Looking a bit further down the Leicester & District League first up for a change, in this case to Division Four, it is already building up very nicely with at least five teams vying at the top, not least of all Desford Village III and Unicorn IV who came up with a 5-5 draw when they met, both teams losing their first points of the season.
Star of the show was Unicorn’s Nicolas Iacovou, playing his first season in the league, who won all three in good style, while Jordan Tweed and Gary Baines each notched one in support. All six players won something with Luke Blair taking two for Desford to retain second position in the averages, while Alan Oxbrough and Keith Adams each won one, the latter two grabbing the doubles to share the spoils.
Desford are still top with Goons II breathing down their necks having demolished Nomads II 10-0 when Steve Harrison, Kevin Edwards and Scott Robinson retained their impressive start, Harrison yet to be beaten at the top of the individual chart.
Nomads’ other team in this division, their third team, lost for the first time when going down 8-2 to Abbots Road IV who were winning for the first time, but it will not be the last. Ketan Patel starred for Abbots by emerging undefeated with Dave Rana and Eiz Eddin Al Katrib each taking two.
Electricity VI – Team Dave – are also in the mix, getting home 6-4 against Winstanley Wizards II by 6-4 mainly thanks to Dave Cox recording all three while the other two Daves, Silvester and Bray won one apiece. For the Wizards Elly Bajarias and Chris Webster each took two. The Sparks recorded full points when Cox and Silvester won the doubles 3-2 (11-13, 8-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-9), coming back from the brink.
In Division One two clubs had their first and second teams in opposition, both times the firsts winning with Electricity’s match 8-2 while Knighton Park’s was 7-3.
Mat Hobday won all three for the Sparks’ first team while Andy LeButt and David Grundy each won two to maintain their 100% tag, winning three from three so far. Adam Pettitt did very well for the second team by winning two against opponents graded almost 20 above himself.
Knighton Park’s first team are missing the input of star man, Chris Rogers, at the moment but still managed to defeat their second string 7-3 thanks to unbeaten returns by Reza Kiani and Jack Rogers. For the second team Karen Smith, George McClurkin and Richard Hayes all won one. It might have been closer as Kiani won two in five while Rogers beat Smith 13-11 times three.
Holwell Sports maintain their top position with an 8-2 victory over Syston Casuals for whom Jason Woodfield recorded a brace. Adam Feargrieve was unbeaten for Holwell with Oliver Williamson and Tony Fox each taking two.
Abbots Road are soldering on in determined style, their latest defeat at 9-1 against Thringstone who were kind enough to give their opponents the doubles just to soften the blow, Trevor Kerry, Alastair Hawthorne and Maurice Newman unbeaten in the singles.
In Division Two all six players won something when Syston Casuals II entertained Arnesby II, the latter getting the verdict 6-4 with a doubles victory. Rhys Emery and Dave Wagstaff won two each for Arnesby, Bruce Johnson one while, for Syston, Ian Wetherly grabbed two, Bob Whittaker and Scott Morris one apiece.
Even closer at 5-5 was the score between Knighton Park IV and Desford Village II when Osman Bawa scored a top class maximum for the Park while Kevin Parker and Matthew Briggs won two each for Desford.
Desford’s first team are still top despite only having two players against Abbots Road II, Neil Matthams and Tony Smith winning all their singles and the doubles as well to land the match 7-3.
There were numerous very good performances in Division Three which had a full tally of matches played for the second week running, one of the best being a cracking maximum by Marcin Karprzyk of Electricity V which went a long way to claiming a share in a 5-5 draw against chart toppers, Holwell Sports II, including successes over Martin Brunning and Mike James. Holwell are the only team not to have been beaten.
Other good performances include three for Regent Sports’ Richard Anderson against Electricity IV in a 7-3 win including over the higher graded Chris Woodward and Sheriff Makhani. Dave Greasley lost to Anderson but won his other two for the Sparks.
James Robertson looks at home in this division for Fleckney, winning all three against Unicorn III, the latter winning 6-4 when Guan Mei Zhang and Tony Geanta each won two, Joshua Powell one. Abbots Road III maintained a challenge near the top with an 8-2 victory over Knighton Park VI when Bhulesh Rathod and Steve Pratt each claimed maximums.