Division 2 Roundup - Week 4

Published 15/10/2024 at 11:46:05 by Michael Howard.

There were no significant changes arising from the week 4 matches. 

Little Horwood Wooden Tops entertained MK Powers, but had a difficult night, with only Bill Higgins and Paul Reynolds securing a win, plus linking up in a successful doubles win.  For Powers, Andy Pearson was the standout player, with a maximum, while Keith Carrington and Kareem Omar each collected two wins in a 7-3 victory. Andy Hooper was the third home player. This win moves Powers up into 3rd equal place and leaves Wooden Tops in 7th.

League leaders Newport Pagnell Lagondas travelled to play 3rd placed Greenleys Valiants, both teams being unbeaten so far. This changed as Lagondas achieved a 6-4 win, thanks to 2 wins each for Tony Ardis and Yongwang Tian and a single win for Glen Davison. Youngwang and Glen teamed up for a good doubles win against Ricky Jackson and Slava Volokha, which ultimately was the difference between the two teams. Ricky Jackson secured an excellent maximum for the home team, with Chris Shamuyarira picking up a single win while on loan from division 3 side Crusaders. No win for Slava on the night. The result leaves Valiants in 3rd equal place in the league, level on 21 points with Powers.

Second placed Woburn Sands Mosquitoes maintained their position with the week’s best win, 8-2, against Leighton Buzzard Van Hire. Glenn Barcham and Rob McPheat continued their good form with maximums, while Andy Jenkins supporting them with one win, losing to Richard Hardy and Donnie MacDonald. Lee Draper was the third Van Hire player. Andy and Rob teamed up to take the doubles against Lee and Richard.

Bottom team Open University Shockwave played host to Greenleys Princes but could not find the final edge when needed. Charles Tien was the home team’s best performer, beating Anand Keshav in 4 games and Richard Bailey in 5, just losing out to Princes’ captain Saravana Kumar 9-11 in the final leg. Charity Wong was the other winner for Shockwave, beating Richard, while Yi Cao was unsuccessful. Saravana won all 3 singles, with Anand winning 2 and Richard 1. Saravana and Anand teamed up in a doubles thriller against Charles and Charity, winning the final leg 11-9. 

Week 5 will see top vs bottom as OU Shockwave travel to play NP Lagondas; Greenleys Valiants and MK Powers, exactly equal on points and in results to date, will vie for 3rd place; Greenleys Princes will hope to improve their 5th place in the division and to dent second-placed WS Mosquitoes’ push for a promotion slot and Little Horwood Wooden Tops visit Leighton Buzzard Van Hire, with both teams hoping to achieve a result which will push them up the table.

Performance of the week: Ricky Jackson