Possibly the best performance of the week in the Leicester and District League came in Division One when Knighton Park II faced their own third team comprising of juniors for whom the youngest of the lot at 15, Oscar Bentley, won all three to take his team very close to a shock success.
His victories all came against players graded above him, although his grading will have moved up by the end of the season with Karen Smith and George McClurkin taking two each and James Berry one for the second team and the doubles, while Dan Andrews scored an excellent success against Berry for the third team’s other one.
Meanwhile the top three teams continue to win, not least Unicorn’s two teams when the first team beat Thringstone 7-3 while the second string defeated AW Wolvey by 6-4. For the firsts Jared Patel notched a maximum, George Briskolas and Tim Sheppard two apiece, while David Arrowsmith won two for Thringstone.
For the Unicorn second string Craig Witheford recorded all three, Luke Greenfield two and they secured the doubles in three straight for full points. John Fuller won two for AW Wolvey.
Only two players for Electricity against Arnesby with Andy LeButt winning two for the Sparks but he couldn’t get past Ian Brown who won both that he played for Arnesby in a 7-3 win.
In the matches covered above both Electricity and Thringstone (not their fault) were given a free point when the opposition conceded the doubles instead of making them fight for that point given for a 7-3 defeat. These given points could make quite a difference to places at the end of a season with so many doubles given away in the top flight.
A crucial match at the top of Division Two saw Desford Village II defeat Knighton Park IV 6-4 which enabled Desford to leapfrog their rivals. Matthew Briggs scored a maximum, Kevin Parker two and these two took a crucial doubles. For KP Amardeep Gudela, playing up, scored two, Zia Malik and John Underwood one each.
Abbots Road maintained second position by two points but their nearest rivals have a match in hand. Abbots defeated Holwell Sports 8-2 with Chetan Tailor an excellent maximum while Geoff Hancock and Vishal Parmar provided very good support with two apiece. Mike James and Dave Roach each scored one for Holwell.
Desford Village’s first team continue to rule the roost, their latest success an 8-2 victory over a depleted Regent Sports who only had two players. Jessica Birbeck emerged undefeated for Desford while Arun Jogi and Neil Matthams each lost to Charlie Bateman.
A couple of weeks ago Syston Casuals III were vying for the championship of Division Four with the prospect of playing against the other two teams doing the same. Unaccountably it all went terribly wrong with two 10-0 defeats out of the blue, the latest against Abbots Road III who had Bradley Lapworth, Eiz Eddin Al Katrib and Ketan Patel in uncompromising mood. This puts Abbots one point behind Syston but with a game in hand.
Meanwhile Lutterworth were cementing their top position with a 9-1 victory over Regent Sports II who had James Smith beating John Fuller to prevent the full house. Fuller won his other two while Colin Jones and Kevin Jones both took maximums and they are just about home and dry for a spell in Division Three.