No Laughing Matter As Clownes Dent Roosters Title Hopes

Clowne ‘A’ this week cast some serious doubts over the likelihood of DTH Redlands Roosters retaining the Division One title that they secured last season by thumping the 10-0. The Roosters chances weren’t helped against Clowne ‘A’ when Ernest Mpundu couldn’t get to the game due to being stuck at work but the performance from the three Clowne players of John Davies, Kartik Lakhani and James Wormwell shouldn’t be undermined because of Mpundu’s absence as they all managed to beat both Rick Harris and Dave Gascoyne with Lakhani and Wormwell beating Harris and Gascoyne in the doubles to complete the whitewash. The win for Clowne ‘A’ has lifted them above the Roosters into fourth place with the Roosters dropping down to fifth.
The Roosters loss allowed for the other teams in the hunt for the Division One title to pull further away from them at the top. Two of the teams played ach other this week in what already looked like a result that could have a significant impact on just where the title ends up this season. Last seasons runners up DTH Redlands Monsters were up against their club colleagues The Fluffy Toys who are in a rich vein of form having won all their six league games so far this season. The Monsters Orestas Riauba put in a Player Of The Match performance beating all three Fluffy Toys players in Farrel Anthony, Peter Cowburn and Sarah Short with all three matches being really tight affairs. Orestas was well supported by his two brothers Martynas and Valentinas who enjoyed two wins each both beating Anthony and Cowburn but losing out to Short. Martynas and Orestas teamed up to play the doubles game but lost to Cowburn and Short in a 5-set thriller, losing the deciding game 12-10. The 7-3 win for the Monsters means that they are now top with the Fluffy Toys 3 points behind them but they do have a game in hand.
Third placed Stanley Street ‘A’ were also looking to widen the gap between themselves and the chasing pack at the top but they had a  tricky looking encounter away to Worksop Miners Welfare who were looking to make up ground from a poor start to the season and fielded a strong looking team in Richard Element, Phil Walton and Chris Cattell which in the end turned out to be too strong for the Stanley Street outfit of Peter Eyre, Terry Emmerson and Jack Kirkland. Both Element and Cattell registered hat tricks with Walton chipping in with a single win over Eyre. Cattell and Emmerson paired up to take the doubles, comfortably beating Eyre and Kirkland in straight sets to put the icing on the cake of an 8-2 win.
The final match in Division One this week was between two sides in desperate need of points in the battle to stay in the Division, Sparken Hill Starlings hosted Worksop Welfare Snipers ‘A’ in what was already billed as a ‘six pointer’. The Starlings who before the match were second bottom with only one point to their name but a 7-3 win helped them leapfrog their opponents and put some daylight between themselves and Clowne ‘B’ who are the bottom side in the division. Helmuth Osborne was the Player Of The Match with a faultless performance in the singles beating Ben Swain, Russ Webster and Pete Hodgson to register his first hat trick of the season. Osborne was well backed up by Andy Lee and Ivan Guilliatt who both enjoyed wins over Webster and Swain but both lost out to Pete Hodgson who played well for both of his wins.
Division Two runaway leaders Worksop Welfare Snipers ‘B’ look intent on wrapping up the title before Christmas after pulling a match forward against Worksop Welfare Harriers from the 5^th of March next year! The Snipers won the match 10-0 and are now a massive 9 points in front of the chasing pack. Just behind the Snipers are Manton Sports who had a great game with Carlton X-Youth running out winners by a scoreline of 7-3.
Another side who enjoyed a 7-3 win in Division Two this week were Sparken Hill Eagles who have played well of late after a shaky start, their win came against Worksop Welfare Cannon.
The final result in the Division Two round-up was a close encounter between Sparken Hill Falcons and Manton Tigers with the Tigers just edging it 6-4.
DTH Redlands Rookies closed in on the Division Three leaders this week with a 7-3 win over Sparken Hill Hawks and now sit just one point behind DTH Redlands Rovers with a game in hand.
Worksop Welfare Real Deal enjoyed their first win of the season with a hard fought 6-4 win away at Sparken Hill Nightingales which has lifted them away rom the bottom of the table.
Sparken Hill Blue Jays are still in the hunt for a top two finish after an 8-2 win over DTH Redlands Tarr Babies which keeps them in touch with the top three sides in Division Three.