Division 2 Roundup - Week 7

Published 04/12/2021 at 21:41:40 by Martin Johnson.

Division 2 - Week 7 Roundup

As the end of first 'cycle' of fixtures completed this week, the first of three cycles, Milton Keynes Sharks have taken the 'maillot jaune' (yellow jersey) - now some seven points ahead of the rest of the field.

Sharks collected a big 9-1 win against club mates, Shambles, with only Steve Jordan preventing the whitewash, as he beat Pedro Anastacio in four games.  Nick Markham managed to go to five games against both Rupert Greyling and Pedro, and again in the doubles with Steve against Rupert and Pedro, but these were all won by Sharks.  Derick Rodrigues completed nine singles wins in a row, as he and Rupert each finished with trebles for Sharks, and with Pedro winning twice, against Steve and Jim Robinson, it meant a big win for the Division 2 leaders, which has pulled them seven points clear of their nearest competitors in the 'peleton'.  Meanwhile, Shambles are currently at the back of the field, thus carrying the 'lantern rouge' (red lantern). 

Newport Pagnell Lagondas also has a good week, moving up from fourth spot to within a point of second, as they completed a win, 8-2, against Little Horwood Wooden Tops.  Lagondas surged into a 3-0 lead as Chris Horn beat Andy Hooper, Sue Lewis beat John Cripps and Tony Ardis beat John Sharp, all in straight games, before Wooden Tops staged a brief revival, with Andy and John S taking the doubles in straight games versus Sue and Tony, followed by Andy coming from two games down to beat Sue in five.  John S almost pulled them level, as again it went to five after he'd been 2-0 down to Chris, but Chris just snatched it at 12-10 in the decider.  Lagondas took all the remaining sets, although Tony had a nail biter against Andy, as after leading 2-0, he finally only took it at 12-10 in the decider.  Thus Lagondas moved to just one behind the leaders in the 'peleton', whilst Wooden Tops are keeping Shambles just behind them for the 'lantern rouge'.

The final match of the week saw fifth placed Leighton Buzzard Spitfires overcome second placed Woburn Sands Mosquitoes 7-3, in a match where no-one was able to win all their sets.  It was two wins apiece to Graham Silversides, Filip Simek and Andy King, plus the doubles for Graham and Filip against Glenn Barcham and Rob McPheat.  Early on it had looked promising for Mosquitoes, as they lead 2-1 after Andy Jenkins beat Filip and Rob beat Andy King, but they had one of those nights where they lost all the close ones, with the only further success coming when Rob beat Graham.  From 3-2 to Spitfires, three of the next four sets went to the wire in the deciding game, but all went to the home team, with Filip sneaking home 12-10 in the decider to inflict a rare defeat on Rob, whilst Andy K twice won 11-9 in the fifth, against Glenn and Andy.  Mosquitoes stay in second spot, but have dropped off the pace of Sharks, and now have Lagondas right in their slipstream, just a point behind, whilst Spitfires have ridden up to wihin a point of Mursley Hawks in the middle of the pack.

Player of the Week : Filip Simek.