tat leading to the match being all square at 4-4, and with a vital win for Gus Heath over Phil Puckey in the final match to take the win for Hadleigh. It was a great match with everyone contributing but no-one unbeaten on the night.
Rawreth C returned to winning ways with a convincing 7-2 win over Invicta A retaining their runner-up place by 1 point with a match to go. Chris Aukett put in a star performance unbeaten on the night and was ably supported with two each from John Blackman and Colin Clements. Steve Marr was again the star performer for Invicta taking both of their games, with unusually Mike Piper and Neil Daines unable to make any impression on the match.
Coming with a late surge and recording 4 wins in a row, Warehouse B are now only a point behind coming into the last week. However they look to have the harder task having to take on the league leaders in the final week. In a re-arranged game, Warehouse B beat Lentern C by 8-1 with Tony Wright and Martin West scoring maximums. Lentern’s point was scored by Martin Archie with a good win over Micky Baker as their sole consolation.
Hullbridge C kept their slim hopes alive with a 7-2 win over Castle Point B. Linda Hales and Andy Seaman proved too strong and were unbeaten in the match. For Castle Point, Tony Ayliffe and Keith Neville managed good wins over Richard Gill who in turn was successful in beating the pointless Martin Roberts for the Castle Point team.
Hadleigh Forum C had a good win over Hullbridge D by 8-1. Russell Bright and Graham Farmer scored three each with Mark Everard adding two. Ben Matthews was the sole point winner for the Hullbridge team with Matt Rolfe and Jo Hills unable to add to the match.
In the last match this week, Lentern B recorded their first win in six matches against Lentern D. In a match where no-one was unbeaten, John Lott and Paul Sims scored two each for the B side and Peter Pond and Peter Lucraft scored two each for the D side. In the end the win for Steve Appleby over Chris Crooks decided the match 5-4 in favour of the B side.
Barrie Delf DRS
• Division 2 A stunning hat trick by player-of-the-match Joe Lock gave Hockley C a comfortable 6 – 3 win away to Basildon Hospital. Josh Copeland added two more and Martin Scarfe one. Kevin Smart was again the medics’ best player with two wins - Jay Shivapujimath got their other win.
Two wins each by Zac England and Stewart Mills, together with one for Paul England, gave Wakering a close fought 5 – 4 away win at Rawreth E. Rob Appleton was the host’s best performer, with two wins, whilst Andy Deadman and Matt Barber got one each.
Hullbridge E only dropped one point on their visit to Castle Point C. Adam Jackman and James Goddard both recorded maximums, whilst David Jacob saved Castle’s blushes with a single victory.
A triple from Runnymede’s stalwart Tony Millward was not quite enough to give his side a win over visitors RESSC. Ron Coutts and Rob Skews gained two victories each for RESSC, whilst a single from Dave Newton ensured a narrow 5 – 4 win.
For the second week in a row Invicta B faced depleted opposition. Canvey B could only find two players, one of whom was Steve Robinson playing up from Division 3. Steve was not overawed and was unlucky only to record one victory. Lee McGonagle scored two wins for Canvey. However, the home team managed to gain sufficient for a 6 – 3 win.
Rawreth D were too strong for hosts Castle Point D. Maximums were obtained by Sam Thompson, David Barnes and veteran league servant Ken Field in a 9 – 0 whitewash.
James Spencer and Andy Humphris were both unbeaten on Warehouse C’s visit to Canvey C. With Graham Back contributing a single, they ended up 7 – 2 winners. Ray Baker and Stuart Curham shared the home side’s points.
David Barnes DRS
• Division 3 Results were a little hard to come by this week but in those games that were played Hockley E marginally improved on their previous result against Stanford Le Hope B losing 8-1 rather than 9-0. John Hanscombe and Adrian Armstrong both chalked up hat tricks and Peter Hanscombe a brace, with the consolation point going to Andrew Strutt who beat Peter in five sets coming back from 2-1 down and just edging the decider 11-9. Roger Sherman and the shy and retiring Laurie Witte missed out for Hockley.
Playing at the same time Hockley F got their own 8-1 win against Warehouse E. Harry Sawford led the way with three wins not dropping a set, backed up by a hat trick for Ben Cook and a brace for Claire Stringer. Joe Bennett got the point for Warehouse. Warehouse have now lost nine games in succession and now have just two games left to end that run.
Match of the week should have been the clash between 3rd placed Warehouse D and 4th placed Canvey D but Canvey were unable to field a full team and went down to a 6-3 defeat. Geof Banthorpe did well winning two including a five set win against Phil Mardle and Steve Robinson came back from 2-1 down against Ro Brett to win in five. Dave Walton was the man to beat, however, winning both his matches plus one from Phil.
Closest game of the week was Hullbridge G’s 5-4 win against Invicta C. Tony Molisso was the man in form for Hullbridge with a hat trick and Bill Hoy and Tony Jarvis chipped in with a point each. John Golding and Keith Baxter both got two wins for Invicta. Match of the evening was Tony’s five set win against Keith which gave Hullbridge a crucial 3-1 lead. He led 2-1, Keith took the fourth 13-11, but Tony fought back to win 11-6 in the fifth. Hullbridge stay 5th in the table and Invicta 7th.
Team of the Week – Hullbridge G
Player of the Week – Tony Molisso
Paul Strutt DRS
