Week 10 Reports
Premier Division
The highlights from week 9 and week 10 start with two wins for Rawreth B. The first a straight forward 7-2 win over Brand Identity A but the second was a very tight 5-4 victory against Hockley A with Rawreth having to win the last 2 matches of the evening to do so. Matt Spero was again the B team saviour winning his 3 and picking up the MoM. For Hockley both Matt Stringer and Chris Ballard beat Mike Hayes and Tim Cramphorn.
Thorpe Bay A had a very good couple of weeks as they beat Hadleigh Forum A 9-0 but also beat title rivals Hullbridge A 6-3. There were two wins a piece for Alex Abbott, Paul Sayer and James Denyer but none of the Bay trio could overcome Hullbridge’s Kevin Caldon who took all three of his sides’ points.
There was a much easier night for Hullbridge A when they came up against Stanford le Hope A, dropping only 2 sets all night. There were some close sets but there was only ever going to be one winner. So, while not a great night for Stanford it was a good result for the White Lion in Fobbing as both teams got in there before 10pm.
Hockley, Hadleigh Forum and Rawreth A all picked up useful 6-3 wins against Stanford le Hope, Warehouse A and Hullbridge C respectively. A good win for Daniel Young over Charles Sweeney in that last match to back up the two wins from his father Gary who beat Sweeney and Ben Warner.
And finally proving that 6-3 was the fashionable score of the week there were wins by that margin for Rayleigh Mill over Hullbridge C and Hullbridge B over Warehouse B. Duncan Taylor, Keith Adams and Norbert Fullerton were the unbeaten men in those ones and there was a good win for Adam Jackman over the experienced Steve Maltby.
Away from the Premier division action there was another win for a Southend League Veteran player as Rayleigh Mill’s Peter Radford (pictured) picked up the O70s Eastern Masters title in Norwich. Well played Peter. If any of our senior or junior players have any successes away from league matches that I don’t know about, please let me know as it is always to highlight here the efforts of our players on the County or National scene.
Division 1
Lentern A have taken a clear lead the top following a 7-2 win over Customs A. Martin Archie was the POTM with an unbeaten night including a win over Roy Thomas. Peter Cranmer and Elaine Sayer added two points each, but neither was able to upset Roy who scored the Customs points, leaving them mid-table. Lentern now have a one point advantage and a game in hand over second-placed Hockley B, although there is a chasing pack who could make up the difference.
Hockley B stay in second after a 6-3 win over RESSC. Alex Barnetson was unbeaten on the night with Dave Colwill adding two and Stuart Adshead one for a good all round team performance. For RESSC, Kevin Smart scored two wins including a good 3 set win over Dave Colwill. Mike Worship added the final point for RESSC with Ron Coutts unable to make an impact. This leaves RESSC in second from bottom and in the danger zone.
Invicta A kept up their recent good form and are in 3rd place following a 9-0 win over Lentern B. The Lentern team of Peter Lucraft, Dave Kirston and Wayne Farmer were unable to make any inroads against the in-form team of Mike Piper, Steve Marr and Tony Ayliffe, leaving them in the bottom group.
Hadleigh Forum B follow close behind after a tense 5-4 win over Hullbridge E, which required a final match win for John Tendler over Ben Matthews with the scores all square at 4-4. In a close match where no-one was unbeaten, John Tendler and Dave Woolmer scored two each for Hadleigh, with Ben Matthews and Matt Rolfe doing the same for Hullbridge. IT was left to Mick Tappendez to score the final point for Hadleigh.
Brand Identity B follow close behind after a 7-2 win over luckless Hullbridge D. Barrie Delf led the way with three (shame he can’t do it in the Premier), supported by Mick Grout and David Jacob with two wins each. Andy Seaman and Charles Yeung scored one each for Hullbridge with elderly, Bill Smith, unable to add anything to the game, apart from an odd surprising forehand winner and some more illegal serves from his repertoire.
Mid-table contenders, Rawreth C and Canvey A fought out a close 5-4 win for the Rawreth team. The island team were left all at sea by a great hat trick for Garry Hartgrove and two points from Colin Clements For Canvey, Andrew Murray scored two with one point each for Peter Cray and Terry Giddens. The match still leaves both comfortable positioned in mid-table.
