Stanley Street Are Early Leaders In Division One

Newly promoted Stanley Street 'A' came through a tough encounter against MBE to make themselves early leaders in Division One. Despite a fabulous hat trick from MBE's Mark Stanfield Stanley Street did enough to grind out a 6-4 victory and take all three points in a very close match. Peter Eyre and new signing Joe Zygadlo won two sets each for Stanley Street both managing to beat Andrew Cave and Dave Marsh and when Dave Hodgkin also beat Marsh it left the match delicately poised at 5-4 to Stanley Street with just the doubles left to play. Eyre and Zygadlo teamed up against MBE's Marsh and Stanfield and despite losing the first game they managed to take the next three in a row to cement victory and to leave Stanley Street 'A' perched on the top of the division.
In another Division One match that also went down to the last game of the evening to decide the outcome, Global Marble 'A' and DTH Redlands Roosters both battled it out to earn a share of the spoils in a very entertaining 5-5 draw. For Global both Terry Curran and Steve Lyon registered two wins each whilst team mate Kalpesh Bhatt failed on this occasion to get his name on the score sheet losing to all three Roosters players Piotr Sliwa, Steve Johnson and Rick Harris. Sliwa also managed to beat Lyon whilst Johnson managed to edge past Curran in a very close affair to leave Global needing to win the doubles set to rescue a draw out of the jaws of defeat. Lyon and Curran went about their task well for Global and won the first game but Johnson and Harris hit back to level at 1-1 but that was the last resistance put up by the Roosters as Lyon and Curran took the next two games to gain a well earned point for Global.
In Division Two Manton Sports got their season off to a fine start and after losing so many close matches 6-4 last season it was nice to see them not being on the receiving end for once! An Alan Wilson hat trick was the backbone of their victory against Ryton Park Eagles with John Lowde adding two further wins and Keith Smith chipping in with a solo win to get them off to a winning start. For the Eagles Keith Swift played well managing to beat both Lowde and Smith whilst Alex Olliffe also overcome Smith with the Eagles also winning the doubles to ensure a respectable 6-4 defeat.
In their next game Manton Sports came up against a new team for this season and local rivals in Global Marble 'B'. In a match which was probably a little closer than the score line suggested both  Richard Robinson and Rob Vaughan hit hat ticks for Global with Robinson's 5 set win over Phil Fisher possibly being the game of the night. Global's Ewan Pickersgill chipped in with a fine win over John McClellan and then teamed up with Vaughan to take the doubles against Lowde and Fisher who had both earlier beaten him in the singles rubbers to leave Global 8-2 winners.
If Manton Sports were the 6-4 defeat specialists last season it looks as if DTH Redlands X-Youth could be this season after two 6-4 defeats inside a week! Their first one came against Manton Tigers who had Bill Bateman and Dave Bownes to thank for their narrow victory as Bateman hit top form in registering a hat trick and Bownes supporting him well with two wins of his own. They then teamed up into take the doubles to ensure all three points went to Tigers. For X-Youth Clive Eden, Jeff Reay and Matt Turner all beat Steve Beeston with Reay also managing to beat Bownes.
In their second 6-4 defeat the same X-Youth trio once again came up against a player in form in DTH Redlands Joggers Lea Dickinson who beat all three X-Youth players and was well supported by Lewis Comley who managed to beat both Eden and Turner. All three X-Youth players beat Matthew Mudd with Reay once again winning  two games for X-Youth as he also beat Comley. Again the final match result hinged on the doubles rubber which brought together Dickinson and Comley for the Joggers and Eden and Turner for X-Youth. The Joggers due won the first game but back came Eden and Turner to take the next two and at this stage looked like salvaging a point for X-Youth but Dickinson and Comley had other ideas and took the next two games to take the doubles set and the match 6-4.
Division Three Results: Stanley Street Rascals 6 Ryton Park Cougars 4, Ryton Park Cougars 3 Stanley Street Cypriots 7