Elks And Cougars Keep Pressure On Leaders

With Division Three leaders DTH Redlands Rookies not having a league game the two teams chasing them took the opportunity to close the gap on them with both On-Line Elks and Ryton Park Cougars winning this week. The Elks had what looked like at first glance a comfortable 9-1 win over DTH Redlands Liver Birds but with many of the games being tight it was far from easy for the Elks. However, both Jonno Blood and Neil Houghton both won three games each with Glen Gillgrass adding a brace of wins losing out to Paul Jordan in a 5 set thriller. Ted Rizzo was making his debut for the Liver Birds and he can be pleased with his first ever game in the league and although he didn't manage to beat any of the Elks players he did give Neil Houghton a run for his money in losing 6-11, 10-12, 16-18. Houghton and Jerry Collins added the doubles set beating Paul and Elliot Jordan.
Ryton Park Cougars who were probably one of the favourites to get promotion back to Division Two this season are currently sitting in 3rd place and one point behind 2nd placed On-Line Elks who have a game in hand so a win this week was vital if they were going to keep in touch with their promotion rivals. Standing in their way of 3 points were DTH Redlands Tarr Babies who would be no pushovers and despite their lowly league position are more than capable of giving the top teams in the division a good game and if some of the very close games had gone the other way then the Cougars would have found themselves on the wrong end of a defeat they could do without. The Cougars star man on the night was Ivan Stallworthy who managed to register a hat trick despite going to 5 sets with Adam Pinches and to 4 close sets with Jack Tarr. Dave Lee added two wins for the Cougars which included being taken to 5 sets by the improving Roman Rosser and also by Adam Pinches with Lee's loss coming against veteran Jack Tarr and when Harvey Renshaw also managed to defeat Rosser it meant that the Cougars had the 6 sets required for victory which was just as well as Tarr and Pinches took the doubles rubber in 5 sets against Stallworthy and Connor Bettley to leave the overall match score at 6-4 to the Cougars.
Stanley Street 'E' have moved up into a comfortable mid table position and were helped along by Ryton Park Falcons only being able to field 2 players which immediately gave Stanley Street a 3-0 lead, a lead that they would just manage to hang onto until the end of the match. Both Tai Chen and Jasper Turner managed to beat Mick Potter to get 2 more sets and when Turner and Finlay Coburn teamed up to take the doubles against Potter and Lee Banton it was just enough to secure a 6-4 win.
Lee Banton can feel a little unlucky to find himself on the losing side as he played well to go home undefeated in the singles having managed to beat Chen, Turner and Coburn, the defeat leaves the Falcons just one point off the bottom of the division.
The battle for the promotion places in Division Two is hotting up with only 3 points separating the side in 2nd place and the side in 4th! Worksop Miners Welfare 'B' have started to put a run together which has seen them leapfrog their rivals into 2nd place with their latest win coming against Stanley Street Cypriots. Welfare's Jim Westwood was Man Of The Match as he registered an impressive hat trick with all of his wins coming in straight sets against George Makrakis, Neil Fisher and Graham Stent. Welfare 'B' didn't have it all their own way as George Makrakis defeated both Welfare's Glyn Payne and Adam Hamilton but that was the only joy the Cypriots had as both Stent and Fisher lost to Hamilton, Payne and Westwood and when the doubles went the way of the Welfare side it all added up to an 8-2 win Welfare 'B'.
There were also wins for the other two promotion hopefuls as DTH Redlands X-Youth beat bottom side Manton Sports 7-3 which included 2 wins each for Jeff Reay, Mark Bloomer and Clive Eden and a Paul Linfield hat trick set Stanley Street 'B' on their way to an 8-2 win over Manton Tigers.
The only promotion chasing side not to win this week were DTH Redlands Joggers who ran into the inform  league leaders and club colleagues DTH Redlands Monsters. Orestas Riauba remained unbeaten for the Monsters and he was well supported by brothers Valentinas who added two wins and Martynas who added a single win and when Martynas and Orestas won the doubles it was enough for the Monsters to come away with a 7-3 victory. Kyle McIntosh with 2 and Matthew Mudd with 1 were the scorers for the Joggers.
Division One Results: Manton Nomads3DTH Redlands Roosters 7, Ryton Park Adders 2 Ryton Park Eagles 8, Stanley Street 'A' 3 Manton Misfits 7, Worksop Miners Welfare 'A' 4 DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys 6