2nd Report - Winter League
2nd Report - Winter LeaguePremier Div Reports from Duncan Taylor
Week 7
Three games from week 7 of the Premier Division but first a late result in from week 6 and it was a tremendously close battle between two very evenly matched teams in the shape of Rayleigh Mill and Irons A. Only one of the eight games was settled in three ends with four matches going the full distance, the closest being a 14-12 win for Eric Green over Dave Bowles. Green picked up another win over John Monk but like the other two Millers could not get the better of player of the match Reece Seddon. Seddon’s three games and a win for Monk over Colin Chatfield was their lot for the evening and the two wins for Green along with Bruce Kettle’s brace and the win for Chatfield meant a 5-4 win for the Millers.
Rawreth A and Thorpe Bay A continue their good form as they picked up 7-2 and 8-1 wins over Hockley A and Brand Identity A respectively. Hatricks a piece for Liam Squirrell and Kevin Read for Rawreth along with a single win for Charles Sweeny over Sanjay Saptarshi in the first match and maximum wins for John Poysden and Paul Sayer and two for Mark Stones in the second fixture. A good win for David Jacob over Stones for the consolation in that one.
Hadleigh Forum have been busy in the transfer market and new signing Mark Mulley got off to a flying start in his Southend career as he won his three games to help Hadleigh to a 5-4 win over Rawreth B. Teammate Neal Barker continued his early season good form picking up wins against Arron Chandler and Kim Shead but he couldn’t pick up the scalp of Peter Barrett who won two on the night.
Week 5
Only two results to report on for week 5 of the Premier Division of the Southend & District Table Tennis league but two resounding victories for two of the top sides.
Thorpe Bay are used to winning and often winning 9-0 but seldom will they come out from a game having not lost a single set. But that is indeed what happened last week when they crushed Hockley B by the maximum win margin. The result may have been slightly different but Hockley were without their talisman Andy Cunningham who may have troubled the triumphant Thorpe Bay trio of Paul Sayer, John Poysden and Ian Wall.
The second game was nearly as one-sided as a Rawreth A side of Liam Squirrell, Kevin Read and Charles Sweeny beat Hadleigh Forum A 8-1. Neal Barker with a good consolation win for Forum over Sweeny.
Division 1 Reports from David Barnes
Week 6
Stanford Le Hope A hung on to first place, thanks to a 6 - 3 home win over Canvey A. Yet again Mitchell Jones was their star. His maximum POM performance was assisted by two wins from Russel Bright and one from Dave Hancock. Ray Wilson won two for Canvey and Joanna Hills the other one.
Lentern surprisingly lost at home to RESSC 5 - 4 and consequently slipped down the pecking order. The visitor’s John Holland won all his matches to take the accolades and skipper Bob Skews got the other two. Paul Sims was responsible for both Lentern’s successes.
Invicta A’s fine 7 - 2 away win at Mapledene moved them into second placeo. POM Lee Marson was unbeaten, as was his team mate Steven Marr. Lin Roff and Anthon Ranjit-Singh got one victory each for the home side, and Tony Ayliffe one for Invicta.
Brand Identity B took advantage of Lentern’s slip up to move up the table. They overcame Rawreth Megazone C 6 - 3 away. Adam Jackman had an unbeaten evening to earn the POM prize. Veteran John Lott added two and Michael Grout one. The home side’s victories came from Garry Hartgrove, with two, and Trevor Ward with one.
Hadleigh Forum B could only muster two players for their visit to Hockley C. Consequently, the home side were able to record their first win of the season. Ollie George was Hockley’s hero, being unbeaten. The visitors’ Mick Tappenden won two, and David Woolmer one.
Rawreth Megazone D obtained a 6 - 3 victory from their visit to Hadleigh Forum C, despite only having two players. Mike Hayes and George Davis were both too strong for the home side.
Week 5
There was a clash between first and second in the league when Lentern entertained Stanford A this week. The visitors came away with an impressive 7 – 2 win and consequently leap frog their hosts into top spot. Stanford’s POM Mitchell Jones continued his unbeaten run, and Ian Sangster and Pat White added a further two each. Lentern’s Paul Sims got both their victories.
