WEEK 27 REPORT WINTER LEAGUE 17-18

SDTTL      2017-8 Season

Week 27

·         Premier Division

There were a number of tight matches with some very close games in the Premier Division this week, and we start with the closest, a 5-4 win for Hockley A over Stanford-le-Hope. Tim Pang was the man of the match and made the difference with three wins, with a further two wins for Matt Stringer. Stanford’s Rahul Sharma won twice and Andrew Paton and Chris Hancox once each.

The next three games were tight 6-3 results where some closely fought games could have easily made for different final scores. In the first of these, Ben Matthews found the perfect ingredients to be on the right side of three 'ding dong' games for a well-deserved hat-trick.  Unfortunately for Hadleigh Forum B this was all they had to show for their night’s work as Kim Shead, Martin Turner and Berti Makoli all recorded wins over Anthon Ranjit-Singh and Mick Tappenden for the win.

Next up was a 6-3 win for Hullbridge B, as Gary Young, Daniel Young and Glenn Johnson all won a brace against Rayleigh Mill. Duncan Taylor proved to be the thorn in the Hullbridge side with three wins, including a very long five set battle with the older member of the Young family.

The final 6-3 win of the week came for Rawreth A over Brand Identity A with man of the match, Kevin Read remaining unbeaten, ably supported by Charles Sweeney with two wins, and Lee prentice getting the better of Barrie Delf in five sets.

Perhaps the biggest news of the week came in the fact that Hullbridge A dropped their first points of the year, albeit still recording a 7-2 win over Hadleigh Forum A. Kevin Caldon and Stuart Gibbs won all of their games but there were impressive wins for Dave Bassett and Hamish Innes over Richard Brown for the Forum.

It was great to see many Southend players at the Chelmsford League’s Championships at the weekend and we wish all Southend Players (Charles Sweeney, Duncan Taylor, Gary Young, Daniel Young, Wale Bada and Sam Hume) going forward to next week’s finals the very best of luck. Daniel and Gary are the first father/son combination to reach a finals night in the same year since Geoff and Dave Newman in the early 1970s. Some finals have already been played and it is congratulations to our very own Babul McLeod (pictured) who is now a three time winner of the Over 50s Singles while Daniel Young has already secured the Under 14s Singles title. Well played Babul and Dan.

Duncan Taylor DRS

 

·         Division 1

Canvey A continue to lead the table by a point, despite having no fixture this week.

Warehouse B have moved themselves into a strong position and 2nd in the table, with their seventh consecutive win, on this occasion, by 6-3 over Hullbridge C. Mark Rudland followed up his Southend Closed successes with an unbeaten performance and was backed up by Berti with two wins and Tony Wright with one. Lin Roff with two wins for Hullbridge put up the most resistance with Mike Johnston adding the final point, leaving them 6th in the table.

Lentern B are in 3rd but unexpectedly lost 6-3 to Invicta A this week, losing the opportunity to move up the table. Steve Marr, returned to form at the right time winning all three for Invicta, Supported by Michael Piper with two and Tony Ayliffe with one. Steady John Lott added two for the losers with Martin Archie adding the only extra point, losing two games in a match for only the second time this season. The points were welcome relief for Invicta to move them clearer of the relegation dogfight.

Customs A lost their second game in a row by 5-4 to another club at the bottom, Lentern C, who again were glad of the points. Sue Body and Dave Kirston scored two each for Lentern with Peter Lucraft adding the vital final point. Roy Thomas was unbeaten for Customs, but Brian Rackham was the only other player able to add a point to leave them in 4th position.

Hullbridge E were without a game this week, and have slipped into 5th position but do have games in hand on the teams above them.

Now in a mid-table position and looking safe for next season, Brand Identity B scored a useful 6-3 win over Hockley C. A solid all round team performance saw Mike Grout, David Jacob and Sean McNabb all score two each, however, no-one was able to better Alex Barnetson for Hockley, who came away with all 3 of their points.

In the final match, the two bottom clubs met, with Hockley B returning a good 7-2 win over Hadleigh Forum C. Dave Colwill and Alex Barnetson (playing up) scored maximums with the extra point added by Joe Lock. Graham Farmer and Mark Everard scored one each to save the Forum blushes, but was not enough to keep them from bottom place in the Division and is looking a difficult proposition to get to safety with all the other teams around them winning.

