Stanley Street 'A' Crowned Division Two Champions

Stanley Street 'A' have made an immediate return to the top Division after clinching the Division Two title with a thumping 9-1 win against Ryton Park Eagles. Yet again Peter Eyre returned another impressive maximum and with Paul Linfield hitting form to also register a hat trick the result was never in doubt. Eyre and Linfield were well supported by Alex Millward who won two before losing out to John Hall. Millward and Linfield then teamed up to take the doubles to cement Stanley Streets 19th league win out of 19 games this season along with honour of being crowned Division Two Champions.
If the fight at the top of Division Two has now been decided the same cannot be same for the battle at the bottom between DTH Redlands Morris Men and Manton Sports. The Morris Men managed to haul themselves off the bottom with a win against a slightly under strength Ryton Park Eagles who had Dave Rix playing up from Division Three. The Morris Men's trio of Kyle McIntosh, Ewan Pickersgill and Keith Bloomfield all beat Dave Rix and Keith Swift and despite a hat trick from the Eagles Gary Scott it wasn't enough to stop the Morris Men running out 7-3 winners after also taking the doubles rubber.
However, The Morris Men's joy was somewhat short lived as Captain John Lowde somehow managed to marshall his Manton Sports troops to win an epic of a contest against Stanley Street 'B' to once again leave the Morris Men rooted to the bottom of the table. The score line of Manton Sports 8 Stanley Street 'B' doesn't come anywhere near in showing the closeness of the match with six of the games going to a deciding set with John Lowde putting in a captains performance in claiming a hat trick of wins on the night. Lowde was well supported by Keith Smith and Alan Wilson who both won two games each with Smith and Lowde teaming up to take the doubles. For Stanley Street 'B' Ralph Rodda and Jack Kirkland both managed a single win each with a special mention for Kirkland who despite recently returning from illness still managed to put in a great performance and it was good to see him back on the table.
Other Division Two Results: Manton Tigers 4 DTH Redlands Geriatrics 6, DTH Redlands Red Bulls 6 DTH Redlands Geriatrics 4.
In Division Three DTH Redlands Tarr Babies finished off a fine season with a close win over club colleagues The Rookies and despite the Rookie's Daniel Cutts having a terrific night in winning all his three games the Tarr Babies just managed to sneak the win. Lewis Comley and Matthew Mudd were the main contributors to the win managing to register two individual wins each beating both Bob Atkinson and Dave Cowburn of the Rookies and with Antony Coupe managing a single win over Cowburn it left the match tantalisingly poised at 5-4 in the Tarr Babies favour with just the doubles to play! Comley and Mudd paired up to take on Atkinson and Cutts in the decider with Comley and Mudd managing to win 3 games to 1 and to take the match 6-4.
Other Division Division Three Results: DTH Redlands Allsorts 3 Ryton Park Cougars 7, DTH Redlands Cypriots 1 DTH Redlands Dynamos 9.
MBE continued their strong second half to the season with a fine 6-4 win over DTH Redlands Roosters. MBE players Mark Stanfield and Mick Bell each won two games with Craig Straw gaining a solo win against Rick Harris before losing to Phil Beresford but none of them could beat an in form Sarah Short who returned an excellent hat trick for the Roosters to ensure the match went right down to the wire. In a compelling doubles rubber Bell and Stanfield teamed up against Short and Beresford and eventually beat them 3-1 to take the win.