Perennial high finishers Brand Identity have started to rise to the surface again. A 6 – 3 home win over Hadleigh Forum C moves them into third place. Clearly, their tea and cake refreshments don’t impede their progress! Yet again veteran Barrie Delf was POM with a hat trick, whilst Jennifer Harrison got two and Dale Gutteridge one. Tony Mace was the visitors’ best player taking two wins. Mark Everard got the other one, edging past Dale in the fifth set.
Invicta A retain fourth place courtesy of a narrow 5 – 4 win away at RESSC. No player was undefeated. John Holland and Bob Skews each got two for the home side, a feat matched by Invicta’s Tony Ayliffe and Steve Marr. Lee Marson’s single win for the visitors was enough for the result to go their way. Closest rubber of the night saw Steve overcome an unlucky John in the fifth set. In this contest the three sets Steve won were 13 – 11, 17 – 15 and 13 – 11.
Canvey A had a fine win at home against struggling Hockley C. Ray Wilson’s unbeaten three gave him the POM award and both Peter Cray and Joanna Hills got two wins each. Brian Bissenden and Paul Strutt got one each for the visitors. Veteran Paul had to work particularly hard to overcome Joanna.
There were two hat tricks for Hadleigh Forum B in their excellent 8 – 1 demolition of visitors Rawreth Megazone C Skipper Dave Woolmer took the POM accolade, but Paul Fawell also won all three. The sole success for the visitors was Garry Hartgrove’s five-set victory over Mick Tappenden.
Rawreth Megazone D’s Mike Hayes extended his unbeaten run to take the POM honour in his side’s 7 – 2 home win versus Mapledene. Noah Unstead also won three and George Davis one. Andy Seaman and Charles Yeung shared the Mapledene’s points. The home side are now level on points with their C team.
Division 2 Reports from Paul Strutt
Week 7
Matchpoint A returned to the top of the table this week after a crushing 9-0 victory at Runnymede. Needless to say Evie Knaapen turned in another perfect POTM performance and was backed up by Harry Sawford and Jeremy Giffin. The only real sign of resistance from the home team came in the first match of the evening where Andy Humphris took Harry to five sets but after that it was plain sailing for Matchpoint six matches ending in straight sets.
Basildon A relinquished their position at the top by one point as a result of their 7-2 defeat of Wakering. It seems you have to be pretty near perfect to keep top position at the moment! The father and son combination of Paul and Zac England did the damage by both beating Robert Platt but otherwise Basildon’s Les Hoey and Arun Joy reigned supreme Arun completing the perfect hat trick. Robert’s point came with a win against Stewart Mills.
Matchpoint B’s young team beat Basildon B 7-2 with Jack Riley’s hat trick supported by braces from Alexander Deacon and Ben Murray but they met strong resistance from Jenne Seibolt who beat Alex and Ben and took Jack to five sets. No joy for Richard Reibold and Andy Roff.
Stanford B maintained their winning run chalking up their sixth successive victory by beating bottom of the table Rawreth Megazone E 8-1. Robert Salvage and Adrian Armstrong were the hat trick heroes with Mark Downey picking up two wins but succumbing to Richard Kidd in the final game of the evening thus preventing the whitewash. Stanford stay third in the table.
The return of Andrew Murray to the Canvey B ranks has given them a significant boost in their last two games and his hat trick was the cornerstone of their 7-2 win against Hockley D. Braces from Tony Westwell and Des Duffield helped clinch the win whilst single wins for Tony Molisso against his namesake and Paul Strutt against Des got the points for a still winless Hockley. The final game of the night produced the closest match as Paul let slip a 2-1 lead against Tony eventually going down 13/11 6/11 12/10 5/11 9/11.
Team of the Week – Matchpoint A
Player of the Week – Arun Joy
Week 6
With league leaders Basildon A out of action this week focus fell on the challengers and, in particular, second placed Matchpoint A who had an opportunity to take the top spot. Their opposition were Hockley D, yet to win a match this season, so perhaps the result was never in doubt. A 7-2 win for Matchpoint proved the point but it was not enough to elevate them to the top and they stay in second just one point behind.
