Division 2 Roundup - Week 11

Published 03/12/2023 at 19:29:07 by Martin Johnson.

Unbeaten Top Two Maintain Pace

Week 11 of the season means that the League season is now just past the halfway stage, and in Division 2 the top two teams both managed to maintain their unbeaten records, although both were involved in close results.  They also extended the gap to third, whilst positions remain very close at the other end of the table.

Leaders, Leighton Buzzard Spitfires, grabbed their ninth win of the campaign, defeating fifth-placed Greenleys Valiants 6-4, to stay six points clear at the top of the table.  At 6-2 up, and probably favourites for the final two sets, it had looked like it might be more, but a rearguard action saw Lewis Copp inflict just the second defeat of the season on Barry Hammond, and then Slava Volokha edged out Andy King 16-14 in the decider, to limit the damage for Valiants.  It ended up as a match where no-one was able to win all of their sets.  Barry & Andy each won two of their singles for Spitfires, and also added the doubles against Slava and James Carter, whilst Slava and Lewis each won twice for Valiants, with Filip Simek adding the final win for Spitfires.  Valiants drop back to sixth place for now, despite their four point haul.

Once again matching the scoreline of the leaders, second placed Mursley Hawks triumphed 6-4, in a tough encounter against equal seventh-placed Greenleys Sultans of Spin, who pulled in Muhammad Hamza as their third player, to join Daniel Carter and Ricky Jackson.  Hawks lineup was Mick O’Mahony, Martin Johnson and Ian Spanswick.  Mick moved to the top of the individual averages, collecting yet another maximum, including winning in the doubles with Martin, to maintain the 100% record in doubles for Hawks.  Martin collected the other two wins for Hawks, but lost out to Muhammad, who won twice for Sultans of Spin, whilst Ricky and Daniel each won one singles, although Daniel was pushed to 14-12 in the decider against Ian.  Despite their loss, Sultans of Spin move up to seventh spot.

Third placed Woburn Sands Mosquitoes seem to have gone off the boil, slightly, losing for the fourth time in five weeks, having been unbeaten, previously.  This week they went down 6-4 to fourth-placed Newport Pagnell Lagondas, who thus close the gap to third a little, to nine points.  Tony Ardis took the individual honours with a fine treble in singles, but he and Mike Howard lost out in the doubles to the Mosquitoes pairing of Glenn Barcham and James Molloy.  Mike added two singles wins, however, with the final win for Lagondas coming from Glen Davison, who edged out Rob McPheat at 11-8 in a decider, to inflict a rare blank on Rob.  For Mosquitoes, James added two singles wins to his share of the doubles, whilst Glenn Barcham took their other win in the battle of the Glens/Glenns!

The final match of the week pitched Milton Keynes Pioneers against Milton Keynes Pioneers, and was the only match of the week *not* to be 6-4, although it could well have been, as Powers triumphed 7-3.  It was another match where no-one was able to win all their singles sets, with Paul Tompkins going the closest, as he lost out 11-9 in a decider against John Simms, although one of his wins was also by default!  Andy Pearson and Keith Carrington joined Paul on two singles wins each for Powers, whilst the Pioneers wins were supplied by John (2) and Kareem Omar (1).  Due to later arrivals and early departures, Powers were 5-3 up with the final singles to go, plus the doubles at the end of the night.  However, after Paul took the first leg 11-9 against Kareem, Kareem defaulted the set and did not play the doubles, meaning his teammate, Terry Lau, was left unable to play the doubles on his own, so Powers took the last two sets by default.  The win moves Powers up to fifth place, whilst Pioneers return to the foot of the table, although only ten points separate them from fourth position.

Next week Spitfires host Pioneers, Hawks take on Valiants, Sultans of Spin visit Mosquitoes and Lagondas visit Powers.

Player of the Week : Mick O’Mahony.