Division 2 Roundup - Week 13

Published 16/12/2023 at 18:58:29 by Martin Johnson; edited 1 times, last on 18/12/2023 at 13:03:20 by Martin Johnson.

Closer at the Top

There were again only three matches this week in Division 2, with the second meeting of the top two (Spitfires and Hawks, who drew first time around) postponed until 4th January.  This offered up the chance to close the gap at the top, to the chasers.  This, they did.

Third-placed Woburn Sands Mosquitoes dispatched sixth-placed Greenleys Valiants 9-1, to actually go joint second with Spitfires, albeit Spitfires have two matches in hand over them.  The one set that got away was when Division 3 reserve, Orrin Edwards, snatched an 11-9 win for Valiants in the decider against Andy Jenkins, but otherwise the Mosquitoes trio of Andy, James Molloy and Rob McPheat took all the spoils, although Andy and Rob were pushed to 11-7 in the fifth before they won the doubles over Slava Volokha and Peter Carr.  Early on, Peter had pushed James close in four games, and Slava had done likewise against Andy, but it was mostly one-way traffic from that point.  The defeat for Valiants drops them down to seventh place, just a point behind Sultans of Spin in sixth.

Fourth-placed Newport Pagnell Lagondas went one better, as they whitewashed last-placed Milton Keynes Pioneers 10-0, for only the second 10-0 in the division, this season.  The Lagondas threesome of Chris Horn, Glen Davison and Tony Ardis won all the sets, with just Glen needing a deciding set a couple of times, but took both comfortably.  Pioneers, who remain rooted to the bottom of the table, were at a disadvantage from the start, as they only had one of their regular players available, namely Terry Lau, who was joined by two Division 4 reserves, Geoffrey Turner and Bernard Green.  Whilst Terry & Geoffrey did push Glen to fifth games, all sets went to Lagondas, with Tony and Chris also combining to beat Terry and Bernard in the doubles, although it took deuces in the first two legs before they came through.

The final match produced a fourth win in succession for fifth-placed Milton Keynes Powers, 7-3 this week against seventh-placed Greenleys Sultans of Spin.  Things were neck and neck early on, and when Keith Carrington snatched an intensely close sixth set against Ricky Jackson, in a fourth deuce of the set, at 12-10 in the decider, the score stood at 3-3, however, from there on Powers came through to take the remainder, with two wins apiece for their three players, Keith, Paul Tompkins and Andy Pearson.  For Sultans of Spin, Daniel Carter had earlier collected two wins, and Ricky one win, with only Robert Anderson winless on the night.  Andy and Paul had also taken the doubles earlier on, in a straight games win over Daniel and Ricky.  Despite the loss, the three points has moved Sultans of Spin back a point ahead of their fellow club team, Valiants, by a single point, as the relegation battle seems to be boiling down to two from three - Sultans of Spin, Valiants and Pioneers.

Next week should be back to a full set of four matches, with the pick of the ties being Mosquitoes versus Spitfires, currently joint-second.  Hawks, top for now but having played a match more than Spitfires, take on lowly Pioneers.  In the other two matches, Lagondas host Sultans of Spin, whilst Powers entertain Valiants.

Player of the Week : Rob McPheat.