The match itself was a little closer than the score suggests with four games going the distance but that certainly didn’t include Evie Knaapen who raced through her games in three sets to take another POTM award. She was supported by Harry Sawford and Jeremy Giffin who both won two games but failed to get the better of Paul Strutt who won both matches in five sets. Jeremy, back from injury, had his fitness fully tested as all his games extended to five sets. He set the tone for his matches as his first set against Paul Ogden went to 18-16 before winning 12-10 in the fifth. That 18-16 scoreline featured again in his match against Ben Cook, this time losing, but he successfully came back from two sets down winning the last two sets at a canter 11-2 11-2. His final match against Paul Strutt again found him two sets down but, despite levelling the score, the more experienced man held on to win 11-8 in the decider.
Fourth and fifth placed Wakering and Matchpoint B both fell to surprise defeats and it was the in-form Stanford B who took advantage crushing Basildon B 8-1 to record their fifth successive win and move up to third place in the table.
Robert Salvage completed a perfect hat trick with Adrian Armstrong winning his three and David Arnett weighing in with a brace. Ross Letham did best for Basildon beating David and taking Aidan to five sets. This defeat leaves them one but bottom of the table.
Biggest surprise of the week was probably Canvey B’s 6-3 win against Matchpoint B. The Islanders, languishing near the bottom of the table, brought in Andrew Murray for his first match of the season and he responded with a hat trick to lead them to their second win of the season. Des Duffield weighed in with two wins plus one from Tony Westwell. Alexander Deacon, Debbie O’Neill and Dan Stewart all collected a point each for Matchpoint.
The other result that stood out was Wakering’s 5-4 defeat at home to Runnymede. The home team were without their top player this season, Callum Turner, and then found themselves up against an in-form Dmitry Kisil and his hat trick ensured a narrow victory although Steve Wisbey was the match winner beating Stewart Mills in five sets in the final game of the evening. That was one of four five set matches as both teams fought for the win. Andy Humphris had got Runnymede off to a good start in the opening match for Runnymede but a brace each for Andrew Deadman and Paul England ensured the tightest of matches. Wakering drop to fifth with Runnymede in sixth.
Rawreth Megazone E picked up their first win of the season 6-3 against Invicta B who, after their opening week win, have now lost five games in succession. It was an all round team performance from Rawreth with two wins each for Steve Mcquillan, Amar Al-Soufi and the returning Bob Garlick. Good to see him back to full health. Barbara Chabior recorded her own double for Invicta with David Barnes picking up the other point.
Player of the Week – Andrew Murray
Team of the Week – Rawreth Megazone E
Week 5
The youngsters of Matchpoint A finally found themselves up against some stiff opposition this week as they came up against promotion hopefuls Wakering both teams with unbeaten records so far. The fact that Matchpoint just came out on top in this one, 5-4, was down to the sparkling form of teenage protégé Evie Knaapen who maintained her own unbeaten record with the perfect hat trick. This included the scalp of Callum Turner who, prior to this, had not dropped a set so far, let alone a game. Callum has already experienced life in Division 1 and the Premier league so this is a good indication of just how far Evie can go. James Elliot provided the support with two good wins against Zac and Paul England whilst Callum had to be satisfied with two wins against James and Lucy Elliot. Paul and Zac both also got the better of Lucy albeit she was unlucky against Zac twice being in the lead before losing in five sets.
Whilst the youngsters were dropping points the slightly older Basildon A team were chalking up yet another 9-0 success against Rawreth Megazone E. They boast not one, but two, unbeaten players in Les Hoey and Arun Joy and their win now sees them eight points clear of Matchpoint A and ten points clear of Matchpoint B. The A team do have a game in hand. Szymon Jarka was the other hat trick hero for Basildon and Jaspreet Singh did best for Rawreth taking Arun to five sets.
The remaining three fixtures all finished with 6-3 scorelines with firstly Basildon B getting off the mark with their first win of the season beating Invicta B. Jenne Seibolt took the POTM honours recording a perfect hat trick and two wins for Richard Reibold and a single for Andy Roff completed the scoring. Mike Keeble, Steve Lennox and Sarah Ball all chipped in with a win each for Invicta.
A strong start and finish for Canvey B against Stanford where Tony Westwell and Des Duffield both recorded five set wins against John Handscombe but otherwise it was Stanford who dominated. Led by Robert Salvage with a maximum, two wins for Adrian Armstrong and one for John their win keeps them fifth in the table with just one defeat so far. Tony finished with two wins for the Islanders.
