29th September By Steve Kerns
Brighton City, runaway winners of Division Four (South) last Season look to be the team to beat and with eight points out of eight they have now scored 18 successive British League victories. British League scribe Steve Kerns is the first to congratulate them after questioning rather strongly whether they really deserved a “double promotion” when other teams have been denied it in the past. However, as impressive as their opening play was they won’t be getting too excited just yet, they still have to play second and third-placed B&S Group Okehampton and York Gardens II, as well as a strong Woolwell II side. Brighton’s 5-3 win over Horsham I was possibly the least expected of the weekend. They trailed 3-0 at one stage and could have had little hope of rescuing a point. However, an 11-9, 11-9, 11-9 win for Gary Wilson against Lewis Mayhew kick-started their fight-back and suddenly they looked a completely different side. Adam Leow scored a fine 11-3, 8-11, 12-10, 15-13 victory over Peter Bartram, Harry McCarney added a 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8 win over Luis Dominguez and Gary Wilson came up trumps by getting the better of Marc Burman 11-9, 11-7, 10-12, 11-6, a superb win in anyone’s book. The writing was on the wall as far as Horsham were concerned and there was no surprise when Brighton City completed a fantastic comeback with Wen Wei Xu getting the better of Lewis Mayhew 11-3, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9. Not many players stayed undefeated over the whole weekend, although one player who did manage it was Woolwell II’s Chris Smith, a player who must be itching to have a crack at Division One. He proved an excellent no. one and his portfolio of wins included the York Gardens duo of Chris Martin (3-1) and Chris Beckley (3-0), as well as the Ashford duo of John Robinson (3-1) and Ramesh Bhalla (3-1) and B&S Okehampton’s Rory Harries (3-1) and Mike Hugh (3-2). Smith’s battle against Hugh looks to have been the trickiest and the scores tell their own story: 3-11,. 8-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-1. He was awarded the Player of the Match Award twice for his efforts. One of the occasions when this Award eluded him was against York Gardens II when it was Marcia Ma’s efforts that were judged most influential. Marcia beat both Sally Smith (3-0) and Harry Cutler (3-1) as York Gardens ran out 5-3 winners. Chris Martin sealed the victory at 5-2 for the London side by getting the better of Martin Gunn 11-9, 11-4, 6-11, 6-11, 11-8. B&S Group Okehampton, a distant second in Divison Three (South and West) last year have made a very impressive start, and this was never more evident than in their 5-3 win against Ashford I. They led 2-0, found themselves pegged back to 3-3 but still managed to secure both points. Sam Bruty beat Ramesh Bhalla 10-12, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9 and Joe Clifford Junior made no mistake in the last game as he raced home 11-5, 11-6, 11-8 against Robin Pretty. B&S Group had also impressed against Horsham I with Rory Harries and Mike Hugh both getting the better of Horsham no. one, the formidable Peter Bartram. With Mike Hugh beating Marc Burman and Rory Harries adding a second win against Luis Dominguez B&S Group were always in contention and Joe Clifford Junior completed an excellent performance by getting the better of Lewis Mayhew to give the Devon side a 5-3 victory.
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