W/C 12/02/24
Final week of Phase Two
Div One:
Phase 2 of the season was won by Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A with a 9-1 victory over their C team club mates. They finished 5 points ahead of their nearest rivals. Tony Sweet remained unbeaten again!
Shopfitting By SWS club mates from the B and C team were due to play each other but neither side could field a full team. With the C team losing 3-7 they have been relegated.
Despite the 9-1 score line in favour of Shopfitting By SWS A against Crafthole A, SWS players didn’t have it their own way 7 tie-breaks throughout the matches and 3 sets going to the fifth end. In particular Mike Cookson (Crafthole) and Jan Walaszkowski had an epic battle with 2 tie-breaks and one end going all the way to 20-18 in favour of Cookson. After that tie-break end Walaszkowski went on to win the remaining two ends 4-11, 13-11, 18-20, 11-8, 11-5.
WINNERS:
Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A
RELEGATED:
Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C
Shopfitting By SWS C
Div Two:
A friendly eagerly contested match between Astor B and Crafthole B ended in a draw with 5 sets going to the fifth end. Martin Fowler playing in lieu of Les Cole (Astor) won 2 with Chris Tucker securing a maximum despite requiring two tie-break wins over Holly Davis. For Crafthole, Martin Hynes won 2 and Davis and Anthony Shapland won 1 each with Hynes and Shapland winning the doubles. Unfortunately both teams are now heading for Div Three.
Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B are promoted back to Div One after winning all their matches in this division and finished the phase with an 8-2 win over Woodland Fort C with Travis Foster winning a maximum and John Steuart winning his first maximum of this phase.
Astor A played club mates from the C team and both teams played out a draw but the star player was Jake Neilson from the C team who took a well-played maximum. Astor A also secured their return to Div 1 with this result.
In the final match in Phase 2 for Woodland Fort D and Astor D with relegation and promotion at stake and every point important a competitive evening ensued with Fort D losing 4-6. Andy Whatmore (Astor D) playing particularly well was the only player to get his maximum together with winning his doubles with Steve Harvey against Nigel Aston and Peter Andrews 8-11 11-5 11-5 11-7.
PROMOTED:
Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B
Astor A
RELEGATED:
Woodland Fort C
Astor B
Div Three:
Leaders Woodland Fort A whitewashed Lee Mill but despite a couple of hard fought 5 games, Lee Mill failed to win a point in the last match of the second phase. Fort are promoted back to Div two after not losing a match in this phase and only drawing one match.
Astor E won 6-4 against Ivybridge B with 3 wins a piece for Rob Jenkins and Ken Chambers. The closest match was when Alan Davis pushed Rob Jenkins to a 5 games finally losing 12-10 in the fifth. Young Toby Spencer played an excellent doubles enabling a five end win for his team in the final match of the night. This result relegates Ivybridge and secures Astor in the Division for phase three.
In the final match in Phase 2, Woodland Fort D played Astor D with relegation and promotion at stake and every point important, a very competitive evening ensued with Astor D winning 6-4. Andy Watmore (Astor) played particularly well and was the only player to get his maximum together with winning his doubles with Steve Harvey against Nigel Aston and Peter Andrews 8-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-7.
PROMOTED:
Woodland Fort A
Astor D
RELEGATED:
Lee Mill
Ivybridge B
Div Four:
Horrabridge secured their promotion with this 6-4 win over Chaddlewood (Marjon) but only Chaddy’s Mike Chapple obtained a maximum despite Crispin Jordan pushing him all the way 13-11, 6-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6.
Astor F lost again to a whitewash, this time to Ivybridge A, and although Astor put up a good fight every week failed to win a single point during Phase 2.
