Battle Of The Basement Ends In Stalemate

The bottom two sides in Division One met this week with both of them looking to have one of over one each other to try and climb away from the relegation trap door. Stanley Street 'A' probably went into the match as slight favourites against their opponents DTH Redlands Monsters and made the brighter start with Peter Eyre defeating Orestas Riauba to put Street 'B' into an early lead. It was a lead that didn't last long as Martynas Riauba defeated Dave Hodgkin followed by his brother Valentinas beating Alex Millward to put the Monsters in front. Their lead was further enhanced when Orestas also defeated Hodgkin to put the Monsters 3-1 in front to leave Stanley Street in a spot of bother. Eyre and Millward the won their next singles games against Valentinas and Martynas respectively to square the contest at 3 games all. The doubles game was up next with Eyre and Hodgkin winning through to put them 4-3 ahead with three to play but the Monsters hit back with when Valentinas beat Hodgkin and Orestas defeated Millward to put the Monsters 5-4 in front. The outcome of the match was now down to Eyre and Martynas Riauba and the honours went to Eyre who defeated his opponent in 4 snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat. It was both sides first point of the season but with wins and 3 points required to pull away from the bottom a draw may not be the best result for either side in the long run.
Another team at the wrong end of the Division One table is Worksop Welfare Snipers 'A' and this week they were up against the form side in the division Worksop Miners Welfare 'A' and there cause wasn't helped by only having to field two players which allowed Welfare 'A' to coast to a comfortable victory. Mark Stanfield and Richard Element both beat Erlands Skels and Jim Westwood with the only joy coming for the Snipers in a 9-1 defeat when Skels beat Dave Marsh.
Sparken Hill Starlings are another side hovering above the bottom two but will probably have enough in their locker to stave off relegation despite going down to an 8-2 defeat away at DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys. Steve Johnson was man of the match as he set his Fluffy Toys team on their way to victory with a commanding hat trick of wins. He was well supported by Steve Walker and Farrell Anthony who both won two each both losing out to Helmuth Osborne.
The one other fixture in Division One was a local derby between club colleagues Manton Nomads and Manton Misfits. For the Misfits both Sarah Short and Chris Cattell were on top form defeating all three Misfits in Malcolm Manuel, Steve Lyon and Kalpesh Bhatt. Kartik Lakhani added a single win over Manuel before Short and Cattell teamed up to take the doubles against Lyn and Bhatt to put the icing on the cake in an 8-2 win.
It's tight at the top with DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys currently heading up the table but they have played a game more than the team in second place Worksop Miners Welfare 'A' who are on the same number of points.
Division Two Results: Worksop Welfare Snipers 'C' 2 Stanley Street 'B' 8, DTH Redlands Rookies 8 DTH Redlands X-Youth 8.
Division Three Results: DTH Redlands Tarr Babies7 DTH Redlands Red Devils 3, Worksop Owls 4 Sparken Hill Falcons 6, Sparken Hill Blue Jays 6 Worksop Welfare Cypriots 'A' 4, Sparken Hill Hawks 4 Worksop Welfare Cypriots 'B' 6.