DIVISION 2 ROUND-UP : WEEK 4
The third week of Division 2 fixtures has once again seen some closely fought matches, with one draw, two 6-4 scores, and two 7-3 scores.
At the top, it’s “as you were”, as the top two, Milton Keynes Classics & Woburn Sands Mosquitoes, maintained their 100% winning record, whilst Newport Pagnell Lagondas remain unbeaten in third, whilst there is now no team that have not at least drawn a match.
Milton Keynes Classics held on to top spot, and extended their lead by a point, by defeating Milton Keynes Cavaliers 7-3, although they had to do so from 2-3 down at the halfway stage of the match. Chris Paddon picked up wins against both Nick Markham and Dylan Cox, plus combined with Chris Welch to win the doubles in a tight five gamer from two games down, versus Dylan and Masoud Nassor, to counter Dylan beating John Bradley and Masoud beating Chris Welch. Set six even saw Chris Welch go 2-1 up versus Nick, but Nick came back to win through in five games, and Classics then rolled through the final four sets without losing any further games, to claim their third win. Masoud maintained his individual 100% record in singles, but thus far, Classics have surprisingly failed to record a doubles win.
Woburn Sands Mosquitoes also collected a third win from three, with a 6-4 victory against Mursley Hawks, to keep them in second spot. Paul Hamer took the individual honours, with three singles wins, including coming back from two games down to Martin Johnson in the opening set, and although Peter Sear won twice for Hawks against Andy Jenkins and Glenn Barcham, plus Mursley’s pairing of Martin and Andy Palmer were comfortable winners in the doubles, Mosquitoes kept their noses in front to do just enough to secure the win, in a long evening of close sets, with two wins for Andy Jenkins and one for Glenn. Including their run of wins from Division 3, last season, that makes 17 match wins in a row for Mosquitoes.
Newport Pagnell Lagondas remain on the heels of the leaders, in third spot, although they were held to a 5-5 draw by Milton Keynes Hit ‘n’ Hope. Glen Davison and Chris Horn each won twice, both losing out to Paul Tomkins, although it took deuce in the fifth for Paul to edge out Chris, whilst Roy Read picked up one win, against Andy Frearson, to complete their side of the score sheet. For Hit ‘n’ Hope, Paul won all his sets, including the doubles with Ivor Howard, who also picked up one win, and losing out in five in his other two, whilst Andy took all three opponents to four games, but came away empty handed.
St. Christophers Spitfires took on the youngsters of Milton Keynes Tornadoes, but just fell short, as they lost out 6-4, a result which moves Tornadoes up to fourth position, and leaves Spitfires equal fifth with Mursley Hawks. There was a maximum here for Nicolas Wong, although he was pushed to five games by Jock Campbell, plus the doubles with Tanmay Tijare featured four close games against Jock and Graham Silversides. Tanmay picked up Tornadoes’ other two points, but lost out to Andy King, who won twice, including against Tornadoes’ third player, Matthew Curley, who also lost to both Graham and Jock.
The final result saw Milton Keynes Blades collect their first win of the season, 7-3, and so leap frog above Milton Keynes Shambles, who were a player short on the night. Despite only having the two players, Shambles took the opening two sets, plus the doubles, with Simon Green beating Tony Coomber, then Jim Robinson defeating Brian Evans, plus Simon & Jim winning the doubles versus Tony & Brian. However, Blades picked up all the remaining games, despite Simon pushing Brian to five legs, with Bill Tyler winning both of his possible singles on the night.
Players of the Week : Paul Tomkins and Nicolas Wong.