Match Reports - Week Sixteen
Division 1
Rudford ‘A’ 8
Rudford ‘C’ 2
In the Rudford derby, the double act of Ann Barnes and Ken Smith reigned supreme, with hat tricks each, with Ann losing the fewest sets between them, just the one to Stuart Greene.
Simon Moysey added a further point beating Mel Garlick in a five setter.
Lee Bruton and Stuart grabbed a point each, winning in four over Simon.
Rudford ‘B’ 2
Optimists 8
In the first of two matches on consecutive evenings for Rudford ‘B’, they started off on a losing note to Optimists whose winning sequence continues.
Maximums from Mike Kiff including two tough 5 set wins over Keith Foord and Alan Perratt and Steve Greening who also was taken to five once by Rudford’s other player Trevor Oliver. Alan Churchill chipped in with two more wins, but Trevor got the better of him in 4 in their singles tie for a point for Rudford ‘B’.
They then make it two, with Trevor and Alan beating Mike & Steve in the doubles in a 5th set.
RSV & Friends ‘A’ 8-2 Forest Products
This was Forest Products second match in 2 nights, although this fixture was scheduled for this week in the league season, and after a crushing win the previous night, RSV were a much tougher opposition all together.
A mention for Don Sweeney who not only, was the only player for the away side to win any points, but as well as winning two singles, he ended Abu Saleh long unbeaten run of 35 games, to leave Darren Griffin of Optimists as the only unbeaten player in Division One and leave just the three players undefeated in the entire league.
This though was RSV’s night with three wins for Yacoob Tilly including a successful five set battle with Rob Freeman, two wins for Ahmed Bham whom defeated Lesley Slack in 5 after going two sets down and a five set victory over the luckless Rob, and two for Abu who won his other ties in straight sets.
Forest Products lost a fourth tie in a fifth set, going down 8-11, 11-8, 11-7, 14-16, 7-11 in the doubles.
Week 13 Result - Optimists 7-3 Debenhams ‘B’
Despite Optimists scoring seven points from this match-up they will only get five points added to their team total, due to them sending in the scorecard later than the number of days allowed to do so.
Anyhow, Darren Griffin won all three and no sets dropped for the home team with Alan Churchill contributing two more wins and Steve Greening a further win.
For Debenhams, Alec Robinson beat Steve in a 5th set after trailing by 2 sets to one and Chris Ball claimed a pair of wins, defeating both Steve and Alan in four sets.
Steve and Alan finished off the evening by getting the better of Chris & Phil Hatherall in four sets in the doubles.
Week 15 Result - Forest Products 10-0 Rudford ‘B’
This was a rearranged fixture, which should have been played in the last league week before the Christmas and New Year break, and what a start to the year for the hosts with a cleansweep over opponents who have picked up just two points from two matches in the first week of January.
Russell Hayward and Graham Slack had too much class for the trio from Rudford with neither of them dropping a set for their 3 wins apiece.
Rob Freeman also won three, albeit losing a set apiece to Keith Foord and Dave Pearce.
Division 2
Debenhams ‘C’ 4
Highnam ‘B’ 6
The duo of the division, James Dance & Dave Gough secured Highnam yet another victory.
It is an age ago since James last lost a singles tie and that run goes on, with James claiming a hat trick, including beating Paul Singh in straight sets who is one of only two players to have won against James this season. Credit goes to Chris White who pushed James close, but James won through eventually in a fifth set.
Dave Gough contributed two more wins losing his other tie 12-10 in the fifth to Tony Williamson. Highnam ‘B’ sealed the win when James and Dave joined forces and defeated Tony and Chris in a 4 set doubles.
Tony for Debenhams won another, Chris won 1 and Paul just about won a further point edging out Jo Pigott in yet another 12-10 deciding set.
Highnam ‘C’ 9
British Energy ‘A’ 1
The visitors battled very hard and didn’t go down without a real fight. The home side was taken twice to 5 sets and five times to 4 sets, but won all those singles matches.
Barney Upton was rather unfortunate especially as he led both Neil Dowding and Mariusz Plaskowicki by one set with two possible sets left, but he couldn’t see it through just running out of puff in the last set on both occasions.
Three wins for Tony Wauchope who lost just two sets, the fewest out of the Highnam trio, Neil & Mariusz. Highnam ‘C’ are in a rich vein of form at the minute and look likely to challenge for a top two spot come the end of the season.
The visitors finally got some reward for all their efforts, with Matthew and Charles defeating Tony & Pete Dainty who came in as the substitute doubles player, in a topsy-turvy 5 set thriller which went to a tiebreak in the final set.
A welcome return to the league for Pete.
Rudford ‘E’ 4
RSV & Friends ‘B’ 6
RSV stay in second position after grinding out a win over a more experienced team from Rudford, crucially RSV won 3 of the 4 ties that went the distance.
Ben Roberts and Hamza Bham claimed a brace each. Ben was pushed hard by Rich Spry before winning in five and the same went for Hamza against Pete Humble. Hamza was denied a third win by an inspired Trevor Seymour in a 5 setter.
Nick Walker contributed a win edging out Rich in another 5 setter.
Trevor Seymour though was the man of the moment with a maximum and there was a win for Pete Humble over Nick in four sets.
The doubles settled the overall outcome with Ben and Hamza winning comfortable in three sets versus Pete & Rich.
Rudford ‘E’ in actual fact scored 6 points more than their opponents (376-370), but it is ties won that count!
British Energy ‘B’ 3
Rudford ‘D’ 7
With Rudford ‘D’ fielding their strongest line-up possible, they were just too good for lowly placed British Energy ‘B’.
