DIVISION 2 ROUND-UP : WEEK 10
Published 21/11/2019 at 13:14:01 by Martin Johnson.
Division 2 Round-Up – Week 10 (Week 9 in D2)With two thirds of autumn gone, the League programme in division 2 has reached the halfway point (bar one postponed match), and so teams were playing the last different opponents, this week, prior to starting the second half - when teams / players will be aiming either to repeat or improve on their their wins from the first half of the season, or looking for revenge wins! It also means that positions after this week are ‘true’, given that each team has played every other team. At the top of the table, things have got a lot closer, with the leaders being held to a draw, whilst the second and third teams picked up wins, to close the gap.
As referenced above, leaders Milton Keynes Hit ‘n’ Hope’s run of five wins was halted, as they were held to a 5-5 draw by Woburn Sands Mosquitoes. Glenn Barcham got things off to a flying start for Mosquitoes, beating Paul Tompkins by the narrowest of margins, at 11-9 in the deciding leg, but Hit ‘n’ Hope were very soon level, as Mike Ainsworth blasted his way through the usual solid defence of Paul Hamer, for an emphatic three games win. The leaders seemed to be back on track, as despite dropping the first two legs to Robert Mungham, who was playing up from division 5, Andy Frearson did just enough to win through in five games. Mosquitoes used Glenn / Robert in the doubles, and it worked, as they won through in four games against Paul / Mike. From there on, Mosquitoes kept nudging their noses in front, with Glenn going on to hit a fine maximum, whilst Hit ‘n’ Hope kept on levelling the scores, in a series of closely fought sets, in particular Paul Hamer snatching a win over Andy at 13-11 in the fifth. At 5-4 to Mosquitoes, Paul Tompkins stepped up to win the battle of the Pauls in set 10, to conclude a competitive match and seal the draw. The results leaves Hit ‘n’ Hope just two points ahead of Tornadoes, and five ahead of Classics. Mosquitoes stay in sixth place, but effectively are probably around fourth, allowing for their match in hand.
Milton Keynes Tornadoes moved into a clear second spot, with their biggest win of the season, 10-0 against struggling Milton Keynes Blades. Maximums here for Nicolas Wong, Tanmay Tijare, and for Matthew Curley, who seems to be improving each week, against the luckless Blades trio of Bill Tyler, Mark Thomas and reserve, Jakin Greyling, although Jakin had chances against Matthew, just losing out at deuce in the fifth, having lead 2-0. Nicolas’ wins take him back top of the individual averages (bar players who’ve only played once), whilst Tornadoes join Hit ’n’ Hope equal top of the doubles averages, as Nicolas / Tanmay took the doubles against Bill / Jakin, though it needed a fifth game. Blades remain at the foot of the table, now six points adrift of the next team up.
Milton Keynes Classics also closed the gap on the leaders, though they drop to third position, three points behind Tornadoes, after winning 7-3 versus Newport Pagnell Lagondas. Masoud Nassor again won all his sets, extending his run of singles wins to ten, plus teamed up with Dylan Cox to take the doubles against the Lagondas pair of Glen Davison / Chris Horn. Dylan also gained two singles wins, only denied his maximum by a 10-12 loss in the decider to Chris. Nick Markham won the other point for Classics, beating the Lagondas reserve, Tanya Paice, who despite losing all three, did very well to extend Massoud to a fifth game. For Lagondas, Chris won twice and Glen won once, with the result leaving them in fifth place in the table, although Mosquitoes have a match in hand, so are likely to overtake them when they catch up that match versus Spitfires.
Milton Keynes Shambles picked up their first win of November, in a good all round performance, to see them emerge victorious 6-4 against St. Christopher Spitfires, and move to seventh place. Player of the match, however, was Spitfire’s Bernie Raffe, who scored three singles wins, plus the doubles with Jock Campbell. Unfortunately for Spitfires, neither Jock, nor Graham Silversides, were able to collect a singles win, as the Shambles trio of Paddy Patel, Steve Jordan and Dave Burrill each grabbed two wins. Paddy had come closest against Bernie, losing out 11-7 in the decider, whilst Paddy was pushed to 13-11 in the decider before edging out Jock. Steve survived an even closer call, as he was 2-0 down to Graham, but sneaked it 17-15, 11-9 in games 4 and 5, in set 9, to actually seal the win. Spitfires are now in equal eighth place, but their match in hand against Mosquitoes will likely see them move up to seventh, to leave what looks to be a four way battle to avoid the two relegation spots. Incidentally, this was Spitfires’ seventh scoreline of 6-4 out of eight matches!
The final match of the week featured yet another very closely fought out encounter, between Milton Keynes Cavaliers and Mursley Hawks, although the final scoreline of 8-2 to Hawks rather belied how close the match really was. Six of the ten sets went to a decider, four of them at 11-9 or deuce, with five of those six going Hawks’ way, as they rode their luck for their biggest win of the season. Frank Beck and Martin Johnson each won maximums, though both had very close calls along the way, with Frank edging out Chris Paddon at deuce in the fifth in the final set of the night, having earlier saved set points against him when playing John Bradley, whilst Martin had to come back from two games down to Chris Paddon in the opening set. Chris Welch had earlier scored a win at 11-9 in the fifth, from two games down, to edge past Hawks’ reserve, Richard Hare, and Chris Paddon was stretched to 17-15 in game 4 when he played Richard. In an evening of close sets, perhaps the set of the night was John against Richard, as the advantage ebbed to and fro, setting up a thrilling final leg, which Richard finally sneaked at 14-12, to end his run of eight consecutive losses in a fifth set. The match also saw two individual games won from 10-3 down! The win moves Hawks up to fourth place, but leaves Cavaliers effectively in ninth place, but just two points behind Shambles.
Players of the Week : Matthew Curley and Glenn Barcham.