 

Barrie Delf DRS

 

·         Division 2

Leaders RESSC lost for only the second time this season, and again it was to Rawreth D. Last time around they lost 6 – 3 away, so it was an improvement this time to only lose 5 – 4 at home! Sam Thompson was again the thorn in their side, winning all his games. Not for the first time this season, Colin Barham played a great supporting role, winning a pair.  Mike Worship was the best RESSC player, with 2 wins.

Canvey B were too strong for their visitors Invicta B. Hat tricks from Lee McGonagle and the ever-dogged Geoff Banthorpe ensured the Islanders had a comfortable 8 – 1 victory. Only the visitor’s David Barnes offered any resistance, gaining the single win.

Hockley D’s match against Stanford Le Hope had it all! 43 sets, 3 3/4 hrs of table tennis and seven matches going to five sets! All in all a marathon match that saw Hockley reverse exactly the 6 – 3 losing score from the first half of the season, with both sides fielding exactly the same teams.  James Spencer, Jim Nariel and Paul Strutt all recorded two wins apiece, whilst John Handscombe got two for Stanford and Martin Winter one. John, Jim and Paul's games all went to five sets, with only James wanting an early finish as he won two of his games in four. It was a great night's table tennis with every match being so close and especially good for Jim who had probably his best performance of the season.

Despite Wakering only being able to field two players for their visit to Runnymede, the home side weren’t able to take full advantage, narrowly losing 5 – 4. Stewart Mills was unbeaten and a brace from Nigel Cook gave them their win. Barbara Shead starred for the home side.

David Barnes DRS

 

·         Division 3A

In Division 3A first half champions Hadleigh Forum D notched up their second win of the second half of the season with a nail biting 5-4 win against Hullbridge H. Despite being 4-3 down they managed to win the last two games of the evening to maintain their unbeaten start. Satwant Gill was again the hero for Hadleigh, winning all three, but Jean Catley picked up a vital straight sets win over Lewis Ritchie to level the match at 4-4. Earlier, Hullbridge had themselves fought back from 3-2 down thanks to five set wins for Bill Hoy against Jean and Tony Molisso against Lewis. Lewis led 10/5 in the fifth set against Tony before a tremendous fight back.

Another 5-4 result in the match between Canvey D and Rawreth F and it may well have been closer if Rawreth had managed to field a third player. In the event the Nunn family took centre stage with Michael and Bradley both winning two but neither could continue the winning habit against the indomitable Talbot Wiseman who won all his matches dropping only one set in the process. In what must have been a very short evening only one match went beyond three sets all night.

Tony Papasifakis led Stanford Le Hope C to their third win of the season and top spot in the table with a 6-3 win against Brand Identity C. A brace for Mark Downey and one for Max Russell completed the scoring whilst Richard Reibold with two, and Andy Roff with one, got the points for Brand Identity.

Warehouse C completed an emphatic 8-1 win against Invicta Keith Baxter getting the consolation point with a win over Ro Brett. Jon Allen and Tamas Mezo claimed hat tricks for the Warehousemen plus a brace for Ro.

Player of the Week     Satwant Gill     Hadleigh Forum

Team of the Week      Rawreth F        only two players but a great effort

 

Paul Strutt DRS

 

·         Division 3B

In Division 3B Hockley F picked up their second win of the season beating Rochford LTC 6-3. Ben Cook of Hockley took the MOTM honours his three wins including a five set win over Oliver George coming back from 2-1 down to take the decider 11/9. Keith Denyer claimed two wins and there was a debut win for septuagenarian Hermann Maier in his first ever competitive league match. Oliver got one point for Rochford with a five set win over Hermann and John George got the other coming back from two sets down also against Hermann.

The youngsters of Rawreth G started their campaign against Customs B but went down 7-2 in a match which saw father and daughter Richard and Emily Kidd on opposite sides. Richard came out on top in the family duel but he was made to fight all the way finally clinching the win 11/7 in the fifth set. Robert Wood continued his good form from the first half of the season with wins against Richard and Dean Johnson but Mark Rose took the honours for Customs winning all his games without dropping a set. Richard and Dean provided the back up with two wins apiece.

Hullbridge G claimed their first win with an emphatic 9-0 whitewash of Warehouse D. Sue Reece, Bob Shingleton-Smith and Ann Lane made up the winning team. The Warehouse team of Joe Bennet, Larry Lisner and Steve Chaffey fought hard but the closest they came to a point was Joe’s five set defeat to Bob who came from two sets down to win.

Player of the Week     Robert Wood – Rawreth G – two excellent wins

Team of the Week      Hullbridge G

Paul Strutt DRS

Author: via Southend Table Tennis League
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