Division 2 Roundup - Week 14+ (New Year)
Published 07/01/2024 at 18:40:49 by Martin Johnson.
YoYo Top Place!Happy New Year, all.
The break of fixtures for New Year has allowed the two outstanding matches in Division 2 to be played, which thus brings all Division 2 fixtures up to date.
Going into Christmas, Mursley Hawks had moved to the top of the table, however, long-time leaders, Leighton Buzzard Spitfires, were just six points behind,
and with a match in hand against bottom team, Milton Keynes Pioneers. This match had been rescheduled to Wednesday, 3rd January, giving Spitfires the
chance to regain the top spot. Spitfires wasted no time eating into that lead, as they won the opening three singles, with Graham Silversides, Andy King and
Syed Ali winning their opening encounters, although Graham was pushed to 11-9 in the fifth in the first set of the night by Andy Frearson. Terry Lau and Andy
Frearson then joined up in the doubles against Syed and Graham, and although they went 2-1 down, finished the stronger, to get Pioneers on the scoresheet,
albeit trailing 3-1. Andy King then put Spitfires 4-1 up in the battle of the Andys, but Pioneers grabbed another set, as Kareem Omar edged Graham 12-10 in
the decider. From there on, however, Spitfires did not concede any further sets, despite Andy Frearson again going to five, but this time losing the decider to
Syed, as Spitfires powered on to an 8-2 win, with trebles for both Syed and Andy King. The win put them back at the top of the table by 2 points. Pioneers
remain in last spot, but only four points away from the 'safety' of sixth place.
The second outstanding match again featured Leighton Buzzard Spitfires, the very next night, this time taking on 2nd placed Mursley Hawks. This time it
was Hawks who started the stronger, as Martin Johnson defeated Graham Silversides, whilst Mick O'Mahony won three close games against Barry Hammond,
in a meeting of the top two in the Averages, to put Hawks 2-0 up. Filip Simek got Spitfires their first point, although it was very close in a set of some superb
clean hitting against Ian Spanswick, just nicking it 11-9 in the fifth. Hawks then took their customary doubles win, with Mick & Martin making it 14 out of 14 for
Hawks in doubles, defeating Barry and Graham in four games. Set 5 was another 'humdinger' with Barry facing Martin. Martin got the better start to go 1-0 up,
and had chances for 2-0, but Barry started inducing more errors with his brilliant returning, and took the second at 13-11, then moved 2-1 up. Martin managed
to vary his attack better to draw level again. Martin looked to have it won at 10-7 up, but again Barry returned everything and took it to deuce, plus had two set
points, but in the end was very unlucky to lose out 14-12. Graham pulled one back against Ian, as did Barry, but Martin went on to complete his maximum with
win over Filip, just leaving Mick,,who was unstoppable on the night, to also complete a maximum, against Graham. It all meant that Hawks won 7-3, to remain
unbeaten, and made it eight wins in a row, and they also bounced back to the top of the table by 2 points, after the same number of matches as Spitfires. The
two teams now lead third-placed Woburn Sands Mosquitoes by nine and seven points, respectively, but with seven more matches still left to go, means it is still
a three-horse race for the top two places.
Next week sees the Handicap Cup competition get underway, so no League matches for another two weeks.
Player of the 'Week' : Mick O'Mahony.