Division 2 Roundup - Week 13

Published 09/12/2022 at 20:30:37 by Martin Johnson; edited 2 times, last on 11/12/2022 at 22:58:13 by Martin Johnson.

Lagondas Race Ahead

With just one more week of fixtures before the Christmas break, things are getting ever closer in Division 2.

Four of the top five teams won this week, but the big news was just a second defeat of the season for second placed Greenleys Princes, at the hands of leaders, Newport Pagnell Lagondas.  Princes went into the match just two points adrift of Lagondas at the top of the table, with a match in hand, on a run of four wins in five, and when Saravana Kumar took the first set against Michael Howard, they would've hoped to at least match their opponents, despite the absence of their usual second player, Tom Davey, especially as Lagondas were also without their own number two, Chris Horn.  However, it was Lagondas who kept piling up the wins, albeit some of them very close - next a five game win by Sue Lewis over Gary Viner, then a four game win for Tony Ardis against William Egbuna, and then the reliable doubles pairing of Sue / Tony just coming through at 11-8 in the decider against William / Saravana.  Top of the averages Saravana, pulled one back to make it 3-2 with a tight four game victory over Sue, but Lagondas were not to be denied.  They motored on to win all the remaining sets, although most were very close, but Lagondas were able to egde them all.  This run including just the third individual loss for Saravana, after a run of thirteen wins in a row, inevitably in five games, against man of the match, Tony.  Michael inflicted the final win, in yet another five gamer against Gary, to leave the final match score at 8-2 to Lagondas, to put Lagondas eight points ahead, but allowing for Princes' match in hand (having the same scoreline as when they played that team again), it effectively puts Lagondas one point ahead, with one round of matches to complete the second third of the season, although both teams have potentially tricky encounters next week.

Whilst the drama was unfolding in the match between the top two, third placed Mursely Hawks kept in touch with the two leaders by virtue of a hard fought 6-4 win over seventh placed Leighton Buzzard Spitfires, their third win in a row, and making it five unbeaten.  Hawks came through 6-4, chiefly due to their player in form, Mick O'Mahony, who extended his run of wins to eight, with a second successive maximum, although he was pushed all the way in a tremendous battle with Barry Hammond, just taking it 11-8 in the decider of a pulsating five game duel, with each player both attacking and defending superbly, in what a watching player called the 'Set of the Season' in this Division!  Mick also completed his fourth straight doubles win with Martin Johnson, against Barry and Andy King, to complete twelve consecutive doubles legs wins in a row by this pairing.  Martin picked up two wins, himself, in the first set against Graham Silversides, and in the final set against Andy in a tight five gamer, to seal the win for Hawks.  Barry took two wins for Spitfires, and was joined by Graham and Andy in defeating an off form Ian Spanswick.  The win leaves Hawks still with an outside chance of a promotion spot, if either of the leaders falter, but still with work to do for that to happen, whilst they have Hasbeens right on their shoulder in the chase at the top.  Spitfires remain in seventh, though edged a point closer to sixth, but will need to keep picking up points to edge away from the relegation zone.

Fourth placed Chackmore Hasbeens kept up their challenge, also winning 6-4, against bottom placed Milton Keynes Blades, the team against which Hasbeens also still have a match in hand.  The scoring followed a fairly regular pattern for Hasbeens, with the usual maximum for Bub Burman, who is now only just behind Saravana Kumar in the averages, plus an eleventh consecutive doubles win, out of eleven starts, for Bub and Andy Whitehead, against Kareem Omar and Mark Thomas.  Andy pitched in with two singles wins for Hasbeens, to complete their scoring, whilst Chris Whitehead twice went close in four games, but was unable to add another win for them.  For Blades, recent signing Kareem managed two wins, and regulars Mark and Bill Tyler each picked up one win, with Mark going the closest to a second, as he took Andy to 11-7 in the deciding game.  The win leaves Hasbeens in fourth spot, but assuming a similar 6-4 win in their match in hand, would see them just one point behind third placed Hawks, and just seven points off the leaders.

The final match of the week saw the two teams just above the relegation zone battle it out, with fifth placed Open University Shockwave doing their survival chances some good with a fine 7-3 win against sixth placed Little Horwood Wooden Tops.  Charles Tien collected another fine treble, not dropping a game in singles, but he and Yifan Liu were beaten in four in the doubles by Bill Higgins and Andy Hooper.  Charity Wong grabbed two wins, including pulling back from 2-1 down to Andy, and needing deuce in the fourth, to finally overcome the luckless Andy, who also lost out in five, from 2-0 up, in the opening set to Yifan.  Yifan also picked up two wins, defeating Bill Higgins in a very tight four games for his second singles victory, but found John Sharp too good, going down in straight games in the final set of the night.  Earlier, Bill had picked up Wooden Tops' other singles win against Charity, to complete their scoring, and leaves Shockwave seven points clear of Wooden Tops, albeit Wooden Tops still have a match in hand.

Next week will see the top four teams play each other, as Lagondas visit Hasbeens, whilst Hawks visit Princes.  Meanwhile, in the lower half of the table, Blades visit Wooden Tops and Shockwave go to Spitfires.

Player of the Week : Tony Ardis.