The three points won by the hosts in this match though, has meant they’ve moved off the bottom for one week at least, level on points with Redcliffe College, but ahead due to British Energy ‘B’ winning more games over the season so far (two compared to Redcliffe’s nil).
At one stage Rudford were leading 7-0, but the home team fought very hard to pull back 3 consolation points. Star of the night was Kim Selfe with three well deserved wins, and supported by two wins apiece from Stewart Jones and Chris Beard.
For the home team, Dave McIntosh won 1 beating Chris in an epic 5 setter with very little margin in each set between the pair of them, and Dave Moore too won a point triumphing over a much higher placed player in the averages, in the form of Stewart. Dave Moore should have won a second tie blowing a two set cushion to be nabbed by Chris 11-9 in a fifth set.
In one of only two ties that were settled in three sets, the Energy ‘B’ pairing of Dave McIntosh and George Evans breezed through the doubles against Stewart and Chris.
This match didn’t finish until after 11pm, due to 5 ties going to five sets and three going to four and several sets going to a tiebreaker.
Division 3
Crypt ‘A’ 2
Rudford ‘F’ 8
A very good all-round team performance from the visitors, with a hat trick from ‘Super’ Sten Salisbury losing just the solitary set along the way, and two wins apiece from Elaine Marshall & Dave Vye.
Nigel Cullis pulled a couple of points back for Crypt, but with Adam Crabbe in the doubles they were powerless against Dave & Sten, which resulted in a 3 set loss for Crypt.
Rudford ‘G’ 4
Civil Service 6
The partnership of Paul Daniels and Phil Lewis was just too much for the hosts, with Paul winning all three, and a brace from Phil.
Martyn Brown added a further win coming from 2-1 behind to win versus Paul Russom.
Luke Woodliffe & Will English led the Rudford charge, with Luke winning two, a win for Will and together in the doubles they triumphed in four over Paul & Phil.
S.T.R. ‘B’ 5
RSV & Friends ‘C’ 5
A share of the spoils was the result of this clash between two well matched teams. Elliott King of the home side was the star of the night, being the only player on the show to remain undefeated. Mike Gray gave him a scare before Elliott saw him off 11-8 in the 5th.
Ed Watson added to Elliott’s three wins with two of his own, and as well seeing off Mike in a 5th set.
Mike finally came through a 5 setter victorious as he defeated Abdu Afifi 11-9 in the final set. Umair Ganny secured two wins and Brin Davis one and both, like Mike, beat Abdu in a 5th set.
RSV won the doubles 12-10, 11-8, 11-13, 11-9 to grab the last point and make it all square after 10 ties played.
Phoenix ‘A’ 5
Grange Baptist 5
Divisional leaders Grange Baptist shared the points at Phoenix ‘A’ in the first game after Christmas.
Captain Alistair Wood kept up his majestic form winning all his games and just losing the solitary set. Support from Errol Johnson who won 2.
For home team Andy Browett won 2 (with borrowed bat), Chris East & Angie Brear won 1 each, Angie’s win as a result of coming back a two set deficit to win vs. Len Horwood.
Chris & Angie in the doubles achieved a four set victory over Alistair and Len.
Week 15 Result - Rudford ‘F’ 7-3 Phoenix ‘A’
A fantastic win this for Rudford ‘F’ over one of the best teams in this division, thanks to Fabrizio Trifiro’s three triumphs, two from Sten Salisbury including fighting back in his final tie against Chris East from 7-10 down in the fifth to win and a win from Elaine Marshall.
At one point Rudford were 5-0 up, and according to Sten it has been many, many matches since this last happened.
Trevor Cox made the score line slightly better for Phoenix with two four set wins and a win for Chris over Elaine 11-6 in the fifth set.
Sten & Fabrizio did the job in the doubles in four sets over Chris & Angie, so that Fabrizio remained undefeated in singles and doubles, and they stretched their winning margin to four points.
Division 4
Crypt ‘C’ 6
Phoenix ‘B’ 4
If Crypt had not been a player short, this would have been a bigger win, but even so they won six of the seven ties played.
Shirley Bailey with a maximum, two wins from Matt Emmett & combined in the doubles they won in 4 over Bob Vallender and Emmanuel Byilingro.
All of Matt’s games went to five, winning two-thirds of them losing one-third to Bob 12-10 in the final set. Shirley was also taken to five by Bob, but she came out on top 11-9 in the deciding set.
S.T.R. ‘D’ 3
Highnam ‘D’ 7
Highnam ‘D’ won 7-0 on the evening, so didn’t lose an actual contested tie, but S.T.R. ‘D’ got given three points before the match even started, due to Highnam being a player short.
Derek Pigott and Stewart Blencowe won their three ties easily indeed, with Derek the only player to lose a set, that being to Harkeerit Kalsi, S.T.R. ‘D’ Number One player.
The doubles was the only competitive tie of the match, with the Highnam duo coming back from a two set to one deficit to triumph in five over Stuart Carver and Gavin Kwok.
Week 15 Result - Crypt ‘B’ 3-7 S.T.R. ‘C’
Crypt were always up against it, with just two players turning up for them against a three player team of Tommies’ lads who are aiming for second position and promotion this term.
Deborah Feltham did all she could, by winning a maximum with only Sammy Hau getting a set off her, but Sammy, Chris Green and Bohan Du all defeated Beth Williams in different margins, and then in the doubles, Sammy & Chris won in straight sets versus Deborah and Beth to round-off the match in style for the away team.
George Evans
Press Secretary
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