Division 2 Roundup - Weeks 16-17 / Cup Groups

Princes a Point off Promotion / Cup Clean Sweep

This report covers League weeks 16 and 17, which sandwiched the final week of the Challenge Cup Groups.

It was very much business as usual in the League for Greenleys Princes, who picked up another couple of wins, to make it seven League wins in a row.  They firstly overcame equal third-placed Little Horwood Wooden Tops 7-3, as Ricky Jackson won his three singles, and they followed it up with an 8-2 win against seventh-placed Milton Keynes Cavaliers, this time with Richard Bailey collecting three singles wins.  Combined with other results, it now means they only need one point from three matches to ensure an end of season top two place.

Second-placed Leighton Buzzard Van Hire only had one League match in this period, which they won 7-3 against sixth-placed Open University Shockwave, with Donnie MacDonald scoring three singles wins.  This leaves Van Hire 28 points behind the leaders, albeit with one match in hand.

The two equal third-placed teams did not fare so well in this period.  Wooden Tops had already lost to the leaders (see above), and were also held to a 5-5 draw by Shockwave, for whom Charity Wong picked up three singles wins.  Meanwhile, Woburn Sands Mosquitoes lost two close matches, firstly 3-7 to lowly Cavaliers, for whom Oliver Young collected a second maximum in his two appearances, followed by a 4-6 defeat to fifth-placed Mursley Hawks, in a match where no-one won all their singles (James Molloy, Rob McPheat, Mark Dixon & Martin Johnson each won twice), so the Hawks win in the doubles helped make the difference.

These results leaves Wooden Tops and Mosquitoes still locked together in equal third place, three points adrift of second-placed Van Hire, who have a match in hand, whilst fifth-placed Hawks are eight points behind the pair, but also have a match in hand.  At the foot of the table, Shockwave lead Cavaliers by four points, and have a match in hand.

Next week sees equal third-placed Wooden Tops take on second-placed Van Hire, whilst leaders, Princes, visit fifth-placed Hawks, and the bottom two teams, Cavaliers and Shockwave, face each other, as the season starts to draw to a finish.

The Challenge Cup Group stage proved a happy hunting ground for all six of the entered Division 2 teams, with a clean sweep of qualifications for the Round of 32.  Hawks topped their group of four teams, completing a third win in a row, to maintain their 100% record.  Van Hire also topped their group of four, winning their final Group match well, to make it two wins from three.  Shockwave also came first in their group of three, adding a big win to their opening tie, to reach the next round.  Princes and Cavaliers were both already assured of going through, having each won one out of two in their groups of three, and despite having no match in the final week, both ended up top of their group due to the other results.  Wooden Tops also qualify, having won one match from two in their three team group, but lost out on top place by points difference, after narrowly losing their final Group match.  So, all six Division 2 teams who entered, will move on to the Round of 32.  With the only Premier team which entered having been knocked out, as well as four of the seven Division 1 teams entered having failed to qualify, it will leave most Division 2 teams having to give plenty of points away in the knockout stages.

Team of the Period : Mursley Hawks.
Player of the Period : Charity Wong.