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Division Two
If Only...
With Winchcombe Legends not playing last week, Lakeside B didn’t lose the opportunity to go further ahead in the championship race with a strong 8-2 win over Winchcombe Warriors, while CCS A slipped further into the relegation mire suffering two substantial defeats to Warriors (9-1) and Cheltenham D (8-2). 

Phil King, so often the shining light for CCS this season, could only manage one singles in each of these encounters – against Luke Gresty and Alan Harvey respectively - with Jonathan Nixon registering CCS’s only other point in also beating Alan Harvey, 15-13 in the fifth in a fine comeback after being 2-0 down.  Matt Mulcahy and Chris James both scored max-es for Cheltenham C but had to work hard to overcome Phil King, taking five sets each to do so.
 
Old Saracens are staging an end-of-season charge, inspired by Judy Morley, with both Martin Kirby and Sheila Matthews notching up two wins to add to Judy’s max, plus the doubles, to gain a significant win against Saracens B, for whom Mark Nally was the only winner.  Mark had a terrific scrap against Judy but couldn’t quite pull off a max, finally going down 11-4 in the fifth set.
 
The Lakeside C vs Saracens A match saw lots of close games – four and five-setters – and an unfortunate injury to Graham Chandler which prevented him completing all his games, so in the end a draw was a fair result.  Dennis Wadley maintained his top-class record but was made to work hard for it, with four tight sets against Trevor Oliver and an even closer 5-setter against Chris White, where Chris fought back from a 2-0 deficit but couldn’t quite maintain the momentum, going down 11-6 in the deciding set.
 
The dynamic duo of Andy East and Chris Ball saw Lakeside B home to an 8-2 win against Warriors (three singles each plus the doubles), thereby maintaining Lakeside’s 100% record.  Although Paul Singh lost two of his singles against Luke Gresty and Charlie Loh, he wasn’t about to do it lightly, going to 5 sets against both, including a 19-17 against Luke, before finally succumbing.
 
Tirley Tigers look certain to be relegated following their 9-1 defeat to Tewkesbury A, not helped by turning up with only two players, but Elaine Evans was determined to fight to the last, beating Mike Tyrell in three straight and only just being squeezed out by Mike Maxwell in five hotly contested sets.  Mike and Rob Amphlett both scored max-es for Tewkesbury, which should see them finishing solidly in mid-table.

This has turned out to be something of an “if only….” week.  After my own CCS team result of 3-7 against Winchcombe Legends, I had to do a double-take on the arrival of the first card in the post which showed that Lakeside B had finally blown their unbeaten record, losing 7-3 to Cleeve Saracens A.  Could the Legends, (Lakesides closest rival) possibly make up the deficit?  Almost the next card to arrive was Legends vs Tewkesbury A (8-2 in the first half) – a 5-5 draw!!  “If only” Legends hadn’t for some reason turned out looking like the Warriors – featuring Mike Vick and Luke Gresty - instead of the usual team (I actually had to check the top of the card to make sure it really did say “Legends”, not “Warriors”), and “if only” Chris Lane hadn’t lost to Rob Amphlett! 

For Tirley Tigers, the “if only...” was Rob Deeley who, if he had played more regularly, might just have hauled Tirley out of the relegation zone.  Which was exactly what happened with Old Saracens and Judy Morley, who lost to Rob in four sets in the match against Tirley.  “If only” she had not played so regularly, CCS A would probably have kept themselves out of the relegation places; as it is, Old Saras will finish just above CCS by a handful of points.  And “if only” Janie Kirby hadn’t got injured against Old Saras Pete McGeough, she might have secured her first win of the season – she was going well, 2 sets to nil up at the time – but we’ll never know!!
 
But what a result for Saracens A, with both Mike Dodwell and Dennis Wadley scoring maximums and combining to win the doubles too.  And what a battle it must have been; goodness knows what time they finished, with all except one singles going to four or five tight sets, with 11-9’s and 12-10’s all over the place. Although he lost all three, Ross Greening was close to inflicting even more damage on Lakeside, only going down 12-10 in the fifth to Ken Smith and also taking Chris Ball to five sets.
 
