Division 2 Roundup - Week 21 (Final Week)

Spitfires or Mosquitoes  and  Sultans of Spin or Valiants?

The final week of League fixtures featured two vital battles, one to determine which of Spitfires or Mosquitoes would be Division 2 runners-up, whilst the other was to determine which of Sultans of Spin or Valiants would avoid relegation.

First up on Tuesday night it was Greenleys Valiants, in seventh place, so they needed a good result against fifth-placed Milton Keynes Powers, to try to end up ahead of clubmates, Sultans of Spin.  Twice Valiants carved out a two set lead, only for Powers to draw level again.  Peter Carr started by winning against Peter Tillotson in four legs, then James Carter won similarly against Chris Paddon, who was playing up from D3, to make it 2-0.  However, Andy Pearson then beat Slava Volokha, and teamed up with Peter T to snatch a close doubles against James and Slava.  From 2-2, Valiants again pulled ahead, as James came from 2-1 down to grab a narrow victory against Peter T, whilst Peter C came through in four games against Andy.  Again, Powers hit back, with straight games wins for Chris and Andy, against Slava and James, and so it became 4-4.  The pattern repeated one final time, as Valiants took two edge-of-your-seats wins, with Slava beating Peter T at 11-9 in the decider, and Peter C edging past Chris at 13-11 in the decider, to give Valiants a hopeful 6-4 win, so meaning sixth-placed Sultans of Spin would need at least a draw against fourth-placed Lagondas to avoid relegation.  Slava ended up as the only player in the Division to play every single match for his team, with Ricky Jackson (Sultans of Spin) only missing one match.

Mursley Hawks had already secured the title, last week, so their final match against Milton Keynes Pioneers would just be to see if they could maintain their unbeaten record, and if they could make it 100% in doubles for the season, whilst eighth-placed Pioneers were going to finish last, barring some incredibly unlikely results.  In the end, Pioneers were only able to raise two players, so even that faint chance was already snuffed out before they started.  Despite that, Pioneers ending up scoring their third 4-6 result against the Division champions, with a late arriving Kareem Omar grabbing a treble, plus a win in his final singles for Terry Lau, whilst on the night, Martin Johnson and Ian Spanswick grabbed a win apiece, and Martin & David Bartlett duly completed the 100% doubles record, by beating Kareem and Terry in straight games.  The result was a 15th win in a row for Hawks, and they were the only unbeaten team in the League this season, plus the only one in Division 2 recorded by the website, i.e. since 2015-16.  Perhaps most impressively, they achieved that rare 100% doubles record.  Hawks thus won the Division by 14 points, whilst Pioneers ended up last, nine points behind the safety of sixth place.

Cue Wednesday night, and the relegation battle would be concluded, as sixth-placed Greenleys Sultans of Spin took on fourth-placed Newport Pagnell Lagondas, with the Sultans knowing they needed at least a draw to survive, and consign clubmates Valiants to the drop.  They had previously drawn once with Lagondas, but had also lost 2-8, so it was a tough ask, and things started badly for Sultans, as by the time the doubles had been played, they found themselves 3-1 down.  Ricky Jackson had won the opener against Mike Howard, but this was followed by Tony Ardis and Chris Horn each winning their opening singles for Lagondas, then combining to beat Ricky and Robert Anderson in the doubles.  From here onwards, each set became a battle royal, with four of the remaining six sets going the distance, with the other two being close in the fourth, but crucially it was Sultans of Spin snatching most of them.  Daniel Carter started the fightback with an 11-9 in the fifth win against Mike, then Ricky edged past Chris 11-9 in four, and although Robert lost out in five to Tony, they got back on the winning trail as Daniel won 11-9 in the fourth against Chris, to make it 4-4 on the night, and one more win needed for Sultans.  Robert moved 2-0 up against Mike, but with the target in sight, Mike battled back to take it to the decider, but finally, Robert took it 14-12 in the fifth, to ensure that all-important fifth point.  Tony Ardis went 2-0 up against Ricky in the final set, both at deuce, but Ricky capped a fine night for him and Sultans, by battling back to win the remaining three legs, all at 11-8, to clinch a third singles win, a 6-4 team victory, and sixth place in the final League Table.

On to Thursday, and this time it was the second promotion spot to be decided, as Leighton Buzzard Spitfires took on Woburn Sands Mosquitoes, with Spitfires needing just two points to secure the runners-up spot, whilst Mosquitoes needed an unlikely 9-1 (or 10-0) victory to overtake Spitfires.  Rob McPheat got the opener for Mosquitoes against Graham Silversides, but any hopes Mosquitoes might have had of a thrilling last week victory were soon dashed, as Barry Hammond beat Glenn Barcham, then Andy King beat Andy Jenkins.  With runners-up spot thus secured, Spitfires also took the doubles as Graham and Barry beat Rob and Andy J in a see-saw five games.  Set of the night was probably Barry against Rob, with Barry finally taking it by the narrowest of margins, at 12-10 in the decider.  From 4-1 down, Mosquitoes fought back, albeit too late to change their League position, with Andy J winning twice and Rob adding a second win, and although Andy K got a fifth point for Spitfires, Glenn ended up taking the final set against Graham, after three deuce games, at 11-9 in the decider, for a final score of 5-5, with no-one able to win all three on the night.  This all meant that Spitfires finish second and will be up for promotion, six points clear of Mosquitoes in third.

Well, that concludes League matters in Division 2 for the season, with no D2 teams left in the Challenge Cup, so the final event is the Top Eight on 22nd April, where the top eight players in the Averages, who’ve played at least half the matches (and who are available to play that night) will battle it out for individual honours.  As things have finished, the current top eight feature two players from Hawks (Mick O’Mahony, 1st, and Martin Johnson, 5th), two players from Spitfires (Barry Hammond, 3rd, and Andy King, 8th), two players from Mosquitoes (James Molloy, 2nd, and Rob McPheat, 6th), plus one player each from Valiants (Lewis Copp, 4th) and from Lagondas (Tony Ardis, 7th).  Waiting in the wings in case not all of the top eight are available are Ricky Jackson, Graham Silversides, Peter Tillotson, Kareem Omar, Chris Horn and Daniel Carter, all of whom finished with Averages over 50%.

Player of the Week : Ricky Jackson.

Player of the Season : Mick O’Mahony.

Many thanks to all teams, players, captains, secretaries and officials for what has been a very competitive Division 2, this season, with almost half (38 out of 84) matches ending 6-4 or 5-5, whilst only eight finished 9-1, & just three finished 10-0.  Good luck to everyone for summer and then for next season, whether still in Division 2, or moving up or down, with a fresh start and fresh challenge.
 
 

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