wpaa748009.png
Match Report Week 25

Division Two has been more or less sorted out for some time, Lodgers B dominating the division since the half way mark.

They completed their fixtures this week with a 10-0 win over Belchford, who to their credit have suffered some heavy defeats but have turned up every week for their matches, knowing that defeat would be certain. It is this commitment that I like.

All ten games were over in straight ends, the Lodgers lads being far too strong for the Belchford team, who must now be looking forward to next season, when they will be hoping to do a little better.

The two Sibsey teams met in their last game of the season the A fielding their heavy squad of Daniel Meyer, Peter James and Phil Coote. The B also put out a strong team of Wayne Grooby, Richard Hill and Steve Hill, and from two evenly balanced teams a draw seemed to be a fair result.

The A opened the scoring, Meyer brushing aside Grooby, while James after a second set hic-cup just got the better of Richard Hill. Steve Hill reduced the deficit with a five set win over Coote but James extended the A’s lead to two with a three set win against Grooby. Richard Hill, who was having unbelievable luck, still couldn’t get the better of Coote but Steve Hill, who was having a tremendous night, completed his hat-trick to keep the B in the hunt with an 11-6. 11-3, 7-11, 12-10 victory. Probably the shock of the night occurred when Grooby beat Coote in five and when one looks at the averages and sees Coote with a 22% lead this is a fantastic result for Wayne. 4-4 and all to play for Richard Hill who was still having all the luck still went down to Meyer, leaving the result resting on the doubles. This was a hard fought game the two Hill just clinching 11-8, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9 to force the draw.

Penmaen D who started the season slowly, have gradually improved as the season progressed, and completed their programme with a6-4 win over Lodgers E to finish in 5th spot.

Without No.1 ranked Colin Bell, Mark Vere stood in, Mark not having it all his own way, being pushed to four by Gavin Herberts and Matt Lilly but by the time he played his third, Mark had got his eye in beating Adam Elston 11-5, 11-6, 11-6. Tom Bell and Pete Bell struggled a little although Tom narrowly lost 9-11 to Lilly in the fourth, while Pete Bell pushed Adam Elston all the way, only to fade in the vital fifth. Pete Bell and Mark Vere made the scoreline look respectable, comfortably winning the doubles giving Penmaen a 6-4 victory.

Lodgers H who saw their chance of second place had gone could only field two players for their last match of the season against stablemates Lodgers D, who themselves only had two players.

Tony Kime No. 8 in the rankings opened the scoring in a terrific battle with No.9 ranked Boyd Smith, Tony winning the last end 11-7 to claim the honours. Neither of the H lads had any problem with Nev Leggate and althoug Steve Marshall took an end out of Kime the result was never in doubt. 2-2 and it was down to the doubles, Smith and Marshall proving too strong for the D duo of Kime and Leggate swamping them 11-2, 11-8, 11-7 to guide the H to a 3-2 victory.

R E S U L T S

Division One

Penmaen A10 Graves Park B 0; Graves Park A 3 Lodgers G 7; Graves Park D 1 Graves Park A 9; Penmaen B 4 Lodgers A 6; Lodgers A 4 Graves Park C 6.

Division Two

Lodgers B 10 Belchford 0; Belchford 0 Graves Park F 10; Sibsey A 5 Sibsey B 5; Penmaen D 6 Lodgers E 4; Lodgers H 3 Lodgers D 2.