Week 14 Report, Winter League 21/22
Premier Division
It wasn’t just the Premier League in football where Transfer deadline day had an impact this week. While Dele Alli was swapping North London for Merseyside there were some interesting transfers being undertaken in the Southend & District Table Tennis Premier Division. While we are coming out of the pandemic the league has allowed teams to be more flexible in who they field so we can get full matches and everyone back playing. Southend’s own Harry Redknapp was Eddie Hodson who organised a one match loan deal for Rawreth’s George Reeves and Rayleigh Mill’s Duncan Taylor for his Irons A side. It was a move that paid off as Irons A defeated league leaders Thorpe Bay A 5-4. Taylor went undefeated but each of the 6 players on the night registered at least one win. It was great to see George ‘Ace’ Reeves back in league action after a long layoff through injury and the enforced break in our seasons. The only dampener on a great evening was an injury to Paul Sayer who was unable to fulfil his last game of the evening, we wish him a speedy recovery.
Another wily manager to use the relaxed transfer rules was Paul Brown who bought Gurj Bhambra into his Iron’s B side as they faced Hullbridge B. Bhambra won one game for Irons B as did Brown himself with Norbert Fullerton going one better taking a double. But these wins were in vain as man of the match Liam Squirrell was in great form winning his three games comfortably for Hullbridge backed up a win a piece each for Joseph Buscombe and Kim Shead. Buscombe with a very good win over the experienced Bhambra.
Elsewhere Hockley A kept up their good form with an impressive 8-1 win over Brand Identity A. Matt Stringer and Andy Cunningham registered maximum points while Tim Pang added a brace. David Jacob with the consolation win for Brand Identity.
The final game from this week was another humdinger with all players winning at least one victory in a match that saw Hullbridge A beat Rawreth B 6-3. Liam Squirrell the difference as he won his three ably supported by Harry Keys with two wins and Kim Shead with one win. There was a win each for Babul McLeod, Eric Green and Bruce Kettle for Rawreth.
One late result to bring you from last week and that again involved Hockley A. A 6-3 win this time for Hockley over a two-man Hullbridge B side. Andy Cunningham again the difference with his two wins against Harry Keys and Kim Shead.
- Great this week to see George ‘Ace’ Reeves back in action
Division 1
Form side Mapledene were too strong for the visiting Hadleigh Forum C overcoming them by a 7 – 2 margin. However, Forum had veteran Tony Mace playing up from Division 2, and he put in a sterling performance, winning both his sides victories. Mapledene’s Andy Seaman was POM with a perfect three, and his teammates Steve Woodley and Mike Johnston got two each.
The match between the Rawreth D youngsters and their visitors Hockley C was a close encounter. No one player won all their matches. However, two wins for POM Joerg Poeschus and two for Oliver George, together with one win from Brian Bissenden, was sufficient for Hockley to record a narrow 5 – 4 victory. Charlie Kauders-Boothby and Harrison Creek also each won two for the home side.
Canvey A have struggled all season to field three players consistently. Again, this week, they could only find two players when travelling to Brand Identity B. The home side’s Adam Jackman put in a stellar POM performance and was ably assisted by Mick Grout. Canvey put up a valiant attempt withRay Wilson winning two and Peter Cray one. However, the lack of a third player meant a 6 – 3 defeat.
Tony Ayliffe was POM for Invicta A’s long journey to Stanford Le Hope A. He recorded an unbeaten hat trick. Sadly, his teammates couldn’t match his efforts, so the final result was a 6 – 3 win for Stanford. Peter Weatherall, Russell Bright and Ian Sangster each recorded two wins.
After last week’s hiccup, Hockley B returned to winning ways. They were too strong for their two-man Rawreth C hosts. Both POM Daniel Patynski and Stuart Adshead were unbeaten, whilst Keith Abbott and Rawreth’s Chris Aukett and Adam Hill each had single victories in a 7 – 2 away win.
Regrettably, this week two matches had to be postponed – Hockley D v. Lentern B and Hadleigh Forum B v. Ashingdon.
David Barnes Division1 DRS
Division 3
Hadleigh Forum D made the mistake of winning the first game of the night against RESSC with David Thomas defeating Richard Gill in five sets, but it all went downhill after that as RESSC ran out 8-1 winners. Tony Mace was unlucky to miss out on a win for Forum going down in five sets to Richard and Mike Worship. Bob Skews completed the winning team.
Canvey B went one better with a 9-0 whitewash of Hockley E not conceding a set all night. Daniel Kellard, Tony Westwell and Lee McGonagle were in fine form in this one- sided match.
Phil Digby and Dimitri Kisil were in similar form for Runnymedeneither conceding a set against Invicta B as they ran out 7-2 winners. Jim Nariel got the other point for the winners whilst Steve Lennox and Sarah Ball got the points for Invicta B.
In the Stanford in house derby the B team ran out 7-2 winners against the C team Steve King getting both points for the C team with good wins against Saad Abdullah and John Handscombe, but Robert Salvage was top performer on the night with three wins.
Canvey C made a good start against Wakering with five set wins for Kevin Walsingham and Lewis Pattle giving them a 2-0 lead, but Wakering responded by winning the next six games and ran out 6-3 winners. Paul England finished with a hat trick for Wakering alongside two wins for Stewart Mills and one for Pete Sarfras. Kevin finished with a brace for Canvey.
Closest game of the week was Stanford D’s 5-4 win against Customs. Mark Downey was the hat trick hero for Stanford with three wins with a point each for Peter Moxham and Randy Santiago. Richard Kidd and Amar Al-Soufi shared Customs points.
Team of the Week – Canvey B
Player of the Week - Paul England
Paul Strutt Division 2 DRS
