Double title joy for DTH Redlands table tennis teams

DTH Redlands Monsters clinched the Division One title with the narrowest of 6-4 wins against their closest rivals and club colleagues DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys.

The Monsters win against the only side that could stop them from winning the title was mainly down to a superb Valentinas Riauba hat-trick of wins against Peter Cowburn, Farrell Anthony and Sarah Short, with the win against Short coming in the last game of the night which secured the win for the Monsters.

Valentinas’s brothers Orestas and Martynas both chipped in with a win each, both against Anthony with a win in the doubles for Valentinas and Orestas against Short and Cowburn to complete the scoring.

Mention must also to Keiran Tutter, who is the fourth member of the Monsters squad and has also contributed to their cause this season.

Division Three side DTH Redlands Rookies clinched the Division Three title with their 12 consecutive win, maintaining their 100 per cent league record this season.

The win that clinched the title came against a two-man Sparken Hill Hawks side, which gave them a 3-0 lead before a ball had been struck and subsequently made their task that bit easier.

Alan Keeling took the Player-Of-the-Match award for the Rookies as he beat both Lewis Linacre and Paul Wendon. Keeling was well supported by Gary Robinson, who had a good win over Wendon but losing but to Linacre.

Lyus lost to both the Hawk’s players in the singles games and tried to again to get his name on the scoresheet in the doubles with Robinson but again ended up on the end of a defeat with Linacre and Wendon taking the doubles set - but it wasn’t enough to stop the Rookies running out 6-4 winners and with it taking the Division Three title.

Again, mention must go to their other players in their squad in captain Bob Atkinson and Derek Piper, who have made significant contributions this season.

Elsewhere in Division Three, DTH Redlands Tarr Babies and Sparken Hill Blue Jays played out an entertaining 5-5 draw with Ethan Shevill continuing his recent improvement and clinching the Player Of The Match with a superb hattrick of wins over Dave Lee, John McIntyre and Dave Rix.

Another draw in Division Three came in the match between Worksop Welfare Real Deal and Sparken Hill Nightingales. Despite a Glen Gillgrass hat-trick for the Real Deal team the Nightingales played really well to secure a draw with two wins each for Harrison Holland and Charlie Shepherd with the same two players teaming up in the doubles to beat Gillgrass and Jerry Collins to secure a point.

Back into Division one and the remaining three fixtures from this week were all very close affairs with narrow 6-4 wins for Clowne ‘A’ over 2 man DTH Redlands Roosters and for Worksop Miners Welfare over Stanley Street ‘A’ with Welfares Richard Element returning a very solid looking hat-trick of singles wins. Worksop Welfare Snipers ‘A’ and Sparken Hill Starlings couldn’t be separated in their relegation battle and the match finished all square at 5-5 and with only 2 points separating them with just 2 games to go either side could still finish in the bottom two relegation places.

With only one point separating the bottom three sides in Division Two none of the bottom three are safe from the drop into Division Three. Sparken Hill Falcons were looking to add to their points tally and try to pull away to safety, but they took a bit of a beating away at Manton Tigers with The Tigers Ron Firth and Dave Bowns returning hat-tricks with Steve Beeston adding a further two wins and along with the doubles gave the Tigers a comfortable 9-1 win.

The other side in relegation trouble to play this week was Worksop Welfare Cannon who were at home to Sparken Hill Eagles but an injury to Kay Wilson when they were 4-2 down meant that they had to concede the remaining games and subsequently lost the fixture 8-2.

Manton Sports enjoyed a 7-3 away win at Carlton X-Youth who could only field 2 players which didn’t help their cause. Sports Ian Henderson was the Player Of The Match, remaining unbeaten with Alan Wilson adding a win over Simon Hooley and Keith Smith adding a win over Mark Cooper to contribute to the Sports victory.