LEAGUE ROUND-UP WEEK 4
Published 12/10/2019 at 14:59:09 by David Wackrill; edited 1 times, last on 13/10/2019 at 12:51:12 by David Wackrill.
PREMIER DIVISION RUSSELL ENDS WIN DROUGHT
An early return to the fixture list of a fortnight ago saw the same teams winning as before and,despite changes of personnel, an identical score-line in half the matches.
Leaders Greenleys Kings again beat promoted MK Powers 8-2 with star man Matt Haynes conceding only 42 points over his 9 games, a record unlikely to be broken this season and an easy number to remember for any Douglas Adams fans out there as it is, they will know, the answer to life, the universe and everything. Guy Sparrow joined him on a maximum but Jordan Moss faltered to both Jiten Pitamber and Sarah Hudson. Clare Styles was the other Powers player.
MK Spinners cut the gap to 2 points with a 9-1 win over clubmates Topspin. Russell Penn showed a welcome return to form for Topspin after a run of 13 Premier defeats by beating Neil Massa over 5 games (after going 2 down) and then narrowly losing to Gary Jones in another set that went the distance. Alan Cherry joined Gary on a maximum. Mervyn Kelly and myself, playing our 50th League match together, made up the numbers.
A fortnight ago it was Alan Bolding who earned MK Phoenix a hard won point against MK Kingpins, but this time round he lost 3-straight on each visit to the table and it was left to Ioan Constantin to topple Mark Purcell in the final set to replicate the result from last time they met. Hat-tricks for Dave Allison and Craig Brown . Gerald Ridgway was the other Phoenix player.
The Greenleys derby between Monarchs and Warriors went to 3rd placed Monarchs who, after strolling to a 4-0 lead, made hard work of the rest of the evening before clinging on to a 6-4 win. Colin Huang started what would have been a remarkably comeback for Warriors with an 11-9 in the 5th win over Tomak Nowakowski as his team dominated the second half. Skipper Ian Johnston bagged a decent brace for Monarchs and was close to a hat-trick, only going down in the final set to Ricky Taiwo by 11-8 in the 5th. Good support though from Tomak, also with a brace and a share of the doubles with Ian, plus Martin Hall with a single. A blank here for Warriors’ Vlad Varnica.
Player of the week is Ian Johnston.
DIVISION 1
LINDSAY TAMES PUMAS
Greenleys Eagles put a spanner in the MK Pumas works by toppling the favourites in another match of two halves. The Eagles raced to a 5-0 lead with 4 of the sets going to a decider, but then had to rely on Iain Lindsay to apply the coup de grace for their sole win in the second half which cemented a stunning hat-trick for the top 8 champion. A win a-piece for Geoff Callaway and Dave Plumb plus the doubles was sufficient to allow stable-mates Glory to replace Pumas in 2nd spot in the table. Julie Snowdon scores a brace for Pumas with Andy Smith and Chris Belton one each.
Leaders St. Christopher Van Hire did not have things all their own way either on their visit to the Open University on Thursday, having to hold on to a draw by winning the last 3 sets from 2-5 down. Patrick Wong was in prime form for the OU with wins over Biao Wang and Fabrice Spelta before he fell at the last hurdle to David Broome, David’s only win on the night. Back up for Patrick came with singles wins from James Zeng and Andy Tan plus the doubles with Andy. Van Hire’s remaining wins were from Biao (2) and Fabrice.
Greenleys Glory beat Newport Pagnell Vantage 7-3. Hat-tricks here from Ian Brown and Jacob Midson, who also combined together for the doubles. A blank for Dan Englander. Vantage gave an outing to former Premier player (now div 2) Simon Read in support to regulars Mike Howard and Sue Lewis.
The result of the Woburn Sands Data / Chackmore Hasbeens clash rested on the outcome of the final set as the two unbeaten players on the night went head to head. James Molloy won the day for Data with a comfortable win over Bub Burman, who had earlier dispatched Darren Ward and, playing up from div 2, Glenn Barcham. Glen had a major part to play in the Data 6-4 victory though, with a 4-game win over Chris Whitehead in a match where half the sets went the distance. Andy Whitehead was the other Hasbeens man.
Player of the week is Iain Lindsay.
DIVISION 2
Martin Johnson is now writing his review under a seperate heading.
REMAINING DIVISIONS
If anyone is interested in writing a weekly review then please let me know.