Monsters Go Back On Top In Style

DTH Redlands Monsters jumped back to the top of Division One with a thumping 10-0 win over their club rivals DTH Redlands X-Youth who are currently rooted to the bottom of the table. The Monsters side had little trouble in overcoming their opponents and there was hat trick all round for the three Riauba brothers Valentinas, Orestas and Martynas with Martynas then teaming up with Orestas to take the doubles match to complete the scoring. It looks like a long season ahead for the X-Youth side but Keiran Tutter, Clive Eden and Matt Turner can all take some comfort in the fact that they all had some close games with the Monsters who although head the division, will face much tougher opposition in their next two matches which are against two of the top sides in the league.
Level on points with the Monsters are Worksop Miners Welfare who were probably a tad fortunate to come away with all three points this week in their match with Sparken Hill Buzzards. The match was poised at 4-4 with Welfare’s Dave Marsh due to play Terry Emmerson but Emmerson had to leave due to a family illness and having to forfeit the game to give the Welfare side a 5-4 lead which turned into a 6-4 victory when Mark Stanfield defeated Kartik Lakhani in straight sets. Stanfield’s win over Lakhani completed an impressive hat trick for the Welfare player who had also beaten Chris Cattell and Emmerson earlier in the night. Dave Marsh added another win over Lakhani with Phil Walton beating Emmerson to complete the scoring for the Welfare side. Cattel with two wins, Lakhani with one and the doubles wasn’t quite enough for the Buzzards to claim a share of the points.
DTH Redlands Roosters currently sit in 4^th place in the Division One table but will surely have a say as to where the title goes to this season and they may well end up winning it themselves. This week they edged past an improving Sparken Hill Ospreys side with a 6-4 win with their star player this week being Ernest Mpundu who remained unbeaten all night and had little trouble in brushing aside all three Ospreys in Kalpesh Bhatt, Matt Fowkes and Bill Ainsworth. Mpundu had support from Rick Harris who beat both Ainsworth and Fowkes losing out to Bhatt in a 5-set battle. Steve Fox was the other scorer for the Roosters as he also defeated Ainsworth. Bhatt and Ainsworth took the doubles match in straight sets against Fox and Harris.
At the other end of the table Stanley Street ‘A’ did themselves a power of good with a 7-3 victory over relegation rivals Sparken Hill Starlings who had to field a weakened team with Rob Vaughan playing up from Division Two. Jack Kirkland and Peter Eyre did the damage for Stanley Street with Kirkland registering a hat trick and Eyre adding two wins of his own beating Vaughan and Helmuth Osborne before losing out to Andy Lee in a deciding set. Alex Millward added a single win also over Vaughan before Kirkland and Eyre were at it again, defeating Lee and Osborne in the doubles to complete the scoring.
Division Two Results: Sparken Hill Blue Jays 1 Stanley Street ‘B’ 9, Sparken Hill Eagles 0 Sparken Hill Vultures 10. Manton Sports 5 Worksop Welfare Snipers 5, DTH Redlands Rookies 3 Manton Tigers 7.
Division Three Results: Sparken Hill Hawks 6 The Real Deal 4, Worksop Harriers ‘B’ 5 DTH Redlands Demolition Men 5, DTH Redlands Red Devils 2 DTH Redlands Tarr Babies 8, The Real Deal 3 Sparken Hill Falcons 7.