It was top versus bottom in Division One of the Leicester and District League, but not the expected result as Holwell Works, firmly entrenched without even a draw before, shared the spoils with Unicorn, previously with a 100% record, at 5-5 with an excellent team performance.
James Morley battled through to two successes for Holwell, both needing five games, while Dave Roche and Tony Fox each won one. Jared Patel was unbeaten for Unicorn while Geoff Parsons and Lu Zhang won one apiece and finally Holwell gained the share with the doubles.
The awaited clash of unbeaten individuals failed to materialize when the other team with a perfect record, Knighton Park, faced Abbotts Road, whose Dave Gannon is undefeated. And he still is as he did not play against the Park, who had the undefeated Chris Rogers leading, more than well supported by Reza Kiani and Les Baker in a 10-0 victory. Full houses are not uncommon but the fact that all 10 sets were won in three games must be rare at this level.
Another shock saw Ajax Wolvery well beaten 7-3 by Electricity who had Mat Hobday, Dave Grundy and Andy LeButt all winning two, although none of them could get past Jon Williams who notched a first-class maximum in defeat.
Nomads’ two teams in Division Four are performing well. The third team claimed second position with a 7-3 victory over Desford Village III when Mark Clay won all three backed by two from Laszlo Kocsis and one from Steph Burley. Luke Blair won two for Desford, Alan Oxbrough providing the other one.
Meanwhile Nomads IV were beating Lutterworth Rotary 6-4 thanks to three from Martin Taylor while Phil Tomlin won two. Lutterworth won promotion from five last term but have found one division higher somewhat tougher, having lost all five so far. In this all three of their players came away with something, Mike Eastell winning two, Noelle Paine and Simon Jones one apiece.
Top in this division are Winstanley Wizards, who were almost relegated last term. They have certainly found their footing now with Dan Andrews claiming three, Kelsey Andrews and Himansh Mishra two each in a 7-3 win over Electricity V to continue to hold sway at the top. Dan Woolman won the two singles gained by the Sparks, who also won the doubles, while Dave Bray took two of his losses to five and played four games in the other for a busy night.
Regent Sports missed a chance of jumping to the top of Division Two when held to a 5-5 draw by a good team effort from Abbots Road II for whom Steve Pratt won two and Geoff Hancock and Chetan Tailor one each, with the first two taking the doubles in three games. Martin Bolton emerged undefeated for Regent with Kevin Sanderson gaining two.
Knighton Park IV kept up their pressure near the top with a good 6-4 win over Desford Village II in a see-saw encounter that could have gone either way. Rayan Kotecha won three for the Park and Oscar White two, Neil Matthams being Desford’s most successful player with two.
A clash of unbeaten teams at the top of Division Three saw an inevitable 5-5 in a division awash with shared matches, this time between Knighton Park VII and Blaby and Whetstone II. None of the six players won or lost all three with the Hinson brothers, Paul and Phill each winning two for Blaby while John Winsper took one, losing for the first time this season. For Park, Simon Aldis won two, Tracey Smith one, both beating Winsper, while Martin Pember grabbed the other. As usual Park played their joker in the doubles for an Aldis and Smith success.
A total of 36 teams entered the Leicester Development League – effectively the junior league – with all matches taking place at the Leicester Grammar School.
Not surprisingly, Knighton Park dominate both in quantity and quality as KP1 Scorpions topped Division One with a perfect three from three, all 4-0 when Adnan Ebrahim and Rayan Kotecha, who both play in the second division of the senior league, cleaned up.
Top of Division Two were Harborough A, with Luke Brown undefeated in three victories supported well by Jamie Morrison. This team will be promoted for the next session. Around a dozen or so of the players play in the senior league but for the majority this event is an ideal introduction to league play as they attempt to move up the ladder to senior status.
The league is very well organized by Vaughan Allington, who has a well drilled group of helpers who ensure the league runs very smoothly.