Runners Up Spot Still Up For Grabs

The fight for the Runners Up spot in Division One got a lot closer this week after MBE finally caught up with their games and recorded two good wins in the process to put the pressure back on their rivals Global Marble 'A'.
Both their wins came against the bottom two sides in the division in Ryton Park Adders and DTH Redlands Roosters with the Adders being the first to be put to the sword. MBE's Mark Stanfield was again the man in form beating all three Adders players in Andy Lee, Brian Allen and Mike Nocivelli  whilst being well supported by Andrew Cave with two wins over Nocivelli and Allen with Dave Marsh adding a single win also beating Allen. Stanfield and Marsh then teamed up to take the doubles against Nocivelli and Lee to cement a 7-3 win.
Mark Stanfield continued his good form in MBE's next match against Redlands Roosters once again registering a fine hat trick with Dave Marsh matching Stanfield and winning all his three games as well. Mick Bell only managed a single win over Dave Gascoyne whilst losing to Steve Johnson before having to concede against Tom McIntosh due to a bad back. Bell's retirement didn't affect the outcome of the match as Stanfield and Marsh won the doubles to register an 8-2 victory.
The win temporarily put MBE level on points with Global Marble 'A' who on the same night were playing away at Stanley Street 'A' and had to do so with a weakened side with Rob Vaughan having to play up from Division Two. Not being able to field their strongest side very nearly cost them dearly as Street 'A' put up a spirited fight before finally losing a tight match 6-4. For Marble Steve Lyon was the backbone in their victory winning all his three games whilst Kartik Lakhani added two having terrific wins over Peter Eyre and Dave Hodkin before Vaughan added a solo win beating Hodkin in straight sets. Lyon and Lakhani then teamed up for the doubles but comfortably lost to Eyre and Alex Millward but Marble still went home with all three points which now puts them three points ahead of MBE and with both teams meeting in the next round of games it will decide who takes the runners up spot.
The race for the Division Two title continues to ebb and flow with DTH Redlands Joggers moving within 3 points of leaders Stanley Street 'B' with a fine win in a potentially tricky encounter with Ryton Park Eagles. Joggers Lea Dickinson once again put in a great performance with wins over Alex Olliffe, John Hallgarth and Keith Swift with Lewis Comley also beating Swift and Olliffe it put the Joggers firmly on their way to victory. Matthew Mudd chipped in with a win over Swift before Dickinson and Comley teamed up to win the doubles to cap a 7-3 win to turn the heat up on Stanley Street 'B'.
Elsewhere in Division Two Global Marble 'B' were brought crashing down to earth after their recent fine run of form as they were battered 10-0 away at DTH Redlands X-Youth. The X-Youth trio of Clive Eden, Mark Bloomer and Matt Turner all put in fine performances and didn't really have much trouble beating the Marble 'B' team of Richard Robinson, Dilip Malkan and Ewan Pickersgill with only three of the sets not being won in straight sets. Turner and Bloomer won the doubles against Malkan and Pickersgill to compound Marble's misery.
Most sides in Division Three played their final league games of the season this week with On-Line Elks enjoying a tight 6-4 win over DTH Redlands Rookies to leapfrog them into third place. Stanley Street Rascals had a very comfortable 10-0 win over Ryton Park Dragons who could only field two players and there were two very entertaining 5-5 draws between Stanley Street Cypriots and Stanley Street 'C' and again in the match between Ryton Park Falcons and Ryton Park Cougars.