Having suffered a shock draw against Holwell Works a few matches ago, defending champions in Division One of the Leicester and District League, Unicorn, look to be setting their stall out to defend the title.
They put out another top-class team against the side that finished third in the league last term, Ajax Wolvey, with the students coming out winners by 9-1.
Jared Patel and Lois Peake both secured solid maximums while Tim Sheppard did his bit in winning two and only just went down in his third 12-10 in the fifth against Mick Hobday, who prevented the full house.
Still 100% are Knighton Park, who did well to beat Electricity 7-3, the latter always vying near the top of the chart. Chris Rogers took three, Reza Kiani two and Karen Smith one. For the Sparks, Mat Hobday played well to win two and only just went down in five to Rogers, Ian Brown securing one.
In the middle of the chart there was a cracking tussle between Knighton Park seconds and Arnesby with the Park going 3-1 up early on. But Abraham Conteh had won that one, going on to take all three for Arnesby, supported by one from Ian Brown while these two also took the doubles when the match finished around midnight at 5-5. Kevin Yang and Jack Rogers both won two for KP, George McClurkin the other.
At the other end of the spectrum in Division Five there is a tremendous fight at the top of the chart, currently between five teams. Goons led at the beginning of the week but it was their bye week so watched as two teams slipped past them.
Syston Casuals went top thanks to an excellent 9-1 victory over Winstanley Wizards III when Scott Morris and Tony Monteiro both grabbed three and Wes Glauds two, losing to Ken Wadeson who thus avoided the whitewash.
Blaby and Whetstone III are second after beating Desford Village IV 7-3 but the latter were not helped by only having two players. Tom Phipps won both of his for Blaby while Tony Burns won two for Desford.
Another team in contention are Regent Sports IV and they beat Abbots Road IV 8-2 led by a Richard Just maximum. Stu Jones and Bob Smith each won two for Regent while Dave Rana supplied Abbots’ two.
Unicorn II still dominated top spot in Division Two but they were held to a splendid 5-5 share by Desford Village II for whom Kevin Parker is in devastating form this season. He won three in this encounter while Matt Briggs supplied one and these two grabbed the crucial doubles. Meanwhile, Ben Stone and John Genovese were winning a brace each for Unicorn, Jianglong Guo one.
The next four places are tight. Knighton Park V defeated and leapfrogged Abbots Road II 7-3 thanks mainly to three from Lucky Obi, maintaining his good form. They also overtook Regent Sports who were shocked by lowly Blaby and Whetstone, who took the match 9-1. All three Blaby players came to the party with Dave Seeds and Nick Rayner three each and Dave Daniel two.
Young junior Adnan Ebrahim came good for Knighton Park IV, who defeated their own third team who look a little destined for the drop after this 7-3 win for the fourth team, Ebrahim unbeaten.
Maximums in Division Four included one from Ian Lockington to maintain his unbeaten tag for Wigston Conservatives in a 7-3 defeat for Lutterworth Rotary. Rob Price emerged undefeated for Regent Sports II against Desford Village III in a 6-4 win, while it was a double header for Zia Malik and Brajesh Patel for Knighton Park’s tenth team against their own ninth in a 7-3 result.
Leicestershire’s Veterans’ second team had already had a decent start to their County Championship campaign with a win and a draw when they faced their own third team, racing to a superb 10-0 victory against a very willing but, in the end, outclassed foursome.
The victors were represented by Andy LeButt, who captain’s the side well, Reza Kiani, David Grundy and Eileen Shaler. The only dodgy moment came in a men’s pairs when LeButt and Grundy just got the better of Les Baker and Jason Woodfield in five games. The other two third team representatives were Tony Smith and Tracey Smith.