Eagles Fall Further Behind Leaders
Sparken Hill Eagles lost more ground to Clowne ‘C’, the Division Two leaders this week as they dropped points in the race for the Division Two title as they drew with Carlton X-Youth in the race for the title. X-Youth welcomed back Simon Holley who was making his first appearance of the season and despite not playing for a while he managed to walk away with the Player Of The Match award. Hooley recorded a hat-trick of singles wins against Chris Tilstone, John Hallgarth and Keith Swift and then had a hand in winning the doubles with Mark Bloomer against Tilstone and Hallgarth. Mark Bloomer added a win over Tilstone to add to Hooleys wins to secure the draw. For the Eagles, Hallgarth and Swift both won two each beating Bloomer and Mark Cooper with Tilstone adding a single win over Cooper to leave the scores level at 5-5.
Another two sides that couldn’t be separated in Division Two this week were Manton Sports and Worksop Welfare Harriers ‘A’. Harriers Andy Vinson had a great night for himself and his team as he remained unbeaten in the singles with vital wins over the Sports trio of Alan Wilson, Steve Dix and Keith Smith. Dean Marsh added a single win over Smith before teaming up with Vinson to add the doubles to clinch a point. For Manton Sports, both Wilson and Dix won two each with Smith adding one win over Graham Stent.
The last game in Division Two this week saw Manton Tigers beat Worksop Welfare Harriers ‘B’ 9-1 to retain 3rd place in the table and to put some daylight between themselves and forth placed Welfare Harriers ‘A’. Hat tricks for both Ron Firth and Steve Beeston set the Tigers on their way to a deserved 3 points with Bill Bateman adding two wins over Dan Saul and Graham Stent before losing to Neil Fisher. Firth and Beeston teamed up to take the doubles in straight sets against Fisher and Saul to complete the scoring.
Into Division One and both Clowne teams had good wins this week to maintain their quest for a high league finish. Clowne ‘A’ had to battle hard away at Stanley Street to come away with all three points. Stanley Street’s Terry Emmerson continued his 100% start to the season as he beat all three Clowne players in Farrel Anthony, Joe Zygadlo and Roy Bowes but it wasn’t enough to stop his side slipping to a narrow 6-4 defeat.
Clowne ‘B’ entertained Sparken Hill Starlings and recorded a fairly comfortable looking 9-1 win. Hat tricks for both Simon Chatterton and Kartik Lakhani and two wins from Kalpesh Bhatt plus the doubles saw them cruise to victory. The only joy the Starlings had was when Ivan Guilliatt had a really good win over Bhatt.
Another Division One side that enjoyed a win this week was Sparken Hill Woodpeckers who dispatched Worksop Welfare Snipers 7-3. Woodpeckers Orestas Riauba was Player Of The Match as he won all of his three games and he was well supported by his brother Martynas and Mitchell Radford who both won two games. Jim Westwood and Ben Swain both won one game each for the Snipers before teaming up in the doubles to beat Radford and Orestas Riauba.
Due to Sparken Hill not being available due to the half term holiday there was only one game in Division Three this week and that got cancelled at the last minute with a walk over and subsequently a 10-0 win for Sparken Hill Falcons away at Worksop Welfare Harriers ‘C’. The result means that the Falcons are now 3 points clear at the top of the division but having played a game more that their rivals.