Barrie Delf
Division 2
A hat trick from veteran Jan Thorpe was not enough to save his Rawreth E side from defeat to visiting Wakering. Two wins for Keith Fordham and Stewart Mills and one from Nigel Cook meant Wakering came away with a 5 – 4 victory. Bradley Nunn got the home side’s only other success.
Canvey C continued their recent good form with a 6 – 3 win over Hockley D. Joanna Hills starred for them with a POM unbeaten performance. She was assisted with two victories from Steve Robinson and one from Tony Molisso. Dave Chenery got two for Hockley and Brian Bissenden their other win.
Warehouse C recorded a 5 – 4 home win over two-man Canvey B. The visitors’ Tony Westwell and Des Duffield each won two successes. With a third player, they could have possibly shaved things. As it was, one victory each for Warehouse’s Simon Lisner and Jonathan Allen, together with the forfeited points was enough for a home success.
Paul Fawell and Mark Everard continued their untouchable performances with hat tricks apiece in Hadleigh Forum C’s 7 – 2 home win over Rawreth G. Andy Deadman and Rob Wood recorded single wins for Rawreth.
Andy Humphris again put in a POM performance for Invicta B; this time against visitors Brand Identity C. His hat trick, together with three from team mate Neil Daines resulted in a 6 – 3 win. The visitor’s Rob Platt, Richard Riebold and Kelly Yuenyongpknan each recorded a single win.
David Barnes
Division 3
Division 3 never ceases to amaze this season as Invicta C took over at the top on the basis of having won more games than Hullbridge G but only 5 points separate the top 6 teams so it really couldn’t be much closer.
Invicta might have expected an easier match at bottom of the table Rawreth H putting out a very strong team led by the unbeaten Richard Verrinder, John Golding and Dave Youngman. The youngsters of Rawreth however, were in no mood give up the points easily and, despite being 4-1 down, they won two crucial 5 set matches to bring the score back to 4-3 and give themselves a chance of winning.
Emily Kidd got the first win coming back from 2-1 down against John to win 11/9 in the fifth and Jake Nelson did even better against Dave being two sets down before winning 12/10 11/7 12/10. Dreams of a surprise win did disappear however as Richard chalked up his third win against Emily, before Rob Bates picked up another good win in four sets against John. Dave and Jake both recorded braces for their teams.
Hullbridge G moved level with Invicta after beating Stanford Le Hope C 6-3. The return of Andy Roff made the difference winning all his three and supported by Lindsay Johnson-Farge with a brace and Ann Lane with one. Key match of the night was the encounter between Andy and Mark Farley with Mark leading 1-0 and 2-1 Andy won the last two sets to extend Hullbridge’s lead to 4-1 and put them firmly in the driving seat. Mark got a brace for Stanford with one win for Vaughan Chambers. Stanford remain very much in contention in fourth place 3 points behind the leaders.
Hockley E were boosted by the appearance of Alan Tideswell for the match against Canvey D and he did not disappoint winning all his games. Eye problems have restricted him over the last season and a half but he was able to see off his opponents on the night without too many problems. Ron Rogerson and Andrew Strutt both weighed in with two wins in support and both won crucial five set matches with the score 3-1 to Hockley. Ron battled to a 12-10 win in the fifth against the tricky Steve Parker and Andrew did exactly the same against Gordon Johnstone again winning 12-10 in the fifth. Earlier Steve had come back from 2-1 down to finally outfox Andrew whilst Ron succumbed to Gordon’s attacking play to give Canvey their points. Hockley sit fifth in the table whilst Canvey stay seventh despite their fourth defeat on the trot.
There is plenty of young talent in this division and a lot of it was on show when Stanford C met Hullbridge H. Each side had their own senior player (Mark Downey and David Zeffie) to add experience and as it turned out their match proved to be crucial. Hullbridge had upset the form book at the beginning of the evening and led 3-1 only for Stanford to pull back to 3-4 when Mark met David. After David convincingly won the first set Mark came back to lead 2-1 and then David ran away with the last two sets 11-7 11-4 to clinch the win. Max Russell matched Mark on the night with two wins whilst Katie Tanner and Ben Cannon got a point each for Hullbridge.
Player of the Week – Andy Roff
Team of the Week – Rawreth H
Paul Strout
