DIVISION 2 ROUND-UP : WEEK 18

Published 23/02/2020 at 10:30:52 by Martin Johnson; edited 1 times, last on 24/02/2020 at 13:37:25 by Martin Johnson.

Division 2 Round-Up – Week 18  (Week 16 in D2)

With just a couple more League weeks to go after this week, the fixtures drew together the top two teams, as well as the bottom two teams.

Leaders, Milton Keynes Tornadoes, have virtually sealed the Division 2 title, recording their ninth win in a row, and avenging their last defeat, by beating second placed Milton Keynes Hit ‘n’ Hope 7-3, thus opening up a nine point gap at the top of the table.  Nicolas Wong took his winning run up to 11, as he won all his singles sets, plus the doubles with Tanmay Tijare, versus Mike Ainsworth / Marco Hahn.  Tanmay picked up one singles win, with Samuel Davies picking up two singles wins, to add to their scoring.  For Hit ‘n’ Hope, Marco Hahn won twice and Andy Frearson won once.  Tornadoes’ final two matches are against the bottom two teams, so the title now seems assured, whilst Hit ‘n’ Hope are still ten points clear of third place, so seem highly likely to grab the second promotion spot.

Third placed Milton Keynes Classics suffered a 6-4 reverse on their visit to the in form St. Christopher Spitfires, who extended their unbeaten run to five matches.  The result leaves Classics’ chances of promotion hanging by a very thin thread.  Bernie Raffe extended his run of form for Spitfires, as he won all his three singles, so taking his run of singles wins up to 15 in a row.  The other Spitfires points came by way of Graham Silversides with two wins and Jock Wallace with one win.  Dylan Cox took two wins for Classics, plus the doubles with Masoud Nassor against Bernie / Jock, whilst Masoud gained their other win, but no wins on the night for Nick Markham.

In the battle at the bottom of the table, Milton Keynes Cavaliers were held to a 5-5 draw by Milton Keynes Blades.  Despite the draw, this result means Blades will face relegation, whilst Cavaliers’ chances of staying up are now very slim, especially with having to play Tornadoes in their penultimate match, as they are 12 points behind eighth place.  Geoffrey Turner, playing up for Cavaliers took the honours on the night, winning his three singles, just pipping Blades’ Brian Evans, who won twice and just lost out at 10-12 in the deciding leg to Geoffrey.  Brian had similarly close battles with Chris Paddon, this time just winning at 11-9 in leg five, and when he teamed up with Tony Coomber in the doubles, to sneak it against the pairing Chris / John Bradley, again at 11-9 in the fifth. Tony also won two of his singles for Blades, whilst Chris and John each picked up one win, leaving Mark Thomas without a win on the night.

Woburn Sands Mosquitoes and Newport Pagnell Lagondas also fought out a 5-5 draw.  Glen Davison of Lagondas grabbed a maximum, winning his three singles, plus the doubles with Roy Read against the Mosquitoes pairing of Glenn Barcham / Paul Hamer, with one win for Roy to add to the Lagondas’ scoreline.  Andy Jenkins of Mosquitoes gave Glen D his toughest battle, losing out at 11-7 in the deciding leg, but Andy won his other two singles, with Glenn B also taking two wins, whilst Paul picked up a single win against Lagondas’ reserve, Jim Brogan.

The final match of the week featured Mursley Hawks against Milton Keynes Shambles, and saw the third 5-5 draw of the week.  Martin Johnson of Hawks claimed the individual honours, with three singles wins, whilst both Paddy Patel and Steve Jordan won twice for Shambles, with Steve also adding the doubles with Jim Robinson against Martin / Frank Beck.  Hawks had a win apiece for Frank and reserve, Joe Rich, to complete the scoring, as Hawks reached the twenty mark in terms of players who have played 'up' from Mursley teams divisions 3 and 4.  

No League fixtures this week, as the Challenge Cup reaches the knockout stages, with six of Division 2’s ten teams still in the competition.

Players of the Week : Bernie Raffe and Nicolas Wong.