Junior British League
Over the weekend of the 12th and 13th February, the final weekend of the Junior British League was held at Aldersley Leisure Village, Wolverhampton.
Prior to the weekend commencing the team were positioned in joint second place, with Byng Hall and DML Woolwell occupying first position. We knew the weekend was going to be tough, especially with the team missing their highest ranked player, Daniel Andersson. But, as always the attitude was positive and every player was ready for the challenge.
Results
MILTON KEYNES against KINGFISHER (result 3-3)
The first match of the weekend was against Kingfisher TTC. We had a disappointing loss against this young team coached by Gareth Herbert during the first competitive weekend, and an improvement on this result was imperative.
After a very nervous start, Alan Kempton worked hard to turn around a 0-1 score deficit to beat a young and very up beat Abhay Gehlot 3-1. Although not the most convincing of wins, Alan's consistency play was far too good for the youngster, and the team registered their first and vital win of the match.
Craig Brown followed this win with an emphatic battle against their top player Tom Maynard, which by the end of the match proved to be a very important win for the team.
With the match being tied at 2-2 after Jon and Alan losing, it was important for us to keep focused, and continue to battle for the win. Jon Hall reacted in tremendous style to win match 5 and give MK a 3-2 advantage. Unfortunately Craig, who again went the distance, was on the wrong side of deuce in the fifth, making the final result 3-3.
| Alan KEMPTON |
beat |
Abhay GEHLOT |
3-1 |
| Craig BROWN |
beat |
Tom MAYNARD |
3-2 |
| Jon HALL |
lost to |
Ben DAVIS |
1-3 |
| Alan KEMPTON |
lost to |
Tom MAYNARD |
1-3 |
| Jon HALL |
beat |
Abhay GEHLOT |
3-1 |
| Craig BROWN |
lost to |
Ben DAVIS |
2-3 |
CIPPENHAM B against MILTON KEYNES (result 2-4)
Milton Keynes second match was against the basement boys and local rivals Cippenham B. We were confident after past performances that this would be our first win of the weekend, however with Andrew Linz beating Jon Hall conformably in 3, we did start to feel that the odds of reducing DML Woolwell's lead were sliming.
However, after a string of wins by Alan, John and Jon, we were soon back on track and won the match 4-2.
| Andrew LINZ |
beat |
John LODGE |
3-0 |
| Chris BURGESS |
beat |
Jon HALL |
1-3 |
| Matthew TUCKER |
lost to |
Alan KEMPTON |
0-3 |
| William MITCHELL |
lost to |
John LODGE |
1-3 |
| Andrew LINZ |
lost to |
Alan KEMPTON |
1-3 |
| William MITCHELL |
lost to |
Jon HALL |
0-3 |
| Matthew TUCKER |
beat |
John LODGE |
3-1 |
BYNG HALL against MILTON KEYNES (result 4-2)
The final match of the day, and probably one of the most important matches, was against close table rivals Byng Hall. We were aware from the previous matches that many of the divisional results were close and Byng Hall, despite having the divisions highest ranked player, were certainly not getting the results they expected.
This knowledge certainly added confidence to our team, however with Alec Bartlett showing no mercy, a 4-2 loss was inevitable.
| Alec BARTLETT |
beat |
Craig BROWN |
3-0 |
| Jack WEAVIS |
lost to |
Alan KEMPTON |
1-3 |
| Joe RISBY |
beat |
John LODGE |
3-1 |
| Alec BARTLETT |
beat |
Alan KEMPTON |
3-1 |
| Joe RISBY |
lost to |
Craig BROWN |
1-3 |
| Jack WEAVIS |
beat |
John LODGE |
3-0 |
MILTON KEYNES against DML WOOLWELL (result 3-3)
After a good nights sleep at the Travel Inn, and waking to the view of snowy roads the team made their way back to the Leisure centre ready for the 4th and final day of competition.
The first match of the morning was against divisional leaders DML Woolwell. We knew before starting this match that only a win would keep us within the battle for second spot, and after a confident start by Alan, who won both matches we were drawing 2-2. Unfortunately, experience proved to much for John Lodge, who despite putting up a good battle went down to Chris Smith 3-0. Jon Hall managed to salvage a draw from this fixture after defeating Chris Warn, despite being 10-7 down in the fifth set.
| Alan KEMPTON |
beat |
Chris SMITH |
3-2 |
| Jon HALL |
lost to |
Richard MARSHALL |
2-3 |
| John LODGE |
lost to |
Chris WARN |
1-3 |
| Alan KEMPTON |
beat |
Richard MARSHALL |
3-1 |
| John LODGE |
lost to |
Chris SMITH |
0-3 |
| Jon Hall |
beat |
Chris WARN |
3-2 |
MILTON KEYNES against GROVE (result 4-2)
The final match of the day was against Grove, a win was what we wanted, however with Kingfisher now playing the basement boys, we were having to rely on our fellow local rivals to pull out a shock win. Unfortunately, despite many of their matches being close this did not happen, and Milton Keynes gracefully accepted third spot.
| Alan KEMPTON |
beat |
Phillip WILKINSON |
3-2 |
| Craig BROWN |
lost to |
Chris BURGESS |
1-3 |
| Jon HALL |
WALKOVER |
| Alan KEMPTON |
beat |
Chris BURGESS |
3-1 |
| Jon HALL |
lost to |
Phillip WILKINSON |
2-3 |
| Craig BROWN |
WALKOVER |
League table
| Club |
Played |
Won |
Drawn |
Lost |
EF |
EA |
GF |
GA |
Points |
| 1. DML Woolwell |
10 |
7 |
2 |
1 |
149 |
80 |
43 |
17 |
16 |
| 2. Kingfisher |
10 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
128 |
106 |
36 |
24 |
14 |
| 3. Milton Keynes |
10 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
127 |
107 |
34 |
26 |
13 |
| 4. Byng Hall |
10 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
126 |
103 |
36 |
24 |
12 |
| 5. Cippenham B |
10 |
1 |
1 |
8 |
75 |
151 |
14 |
46 |
3 |
| 6. Grove |
10 |
0 |
2 |
8 |
83 |
141 |
17 |
43 |
2 |
League averages
| Player |
Average |
| Daniel Andersson |
70.00% |
| Alan Kempton |
62.50% |
| Craig Brown |
55.55% |
| Jon Hall |
53.84% |
| John Lodge |
30.00% |
Report written by Sarah Hudson.