Published 26/10/2018 at 15:41:42 by David Wackrill.

PREMIER  
WARRIORS ON THE WARPATH
 

A good week for Greenleys Warriors as we finish the first cycle (of 4) with the promoted side showing they will be more than just ‘whipping boys’ for the established teams, adding 10 more points to their tally against club-mates Kings and Monarchs.
 

Warriors saw off the in-form Kings (7 wins in their last 8) in a rearranged match on Monday by 7-3 with new signing Charles Philippe to the fore. Charles last played in MK for Sasaki in 2015/16 season and showed here that he has lost none of the Gaelic flair for which he has become synominous , dispatching Guy Sparrow and Jordan Wood in straight games, although Nick Howard was not to be denied his victory over the Frenchman. Colin Huang was man of the match though with a blistering hat-trick, conceding only one game to Guy. Ricky Taiwo got a single and Warriors took the doubles, inflicting a rare defeat on the now famous Howard/Sparrow combo.
 

Then on Tuesday Warriors faced Monarchs and called on the services of Christine Scaysbrook once again, but the Div 1 player couldn’t oblige with a repeat of her success a fortnight ago this time round. However skipper Ricky Taiwo was outstanding with a terrific brace over seasonal debutantes Dan Appanna and Iain Dummett. One time regular Dan is a bit player these days for Monarchs and the former town Champion, while always having been suseptical against defenders (losing to Alan Cherry, Andy Smith and Gerald Ridgway in recent times), is nevertheless still a prize scalp for any MK player to bag. Ollie Horswell took the other Warriors set with a win over Iain, leaving Monarchs’ Tomek Nowakowski with a maximum after a final set showdown with Ricky that went to a decider.
 

Kings were forced to turn out with 2 players for the second week running in their scheduled match after regular Guy Sparrow was held up on the M1 motorway and never made it to the Greenleys venue, unfortunately ending a 26 match run of consecutive appearances for the team. Yet Kings still won 5 of the 7 sets on offer thanks to a welcome return to form of Jordan Wood, the Northants regular trebling her tally for the season, when matching Nick Howard’s wins over Gary Jones and Tim Cheek. The Town’s Mixed Doubles champions then combined to take the doubles. Usual hat-trick for Spinners’ Alan Cherry here.
 

Leaders MK Sasaki had another straightforward win this week with a 7-3 trouncing of MK Kingpins. Jamie Hendy took a maximum, backed up by a brace from James George and a single by Michael Wilkins. Craig Brown got a couple for Kingpins and Dave Allison one, beating Michael which was the latest instalment of the longest running ‘head to head’ battle currently running in the Premiership. This well established pair first played each other in MK as long ago as 1992. As always, Mark Purcell completed the Kingpins line-up.

DIVISION 1

TOPSPIN MAKE IT 5 IN  A ROW
 

After 2 shock defeats, much fancied MK Phoenix are back to winning ways now that their big stars, Alan Bolding and Ioan Constantin, are in the team together again and scoring hat-tricks. A single for Gerald Ridgway and the doubles set meant an 8-2 victory over Newport Pagnell Vantage whose Mike Howard continues to impress with a win over Gerald, who also lost to Div 2 substitute Chris Horn, Sue Lewis completed the Vantage side and is yet to build on her opening week success. The victory puts Phoenix back in 2nd place, still 9 points behind my runaway leaders side Topspin.
 

MK Topspin clocked up a whitewash this week against bottom team Woburn Sands Data whose 3 representatives in this match, Dave McGarragh, Rob McPheat and substitute Andy Jenkins have yet to win a singles set between them in, collectively, 27 attempts. Could be a long season for Data but meanwhile Topspin are way ahead at the top of the Division after maximums from Mervyn Kelly, Russell Penn and me. Icing on the cake was our first doubles win too.
 

3rd placed MK Powers took a strong side to Greenleys Glory but were undone by a terrific performance from the home team, losing 6-4. Scott Dixon, in particular, was stupendous with a wonderful hat-trick against Sarah Hudson, Iain Willcocks and Pete Tillotson. Support came from Christine Scaysbrook, who beat Iain, and Ian Brown, winner over Pete. Scott and Ian also teamed up for the crucial doubles win over Sarah/Pete.
 

4th placed MK Pumas scored a 6-4 win over St.Christopher Van Hire with Andy Smith and Chris Belton winning all the sets between them. The one that got away was a straight games defeat for Chris by David Broome. A blank here for Keith Carrington, who also lost to Jez Wilcox and Paul Haigh. Paul had a good match though, taking both Andy and Chris to deciding games to add to his win.
 

Player of the week is Scott Dixon.