PROMOTED:
Woodland Fort B
Horrabridge
W/C 12/02/24
Penultimate week of Phase Two
Div One:
With players out with injury and other commitments, it was a different looking Shopfitting By SWS C that lined up against Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A. The veteran Trevor Mole was playing up for SWS, and was unlucky to come away without a win in his singles matches. Ian Roper made a guest appearance in the triples league from the doubles league and played well to secure a 4 sets win over Chaddy’s Sam Bruty and partnered the inform Steve Foster to take the doubles. Foster played well all evening, and easily outclassed the home teams Glyn Price. Man of the match was Chaddy's Garry Reed who took a near perfect maximum only dropping one set.
Shopfitting By SWS A and B played out their club match with the A team winning 8-2 and securing second spot in the league with one game to go. Dan Kayes and Mike Griffiths both secured maximums but regrettably Colin Mitchell had to retire injured after his win over John Palmer
Div Two:
Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B almost secured top spot in Div Two with their first whitewash of the phase over Astor B, doing one better than their previous encounter. Astor’s Les Cole unfortunately twinged his back in one match but struggled on but then lost the final end 2-11 is a good humoured and friendly match.
A hard fought draw was the result when Woodland Fort C (Ralph Stone 2, Graham Cooksley 2) entertained Astor A (Tony Maestri 3). Fort lead all through the evening but Stone and Glenn Delaney were unable to clinch doubles to secure the win but pushed Maestri and Steve Garlick to the fifth set before losing out 5-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-9, 3-11.
Astor C and Crafthole B fought out a very close match with 5 sets going to 5 games and even then being very close Trevor Mole and Jake Neilson of Astor managed a hat trick apiece and maybe the 7 -3 result flatters Astor a little, but throughout the evening there was some outstanding table tennis played by all players. The closest match saw Mole win a fifth end tie break against Anthony Shapland 5-11, 14-12, 7-11, 11-4, 12-10.
Div Three:
There was another enjoyable and friendly evening of table tennis when Woodland Fort A solidifying their lead in division 3 beating their D team club mates. Nigel Aston took Fort D's only point of the evening against Norman Hall 11-5, 11-13, 11-5, 11-9 but Jon Goldfield and Brian Luscombe came away with expected maximums and thus secured their promotion back to Div Two.
A straight 3 game win by Lee Mill’s Ann Warren against Astor E’s Richard Avent was a great highlight of the evening and a very close doubles going in Lee Mill's favour meant a close result after a string of wins going to the Astor team 6-4. Rob Jenkins secured a fine maximum for Astor. Some very good open attacking games saw Wendy Roberts (Lee Mill) really enjoy her matches, despite failing to win a game - again!
Div Four:
Horrabridge (John Cook, David Wilson and Crispin Jordan) inflicted another whitewash over bottom club Astor E but Dave Nash is steadily improving and narrowly lost out on winning a few games losing to Cook 9-11 in two games and Wilson 10-12 in one game.
W/C 05/02/24
Div One:
Shopfitting By SWS C could only manage to field two players but put up a good battle against Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C in a relegation battle. SWS’s Steve Tyler managed a brace and Steve Foster a solitary point in their 3-7 loss.
A brilliant match once again played in great spirits saw leaders Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A (Tony Sweet 3) defeat Shopfitting By SWS A 7-3, with the final score not reflecting the competitive nature of the match. With 4 sets going to the fifth game and no fewer than seven games going to a tie-break with Chaddy winning six of them.
Completing a full set of 7-3 victories in Div One this week, Shopfitting By SWS B, with a new signing of Martin Parnell, won at Crafthole A. Parnell and Mike Briggs both secured maximums but each of the Crafthole players beat John Palmer.
Div Two:
A very closely contested match with 3 games going to 5 sets saw Astor B and Astor C draw their match. Chris Tucker and Les Cole for the B team won 3 and 2 matches respectively while Jake Neilson for the C team won 2 with Trevor Mole and Martin Fowler winning 1 each. The C team easily won the doubles. Neilson came from 1-2 down against Tony Powlesland to win 11-9, 13-15, 5-11, 11-88, 11-2.
