Nothing Between Early Leaders In Division Two

The early signs are that the race for the Division Two title will be an intriguing one to say the very least with a three way tie at the top. Stanley Street 'B' look to be in good form and are certainly amongst the favourites for promotion after they maintained their 100% record with another 8-2 win, this time against Manton Sports. Street's Paul Linfield continued his fine start to the season with another maximum and he was well supported by both Matt Williams and Kyle McIntosh who both won two games each and then teamed up to take the doubles. Alan Wilson and Phil Fisher each won one for Sports with Wilson having a good win over McIntosh.
Ryton Park Eagles also look like being in the mix for promotion, especially if they can play their strongest side every match and this showed with two 6-4 wins inside a week. Their first was against Manton Tigers who despite having Paul Allison in top form and remaining unbeaten on the night couldn't quite do enough to stop the Eagles taking all three points. The Eagles trio of John Hallgarth, Alex Olliffe and Keith Swift all managed to beat the other two Tigers players in Phil Hall and Dave Bowns to cement the win with Hallgarth and Olliffe losing out in the doubles to Allison and Bowns.
The Eagles next 6-4 win should have come as no surprise as it was against DTH Redlands X-Youth who have now lost all their three opening matches by a 6-4 score line! For the Eagles both Hallgarth and Olliffe each registered hat tricks with Swift unable to trouble the scorers losing to all three X-Youth players Jeff Reay, Clive Eden and Mark Bloomer with Reay and Eden teaming up to take the doubles against Hallgarth and Olliffe.
Manton Tigers bounced back from their 6-4 defeat against the Eagles to beat Global Marble 'B' with Paul Allison yet again hitting top form and registering another maximum. Dave Bowns and Steve Beeston each added single wins before Allison and Bowns teamed up to take the doubles and the honours in a very close and entertaining match. Rob Vaughan and Dilip Malkan each won two for Global with Ewan Pickersgill missing out on this occasion.
In Division Three there are still three sides with 100% records, one of those sides are DTH Redlands Tarr Babies who not only have won 3 matches out of 3 but all of them by a 10-0 score line! Their latest wins came against Ryton Park Falcons and Stanley Street Rascals with hat tricks in both games for Kieran Tutter and Daniel Cutts with Antony Coupe taking all three against the Rascals and Josh Nelson doing the same against the Falcons.
The Tarr Babies club colleagues The Rookies have also started with three wins from three with one of their wins also against Stanley Street Rascals winning by 9-1, Alan Keeling and Bob Atkinson won three games each with Caius Tweed losing out to Liam Stead. The Rookies then went on to beat Stanley Street Cypriots with another Alan Keeling maximum backed up with two from Bob Atkinson and one from Tweed along with the doubles to take the match 7-3.
Stanley Street 'C' are hot on the tails of both DTH Redlands sides and have now won both of their opening games and look like being able to challenge for promotion this season. They comfortably overcome Ryton Park Dragons 9-1 in their first match but then had a tougher time against Ryton Park Cougars eventually running out 7-3 winners with Andy Kirkland registering hat tricks in both matches.
On-Line Elks got off the mark with a hard fought victory over Ryton Park Falcons with new signing Jayden Budworth marking her debut with a fine hat trick and with Glen Gillgrass and Sarah Thompson adding a single win each it came down to the doubles rubber to decide the outcome of the match. Neil Houghton teamed up with Budworth for the Elks against the Langley brothers Nathan and Regan in a game that went down to the deciding set which Houghton and Budworth managed to emphatically take 11-2 to ensure that all 3 points went to the Elks.
Division One Results: DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys 9 Ryton Park Adders 1, Global Marble 'A' 2 DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys 8, Ryton Park Adders 6 Stanley Street 'A' 4