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You can go directly from this report to the following pages BULLETIN BOARD WANTED
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Use your browser "back" button to return to this page. INFORMATION NOTES NATIONAL JUNIOR LEAGUE 2007/08 LONDON NORTH REGION EUPHORIA TURNS TO DISAPPOINTMENT The fourth round of National Junior League matches, London North Region, was held at the Ellenborough Club, Enfield on Saturday 8 March. The Chelmsford Club’s A and B teams were both in the hunt for honours in respective Divisions 1 and 2. Whilst at the end of the day the A team thought they had snatched the runners-up position and the B team had won their Division it was only later that evening that it was discovered that Referee Alan Shepherd had circulated an incorrect table for both Divisions after the last round of matches and these incorrect tables had been used during the day to update tables after each round of matches. Thus the A Team thought they were only two points behind second placed Peniel Academy A when it was actually eleven and the B team thought they had a lead of four points over Three E’s B when actually points were level. For their first match against Peniel Academy A Bradley Hudgell opened up with a 3-0 win over Michael Barthee and later on had easy 3-0 wins over Zach Adebanjo and Oliver Esquivel. Unusually three defeats for Brandon Crouchman, 3-1 against Oliver and 3-2 to Michael and Zach. Sam Pitt had beaten Zach 8, 8, 10 in his first match and then lost -8, 7, 11, -10, 9 to Oliver and 8, 7, -12, 9 to Michael for a 4-5 team loss. The remaining Division 1 matches would only involve three games per match, A v X, B v Y and C v Z. Against leaders Three E’s A Bradley beat Robbie Payne-Ingis 15-13 in the fourth whilst Brandon’s win over Luke Smith was 12-10 in the fifth after saving two match points and Sam succumbed 3-0 to Joe Richardson. A straight forward 3-0 win over bottom team Ellenborough A followed and then another two 3-0 wins, firstly over Ernest Bevin A where Brandon again had to save two match points to beat Emru Ipatogiu 12-10 in the fifth and then over Barnet Centre A where Bradley was taken to a fourth game by Tamsin Holland. The last match of the day was against Peniel Academy A, the team they played at the start of the day, when it looked as though a 3-0 win was needed to take the runners-up spot and a 2-1 win would need the rule book to be consulted to determine the positions of the two teams. Bradley again beat Michael, this time in four and Brandon lost in three to Oliver. Thus the decider between Sam and Zach which Sam won 3, 12, -10, 8 despite squandering a match point in the third game. The Rule Book consultation gave Chelmsford the advantage over Peniel but the subsequent correction of the table errors meant that the A team had finished third nine points behind Peniel Academy. With the two Matthew’s, Skeoch and Davis, unavailable the B Team fielded the same players as in the third round of matches. With Barnet B unable to field a team Scott Dowsett, James and Claire Austin received a 6-0 walkover at the start of the day and followed this up with a 4-2 win over a two player Peniel B, Scott Dowsett beating both Joshua Tunbridge and Matthew McKinnon 3-0 but James losing 3-1 to Joshua and Claire 3-2 to Matthew. Three E’s C also only had two players in the next match, Scott winning his both his matches against Patrick Rodrigues and Antony Sexton 3-1 whilst James came back from two games down to Antony to win in five. Claire had a straightforward 3-0 win over Patrick to complete the team’s 6-0 win. The next match was against Three E’s B, the eventual Division winners after the Table was corrected but with Chelmsford thinking they had a six point lead. Both opening matches went to five, James beating Frazer John -9, 10, 3, -6, 5 whilst Scott was losing 7, -10, -4, 6, 9 to Jamie Merison. Claire then lost frustratingly to Saiesyaran Ratnajothy -6, 11, 9, 9 and Sciott 3-0 to Frazer. James surrendered a match point to Saiesyaran to lose -9, -9, 11, 7, 9 and Claire 3-0 to Jamie for a 5-1 defeat. Against Ernest Bevan C Scott needed four games to beat Sukhueer Bhamra whilst Claire lost -6, 8, 8, -4, 8 to Alex Kwaskowski. The remaining four matches were all won easily 3-0 for a 5-1 win. For the last match of the day it looked as though a 6-0 win was required against bottom team Ellenborough B to take the title and this win was duly achieved, only two matches needing a fourth game and Scott winning his first 4, 0, 0. Alas corrections to the table proved this was not the case and looking back winning one of the 9 in the fifth games lost to Three E’s B would have been enough. TABLES AT THE END OF FINAL DAY: DIVISION 1
DIVISION 2
Arthur C. Clark
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