The top two teams in the league locked horns with Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B (Travis Foster 3) winning 7-3 over Astor A. The evening saw some exciting long rallies, some vicious attacking shots and the match was played in the perfect spirit of the game with a few decisions amicably sorted between the teams. Four of the sets went to the fifth game with the spoils shared. Despite the loss, Astor should be promoted along with Chaddy with only two weeks remaining of this phase of the season.
Crafthole B secured their first win of phase two with a 7-3 victory over Woodland Fort C after a fine maximum from Rui Barreto although he didn’t have it all his own way with Ralph Stone taking him to the fifth end 11-6, 11-6, 2-11, 11-13, 11-2.
Div Three:
A close match with 6 sets going all the way to the fifth end saw Astor D and Lee Mill battle it out with Astor just winning 6-4 thanks to a maximum from Steve Harvey but it was Ann Warren who pushed him all the way and only losing 9-11 in the fifth end.
Astor E managed an improvement on their previous 10 nil defeat at the hands on runaway league leaders Woodland Fort A by only losing 2-8. A win by Richard Avent over Fort’s Norman Hall and a 5 set win in the doubles by Avent and Ken Chambers over Norman Hall and John Goodfield (3) saw their only points of the match. Fort’s Brian Luscombe however did inflict a heavy defeat on Avent by whitewashing him in one game and winning in three straight games.
Woodland Fort D hosted Ivybridge B and came out winning 10-0 with Barry Oliver, Peter Andrews and Nigel Aston achieving maximums. Although, it appears one sided there were some fine long rallies and the general standard was very good. Young Toby Spencer continues to improve with his variety of shots. Despite the score line it was still an evening enjoyed by all! With this win, Fort can now not be caught at the top of the division.
Div Four:
Chaddlewood (Marjon) D (John Chadwick, Adam Forshaw and Ben Kelsey) inflicted another whitewash over bottom team Astor F (Kieran McGarry, Dave Nash and Jewel Vittle) but despite this the Astor players turn up every week and give it their best effort and certainly enjoy the matches and have fun.
W/C 29/01/24
Div One:
Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A were victorious over Shopfitting By SWS B A after a cracking evenings table tennis played in a great spirit, but they didn’t have it all their own way only winning 7-3. The match was topped off with a brilliant game of doubles with Gary West and Mike Briggs beating Tony Sweet and Garry Reed 11-5, 9-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9.
Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C languish at the bottom of the table after suffering their third whitewash of this phase, this time against Shopfitting By SWS A.
Iain Oxenham and Shirley Luckhurst, both with different styles, came away with maximums for Crafthole A when they played Shopfitting By SWS C, although Oxenham needed a bit of luck in winning two tie-breaks against Steve Tyler. It was Tyler who got his teams’ solitary point beating Mike Cookson in straight games.
Div Two:
A hard fought game between two teams playing each other for the fourth time this season saw Trevor Mole of Astor C pick up a maximum from two games down against Woodland Fort C’s Graham Cooksley (4-11, 9-11, 14-12, 11-6, 11-8 and in a seesaw battle with Ralph Stone (2) 3-11, 14-12, 12-10, 7-11, 11-9. Mole then paired up with Martin Fowler to secure the win by defeating Stone and Cooksley in the doubles.
The top two Astor teams locked horns but after some exciting matches the A team beat their B team club mates and look very likely to return to Div One after this phase of matches. Astor A started strongly taking a 5-nil lead at the half way stage. Tony Powlesland from the B team then upset the form book by beating Tony Maestri, who had previously been unbeaten in this division break 11-4, 4-11, 11-7, 4-11, 13-11. Les Cole (Astor B) turned back the years, playing some vintage attacking and drop shots to take the next point from Steve Cookson. However that was as far as they got, with Astor A eventually running out 8-2 winners and Garlick securing his maximum.
