Snipers Cruising To Promotion
As we start to reach the half way point of the league fixtures, Division Two side Worksop Welfare Snipers ‘B’ are well on their way to a top two finish which will subsequently mean a place in the top-flight next season. They have now won 9 out of 9 league fixtures and will surely not only finish in the top two promotion places but will also clinch the title with a number of games to spare.
Their 9th win in the league came against Worksop Welfare Cannon who can count themselves a little unfortunate to have lost the match 10-0 as a number of games were very close going to 4 and 5 sets. The Snipers trio of Paul Linfield, George Makrakis and Mitchell Radford all returned hat tricks with Linfield and Makrakis teaming up to take the doubles against Nick Sievewright and Kay Wilson with Wilson unfortunate not to have won at least one of her singles games as two of them went to 5 sets with one going to 4. The win gives the Snipers a massive 12-point lead at the top of the division although the chasing teams do have games in hand.
One of the sides chasing the Snipers are Stanley Street ‘B’ who had a tricky looking away match at Carlton X-Youth who have had an up and down season so far and were expected to give them a stern test. Although several the singles games went to 5 sets the X-Youth side of Simon Hooley, Mark Cooper and Mark Bloomer couldn’t find a way past their opponents with Dave Hodgkin, Andy Kirkland and Mark Sansom all remaining unbeaten in the singles games. The only joy that X-Youth could muster up was when Bloomer and Hooley came up against Hodgkin and Kirkland in the doubles which ended up going to 5 sets with the X-Youth pairing just winning it to avoid a whitewash but still going down 9-1.
Sparken Hill Eagles also kept themselves in the hunt for promotion with a 9-1 win away at Worksop Welfare Harriers with comfortable hat tricks for both John Hallgarth and Brian Allen. Keith Swift chipped in with two wins beating both Neil Fisher and Dean Marsh but losing to out to Dan Saul. Saul teamed up with Marsh in the doubles but Allen and Swift had a little too much for them as they beat them in 4 sets to complete a comprehensive win.
Because of how the fixtures worked out DTH Redlands Rookies have now started to catch up on the number of games played on the other teams in Division Three and in doing so have now climbed to the top spot in the division. Their latest win was a 10-0 mauling of DTH Redlands Mean Machine who despite this latest result have made a great start to their first ever season in league table tennis. Another side looking at a promotion spot also had a convincing win this week, Sparken Hill Starlings comfortably beat their club colleagues the Nightingales 9-1 which keeps them in the hunt.
Sparken Hill Hawks who currently sit in 3rd place in Division Three had a much sterner test away at DTH Redlands Tarr Babies with a Lewis Linacre hattrick helping them on their way to a narrow 6-4 victory.
Into Division One and DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys took full advantage of their club colleagues the Monsters having a blank week this week by returning to top spot with a 7-3 win against DTH Redlands Roosters who have now slipped down to 6th position and look to have little chance of retaining the title they won last season.
Worksop Miners Welfare have now moved up to 3rd position after their latest win which came against Sparken Hill Starlings with Richard Element getting the Player Of The Match award with an impressive hat trick.
Stanley Street ‘A’ and Clowne ‘B’ shared the spoils in a 5-5 draw which keeps both sides in 4th and 4th places respectively with John Davies of Clowne ‘A’ remaining unbeaten on the night.
Worksop Welfare Snipers ‘A’ won the battle of the bottom two sides with a well-deserved 8-2 win over bottom side Clowne ‘B’, Kerry Harvey getting the Player Of The Match award after returning a hat trick of wins, all in straight sets.