DIVISION 2 ROUND-UP : WEEK 7
Published 01/11/2019 at 07:46:23 by Martin Johnson.
Division 2 Round-Up – Week 7 (Week 6 in D2)For the third consecutive week, Milton Keynes Hit ‘n’ Hope had the biggest win, with a 9-1 victory against Milton Keynes Cavaliers, which extends their lead at the top of the division to four points. Ivor Howard and Paul Tompkins both recorded maximums, including the doubles against Chris Paddon and Derick Rodrigues, whilst the one set that got away was when Chris defeated Marco Hahn in four games. Cavaliers reserve, Derick, also went close against Marco, but lost out 11-9 in the decider, and also pushed both Ivor and Paul close over four games, but the defeat leaves Cavaliers joint bottom of the table with Blades, who they play next week.
Milton Keynes Tornadoes remain in second place, gaining a fifth victory in six matches, winning 7-3 against Milton Keynes Shambles, despite the absence of the regular pairing of Nicholas Wong and Tanmay Tijare. Kareem Omar played up, and grabbed a maximum, although it needed 14-12 in the decider against Steve Jordan, and 11-9 in the fifth with Samuel Davis in the doubles, against Steve and Jim Robinson. Samuel also picked up two singles wins, whilst Matthew Curley gained his first win of the season, just edging out Jim at 14-12 in the deciding leg. For Shambles, Steve bounced back from his narrow defeats in the first singles and the doubles, to win twice, to add to one win for Simon Green, to take them into eighth place, a point ahead of Cavaliers and Blades.
Woburn Sands Mosquitoes, whose match last week with St. Christopher Spitfires was postponed, had their run of 18 League wins ended, as they just went down 6-4 to Milton Keynes Classics. For Classics, two early wins each for Masoud Nassor and Dylan Cox, plus the doubles for Masoud and Barbara Peters against Glen Barcham and Andy Jenkins, had seen them race into a 5-2 lead, but Mosquitoes fought back as Paul Hamer defeated Dylan in a close five gamer, then Glen beat Barbara. However, in the final set, Masoud just edged out Andy in another tight five gamer, to seal his maximum, and the win for Classics, who have moved into third position in the table. Mosquitoes are back in sixth place, but they do have the one match in hand.
Newport Pagnell Lagondas visited Mursley Hawks, with a one point lead over them in the League, so a close match was on the cards. Furthermore, Hawks had recorded four 6-4 (or 4-6) scorelines in their five matches, with the other being 5-5, whilst Lagondas have had two 5-5 draws, followed by two 4-6 results in their last four matches. Unsurprisingly, then, it was a 6-4 result, with Hawks just taking it, to leapfrog a point ahead of Lagondas, to leave the teams in fourth and fifth places in the table. On the night, it was Frank Beck and Martin Johnson of Hawks who did the damage, each winning their three singles, whilst Glen Davison, Chris Horn and reserve, Jim Brogan, each won one against Hawks’ reserve, Dan Walters, although Dan took both Chris and Jim to five. Lagondas other point came as Chris / Glen comfortably won the doubles against Frank / Martin. The final result essentially hinged on the two singles following the doubles, which both went the distance, but both went Hawks’ way, as they saw Frank edge past Glen at 11-9 in the decider, then Martin sneak by Chris at 11-8 in the final game, although Jim nearly snatched the draw for Lagondas in set 10, as he pushed Martin to five games, with his devastating forehand kills, but Martin just held on for the Hawks win.
Another closely fought match saw St. Christopher Spitfires grab a 6-4 win over Milton Keynes Blades. Five of the ten sets went the distance, and there were five comebacks from two legs down, three of them to win! In set 2, Andy King was 2-0 down to Mark Thomas, yet Andy battled back to take it in five. In set 3, Bill Tyler went 2-0 up versus Graham Silversides, only for Graham to battle back and take it the distance, however Bill held on in leg five, for the win. Set 4, the doubles, and Andy/Graham went 2-0 up against Brian Evans/Mark, but (you’ve guessed it?) Brian/Mark went on to win it in five! Things ‘calmed down’ a bit until set 8, when they were at it again, as Andy went 2-0 up versus Bill Tyler, only to see Bill take three 12-10 legs, to complete the third comeback win of the night. Set 10 saw yet another 2-0 lead disappear, as Brian levelled against Bernie Raffe, however, Bernie held on in the deciding leg, to give Spitfires the 6-4 win, and also give Bernie a full set of singles wins on the night, to add to the two for Graham and one for Andy, whilst for Blades, Bill won two, Brian won one, and Brian/Mark took the doubles. The result leaves Spitfires in seventh spot, although with a match in hand, whilst Blades share ninth spot with Cavaliers.
Players of the Week : Masoud Nassor and Kareem Omar.