Div Three:
Astor E and Woodland Fort D had a competitive match which finally ended with a 5 all draw. Fort’s Nigel Aston took all 3 singles but only after defeating Ken Chambers and Rob Jenkins in 5 games. Against Rob Jenkins it went down to the final point which Aston won on an impossible to return net cord. It hit the net went straight down and then bounced back over the net, thus winning 11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 10-12, 12-10. Chambers and Jenkins took 2 apiece. Although Fort’s John Cobbledick did not win a game, he played extremely well hitting some great point winners.
Lee Mill could only manage to field two players due to injury and late illness but still managed a much needed victory thanks to a maximum from Mark Chapman and a fine double from Ann Warren before combining to win the doubles as well. The closest match saw Toby Spencer just defeat Warren 13-11, 10-12, 11-9, 12-10 with all games being won within two points.
Leaders Woodland Fort A could only field two players but managed a draw against Astor D after Brain Luscombe secured his maximum, and this was backed up by Norman Halls brace.
Div Four:
Chaddlewood (Marjon) D suffered a heavy defeat to table topping Woodland Fort B 2-8 with Abel Hernandez and Richard Searle both securing maximums, followed by a brace from 82 year old Mike Willis. It was Adam Forshaw who stopped Willis obtaining his maximum by beating him in straight games but his sets against Hernandez and Searle he manged to take them all the way to the fifth end but just lost out.
W/C 22/01/24
Div One:
Great match once again played in great spirits saw Shopfitting By SWS A and their C team mates lock horns but the match went in favour of the A team winning 10 nil. The final score did not reflect the competitive nature of the match. Unfortunately with the injured Bryn Ford missing, it made the match a lot easier than if he had been available.
There was a close encounter between Shopfitting By SWS B and Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C. SWS’s Gary West took the a perfect maximum winning all his matches in straight games. West partnered Mike Briggs in the doubles to secure a 6-4 win beating Chris Dunn and Chris Dyson comfortably.
Leaders Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A travelled to Crafthole and came away with a 9-1 victory with only Garry Reed losing the solitary point to Shirley Luckhurst. Luckhurst won the first game 13-11, only for Reed to take the lead winning the next two ends 11-8, 11-8. Luckhurst then won the remaining two games in a close match 11-8, 11-9.
Div Two:
Astor B hosted Woodland Fort C and the match finished in a draw after a good friendly match. Chris Tucker took a maximum for Astor. Graham Cooksley and Ralph Stone both took braces for Fort along with the doubles. All but one of the matches was won in straight games.
Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B ran out 8-2 winners over Astor C with Steve hill and Shaun Gilbert taking maximums despite Gilbert not having played or practiced for over 10 weeks. Jake Neilson and Trevor Mole took the points for Astor.
Div Three:
A maximum from Richard Avent made him the stand-out player for Astor E in their away match against Astor D and he certainly enjoyed getting his money's worth. Each of his sets went to 5 ends with Avent coming from behind in all of them. The best was against Steve Harvey where Avent won the fourth 14-16 before closing it out in the next. He was supported by Robbie Jenkins and Bob Steel as Astor E took the match 7-3 in a fine sporting contest with Steve Harvey getting 2 for the home side in a match that contained 7 tie-breaks overall.
Woodland Fort D entertained Lee Mill with the hosts losing 4-6 and no one achieving a maximum. All the matches seemed to be fast and furious so the evening finished earlier than usual. In the closest match Peter Andrews (Fort D), with the help of some terrific hitting defeated Mark Chapman over 5 ends 11-9, 3-11, 11-13, 11-4, 12-10. There was a good performance from Lee Mill’s Wendy Quick in winning two matches against Andrews and Pete Cobbledick.
Ivybridge B lost 3-7 to l Brian Luscombe taking a maximum for his team. Ivy’s young Toby Spencer did manage to beat Norman Hall and Jon Goodfield showing he is quickly learning his game and using it to his advantage to overcome seasoned players.