Lakeside made some amends with a tidy 9-1 win over Cleeve Saracens B, with Chris and Andy back on winning form again and Mark Nally registering Saracens only point. Given Legends 5-5 draw, Lakeside will probably still take the title, although there is no room for slip-ups as both they and Legends still have potentially awkward matches against CTTC C to come.
 
Cheltenham C were on good form against Tewkesbury A, winning comfortably 9-1 with max-es for Mel Garlick and Martin Smith and Mike Tyrrell scoring Tewkesbury’s only win. In Tewkesbury’s match against Legends, Mike Maxwell scored an impressive three-straight win over Mike Vick; Rob Amphlett took five sets to achieve his win over Mike, beat Chris Lane in four and was then involved in a titanic struggle with Luke Gresty which eventually went to Luke 11-7 in the fifth.
 
Winchcombe Warriors and Cheltenham D rounded off their seasons with a 5-5 draw, with no maximums, but Charlie Loh and Graham Fisher for Warriors, and Chris James and Matt Mulcahy for Cheltenham each notched up two wins apiece.  Luke Gresty was Warriors’ other winner, while for Cheltenham, although Alan Harvey didn’t manage to get on the scoresheet this week, Chris and Matt came away with the doubles to complete an evenly fought contest.
 
So the title is still (just) mathematically open, with everything hanging on next week’s final scores.

Steve Murton
Division Two Secretary

Division Three
Tewkesbury Bring Home The Gold
This report incorporates a number of fixtures which were rearranged after behing hit by the bad weather in January, and provides a clearer picture of likely end of season placings.

Pride of place this week must go to Cheltenham H. Without a win or draw last season, and with a similar record to date, they left it until their last match of the season to gain a 6-4 victory over Civil Service B. Richard Comley led the way with a maximum, including a five game win over Jeremy Turberville. Tom Warner provided support with two successes to ensure at least a share of the points. Richard and Tom took on Geoff Wilson and Jeremy in the doubles, squeezing through 11-8, 13-11, 10-12, 10-12 to snatch the win.

The fortunes of Civil Service B improved with a surprise 7-3 win over Cleeve Eagles. Jeremy Turberville was in good form, winning all of his singles, and was well supported by Alan Thomas and Rob Browning who won two sets each. To compound Eagle’s pain, Roly Holder and Tiffany Hopton lost out to Rob and Alan in the doubles, eventually going down 9-11 in the fifth game.

Cheltenham F continued their strong finish to the season with an 8-2 win over Winchcombe Vikings, whose cause was not helped when Alan Gallop was forced to retire after only one singles. For the Cheltenham side, Mike Brown won both of his sets to lead his team home.

Vikings were more successful against Cheltenham H but the 7-3 scoreline masked some close encounters which generally went Viking’s way. Dick Prior was dominant, winning all three sets without losing a game.

Cheltenham H were no match for Cheltenham G, who ran out comfortable winners, dropping only one game in the nine singles games.

Cheltenham E beat Cleeve Eagles 7-3 to improve their chances of finishing runners-up, and at the same time all but extinguished any hopes that Eagles may have had in that direction. James Bird dominated proceedings, with three individual wins, whilst Carey Maisey and Tom Warner gained two and one wins respectively.

Tewkesbury B moved closer to an unbeaten finish with a 9-1 success over Winchcombe Vikings. The closest encounters involved Tewkesbury’s Wayne Lippett, who once again demonstrated his staying power with five game wins against Dick Prior and Roy Gavin.

With only a handful of matches remaining,Tewkesbury B are already assured of top spot, and the battle for second place looks to be between Cheltenham E and Cheltenham F.

Derek Brown
Division Three Secretary 

Civil Service B	4	Cheltenham H	6	R. Comley
Cleeve Eagles	3	Civil Service B	7	J. Turberville
Cheltenham F	8	Winchcombe Vikings	2	M. Brown
Winchcombe Vikings	7	Cheltehnam H	3	D. Prior
Cheltenham H	0	Cheltenham G	10	S. James, M. Robertson, R. Godwin
Cheltenham E	7	Cleeve Eagles	3	J. Bird
Winchcombe Vikings	1	Tewkesbury B	9	J. Goodchild, W. Lippet