Division Two Title Down To Just Two Teams

The battle to be crowned Division Two Champions is now effectively a two horse race between Stanley Street 'B' and DTH Redlands Joggers after the other side in title contention, Manton Tigers lost twice in six days. The Tigers first defeat was against Ryton Park Eagles, Paul Allison did his usual by registering a hat trick for the Tigers but neither of his team mates Dave Bowns and Phil Hall could add to his wins in a 7-3 defeat. For the Eagles John Hallgarth, Alex Olliffe and Keith Swift all beat Bowns and Hall with Olliffe and Hallgarth then teaming up to take the doubles to cement their victory.
Next up for The Tigers were Global Marble 'B', Allison and Bowns stepped down with Steve Beeston and Bill Bateman replacing them in their line-up but it couldn't stop them slipping to another 7-3 defeat. Global's Rob Vaughan was the Tigers main tormentor as he took all three Tigers scalps with Dilip Malkan adding a further two wins and Richard Robinson chipping in with one. Vaughan and Malkan then won the doubles against Hall and Beeston eventually winning it in the deciding 5th set.
Whilst the Tigers were watching their title aspirations slipping away both of their rivals were keeping the pressure on each other. Both DTH Redlands Joggers and Stanley Street 'B' ironically enjoyed 7-3 victories against the bottom two sides in the division. The Joggers defeated club colleagues X-Youth with Lea Dickinson continuing her fine form with yet another hat trick and she was well supported as usual by both Matthew Mudd and Lewis Comley who both won two games each. Clive Eden played well for X-Youth beating both Mudd and Comley and then added the doubles with Mark Bloomer against Mudd and Comley.
Stanley Street 'B' kept their six point lead at the top and it will have come as no surprise that they beat bottom side Manton Sports but what was surprising was that the Street's Kyle McIntosh had an off night losing to both Alan Wilson and Keith Smith when the form book suggested otherwise. Wilson also beat Matthew Williams but that's where the Sports wins ended as Paul Linfield beat all three Sports players in Wilson, Smith and Phil Fisher and with Williams also beating Smith and Fisher there was no way back for Sports.
With only a few games remaining the Joggers will have to win their game in hand and hope that other teams can do them a favour and take points of off Stanley Street 'B'.
Other Division Two Result: Ryton Park Eagles 4 DTH Redlands X-Youth 6
DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys may have won the Division One title at a canter but they lost their 100% record this week against Global Marble 'A'. After whitewashing Ryton Park Adders a few days before they turned up with only two players for their match with a Marble 'A' side who had put together a 4 match winning streak to near enough cement the runners-up spot. Before a ball was hit Marble were 3-0 up but despite the deficit the Toys duo of Steve Walker and Steve Fox did enough to come away with a point. The two wins on the night for Global came when Steve Lyons beat Walker and Adrian Baldi defeated Fox with Kartik Lakhani going home empty handed. The result of the match came down to the doubles which Fox and Walker won 3-1 against Lyon and Lakhani with one of the games incredibly won by a 22-20 scoreline!
Other Division One Result: Ryton Park Adders 3 Stanley Street 'A' 7
Division Three Results: On-Line Elks 7 Stanley Street Cypriots 3, Stanley Street Rascals 4 Stanley Street Cypriots 6, Ryton Park Dragons 0 Ryton Park Falcons 10, Stanley Street 'C' 8 Stanley Street Rascals 2, DTH Redlands Rookies 1 DTH Redlands Tarr Babies 9, Ryton Park Cougars 3 On-Line Elks 7.
The final of the MBE Trophy will be an all Stanley Street affair as the Cypriots defeated the On-Line Elks to make it to the final. The Cypriots trio of Graham Stent, Tom Parker and Adam Hamilton won enough points on the table before the handicap points were added to ensure a 490-443 victory.
Their opponents in the final of the MBE Trophy will be Stanley Street 'C' who progressed in another e Cup Competition this week winning their quarter final match in The Handicap Shield against Division One side DTH Redlands Roosters. The on off game was finally played with the Roosters winning on the table by 378 points to 185 but when the handicap envelope was opened at the end of the match it was Street 'C' who were smiling as they had been awarded 207 handicap points which meant they won the tie on the night 392-378 and progress to the semi-finals.
Most of you will already have learnt of the sad news last week of the death of Mike Tunningley and will know of the massive contribution Mike made to our league and table tennis in our area. In  recognition of this there will be a minutes silence held before the start of the matches at the first of the leagues Finals Nights at Stanley Street Club on the 25th of March in honour of all the hard work that Mike put into our league. Our thoughts are with his family at this sad time.