WEEK 30 REPORT
PREMIER DIVISION
First this week a result from last week and it was from the Warehouse Derby. Warehouse A overcame their B team 6-3 thanks to two wins a piece for Berti Makolli, Kim Shead and Martin Turner. Mark Rudland and Harry Small combined for the three wins for the defeated side.
Warehouse B fared even worse this week as they went down 9-0 to a strong Thorpe Bay A side who with this victory move two points ahead of Rawreth A at the top of the table. With two games left including one against each other it proves to be a very exciting end to the season. Rawreth A showed that they will fight to the end as they also recorded a 9-0 victory, this time against Hullbridge B who were unfortunately only able to field their skipper Paul Brown.
There was a great performance for Brand Identity and in particular Simon Jacob as he recorded three wins to help his side to a 5-4 win over Hullbridge A. Jacob was supported by Richard Jackman who also recorded wins over Dave Bowles and Richard Brown. Elsewhere Bruce Kettle and Eric Green (pictured) won all their games to help Rawreth A to a 7-2 win over Hadleigh Forum A, Neal Barker and Dave Bassett getting the better of Tim Cramphorn for the Forum points.
Finally, we finish where we started with Warehouse A but with a different outcome as they went down 7-2 to Hullbridge C. Gary Young finished as the man of match with three wins and there were two wins each for Daniel Young and Daniel Zeffie who were denied their hatricks by Martin Turner and Mark Rudland respectively.
Strong performance this week from this Rawreth B duo:
Report from Duncan Taylor
DIVISION 1
Another convincing win in the Lentern derby for their A team by 7-2 over the B team. Elaine Sayer played very well on the night to get 3 wins, supported by Martin Archie and Peter Cranmer with two each Gus Heath was the pick of the B team players winning their two points. Wayne Farmer and Sue Body were unable to add any points to the total.
Hockley B suffered their second consecutive loss by 5-4 to Brand Identity B, allowing Invicta to close the gap. David Jacob played well to take all three on the night including Dave Colwill in straight sets. Kelly Yuenyongpknan also played well to add two further points, only losing to Dave in the fifth set in a hard –hitting attack against defensive game. Dave Colwill with two and Keith Abbott and Stuart Adshead with one each made up the total and they now hold a 9 point lead over Invicta with three games to go.
Invicta A did close the gap with a narrow 5-4 win over Hadleigh Forum B. Steve Marr and Mike Piper scored two each, with Tony Ayliffe adding the final point. Mick Tappenden, returning form a hamstring injury, took two for Forum, with John Tendler and Dave Woolmer added one each in a match where no-one was unbeaten.
Canvey A had a good 6-3 win over Hullbridge D. Ray Wilson was again the main point-getter with three for Canvey with Peter Cray adding two and Andy Murray one for the team win. Bill Smith, Lin Roff and Rod Maclennan all added one each for Hullbridge.
Rawreth C have moved up the table in recent weeks but went down to bottom-club Rawreth D by 5-4 to give them their 5th win of the season. Colin Barham and Sam Thompson with two each and one for Olivia Jones saw them take the win. Chris Aukett with three made things tough with Garry Hartgrove adding another point, but stand-in Ken Field was unable to add anything in a frustrating week where nothing went his way. Unfortunately Rawreth D are now destined to take up the bottom spot in the Division.
Customs A were again only able to field the two players and went down 5-4 to Brand Identity B. Jenne Seibolt and Kelly accounted for two points each with Dave Jacob adding the default point for the win. Roy Thomas roared back to form taking all three wins with Dale Gutteridge adding one more.
RESSC continued their good form with a 7-2 win over Hullbridge E. Ron Coutts and Kevin Smart were both unbeaten with Bob Skews adding the final point. Will Skelt and Harrison Sadler added a point each for the Hullbridge team.
Barrie Delf
DIVISION 2
In my Week 28 report I asked whether there was any team in Division 2 able to come close to beating run away leaders Hadleigh Forum C. Well, this week, second place Stanford Le Hope B rose to the challenge when visiting Forum. Having had a surprising off week last week, Mark Everard stormed back for the hosts, winning all his three in a 5 – 4 victory. Nevertheless, this represents almost a moral victory for Stanford, given how dominant Forum have been. Adrian Armstrong won two for Stanford and Chris Crooks and John Handscombe won one each. Tony Mace and Graham Farmer also had single victories. It must now be certain both these sides will be promoted.
