Division 2 Roundup - Weeks 7 and 8

Published 04/11/2022 at 22:05:49 by Martin Johnson; edited 1 times, last on 07/11/2022 at 12:40:49 by Martin Johnson.

Lagondas Leap Forward

The clocks may have gone backwards, but Newport Pagnell Lagondas have leaped forward over the last couple of weeks, chalking up two big wins.  In week 7, Lagondas inflicted a first defeat of the season on Chackmore Hasbeens, by a margin of 8-2, taking advantage of Hasbeens' talisman, Bub Burman, not playing, with both Tony Ardis and Chris Horn carving out maximums, aided by one win from Glen Davison, whilst Andy Whitehead and Sam Willett, playing his first match of the season) each won once for Hasbeens.  Andy and Chris Whitehead both went close to an extra set for Hasbeens, respectively losing close in deciders to Chris Horn and Glen, respectively, before again losing out at deuce in the decider in the doubles.  Lagondas next played a 2-man Milton Keynes Blades in week 8, and returned the division's first 10-0 win of the season, as Glen Davison, Chris Horn and Michael Howard dropped just three legs between them on the night, against Bill Tyler and Mark Thomas, a win which puts Lagondas seven points clear at the top of the table.

Week 7 also saw a surprise 9-1 win for Mursley Hawks over an admittedly weakened Greenleys Princes, also a first defeat of the season for Princes, who were without their usual top two.  Hawks took full advantage, as both Ian Spanswick and Mick O'Mahoney scored maiden maximums, backed up by a brace for David Bartlett, with only William Egbuna hitting back for Princes, whilst Gary Viner and reserve, David Carr, went close, but couldn't collect any further wins.  The match win was the third in a row for Hawks, and briefly took them joint top, however week 8 saw their run of six matches unbeaten ended, as they went down 3-7 to Chackmore Hasbeens, for whom Bub Burman scored his usual maximum, Sam Willett won twice and Andy Whitehead won once, as well as the usual doubles win for Bub and Andy - their sixth out of six.  For Hawks, Mick O'Mahoney picked up two wins, with their final set coming from David Bartlett.  This leaves Hawks in second place, whilst Hasbeens are two places and four points back, but do have a match in hand.

Greenleys Princes were back to winning ways in week 8, although they were given a close contest by Open University Shockwave, before emerging 6-4 victors, in one of those matches where no-one was able to win all their sets.  At 5-2 up to Princes, and Tom Davey and Saravana Kumar unbeaten at that stage, it seemed they may score a big win, but a Shockwave comeback saw Charles Tien give Saravana just his second loss of the season, whilst in the final match of the night, Charity Wong defeated Tom, as all four players ended up with two singles wins on the night. William Egbuna had beaten Yifan Liu in the remaining singles, whilst a close doubles went the way of Tom and Saravana over Charles and Charity.  Princes now lie third in the table, just two points back from second and with a match in hand.

Little Horwood Wooden Tops have also moved up over the last two weeks, with two wins, to extend their winning run to three matches.  In week 7 they came through 6-4 against a 2-man Milton Keynes Blades, then backed that up with a 7-3 defeat of Leighton Buzzard Spitfires, to move up into fifth spot.  Against Blades, Paul Reynolds went the night unbeaten, although both Bill Tyler and Mark Thomas each scored two wins for Blades, against Bill Higgins and Andy Hooper, whilst Paul and Andy took the vital doubles to take the match win, making it seven losses in seven for bottom placed Blades.  In week 8, Wooden Tops won 7-3 against a struggling Spitfires side, with Paul Reynolds again unbeaten, assisted by two fifth game wins for Bill Higgins plus one win for Andy Hooper.  For Spitfires, Andy King grabbed two wins, Filip Simek got one win, whilst Andy Fiske was the the other Spitfires player.

The final match of the last two weeks saw a 5-5 draw between sixth placed Open University Shockwave and seventh placed Leighton Buzzard Spitfires.  The individual honours went the way of Spitfires' Graham Silversides with a maximum, including the doubles with Andy King against Charlies Tien and Charity Wong, who each won twice for Shockwave.  Andy also added the fifth win for Spitfires in a five game win over Yifan Liu, but just lost out close in five (11-9) to Charles, whilst Yifan scored the final point in his win over Andy Fiske.

Next week sees the current top two, Lagondas and Hawks, battle it out again, whilst third placed Princes take on fifth placed Wooden Tops.  Hasbeens in fourth also take on Shockwave in sixth, whilst seventh placed Spitfires take on eighth placed Blades.

Players of the Weeks : Chris Horn and Paul Reynolds.