Redlands Teams Fight It Out For Division One Title

There’s a three battle between DTH Redlands sides for the Division One title with the outcome too close to call. All three of the sides were in action this week and all recorded vital victories in their quest to lift the title. First up were DTH Redlands Monsters who currently occupy top spot and who are the team that the others have to chase down and this week they were up against mid table Sparken Hill Buzzards who on their day can cause the top sides plenty of trouble but despite running the Monsters close in many of the games they slipped to an 8-2 defeat. For the Monsters Valentinas Riauba was the player in top form as he beat all three Buzzards in Terry Emmerson, Kartik Lakhani and Steve Lyon with his siblings Orestas and Martynas both adding row wins each with Orestas losing out to Lakhani and Martynas losing to Lyon. Orestas and Valentinas then teamed up for the doubles to defeat Emmerson and Lyon to complete the scoring.
DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys are hot on the tails of the Monsters and their win this week also came against a Sparken Hill side in the Ospreys who find themselves involved in a fight for survival at the wrong end of the table. The Fluffy Toys currently sit just a single point behind the league leaders and maintained that close gap by beating the Ospreys 7-3. Steve Walker was Man Of The Match as he enjoyed comfortable wins over Simon Chatterton, Kerry Harvey and Kalpesh Bhatt and he was well supported by Sarah Short who beat Harvey and Bhatt losing to Chatterton. The final singles win for the Fluffy Toys came when Farrell Anthony beat Bhatt in 4 sets. Walker and Short completed the scoring by defeating Chatterton and Harvey in the doubles.
Despite being 4 points behind the leaders, DTH Redlands Roosters could still manage to retain their title, especially as they still have a game in hand and still have yet to play both the Monsters and Fluffy Toys before the end of the season but they will have to do it without one of their best players as Tom McIntosh has now given up playing. Their latest victory came against Sparken Hill Starlings in a re-arranged match from before the Christmas break and all three Roosters played their part in the win. Ernest Mpundu was the star man as he beat all three Starlings in Andy Lee, Helmuth Osborne and Connor Bettley who was playing up from the division below with both Rick Harris and Steve Fox registering two wins of their own over Osborne and Bettley. Andy Lee continued his good form beating Harris and Fox and then teaming up with Osborne to once again beat Harris and Fox but this time in the doubles, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Roosters running out 7-3 winners.
The Starlings also played the night after away at DTH Redlands X-Youth and did their hopes of avoiding relegation a world of good as they recorded a 9-1 victory and more importantly claimed a  vital 3 points. Both Andy Lee and Kurt Hutson recorded hat tricks with Helmuth Osborne adding two wins to his team’s total managing to beat both Jeff Reay and Mark Bloomer but losing to Keiran Tutter. Hutson and Lee completed the scoring by beating Bloomer and Tutter in the doubles.
The final Division One game this week was between Stanley Street ‘A’ and Worksop Miners Welfare with the Stanley Street side desperate for points to ease their relegation worries but it was to be the Welfare sides night as they completed a close 7-3 victory. Phil Walton was the only player to remain unbeaten as he won all his three singles for his Welfare side with wins over Alex Millward, Peter Eyre and Jack Kirkland. Mark Stanfield also had a good night as he beat both Eyre and Millward losing out to Kirkland with Dave Marsh managing just the one win over Millward. Marsh and Stanfield completed their sides scoring with a win in the doubles set beating Millward and Kirkland.
Division Two Results: Sparken Hill Vultures 8 Manton Tigers 2, Worksop Welfare Snipers 9 Stanley Street ‘B’ 1, Manton Sports 7 Sparken Hill Blue Jays 3. DTH Redlands Rookies 10 Worksop Welfare Harriers ‘A’ 0 (Conceded).
Division Three Results: Sparken Hill Falcons 3 DTH Redlands Demolition Men 7, Worksop Owls 8 The Real Deal 2.