Finally Matchpoint B maintained their place amongst the leaders with their 6-3 win against a still winless Hockley D. Hockley’s cause wasn’t helped by having to make a late team change but they did get off to a good start with Neal Klyman coming back from 2-1 down to beat Ben Murray in five sets. After that, however, Jack Riley led Matchpoint to victory with a maximum, Ben recording two wins and there was one win for Debbie O’Neill. For Hockley Neal picked up a second win against Debbie as did Tony Molisso but there was no joy for Gary Beck, called up from the E team, although he did take sets from Jack and Ben.
Team of the Week – Basildon B
Player of the Week – Jenne Seibolt
Division 3 Reports from Dave Woolmer
Week 6
Another Trevor Hayes maximum was the cornerstone of a 6-3 win for Canvey ‘C’ over Matchpoint ‘C’. Stephen Parker with two wins and Andy O’Rawe with a single win added the extra points for the Islanders. Max Mayo with a brace and Blake Stewart were the points scorers for Matchpoint.
John George led the way for Hockley ‘E’ with an unbeaten performance as they narrowly overcame Matchpoint ‘D’ Teammates Gary Beck and Keith Denyer added a win apiece to ensure a 5-4 win. For Matchpoint there were two wins each for Richard Sloman and Oliver Milchard but it was a blank night unfortunately for Jeff Gritzman.
A young Evolve side hosted Stanford ‘C’ and were on the wrong end of a 7-2 defeat. However, the final scoreline does not reflect how close this match actually was. Three of the games went the full distance with the Evolve player narrowly falling short in the deciding set on each occasion. Stanford’s Randy Santiago, with a hat-trick, was the POTM, well supported by Karen Kempster and James Parker with two wins each. For Evolve, there was a win each for Reuben Stracey and Aaron Price. No wins for George Key, but he came so close, recovering from losing the first two sets against Karen to take it to the closest of final sets, 9/11, 9/11, 11/8, 11/9, 9/11 being the final score.
The juniors of Hockley ‘F’ were involved in a close contest against Hadleigh Forum ‘D’. They led 4-2 but were eventually pegged back with Forum winning the last 3 games for a 5-4 win. Elliot Brackenbury and William Evesham both won two games for Hockley, whilst for Forum there was a brace each for Douglas Brown and Todd Barker with Todd Barker chipping in with the extra point.
Finally, Rawreth Meggazone ‘F’ were unable to field a team for their match against Invicta ‘C’ and so, unfortunately, had to concede the points.
Week 5
Trevor Hayes maintained his 100% winning record, but his hat-trick was not enough to prevent his Canvey ‘C’ side slipping to a 5/4 defeat at the hands of Stanford ‘D’. Stephen Parker added the other point for Canvey but two wins each for Martin Winter and Peter Moxham plus a single win for Andrew Jessop won the match for Stanford.
The match between Hockley ’E’ and Matchpoint ‘C’ was another close affair, only decided in the final game when Alex Bowden completed his hat-trick, to give Matchpoint a 5/4 win. Alex was well supported by Max Mayo who added the other two points. Hannah Harbour was the best player on the night for Hockley with two wins. Richard Coulson and Graham Gregory with a win apiece.
Matchpoint ‘D’ entertained Stanford ‘C’ in a match where every player made a contribution. Stanford’s Randy Santiago was the POTM with a maximum supported by Peter Moxham, with a brace, and Mandy Till who recorded her first win of the season, 11/9 in the final set against Oliver Milchard.
League leaders Invicta ‘C’ had skipper Keith Baxter to thank as they visited Hadleigh Forum ‘D’ and came away with a 5/4 win. Keith was unbeaten on the night and teammates Jonathan Gould and Brendan Raja added a point each. There were two wins each for Forum’s Dean Johnson and Douglas Brown but a blank night for Sineh Ball.
The battle between two of our junior teams went in favour of Evolve who ran out 7/2 winners over Hockley ‘F’. Our reporter at the match was impressed with Evolves’s Aaron Price and Benjamin Berwick who both recorded maximums and proved to be too strong for the Hockley team. Josh Cane, playing his first match for Evolve picked up the other point with a win over Boris Kolev. Hockley’s points came from Perry Lazell and Amelia Taylor who both came from behind to get the better of Josh in the fifth set and notch their first wins of the season. Watched by her father, who admits he was a bag of nerves, Amelia remained calm and held her nerve during a close final set, where she trailed 5-4 before going into a 10-7 lead, eventually taking the match with her second match point.
