Division 2 Roundup - Week 18

Published 10/03/2022 at 15:33:38 by Martin Johnson.

Sharks and Mosquitoes Continue to Set the Pace

With just a further three rounds of League matches to go, the Division 2 title seems ever more set to be a 2 team battle between long time leaders Milton Keynes Sharks, and main challengers Woburn Sands Mosquitoes.

Sharks had a potentially difficult encounter against the in-form Leighton Buzzard Spitfires, who have moved into third and closer to the top two in recent weeks, however, Sharks fended off the challenge, winning 6-4.  Once again, it was Derick Rodrigues doing the damage for Sharks, with another maximum, not dropping a leg in singles, whilst he and Rupert Greyling took the doubles against Andy King and Graham Silversides in five games.  Graham also featured in two other fifth leg finishes, firstly going down by the narrowest of margins, 10-12 in the decider against Rupert in the opening set of the night, and Graham also went to five aginst Abhay Tijare, when he finally won a deciding leg at 11-6.  Rupert completed the Sharks tally with a second singles win on the night against Andy, but lost out in the last set of the night against Filip Simek.  Filip and Andy also picked up a win each against Abhay to complete the scoring.  The win leaves Sharks still six points ahead at the top of the table, but having played a game more, whilst Spitfire dropped back to eight points adrift of second spot.

Woburn Sands Mosquitoes also had a 6-4 win, beating Little Horwood Wooden Tops, so stay six points behind Sharks with a match in hand.  Main man, James Molloy, collected the usual treble, ably backed up by Glenn Barcham who grabbed two wins, but when the pair teamed up for the doubles, they lost out to Andy Hooper and John Sharp in four games.  Unusually for this season in the Division, only two other sets also went further than three straight games, with Andy Hooper beating Andy Jenkins in four, and John Sharp winning probably the closest set of the night in four games against Glenn.  John also beat Andy Jenkins, who in turn beat John Cripps, to complete the scoring.  The defeat probably leaves Wooden Tops too far adrift to avoid being in the bottom two, as they're now 20 points behind fifth place, albeit with one match in hand.

The final match of the week saw yet another 6-4 scoreline, as fifth placed Mursley Hawks took on bottom team, Milton Keynes Shambles.  It was Shambles who took an early lead, with two wins in the fifth legs, first by Steve Jordan, who came back from 2-1 down to Martin Johnson, to take the decider 11-6.  The second set was even closer, with Nick Markham forging ahead 2-0, then a fightback by Ian Spanswick saw him take it to 2-2 and up 10-7 in the decider, only for Nick to rescue it at the death to win 12-10.  However, Hawks battled back, as David Barlett defeated Jim Robinson, and then Martin & Ian held off Steve and Nick in a tight five game doubles.  Hawks eased ahead 4-2 as Ian blitzed Steve with some fierce hitting, and then Martin eased past Jim.  Nick grabbed another topsy turvy win, after David battled back from 2-0 down to level things, but Nick served himself out of trouble at the end, to take the decider 11-8.  Ian restored the two point Hawks lead, beating Jim in four games, and but for the three missed set points against Nick, would have had his first maximum of the season!  Steve got another back for Shambles as he outhit David in set nine, whilst Martin sealed the win for Hawks with a straight games win against Nick.

Player(s) of the Week : James Molloy, Derick Rodrigues and Ian Spanswick.