Sports In Battle To Avoid The Drop

After winning only one of their six league games so far this season Division Two side Manton Sports have suddenly found themselves deep in relegation trouble and this week's loss to Worksop Miners Welfare 'B' has not helped their cause. After finishing 4th in Division Two last season and adding to their squad in the summer, Sports had real reasons to feel optimistic about this seasons campaign but after slipping to their sixth league defeat out of their first seven matches results need to improve if they are to avoid relegation into Division Three at the end of the season.
The three Sports players tasked this week to try and turn round their fortunes were John Lowde, Alan Wilson and Richard Robinson but they came up against one of the strongest sides in the Division in Worksop Welfare 'B' and they showed no mercy to the Sports team with Nigel Stent, Pete Hodgson and Jim Westwood all registering hat tricks against their opponents although Wilson had to retire against Stent due to injury. There was no let up in the doubles from the Welfare side as Stent and Hodgson defeated Robinson and Lowde 3-1 to complete a 10-0 whitewash which leaves Manton Sports 4 points away from safety and leaves Welfare 'B' knocking on the door of the promotion places.
The leaders in Division Two DTH Redlands Monsters had a right old battle with Manton Tigers who if they fielded their strongest team every week would surely be in the mix for the promotion places rather than being 3rd from bottom. The Tigers gave the Monsters a run for their money and in a very close in which eight of the games went to at least 4 sets they were unlucky not to get a share of the spoils but it was the Monsters that came away with all three points in a 6-4 win. This week's Riauba brother to shine was Valentinas as he completed an impressive hat trick of wins over Bill Bateman, Steve Beeston and Dave Bowns. Valentinas was well supported by his other two siblings as Martynas beat both Beeston and Bateman with Orestas adding a single win over Beeston. Dave Bowns was Tigers most successful player on the night winning two of his matches whilst teaming up with Bateman to beat Orestas and Martynas in a 5 set thriller in the doubles. The win now puts the Monsters 5 points clear at the top of the table.
DTH Redlands X-Youth have been steadily moving up the Division Two table almost unnoticed but now must be considered as a side that might just have a say on the promotion places to Division One. Their latest victory came against one of the other promotion challengers in Stanley Street 'B' who despite having an in form Jack Kirkland recording another hat trick of wins for his side could do nothing to stop the X-Youth's progress. Clive Eden, Mark Bloomer and Jeff Reay all beat Andy Kirkland and Paul Linfield with Bloomer and Reay coming together to beat Father and Son duo Andy and Jack Kirkland in the doubles to put the icing on the cake of a very good 7-3 victory.
In Division Three this week the On-Line Elks moved up into 2nd place with a comfortable 7-3 over DTH Redlands Tarr Babies and must now be considered one of the favourites to gain promotion to Division Two. The Elks Neil Houghton was the Man Of The Match as he remained undefeated all night with wins over Roman Rosser, Adam Pinches and Jack Tarr but he couldn't win the match alone and he was well backed up by Jonno Blood who beat both Rosser and Tarr with Glen Gillgrass also adding two wins of his own over Pinches and Rosser losing out to Tarr. The Tarr Babies managed to take the doubles in the deciding 5th set with Tarr and Pinches having the better of it against Houghton and Blood.
The only other Division Three result in this week was Stanley Street 'E's 10-0 win over DTH Redlands Liver Birds as the Liver Birds failed to turn up and a 10-0 win was awarded to the Street outfit.
Ryton Park Adders picked up a valuable point this week in their quest to avoid relegation from Division One and it surprisingly came against the side sat in 2nd place in the division in DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys. The Adders put in a real team performance to battle to a 5-5 draw with Andy Lee winning two and Ivan Guilliatt and Harry Tomlinson both adding a single win each with Lee and Guilliatt taking the doubles to grab an unlikely point. Lee's two wins came over Lea Dickinson and Mick Brooks whilst Guilliatt defeated Brooks and Tomlinson enjoying a good win over Steve Johnson.
Other Division One Results : Ryton Park Eagles 1 Manton Misfits 9, Worksop Miners Welfare 'A' 5 Manton Nomads 5, Stanley Street 'A' 2 DTH Redlands Roosters 8