Greetland Social ‘A’ distanced themselves from the chasing pack with a 7-2 victory over third placed Hermits.

In a victory that extended Greetland’s unbeaten run to 26 games, the victory moved them 14 points ahead of Red Press, who albeit have two games in hand.

Jack Dabrowski and Matthew Shaw won three games apiece to secure the result, both beating Geoff Barnes, Mick Kosmowsky and Paul McKrieth, with Kosmowsky and McKrieth defeating Gareth Hey.

BT shocked Panthers to pick up their first win of the season with a 6-3 triumph. Despite Ben Fillingham registering three victories, the trio of Mick Reddy, Lyndon and Justin Harris all dispatched Dave Bowers and stand-in Bob Woodhead to secure a morale-boosting victory.

Grasshoppers secured their first victory in six matches as they scraped past Central 5-4. Fraser Riley had recorded three victories for Central to give them a platform to build upon, however Grasshoppers fought back, with Jake Clarke and Adrian Walker both beating Steve Thomas and Malcolm Fowler whilst Ken Mirfield crucially defeated Fowler in the final set to secure victory.

Tradesmen picked up an important victory as they overcame Greetland Social ‘B’ 7-2. A magnificent performance from Jonathan Crossley, who won all three of his sets, was backed up by the ever reliable Stuart Sykes, whilst Mark Knapton defeated Barry Drain.

Central 2 closed Hotshots’ gap at the top of Division Two to three points with an 8-1 win over Team G. A superb victory for Barbara Gee over Paul Dean was the only consolation for Team G, as Steve Thomas and Shaun Forbes won three games each.

Rams picked up a superb victory in the middle-of-the-table clash as they eased past Evergreens 8-1. Dave Melbourne and Darrell Mann recorded three wins apiece, with Michael Higgins’ victory over Eric Greenwood the only response Evergreens could conjure.

The race for third place remained in stalemate as Oakland Raiders and Keighley Nomads both won 6-3. After replicating the other’s results over the past month, the pair beat Dolphins and Ovenden Sports respectively to keep pressure on the top two. Dave Blackburn proved to be a thorn in the side of Oakland as he won all three of his matches for Dolphins, whilst Stefan Cyhanko and Derek Briggs registered three wins apiece to help Keighley to victory.

After five consecutive defeats, Central 3 secured a crucial win as they edged past Tribal 1 5-4. Despite a valiant effort from Michael Bush, who won all three matches for Tribal, his side couldn’t get over the line, with Josh Hill managing to defeat Brian Chapman. However, Chapman, Dave Blackburn and Stephen Dunn responded with victories over Richard Musgrove whilst Blackburn and Dunn defeated Hill.

Leopards hit the top of Division Three for the first time as they defeated Rainbow 2 8-1. The unbeaten trio of Richard Musgrove, Jake Challenger and Ronnie McNamara eased to a sixth straight victory, with Nicholas Miller’s superb victory over Ronnie McNamara the only consolation for Rainbow.

Ramsbridge continue to keep pressure on the league leaders as they beat two-man Rainbow 1 8-1. Sha Khaghei had given Rainbow the ideal start with a wonderful victory over Allen Cowburn, however eight unanswered points for Rambridge, including three each for Joe Broadbent and John Schofield, secured a strong result.

Sowerby 2 recorded back to back wins as they defeated Old Town Hounds 9-0. John Korner, Andrew Whiteley and Phil Parry came out of their match unscathed as they romped to victory.

Tribal 2 recorded their second win of the season with a 6-3 win over Old Town Robins. Niall Paterson and John Taylor won all three matches against Dave Stansfield, Martin Bates and David Warburton to secure victory.

Ladies

League leaders Ruby extended their lead at the top of the division to seven points with a 6-3 win over Amethyst. Chirssy Sykes’ routine treble was as good as it got for Amethyst, as Alex Borberly, Karen Levin and Rose Tipton won two games each.

Ruby received a boost when second-placed Emerald lost 5-4 to Sapphire. Despite Sophie Yung winning all three for Emerald, Christine Beaumont, Abbie Parker and Amy Fillingham responded to secure an important victory for the third placed side.

Finally, Diamond returned to winning was with a 6-3 win over Aquamarine. The game was poised at 3-3 after Joan Bottomley had defeated both Curran and Walker whilst Judith Madison had defeated Sumner. However, Walker, Sumner and Curran defeated Jean Armitage, Bottomley and Mathison respectively to secure the win.

Player of the week: Dave Blackburn – His superb treble against Oakland Raiders gave Dolphins a positive to build on going into next week.

Top seeds Sam Clayton and Amir Hussain are on course to reach the final of the Halifax Junior Masters, unless their semi-final opponents Lewis Palmer and Fraser Riley can cause an upset.

The top 16 battled it out and there were no major shocks in the group stage format, although Jonny Heslop gave Amir a fright only going down 13-11  in the fifth.

With the seeded players reaching the quarter-finals, Sam comfortably beat Ollie Hill, while Amir was too consistent on both wings for Ben Fillingham.  Ben will be disappointed because he recently beat Amir, England No 1 (U12), in a tight five-game encounter.

Fraser Riley booked his semi-final with a 3-1 success over the talented Waqas Ahmad.  Waqas lets himself down at times with poor shot selection.

The last quarter-final was a humdinger with some great loop-to-loop rallies. Former Masters champion Jake Clarke just missed out, deuce in the fifth, to the improving Lewis Palmer.

The semi-finals are today (Friday) 7.30pm start – everyone welcome.

Sam Clayton  v  Lewis Palmer
Amir Hussain v  Fraser Riley

The Plate competition for those not ranked in the top 16 has provided the final group, also to be played today.

Group: Billy Wragg, George Clark, Aman Khan, Niall Paterson, Jake Conley, Matthew Broadbent.

Please note: Steve is running a Mystery Doubles event on Sunday December 28, 10am start. Please inform your team members.

Barry Snowden
December 12, 2014