Division 2 Roundup - Week 16

Week 16 – And Then There Were Three?

After this week’s matches, there are just five remaining League fixtures for each of the teams in Division 2, so promotion and relegation battles are getting more significant, with a four-way battle at the top of the table, and a three-way battle to avoid the second relegation spot, both ongoing.

The only fixture between the top four teams saw fourth placed Mursley Hawks entertain equal top placed Newport Pagnell Lagondas, with Lagondas hoping to maintain their challenge at the top, and with Hawks, as matches start to run out, really needing a good result to stay in touch with the leaders.  These two teams usually produce a close match, having drawn 5-5 on all of the last four occasions, and another close match was expected, and so it proved, with four of the first five sets going to a deciding leg.  However, Lagondas got the better start, taking three of those deciding games, as Glen Davison won fifth games against both Martin Johnson and Ian Spanswick, plus teamed up with Sue Lewis in the doubles to win the decider against Martin and David Bartlett, to add to a straight games win for Chris Horn against Ian.  The doubles win for Sue was her sixth win out of six, this season. The only win for Hawks in the first five sets came as David took the one deciding leg to go their way, against Sue, to leave Lagondas 4-1 up at that stage. Wins for David against Glen, and both Martin and Ian against Sue, saw a bit of a fightback, but with Chris also beating David, Lagondas’ lead was 5-4, with the last set to play.  Chris took yet another deciding leg, against Martin, to complete a 6-4 win, and take his runs of singles wins to seven in a row, whilst the team result very much keeps Lagondas in the title hunt. For Hawks, the gap to the top three teams has widened, as they find themselves 12 points off the promotion zone, and so their chances of grabbing a promotion spot are starting to look slim.

Equal top placed Greenleys Princes took on fifth placed Little Horwood Wooden Tops, and although there were some very close sets early on, it was Princes who took them all, storming into a 6-0 lead, thanks to two wins each for Tom Davey and Saravana Kumar, and one from Gary Viner, plus a doubles success for Tom and Saravana against Andy Hooper and Bill Higgins. Both Andy and Bill had gone close, each losing out in a tight fifth game in one of their singles, and it was the same story in the doubles. Paul Reynolds started the fightback, as he first beat Gary, then later on, inflicted a rare defeat on Saravana, but with Tom completing his maximum in between, against Andy, it left Princes 7-2 up. Bill salvaged another point for Wooden Tops in the final set, to leave Princes the 7-3 winners.  This win takes Princes top of the table by a point, whilst Wooden Tops slip to sixth, although they have now edged five points clear of the relegation zone.

Third placed Chackmore Hasbeens were in irrepressible form, running out as 10-0 winners for the first time, this season, defeating seventh placed Open University Shockwave, who thus suffered a second consecutive whitewash.  Yifan Liu started reasonably for Shockwave, taking a 2-1 lead early on against Sam Willet, but Sam battled back to win in five, and the rest of the night was one-sided in Hasbeens’ favour, with just one leg in the doubles escaping them in the remaining nine sets.  Bub Burman and Andy Whitehead took that doubles against Yifan and Ganiyu Adebanjo, to record their 13th doubles success, whilst it was a rare night for Charles Tien without any wins.  The big win sees Hasbeens close to within four points of second place, whilst Shockwave remain in seventh, and now five points shy of safety.

The final match of the week featured last placed Milton Keynes Blades taking on sixth placed Leighton Buzzard Spitfires. Spitfires shot into an 8-0 lead before Blades finally hit back, as Kareem Omar beat Graham Silversides in a close five gamer, but the Spitfires trio of Graham, Andy King and Filip Simek went on to complete a big 9-1 victory, which has moved them up another place in the table.  The other two Blades players were Bill Tyler and Mark Thomas, who also lost out in the doubles against Andy and Graham, and were unable to grab any more singles successes on the night. Blades’ position at the foot of the table remains the same, now 33 points from safety, but the win for Spitfires leapfrogs them back above Wooden Tops, and six points clear of Shockwave, as the season gets ever nearer its conclusion.

Focus moves back to the Challenge Cup next week, with Division 2 teams making a reasonable showing.  Hasbeens have ensured progression after two wins in their group, whilst both Blades and Lagondas will progress, as a result of Milton Keynes Pumas withdrawing from their group.  Both Wooden Tops and Hawks would progress if they can win their final group matches, whilst a win for Princes would put them in with a chance to go through, though it could still come down to the result in the other match in their group. Finally (with Shockwave not entering the Cup), Spitfires would need to win and to see the other match go in their favour, in order to progress.

Players of the Week : Chris Horn and Tom Davey.
 

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