Division 2 Roundup - Week 8
Published 11/11/2023 at 09:10:34 by Martin Johnson.
Spitfires Extend Lead at Head of Table, but it’s Close at the Foot With the League season now entering the second round of matches, teams are playing opponents for a second time, as positions are starting to become more established. Unusually, no draws this week, with wins by various margins from 6-4 to 8-2.
Top of the table Leighton Buzzard Spitfires continue to impress, and this week they ran out winners in their repeat match with fifth placed Milton Keynes Powers, by the same 8-2 margin as first time around. Individual honours went to Graham Silversides with a maximum, including the doubles set with Barry Hammond, versus Peter Tillotson and Paul Tompkins. Barry and Filip Simek both also won two singles for Spitfires, although the match saw the first singles defeat of the season for Barry, who was just edged out by Peter at 16-14 in the fifth, who also overcame Filip, for the second Powers set. Bill Tyler was playing up for Powers, and went very close against Filip, but just lost out 12-10 in the decider. The win keeps Spitfires top, and slightly extended their lead to six points, whilst Powers drop to equal sixth.
It was second versus third, as Mursley Hawks took on a two player Woburn Sands Mosquitoes, who were unfortunate in that one of their players was unable to play at the last minute. Hawks ended up winning 4-3 on the night, which becomes 7-3 after the three default sets. Despite the defeat, it was Mosquitoes player James Molloy who claimed the personal honours, winning his three sets, also ending a run of 16 singles wins by Mick O’Mahony, but James and Glenn Barcham were unable to add the doubles, as Mick and Ian Spanswick made it eight doubles wins out of eight for Hawks. There were singles wins for Mick, Ian and David Bartlett against Glenn to complete the scoring, despite Glenn pushing both David and Ian to deciding legs. The win improves Hawks’ position in second spot, now five points clear of Mosquitoes, but six points adrift of the leaders.
Milton Keynes Pioneers moved themselves up from seventh to fifth, with a battling 6-4 win over eighth placed Greenleys Sultans of Spin, despite a fine maximum for Sultans of Spin by Daniel Carter, although Terry Lau pushed him all the way, going down 11-9 in the decider. For Pioneers, both Kareem Omar and Andy Frearson collected two wins, with Terry taking one singles win against Tony Edwardson, plus Andy and Terry also grabbed the doubles against Robert Anderson and Daniel, to take Pioneers to their first win of the season. Robert took the other singles against Terry for Sultans of Spin, to keep them in touch with the teams just above them, and they are just three points away from fifth spot.
The final match saw sixth placed Greenleys Valiants take on Newport Pagnell Lagondas in fourth. It was exactly the same players who played first time around, and again it was Lagondas who took the overall spoils 7-3, although once again the individual honours went to Valiants’ Lewis Copp, thus repeating his treble of the first time around. However, although both of his teammates, James Carter & Slava Volokha, had some close games, they were unable to add to their team’s tally. Lagondas’ trio of Michael Howard, Glen Davison and Tony Ardis took two singles wins each, whilst Tony and Michael just snatched the doubles against James and Slava at 11-8 in the decider. The win for Lagondas sees the gap below them stretch to seven points, but they are now within three points of third, whilst Valiants stay in sixth, level with Powers, as the bottom four in the table are all within three points of each other.
Next week Spitfires visit Lagondas and Hawks go to Powers, whilst Mosquitoes host Pioneers and the two Greenleys teams, Sultans of Spin and Valiants, play each other.
Player of the Week : Graham Silversides.