Div Four:
Woodland Fort inflicted a whitewash over bottom team Astor F but the highlight of the evening saw Fort’s Dave Wyatt and Dave Nash battle it out in an interesting game with many long rallies with Wyatt winning the first game 17-15.
The second 5-5 draw of the Phase between Ivybridge A and Chaddlewood (Marjon) E shows they are clearly evenly matched. Six of the matches went to at least 4 games. Toby Spencer, now playing for Ivy A grabbed a maximum, coming back from 2-1 down against Ben Kelsey. Chaddys Mike Chapple and Adam Forshaw won a brace apiece.
W/C 15/01/24
Div One:
Despite the match between Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A and club mates from the C team ending in a 10 nil victory for Chaddy A, the match was an entertaining affair with some cracking play from all players with the score line was not a true representation of how closely fought many of the matches were.
Dan Kayes of Shopfitting By SWS A turned from zero (losing all three matches last week) to hero after finding his backhand smash this week taking the only maximum in his teams match against Crafthole A. The match was played once again in great spirits, with the final score of 8-2 to SWS not reflecting the competitive nature of the match. Crafthole’s injured Mike Cookson battled through the evening, but never gave up and battled admirably and it was Iain Oxenham who took both of Crafthole’s points.
There was a maximum for Mike Briggs of Shopfitting By SWS B in the match against their C club mates. A good game between John Palmer of the B team against Steve Foster from the C team got the evening underway, going all the way to the fifth end with Foster winning 8-11, 12-10, 7-11, 14-12, 11-9. Steve Tyler’s (2) constant retrieving made the matches very awkward for the B team. Bryn Ford had to retire injured against Gary West (2) with a knee injury and so conceded the game.
Div Two:
Woodland Fort C won the first match of the evening with Graham Cooksley beating Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B’s John Steuart in five ends with some consistent blocking, but then Fort lost the next 4 matches in straight games. Fort’s Ralph Stone managed to win 2 matches but with Travis Foster stepping in at the last minute Chaddy went on to win the overall match 7-3.
Div Three:
A fun, close and friendly match with some excellent rallies saw Woodland Fort A travel to Lee Mill and beat them 6-4. Ann Warren had a great win over Fort’s Norman Hall winning three games to love, her first time in many a year! Fort’s Brian Luscombe lost his first match in this phase losing to Mark Chapman is straight games. The doubles was closely fought with a win for Lee Mill making the overall score a little more respectable. Lee Mill are really missing Richard Smaridge who is not match fit at the moment, hopefully, he will be back in action soon.
A fine maximum from Steve Harvey (his third straight maximum) helped Astor D to achieve a draw against Woodland Fort D in a very competitive match. The stand-out set was won by Andy Watmore of Astor who was 0-2 down 10-12, 16-18, to Pete Andrews but came back to win the next 3 to give him a brace on the night, with both sets going to 5 games.
Div Four:
Ivybridge A did not have it entirely their own way against Astor F as the score of 10-0 suggests. Astor’s Paul Nash took a game off Jeremy Willcox and another in the doubles with Kieran McGarry, who is rapidly improving, and will soon be giving opponents more problems with his short serve and fine smash.
W/C 08/01/24
Div One:
Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A continued their winning ways after the Christmas and New Year break beating Shopfitting By SWS C 9-1. Steve Tyler took the solitary point for SWS by beating Sam Bruty 11-8, 8-11, 11-4, 11-8. SWS’s Bryn Ford fought hard and managed to take a game of each of the Chaddy players but fell short in the end.
There was a surprise when Shopfitting By SWS A (Dan Kayes, Colin Mitchell and Mike Griffiths) played their club mates from the B team (John Palmer, Gary West and Mike Briggs), on a cold night at HQ, with the B team running out 6-4 winners despite a maximum from Griffiths. 3 matches went all the way to the fifth end and 5 matches went to the fourth end, meaning only 2 matches were won in straight games.
