WEEK 18 REPORT WINTER LEAGUE 17-18

SDTTL - 2017/8 Reports - Week 18

  • Premier Division

So it was back to TT action after the break over the festive period and it was back to business as usual for the three top teams who all recorded impressive 9-0 wins. There was a most enjoyable evening with plenty of tea, biscuits and good humour, as well as some excellent table tennis as Hullbridge A saw off Hadleigh Forum B.  Although bottom of the league and odds on to be relegated, the Forum team are showing signs of improvement.  Mick Tappenden put up a terrific fight against Stuart Gibbs before eventually falling short in the deciding set while Anthon Ranjit Singh went toe to toe with Reece Seddon, losing out in 4 sets in a high quality game that could so easily have gone to a 5th set decider.

It was a very quick and early night as Rawreth A devastated Stanford with only 1 set being dropped which went to Adrian Armstrong who was playing up and with it being against the best player in the league Tony Halling this was no mean feat. Rawreth simply too good on the night. 

Thorpe Bay A not be outdone saw off Hockley A by the same scoreline with man of the match John Poysden, Paul Sayer and Paul Whatton taking all the spoils.

Elsewhere Rayleigh Mill went down 6-3 to Warehouse A although the score masks some very tight games with Rob Harris particularly unlucky to be on the wrong end of 2 five setters including a titanic battle in  the last game of the evening against hatrick hero and man of the match Martin Turner. 

Meanwhile Rawreth B put on an impressive show with Mike Hayes and Eric Green taking maximums in an 8-1 win over Hadleigh Forum A. The consolation win for the Forum came when Hamish Innes beat Babul McLeod.

In the final game of the week Keith Adams (pictured here) was the star of the show winning all three against Thorpe Bay B in his sides 6-3 win. There were good wins for Kieran Skeggs over Edward Ogbebor and Liam Squirrel over Norbert Fullerton for the Bay.

Duncan Taylor DRS

  • 1st Division

 A week after the Xmas break and the young team from Hullbridge E have started the new year with a bang, moving 7 points clear of the chasing field, following a good 7-2 win over Rawreth C. Dan Zeffie and Adam Jackman scored maximums with excellent wins over their more experienced opponents which shows their improvement over the year along with the extra point by Reece Harris-Griffiths . Garry Hartgrove and Colin Clements scored a point each for the Rawreth side.

Lentern B are in 2nd spot, but didn’t have the greatest of starts to the new year going down 6-3 to Customs A in a match where no-one was unbeaten. A good solid team performance from Customs saw Roy Thomas, Dave Morgan and Brian Rackham all pick up two wins each. John Lott caused the most problems and won 2 games for the visitors along with a notable win over Roy to make it a season double for John. Peter Cranmer added the final point for Lentern with a close 5 set win over Brian Rackham. This lifts Customs up into 4th spot.

Warehouse B have continued where they left off last year with a convincing 8-1 win over two-man Hadleigh Forum C who are heading down the table. This gave Warehouse a much needed boost of 17 points from the last two games and sees them now in 3rd place in the table and pushing for one of the promotion spots. Solid maximums for Mark Rudland and Berti Makolli backed up with two by Tony Millward left the Forum team reeling . Mark Everard scored the consolation point for Hadleigh following a close 5 set win in the final match of the night over Tony Millward. Hadleigh now find themselves 4th from bottom, without a win in their last 8 games.

Hullbridge C had some selection problems too, but were able to call on promising youngster, Will Skelt to play up for their team. Despite this, it was Bottom club Hockley B who came away with the points in a close 5-4 win. Dave Colwill provided the bulk of these with a maximum with Joe Lock and Craig Aukett adding a point each, Craig getting a notable win over experienced penholder, Mike Johnston. Rod Maclennan scored two for Hullbridge with Will and Mike adding one each, Will scoring a great 3-1 win over Craig himself.

The game between Canvey A and Hockley C was postponed due to repairs being undertaken at the Canvey venue.

Finally, there was an unexpected 9-0 win for previously bottom club, Lentern C, over Invicta A. The winning team of Peter Pond, Peter Lucraft and Sue Body all picked up maximums against the usually reliable team of Steve Marr, Tony Ayliffe and Mike Piper, a case of New Year hangover and little game time over the period. Lentern hope that this will boost their second half to lift them out of the relegation zone, but Invicta seemed to have dragged themselves into the relegation fight with only 4 points separating them from bottom club, Hockley B.

Barrie Delf DRS

  • 2nd Division

The Christmas and New Year break did nothing to slow the progress of the division’s top three teams.

