Snipers Have Division Two Title In Their Sights

Worksop Welfare Sniper ‘B’ have made a rapid-fire start to their Division Two campaign winning their third league match in a row this week. The Snipers pulled a match forward from Week 7 to Week 2 and played two games on the same night alongside their scheduled match. Their scheduled match was against club Worksop Welfare Cannon and the Snipers trio of Mitchell Radford, George Makrakis and Paul Linfield had little resistance from the Cannon side with Radford and Makrakis defeating all three Cannon players in Nick Sievewright, Dilip Malkan and Kay Wilson, the only stumbling block came when Linfield lost to Malkan but he did make amends in the doubles as he and Nigel Stent beat Sievewright and Perry Bradford I the doubles to secure a comfortable 9-1 win.
The Snipers second win came against another cub colleague team in Worksop Welfare Harriers who were promoted from Division Three last season with the Snipers managing to repeat the scoreline form the first match with another 9-1 victory. There were hat tricks for both Nigel Stent and George Makrakis with Michell Radford adding a further two wins of his own beating both Dan Saul and Dean Marsh before losing out to Dennis Learad in 5 sets. Linfield and Stent once again won the doubles to complete for the Snipers.
Hot on the heels of the Snipers are Manton Sports who maintained their 100% start to their league campaign with a win over Sparken Hill Falcons. A hat trick for debutant Stuart Element set Sports on their way to a 7-3 win with good support from Captain John Lowde and Keith Smith who both added two wins with Lowde beating Mick Potter and Luke Barraclough and Smith beating Barraclough and Neil Penny. Surprisingly Sports who have been very solid in the doubles over the last few seasons lost the doubles rubber with Element and Lowde losing to Barraclough and Potter in a 5 set battle.
Elsewhere in Division Two, after many years without league table tennis being played the league welcomed Carlton Youth Club back as a venue once more and along with it a number of players making a welcome return to the league. Andrew Dolby, Simon Hooley and Mark Cooper are all players that played for Carlton Youth Club some years ago and have now once again joined up with Matt Turner and Mark Bloomer who played for DTH Redlands X-Youth last season and together have formed Carlton X-Youth. The three returnees all made an encouraging start against Sparken Hill Eagles with Dolby having a great win over Alex Olliffe and Hooley going one better defeating both Tom Moore and John Hallgarth in a 7-3 defeat. Although Cooper didn’t manage to register a win he did have some very close games with all three of the Eagles and I’m sure it won’t take him too long before he registers his first singles win. Dolby and Hooley teamed up in the doubles against Hallgarth and Olliffe and made a decent fist of it before going down 3-1 to the Eagles pair.
In Division One DTH Redlands Monsters maintained their lead at the top of the table with a 7-3 win away at Sparken Hill Starlings with both their club colleagues hot on their heels as the Roosters eased to a 9-1 win over two man Clowne ‘B’ and the Fluffy Toys beating Clowne ‘B’ 8-2. The other unbeaten side in Division One are Stanley Street ‘A’ who enjoyed a 9-1 win in their first game of the season over Worksop Welfare Snipers ‘A’ with the Win Of The Week Award going to Ben Swain who upset the form book by beating Jack Kirkland in straight sets.
The early front runners in Division Three are Sparken Hill Hawks and DTH Redlands Rovers who both have a 100% record having played 2 won 2. The Hawks enjoyed a 9-1 win over DTH Redlands Mean Machine whilst DTH Redlands Rovers managed a fabulous comeback against Sparken Hill Blue Jays coming back from 4-2 down to win 6-4. DTH Redlands Tar Babies notched up their first win of the season as they just edged out Worksop Welfare Real Deal 6-4