COPY SHOP (TIMES TWO) AND TOWER TAKE THE TITLES

DIVISION ONE

Breakaway A (3) Copy Shop A (7)

Just one point separated these top two sides, so this was a fitting finale to the season. Copy Shop’s Ronan McDonnell maintained his unbeaten record with yet another straight sets hat-trick. Second seeded Brian Crellin added two more points, but Mason McLarney took his scalp with a fine 11/4, 11/8, 10/12, 11/7 victory. McLarney and Malcolm Cummings both beat Jane Kneale; however, Kneale retained the championship for Copy Shop with a splendid four sets win over the division’s fourth seed Paul Corran. McDonnell and Crellin turned the doubles into an early celebration with some extravagant but effect shots which flummoxed Corran and Cummings. 

Strathallan A (0) Arbory (10)

Third placed Arbory put their ‘A’ team out and were rewarded with a whitewash over Strathy who fell back to finish fifth in the league. Third seed Liam Chan dropped just one leg overall, whereas John Magnall was taken to a fifth set by Hadyn McLarney. Strathy’s Andy Horne was two sets up against Jason Quirk who battled back to win 6/11, 6/11, 11/4, 11/7, 11/8. Andy Patterson’s only sign of success was a solitary set in the doubles.   

Travellers A (4) Tower A (6)

Demoted Travellers were hoping to end the season with a win but Tower’s substitute Dave Parsons helped thwart them with his four sets win over Paul Nelson. A Tim Baker hat-trick and two points from John Callow enabled Tower to leapfrog into fourth above Strathy. Travellers’ Gary Shilling changed tactics to successfully comeback against Callow and pocketed another win against Parsons who also lost to Chris Reynolds. Shilling and Nelson then scuppered Parsons and Baker in the doubles 11/4, 11/5, 9/11, 6/11, 15/13.  

Foxdale A (6) Copy Shop B (4)

Becky’s hat-trick helped Foxdale’s team Bayley finish on a winning note as her brother Will added two and their father, Mike, stepped in to beat Copy Shop’s substitute Adam Davies. Ewan Watterson beat Will and Mike who had earlier lost to Danny Hamill 11/4, 9/11, 11/7, 4/11, 8/11. Seventh placed Copy Shop took the doubles but will have to endure a play-off against Foxdale’s ‘B’ team to decide which team will play in Division One next season.   

DIVISION TWO

Tower B (3) Travellers B (7)

Top placed Tower lost their unbeaten record but still gained promotion as, in the end, they only needed one point to pip Foxdale. Stu Douglas, Steve Ellis-Pearson and Stu Mason each chipped in with two points apiece. Paul Kozlowski put paid to the hat-trick hopes of Ellis-Pearson and Douglas whilst Graham McFarlane mastered Mason in three swift sets. Steve Curtis was the unlucky loser for Tower as even his doubles went Travellers’ way, but by then Tower knew they were the champions.

Foxdale B (7) Salmon River Spinners (3)

Second placed Foxdale, six points behind Tower B, were given a 3-0 start as the Spinners failed to field a third player. However, the division’s top seed, Nigel Beattie, stood between Foxdale and automatic promotion. True to form Beattie beat the third seed Mike Bayley and then Andy McLarney, who also lost to Tommy Cowin. Foxdale won the remaining matches as fourth seed Neil Quane played brilliantly to edge out Beattie 11/3, 11/9, 7/11, 9/11, 11/9 and he and Bayley both beat Cowin. Foxdale won the doubles but fell two points short so will face a promotion play-off with Copy Shop B.

Peel B (4) Peel A (6)

Relegation zoned Peel B put up a stern fight against their fifth placed club-mates. In the opening match Matty Evans won the first two sets against Les Wilson but faded away and never really recovered in his remaining singles. Ashley Reid was walloped by Wilson and out-foxed by Marion Forrest but then hi-jacked Malc Lewis 13/11 in their fourth set. Vishal Patel lost to Lewis but played positively to prevent both Forrest and Wilson from gaining their hat-tricks. The last point also went to the B team as Evans and Reid dug in diligently to fend off Lewis and Wilson 13/11, 7/11, 12/10, 9/11, 11/9.  

Tower C (5) Travellers C (5)

Demoted Tower nearly tripped up Travellers but a Colin Brown hat-trick put paid to their plans. Tower’s Dave Callow and Margaret Forsyth won the doubles and both beat Jackie Gill and Maurice Campbell; although in Forsyth’s case they were last set sagas as she won 11/9 and 12/10 respectively.  Campbell cruised past Chapman who then met Gill in a wooden spoon decider which finished in her favour 9/11, 11/6, 11/3, 18/16, so the match was an honourable draw.

DIVISION THREE

Peel C (0) Copy Shop C (10)

Copy Shop’s coach, Malcolm Lambert, had promised their youngsters Henry Hyde and Pedro Cardoso a winner’s medal in their first season, but following last week’s adverse result against Breakaway it meant they had to step aside in the final week. Super sub: Adam Davies was drafted in and he, Rob Sim and Lambert duly delivered against fifth placed Peel. Fraser Dorling and Harry Walters hit out but didn’t win a set. However, Nathan Evans enjoyed smashing Lambert’s lobs so much that he got to a fifth set only to lose 11/9, 6/11, 9/11, 14/12, 3/11.   

Breakaway B (10) IOM Junior Development Two (0)  

Second placed Breakaway were three points behind Copy Shop, who they comprehensively crushed last week, so nothing less than a landslide win over bottom placed JD2 would suffice. Chris Kewley, Ben Christian and Aaron Faragher duly obliged although Carl Blatcher almost forced his way to a fifth set against Christian and Faragher. Neither Marcus Koske nor JD returnee Kerenza Baker won a set in the singles, but Baker and Blatcher did so in the doubles. Alas, Breakaway remained three points behind Copy Shop, but could gain promotion if they beat Peel B in the play-off. 

Copy Shop D (5) Travellers D (5)

Copy Shop were a player short but their coach, Kevin Drewry, consolidated third place in the league with a hat-trick which helped them draw with sixth placed Travellers. George Melvin beat both Alex Buck and Juan Moore Sr. but Travellers snatched the draw with two 13/11 final frame finishes. Firstly, Juan Moore Jr mugged Melvin 8/11, 3/11, 11/8, 12/10, 13/11 and then he and Buck bagged the draw in a topsy-turvy doubles match.

Fortress Management Services (7) IOM Junior Development One (3)

JD’s Marcus Koske, Carl Blatcher and Wael Kassim all beat Pat Halliwell, but she had the last laugh by winning the doubles with Rhys Yardley who had won all his singles. Karen Hassan also finished the season with a hat-trick for fourth placed Fortress although she was almost taken to a fifth set by Kassim who lost 9/11, 11/6, 6/11, 10/12.

MALCOLM LAMBERT