They Did The Mash, They Did The Monster Mash!

DTH Redlands Monsters are starting to put the frighteners on teams at the top end of Division One with their latest victory against DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys who themselves are annual title challengers. In the Monsters ranks was Paul Johnson who was making his first start of the season and he marked the occasion with wins over Sarah Short, Farrell Anthony and then beat his brother Steve to grab the bragging rights in the Johnson house! Some may think that the Monsters only won the match due to Johnson’s exploits, but this was no ‘one man show’ as both Orestas and Valentinas Riauba got in on the act and registered a hat trick of wins each which only confirms the improvements that the Riauba brothers have made over the last few seasons. The only joy for the Toys in a 9-1 defeat came in the doubles match when Anthony and Short won a 5-set ding dong against Johnson and Valentinas Riauba. The win puts the Monsters back on top of the Division One table with their next match coming against last years title winners DTH Redlands Roosters.
Talking about the Roosters, they also won this week with their win coming against Sparken Hill Buzzards who at one point were looking like they may mount a title challenge, but that challenge has somewhat faded away over the last few weeks. The Buzzards who had to play a player up from Division Two never looked like troubling the Roosters with both Ernest Mpundu and Tom McIntosh both hitting top form and beating all three Buzzards in Chris Cattell, Kartik Lakhani and Rob Vaughan. The Buzzards did manage to get on the scoresheet when both Cattell and Lakhani both beat Steve Fox but that was their only joy as the same two players lost the doubles match against McIntosh and Mpundu in what ended up being a comfortable 8-2 win for the Roosters.
At the other end of the table both Stanley Street ‘A’ and Sparken Hill Starlings did their chances of survival the power of good as both racked up 8-2 wins and with it 3 valuable points. Street ‘A’ defeated bottom side DTH Redlands X-Youth with Jack Kirkland picking up the Player of The Match ward as he remained unbeaten in the singles with winds over Clive Eden, Keiran Tutter and Jeff Reay but Reay did fare better against Stanley Street’s other two players beating Dave Hodgkin and Peter Eyre but it was never going to be enough to get his team in with a chance of pinching a point.
Sparken Hill Starlings win came against another Sparken Hill side the Ospreys who after the first week of the season found themselves perched on top of the Division One table but that must now seem and age away as a steady slide sown the table now sees then second from bottom and in desperate need of some points. Andy Lee gave a real captains performance as he defeated all three of the Ospreys players to set his team on their way to victory. Making his Worksop debut for the Starlings was Kurt Hutson who had good wins over Andy Thorley and Simon Chatterton but couldn’t mirror his captains exploits as he lost to Kalpesh Bhatt in 4 sets. Bringing up the rear for the Starlings was Helmuth Osborne who also beat Thorley and Chatterton but like his team mate Hutson couldn’t overcome Bhatt losing in straight sets. Lee and Osborne capped a fine performance by the Starlings by winning the doubles match which went the final score line was Sparken Hill Ospreys 2 Sparken Hill Starlings 8.
Division Two Results: Worksop Welfare Harriers ‘A’ 2 Worksop Welfare Snipers 8, Sparken Hill Blue Jays 0 Manton Tigers 10, DTH Redlands Rookies 0 Sparken Hill Vultures 10.
Division Three Results: DTH Redlands Demolition Men 8 The Real Deal 2, Sparken Hill Hawks 1 DTH Redlands Tarr Babies 9, Worksop Welfare Harriers ‘B’ 9 Worksop Owls 1.