Div Two:
With Astor A having dropped down from Division 1, and Woodland Fort C having been promoted from Division 3 Astor might have expected a much easier night than they got for their 6-4 win. Steve Garlick started the evening well taking the first point of the night against Ralph Stone, John Sherlock then had a prolonged set against Graham Cooksley in the second, which went to the full 5 ends with Cooksley taking the 5th end 11-5 to secure the point. This set the tone for all 3 of Cooksley's games, with his match against Steve Cookson also going to the full 5 ends. As the match entered the final singles set, Astor were 5-3 up, with Garlick and Cooksley both having won 2 points and playing for their maximums. Garlick started strongly, taking the first two ends 11-7, 11-1 and looked safe to secure the win, but Cooksley fought back well over the next 3 ends to take the set and his maximum.
Crafthole B hosted Astor C and it was not the best of starts from the home team going 0-5 down, but they rallied to earn a respectable 4-6 defeat which actually felt like a win! Obviously, with Crafthole missing their best players Rui Barreto and Holly Davis, this was going to be a struggle. There were no maximums for any players on the night.
Astor B lost 1-9 to Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B (Travis Foster 3, Russ Keith 3) with Chris Tucker saving the whitewash by defeating John Steuart in five ends and coming from 2 nil down to win 9-11, 2-11, 11-4, 12-101, 11-6. The whole match was played in great spirits between friends.
Div Three:
The first meeting of Astor D and newly promoted Ivybridge B was closer than the score line suggests with 3 sets going to 5 ends but Astor came out on top winning 9-1. There were maximums for Steve Harvey and Andy Watmore and the single point for Ivy’s Alan Spencer in 5 games against Nick May. This was a great open match and was enjoyed by all.
There was a mismatch between leaders Woodland Fort A and their D club mates with the A team winning 9-1, only losing the doubles to Pete Andrews and Nigel Aston.
Div Four:
No results.
W/C 11/12/23
Div One:
A classic encounter ensued when Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A hosted Shopfitting By SWS A and the match did not disappoint with the spoils shared except that SWS’s Mike Griffiths came away with a maximum only losing one game to Glyn Price. The best and closest comeback of the evening saw Chaddy’s Garry Reed come back from 1-2 down against Jan Walaszkowski to win 8-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8.
Gary West took a maximum for Shopfitting By SWS B against Crafthole A helping his team to a 6-4 win.
Chris Dunn and Steve Hugh both secured maximums for Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B in their 8-2 victory over Shopfitting By SWS C.
Div Two:
An early top of the table clash saw demoted Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B and Astor A lock horns in a great spirited and friendly match with Chaddy running out 6-4 winners. However, Astor’s Tony Maestri was the man of the match winning a maximum and beating Travis Foster in five ends 4-11, 11-8, 11-5, 8-11, 11-6. Both teams look likely to return to Div One at the end of this phase.
Astor B’s Les Cole had two very close games against Astor C’s Martin Fowler and Jake Neilson and then had success against Trevor Mole with more nets and edges than others will ever get in a lifetime. After a hard fought evening played in good spirit Astor C crept home to a 6-4 despite Chris Tucker taking a maximum for the B team.
There were maximums for Ralph Stone and Graham Cooksley for Woodland Fort C and along with Glenn Delaney, winning his first point in this division, secured a 7-3 victory over Crafthole B.
Div Three:
It was two years ago when Lee Mill last played against Astor D and that resulted in an 8-2 win for Lee Mill. A little different this evening with Steve Harvey having some great games scoring a maximum. Ann Warren was the best of the Lee Mill players wining two out of three with a great game against Andy Watmore coming back in all three games. All the games were pretty fast and furious with some very open play, a style not really suiting Lee Mill at the moment. This match just goes to show that there is very little difference between some teams in Division Two and those in Division Three.