Leaders RESSC had maximums from Rob Skews and Mike Worship to thank for a 6 – 3 home win over Hockley D. The visitor’s James Spencer, Jim Nariel and Harry Sawford each got one win.

Second place Rawreth D had a close encounter when they entertained Stanford le Hope B. The as-yet unbeaten Sam Thompson was again the star, continuing his hugely impressive run. Sam was aided with two wins from veteran Colin Barham, to ease Rawreth to a 5 – 4 win. Both Stanford’s Aaron Chandler and Dan Harris pushed Sam all the way, only succumbing in fifth set of their encounters. Dan ended the night with two wins, whilst Aaron and Mark Farley recorded one each.

Meanwhile, Wakering firmed up their third place position with a comfortable 6 – 3 win over visiting Rawreth E. The highlight of the evening was the father versus son encounter between the Deadmans – with both playing superb table tennis, the home team’s Adam just got the better of his father Andy in the fifth set. Adam went on to record a hat trick, with Zac England adding two wins and Paul England one. Paul was unfortunate not to beat Andy, serving at 11-10  up in fifth set, but eventually losing 12 – 14. A special mention should also go to George Davis who played some wonderful shots to overcome Paul in 5 sets.

In another close encounter, Basildon Hospital bested their Hullbridge F hosts 5 – 4. Stalwart Kevin Smart was again their mainstay, winning all his three games. Mike Smith added the other two. Will Skelt was the best of the Hullbridge youngsters, winning two games, whilst Toby Zeffie and Harry Sadler got one each.

Due to essential maintenance at Canvey’s King George Pavillon, the match between Canvey C and Invicta B had to be postponed.

David Barnes DRS

  • 3rd Division 

Hockley E provided something of an upset this week by defeating second in the table Brand Identiy C 7-2. Ending a run of two successive defeats for Hockley this win has brought them back into contention with the promotion pack whilst Brand Identity remain second but have lost ground on leaders Hadleigh Forum.

Hockley were inspired by their captain Andrew Strutt who completed  a hat trick and just took the man of the match honours from the ever improving Gary Linzell who was also unbeaten on the night, with Ron Rogerson adding the other point. The match turned on the games between Ron and Andy Roff and Andrew and Richard Reibold. At 2-1 to Hockley, Ron and Andy fought out a see-saw match 12/14, 11/13, 11/8 14/12 11/9 with Ron triumphing by the narrowest of margins. Then Andrew came back from 2-1 down against Richard to win the last two sets 11/9, 11/3 and give Hockley an important 4-1 lead. Richard and David Humphreys got a point each for Brand Identity.

Rawreth F and Stanford Le Hope C fought out an exciting match which finished 5-4 to Rawreth with Jan Thorpe the MOTM ably supported by our esteemed Chairman Ken Field with a brace. Mark Downey got two and Peter Handscombe and Max Russell one each for Stanford. Rawreth were actually 3-2 down at one stage but three successive wins gave them the points and their fourth win on the trot. Rob Clarke made up the Rawreth team.

The youngsters of Hullbridge I proved to be no match for their team mates from Hullbridge G even though the G team were a player short. Sue Reece and Bob Shingleton-Smith took the honours without too much trouble but Daniel Mansfield did take a set off Bob as did Josh Jones who lost the fourth set 12/10. 

With the Division splitting in a few weeks the crucial 9th spot sees Hullbridge G level on points with Stanford.

Invicta C did manage to take advantage of playing a two man team coming out on top 5-4 against Hullbridge H. Although no one could get the better of Hullbridge’s Brian Farmer who took the MOTM honours a win each for John Golding and Chris Gregory over Bill Hoy made the difference with Bill getting the remaining point for Hullbridge against Jon Gould. Invicta sit seventh in the table two points behind Hockley E.

Unfortunate that both Hullbridge teams again  had problems fielding a full side.

Canvey D moved up to third in the table after a routine 9-0 win against Rochford LTC. Geoff Banthorpe, Ray Baker and Steve Parker always looked likely to be too strong for Rochford but John George did push Ray all the way losing 12/10 in the fifth set and debutant Mike Richardson took sets off Ray and Steve. Although third Canvey actually have a better win/lose ratio than leaders Hadleigh but are twenty points behind albeit with a game in hand.

Leaders Hadleigh had no problem disposing of Warehouse D 8-1 to go past the 100 point barrier. Satwant Gill and Anthony Mace both recorded hat tricks with two wins for Ashley Brett. Steve Higgins got the consolation point for Warehouse.

Team of the Week – Hockley E

Player of the Week – Andrew Strutt ( not that I’m biased!)

Paul Strutt DRS

Author: via Southend Table Tennis League
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