Roosters Retain Title
There is only one place to start this week and that is with DTH Redlands Roosters who retained their Division One title with a game to spare. Their 7-3 win over Sparken Hill Buzzards coupled with their closest rivals losing meant that they couldn’t be caught and gave them their third Division One title in a row. Tom McIntosh and Ernest Mpundu did the damage in their win over the Buzzards as both players remained unbeaten and then teamed up to also add the doubles to give the Roosters their 7 games. The Roosters third player Steve Fox had one of those nights as he went to 5 sets with Steve Lyon, Terry Emmerson and James Wormwell who was playing up from Division Two and lost to all of them in 5 sets!
The only team that could have caught the Roosters were DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys who were up against the ever improving and club colleagues DTH Redlands Monsters who will surely one day take the Division One title themselves. Peter Cowburn was making a rare appearance for the Toys and as he hadn’t lost a match this season hopes were high that the Toys could get a win and take the outcome of the Division One title right down to the last week but it was not to be as despite beating Martynas and Valentinas Riauba, Cowburn couldn’t beat Orestas Riauba who beat him in 4 sets. However, Sarah Short managed to beat Orestas but came unstuck against Martynas and Valentinas and the Toys didn’t manage to win another game with Steve Johnson losing all his three singles games and Short and Cowburn were also defeated in the doubles by Valentinas and Orestas to leave the Monsters 7-3 winners.
At the other end of the table Sparken Hill Ospreys ended their season with another defeat, this time going down 7-3 to Sparken Hill Starlings. Kurt Hutson was Man of The Match as he recorded wins over all three Ospreys in Matt Fowkes, Simon Chatterton and Andy Thorley with Andy Lee adding vital wins over Thorley and Fowkes. James Wormwell who was playing up from Division Two for the second time in a week added a solo win over Matt Fowkes and with Wormwell showing that he isn’t out of place in Division One it bodes well for Sparken Hill Vultures who will be playing their trade in the top division next season. Lee and Hutson took the doubles against Fowkes and Thorley to complete the scoring.
Despite losing their 15th league game in a row DTH Redlands X-Youth put up a terrific fight against Stanley Street ‘A’ and on another night could have turned the defeat into a victory. Keiran Tutter had a great night for the X-Youth managing to beat both Jack Kirkland and Alex Millward before losing to Peter Eyre. Eyre went on to complete his hat trick with additional wins over Matt Turner and Jeff Reay who he had a terrific tussle with before beating him in 5 sets. The X-Youth’s other win came when Reay was involved in another 5 setter with Kirkland who after being 2-0 down managed to claw his way back into the game to take it to a deciding set in which Reay held his nerve to win it 11-9. Alex Millward added two further wins for Stanley Street over Turner and Reay and then also teamed up with Kirkland to win the doubles to seal a 7-3 victory for Stanley Street.
Sparken Hill Vultures took another step towards the Division Two title after thumping DTH Redlands Rookies 10-0 and now are only one win away from clinching the title. There were hat tricks all round for Rob Vaughan, Kyle McIntosh and James Wormwell with McIntosh and Vaughan also winning the doubles.
Worksop Welfare Snipers sealed at least the Runners Up spot in Division as they also won 10-0 against Worksop Welfare Harriers ‘A’. Pete Hodgson, Ben Swain and Nigel Stent all enjoyed hat tricks with Hodgson and Stent adding the doubles to complete the whitewash.
Sparken Hill Eagles finally saw the threat of relegation to Division Three disappear as they beat Manton Sports 6-4 to keep them up and to send DTH Redlands Rookies down. Brain Allen put in a great performance for the Eagles beating Ian Henderson, Keith Smith and Richard Robinson with both John Hallgarth and Keith Swift adding solo wins over Smith before Allen and Hallgarth beat Henderson and Smith in the doubles.
Other Division Two Result: Manton Tigers 10 Sparken Hill Blue Jays 0
Division Three Results: Worksop Owls 2 Worksop Welfare Harriers ‘B’ 8, The Real Deal 10 DTH Redlands Demolition Men 0 (Match Awarded To Real Deal)