Recently promoted Astor E (Bob Steele, Richard Avent, Rob Jenkins) met relegated Woodland Fort A (Brian Luscombe, Jon Goldfield, Norman Hall) in an evening of enjoyable table tennis. Despite the final score, 10-0, there were some hard fought games and some great rallies throughout the evening.
Spectators witnessed some amazing tense tactical table tennis as Woodland Fort’s Barry Oliver won the first game 22-24 in his match against Ivybridge’s Chris Collings (3). The second game was also remarkable, with Oliver winning 14-16. All looked lost for Collings in the third trailing 5-9, but he pulled a miracle from the bag winning 13-11, once he worked out that tactics and started using top spin he claimed the remaining games 11-9, 11-9. Fort eventually won the match 7-3.
Div Four:
Poor Astor F languishes at the bottom of the league after another whitewash this time at the hands of Chaddlewood (Marjon). Astor’s Dave Nash did however take a couple of games off Mike Chapple and John Dodd.
Woodland Fort B and Horrabridge played out a draw in their encounter with no person claiming a maximum in a great evening of play. Fort's Dave Wyatt lost out narrowly to Crispin Jordan for his hattrick and Fort's Mike Willis had a hard earned win against David Wilson. Horrabridge's John Cook managed to beat Richard Searle winning in five ends.
W/C 04/12/23
Div One:
Great match between Shopfitting By SWS A and Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C resulted in Shopfitting By SWS A whitewashing Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C. Once again the match was played in great spirits, with the final score not reflecting the competitive nature of the match. Jan Walaszkowski and Steve Hugh played out a 5 set match with SWS’s Walaszowski recovering from 2 sets down to overcome the dogged Hugh. Colin Mitchell and Chris Dunn played out the other 5 set match, this time with Chaddy’s Dunn recovering from 2 sets down, but losing out in the 5th set. SWS’s Mike Griffiths continues to show his pedigree after returning to TT after a 5 year break.
Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A beat Shopfitting By SWS B 8-2 with only two matches going to the 5th end. The first saw Chaddy’s Sam Bruty beat Martin Parnell in a fifth end tie-break 9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 6-11, 12-10 and Chaddy’s Garry Reed defeat John Palmer 11-7, 11-6, 9-11, 10-12, 11-3. There was another perfect maximum for Chaddy’s Tony Sweet winning all his three matches in straight games.
Other results: Crafthole A 6 v 4 Shopfitting By SWS C
Div Two:
Astor B hosted their B team club mates in a good friendly match with A team only losing 1 set. Martin Fowler playing in lieu of Chris Tucker took the only set for Astor B with Steve Garlick and Tony Maestri scoring maximums. Les Cole only just lost to John Sherlock in a tight match and a deciding tie-break 11-9, 6-11, 9-11, 11-9, 10-12. The result could have been much closer except for some lucky nets and edges.
Astor C and Woodland Fort C played out a drawn match with Fort’s Ralph Stone being in form and claiming his first maximum in this division after his team was promoted. Both Jake Neilson and Martin Fowler secured braces.
There was a very competitive match played out between host Crafthole B and visiting Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B. Chaddy’s Travis Foster achieved a perfect maximum with straight game wins. After 6 sets the match was all square at 3-a-piece but the Chaddy showed their strength winning the remaining matches including the doubles to win 7-3. Crafthole’s Anthony Shapland won 2 matches from his best performance of the season so far.
Div Three:
Andy Watmore of Astor D was feeling unwell when he arrived for the match and, in the end, had to retire sick as he was too unwell to play. Steve Harvey took the only point for Astor in a 5-game set against Jon Goodfield and came close against Norman Hall but lost 11-13 in the fifth. Overall Woodland Fort A were very strong and won 9-1.
Newly promoted Ivybridge B were up to justify their Division 3 position as they began their first match against Lee Mill, and walked away 7-3 victors (Chris Collings 3), however the score line hides Lee Mills magnificent fight, as they only lost 1 set in straight games.
