Division 2 Roundup - Week 3

Published 08/10/2023 at 10:23:55 by Martin Johnson.

Valiants Vault up the Table

Whilst five of the twelve matches in the Division have so far been draws, Greenleys Valiants bucked the trend with the biggest win of the season, to date, crushing Milton Keynes Pioneers 9-1, to leap up to second in the table.  Despite the final scoreline, there were several close encounters, with three sets going close in the fifth set, but each time going the way of Valiants.  Kareem Omar picked up the consolation win for Pioneers, in set 7, defeating Slava Volokha, but Slava won his other two against Terry Lau & Andy Frearson, whilst teammates Lewis Copp and super-sub, Mohammed Hamza, took all three of their singles.  Mohammed completed a maximum, as he teamed with Slava up to take a tight doubles against Terry & Andy.  The result leaves Pioneers down in seventh place, whilst Valiants climb to second, within two points of the lead.

Regular rivals, Newport Pagnell Lagondas played Mursley Hawks, and recorded their seventh 5-5 draw against each other in their last eleven meetings, with the other four all having been 6-4's.  The individual honours here went to Hawks' Mick O'Mahony, with a second successive maximum, also teaming up with Martin Johnson to record their third straight doubles win, against Glen Davison and Chris Horn, leaving Hawks as the only team still with a 100% doubles record.  Martin picked up the other Hawks set, whilst Ian Spanswick went close, but without success, in his first outing of the season.  For Lagondas, two wins each for Glen and Chris, were supplemented by one win for Mike Howard, as overall honours once again ended even, with just one set going the distance, when Chris edged out Martin in a decider.  The result leaves Hawks in third place, whilst Lagondas are now in fifth spot.

Leaders, Leighton Buzzard Spitfires, were held to a 5-5 draw by Greenleys Sultans of Spin, to dent their 100% record, but remain top by two points, whilst Sultans of Spin are up to sixth spot.  The match was close throughout, with five of the ten sets needing a deciding fifth set to settle things, with no-one able to win all their singles sets on the night.  Daniel Carter and Ricky Jackson each picked up two wins, plus a share in a very close doubles win against Syed Ali and Andy King (11-9 in the fifth), with Syed and Andy also claimed two singles wins each for Spitfires.  The remaining set went the way of Filip Simek against Tony Edwardson in one of the five five-setters.

The second winners of the week were Woburn Sands Mosquitoes, who having drawn their opening two matches, came away from Milton Keynes Powers with the spoils in a 7-3 victory.  There was a maximum here for Rob McPheat, who won his three singles, plus he teamed up with Glenn Barcham to take the doubles, against Keith Carrington and Paul Tompkins, for the overall loss of just two games on the night.  Glenn picked up two singles wins, both in five-set battles, and Andy Wainwright grabbed the remaining Mosquitoes point against Keith.  Paul collected two wins for Powers, whilst reserve Malcolm Whetstone picked up one win on his second substitution appearance.  Mosquitoes thus moved up to equal third spot, but their third loss in a row leaves Powers at the foot of the table, three points adrift, albeit at this early stage of the season.

The coming week pits the top two teams against each other, as Spitfires host Valiants, but also the bottom two in the Milton Keynes Club derby, as Powers take on Pioneers.  Elsewhere, two mid-table battles will see Mosquitoes host Lagondas, whilst Hawks entertain Sultans of Spin.

I am away for a few weeks, but am still hoping to do my reports from afar, but it may depend upon how busy things get, as well as online access.

Player of the Week : Rob McPheat.