Monster Of A Gap Opening At Top Of Table

Whilst the teams around them keep dropping points against each other, DTH Redlands Monsters have opened up a gap of 4 points between themselves and their rivals at the top of Division One which could be enough to see them lift the title for the first time. Their latest win came against bottom side Clowne ‘B’ who despite having new signing Joe Zygadlo playing for them could do little to stop the Monsters cruising to victory, although Zygadlo did beat Keiran Tutter to save the Clowne side from being whitewashed. The Monsters twins of Orestas and Martynas Riauba remained unbeaten in the singles as both of them beat Zygadlo, James Weston and Rob Vaughan with Orestas teaming up with Tutter to beat Vaughan and Zygadlo in the doubles to secure a 9-1 win.
The Monsters two main rivals for the Division One title fought out a 5-5 draw which in truth was a result that was no good to either side in their fight to keep in touch with the Monsters. DTH Redlands Monsters played host to Worksop Miners Welfare in a match that was nip and tuck from start to finish with no player from either side remaining unbeaten. For the Fluffy Toys both Steve Walker and Peter Cowburn won two games each with Walker beating Dave Marsh and Chris Cattell whilst Cowburn lost to Cattell but managed to beat Marsh and Richard Element. Farrell Anthony chipped in with a win over Marsh to ensure that the Fluffy Toys got the 5 wins required for the draw whilst Miners Welfare added the doubles match to their sides tally to make sure that they got a share of the spoils.
Last seasons Champions are looking like they will have to settle for a mid-table finish despite winning their latest league match against Worksop Welfare Snipers ‘A’ 8-2. Both Ernest Mpundu and Rick Harris returned fairly untroubled hat tricks with wins over Erlands Skels, Russ Webster and Pete Hodgson although Hodgson did manage to record a good win over Steve Fox. Hodgson also had a hand in the Snipers doubles win over Fox and Harris as he teamed up with Skels to win it in the deciding game.
The last match in Division One saw Clowne ‘A’ record a comfortable 9-1 win over Sparken Hill Starlings who are suffering from having only having three players in their squad which meant they had to play a player up from Division Two yet again. Clowne ‘A’ had both John Davies and Steve Lyon in top form as they both defeated Andy Lee, Ivan Guilliatt and John Hallgarth with only Andy Lee managing to chalk up a win for the Starlings when he beat James Wormwell. Wormwell and Davies paired up to register a comfortable win in straight sets in the doubles over Lee and Guilliatt to complete the scoring.
In Division Two Worksop Welfare Snipers ‘B’ saw their 100% record go but they managed to hang on to their unbeaten record with a 5-5 draw away at Stanley Street ‘B’. Despite leading 4-1 the Snipers just couldn’t get the all-important extra win to get them over the line.
The Snipers drawing allowed Manton Sports to close the gap on them at the top but the Snipers still have a sizeable lead on their rivals. Despite Sports being up against bottom side Worksop Welfare Harriers they only just managed to beat them 6-4 and could have quite easily lost the match 6-4 with the Sports having to rely on a Stuart Element hat-trick to get them over the line.
Another Manton side to have a close encounter were Manton Tigers who also had to rely on one of their players registering a hat-trick to get them over the line as Ron Firth remained unbeaten all night and also had a hand in the Tigers winning the doubles.
The biggest win in Division Two this week was recorded by Sparken Hill Eagles who whitewashed their club colleagues the Falcons 10-0 with hat-tricks all round for the Eagles trio of Tom Moore, Keith Swift and Brian Allen.
Another Sparken Hill side to enjoy a 10-0 win this week were Sparken Hill Starlings who beat DTH Redlands Mean Machine in Division Three with Ivan Stallworthy, Dave Lee and Dave Rix all registering hat-tricks.
DTH Redlands Rovers continued their great start to the season as they beat DTH Redlands Tarr Babies 6-4 in a what looked like a great match. Rovers Adam Pinches took the Player Of The Match award with an impressive hat-trick of wins.
DTH Redlands Rookies remain the only team over the three divisions to still have a 100% records and they had little trouble in beating Worksop Welfare Real Deal 10-0 to stay five points ahead of the Rovers at the top of the table.