With last weeks match postponed Woodland Fort D played their first match in phase 2 of the season against promoted Astor E, coming out on top 6-4 with Nigel Aston for Fort D achieving his maximum in straight games. All the games were over quickly with only one singles extended to 4 ends making for an early finish to the evening. However the doubles was very close going to 5 ends with Aston and Peter Andrews (Fort D) prevailing 8-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9 over Ken Chambers and Robbie Jenkins.
Div Four:
Crispin Jordan of Horrabridge was unbeaten coming back from 1-2 down against Ivybridge’s Alan Davis in the tightest game of the night. Davis recorded a brace as did Ivy’s Toby Spencer who himself came back from 1-2 down against Dave Vanstone. There were 7 tie-breaks in this drawn match proving the closeness of the sets.
Other results: Woodland Fort B 6 v 4 Chaddlewood (Marjon) D
W/C 27/11/23
Div One:
Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A (winners of phase 1), started phase 2 with a 10 nil win over Crafthole A, but the score line flattered them, with the visitors putting up a great fight but Chaddy got the better of 3 of the 5 game battles. Probably the two stand out matches of the night feature Crafthole’s Mike Cookson. His first saw him storm to a two game lead against Sam Bruty with a brutal display of attacking prowess, but Bruty managed to fight his way back into the game finding his range with some spectacular defensive shots from the back of the room, eventually edging Cookson out in the 5th. Cookson's second match saw him face the in-form Garry Reed, in what could be described as an attacking tour de force with both players holding nothing back. Reed came out on top in four ends, but conceded that the match could have gone either way. Iain Oxenham, suffering with an injury couldn't duplicate the form that he normally shows, but fought well with good spirit.
Shopfitting By SWS C retuned to Div One after promotion and took on their club mates from the A team and suffered a 1-9 defeat despite Steve Foster winning the first match of the evening against Dan Kayes coming from 1-2 down to win 6-11, 12-10, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8. After that they fought hard but with Colin Mitchell and Jan Walaszkowski both taking maximum lost their first match of the new phase.
Shopfitting By SWS B won 7-3 away at Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C.
Div Two:
Newly promoted Woodland Fort C came up against Astor B and were unlucky not to get a draw out of the match only losing 4-6. The closet match saw Fort’s Graham Cooksley lose a fifth end tie-break to Chris Tucker 8-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-13, with Tucker then going on to take a maximum. There were no less than 8 tie-breaks through the match proving the closeness on the final score.
With Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B being relegated and Astor C being promoted you would expect a Chaddy to be too strong for Astor, but it was Astor’s Jake Neilson who upset the record taking a brace, beating Shaun Gilbert and John Steuart. Gilbert returned after a month long illness and Neilson took advantage playing a very reserved game and combined this with hard smashes won the point taking the fifth end 11-9.
Tony Maestri secured a great maximum for relegated Astor A in their 8-2 victory over Crafthole B. Maestri was 3-8 down against Rui Barreto in the final end and came back to win 11-8. Crafthole gave a good account of themselves and the end result could have been different as they lost 3 matches in the 5th end.
Div Three:
Newly promoted Astor E played a hard fought match against Astor D with no less than 8 tie-breaks in the game with Astor D taking the match 7-3. Andy Watmore, of the D team, took a maximum although his matches against Rob Jenkins & Ken Chambers went to 5 ends each. Rob Jenkins (2) won a 5 game match against Steve Harvey 11-9 in the fifth game (with the help of a few lucky edges). Jenkins also won the match against Nick May and the doubles with Ken Chambers.
Div Four:
Chaddlewood (Marjon) D drew their game against Ivybridge A who had young Toby Spencer standing in and taking points from Mike Chapple and Adam Forshaw. Spencer’s team mate Alan Davis also took a brace and then the pair won the doubles to secure the draw.