Third place Wakering visited Invicta B and came away with a 6 – 3 win. However, there is too much of a gap for them to close on Sandford. There were some very close five-setters that all went the visitors’ way. On another night things could have been much closer. Two such five-setters went to Wakering 11 – 9 in the fifth; another one 14 -16 in the fifth and yet another settled 11 – 7 after five. Keith Fordham came away undefeated and Zac England won two, with Nigel Cook contributing a single. David Barnes got a brace for the home side and Andy Humphris added the other.
Further down the table there was an excellent win for the juniors of Hullbridge F, overcoming the experienced visitors of Canvey B 6 – 3. Toby Zeffie was Player of the Match with a hat trick, though Joe Buscombe’s maximum put him not too far behind. The visiting team of Tony Westwell, Des Duffield and Lee McGonagle each won one.
There was a welcome away win for Runnymede at Warehouse C. Tina Hutchinson was their star, winning all her matches, Jim Nariel won two and Barbara Shead chipped in with one in a 6 – 3 victory. Jonathan Allen was the home side’s best player, winning two, whilst Conrad Gomes got one.
In yet another Rawreth derby, the ‘visiting’ G team trounced their E team hosts 9 – 0. Andy Deadman, Player of the Match George Davis, and Rob Wood all returned unbeaten results.
Another 5 – 4 home win was the outcome when Brand Identity C visited Canvey C. The visitors were unable to find a third player, so full marks to Richard Riebold and Jenne Seibolt for making a game of things, both winning twice. However, Steve Robinson was in fine form for the home side and neither of the visitor could get the better of him despite both taking him to five sets.
Veteran Paul Strutt won his second Player of the Match award this season in his Hockley D’s 6 – 3 win at Rawreth F. Brian Bissenden contributed two more wins and Neal Klyman the other one. Rawreth’s trio of Harrison Creak, Noah Unstead and Keanan Ford each won once.
David Barnes
DIVISION 3
One of the secrets to getting promotion from any league is to keep a winning team and Stanford D have certainly done just that over the last few weeks. In four of the last five games Mark Farley, Dan Harris and Tony Papasifakis have remained unchanged which has resulted in crushing victories against promotion rivals Hullbridge G, Hockley E and last week Customs B, who went down 8-1 at home. With just two games to go for most teams this leaves them four points clear of nearest rivals Hockley E although Customs B still have two games in hand but are 21 points behind. Both Dan and Tony racked up their fourth successive hat tricks with Mark adding two. Mark Rose got the consolation for Customs.
Hockley E maintained the pressure on Stanford with a 9-0 win against their own F team but the result could have been closer if two five set matches had gone the other way. Brian Parker was two sets down against Alwine Jarvis before fighting back to win and Ben Cook was pushed all the way by Graham Gregory before winning the final set 11/7. Ron Rogerson was MOTM winning all his games without losing a set.
Canvey D look to have put the final nail in the coffin for Hullbridge G’s promotion hopes after winning 7-2 with Ray Baker taking the match honours. He beat Bob Shingleton-Smith in four sets, fought back from two sets down to overcome Sue Reece and then won a real roller coaster of a match with Andy Roff 11/9 9/11 11/7 9/11 11/7. Geoff Banthorpe and Steve Parker shared the other four points whilst Andy claimed both for Hullbridge including another five set thriller beating Geoff 14/12 in the final end. Hullbridge are now 16 points behind Hockley with two games left to play. Canvey remain in the hunt as they have a game in hand on most of their rivals.
Closest match of the week was between Hockley G and Warehouse D with Hockley edging it 5-4 despite a hat trick from Warehouse ‘legend’ Graham Back. His wins included a fight back from 2-1down against young Rajat Negri winning 11/8 in the fifth with more comfortable wins against Oliver George and Keith Denyer. Jaspreet Singh got the other Warehouse point in another five set match against Keith. Oliver claimed two good wins as did Rajat and Keith provided the fifth finally chalking up his first win of the season. Well done Keith!
Player of the Week – Ray Baker
Team of the week - Stanford Le Hope D
