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Kingfisher A successfully retained their Division One championship in the Reading League’s centenary season with a match to spare after a 9-1 home victory over their B side.
Despite a number of encounters going the five set distance, only Prayrit Ahluwalia, with a win over Ross Saxby, could trouble the scorers – Hari Gehlot and Martin Adams held their nerve to emerge victorious.
At the other end of the table Sonning Common & Peppard B boosted their chances of survival with a 7-3 victory over their D team.
Nigel Maltby salvaged a fine double with wins over Matt Stone and Tim Raby but Tom Astle maintained his fine recent form to record another maximum to condemn the D team to almost certain relegation. With matches in hand Kingfisher D fought hard for a 5-5 draw to fourth place Tidmarsh A.
They owe their success to Georgi Ivanov who remained unbeaten on the night. Danny Dockree also secured his maximum in Sonning Common & Peppard C’s visit to Sonning Sports A, but their position remains precarious as Nick Sears, Paul Savage and Graham Diplock all scored braces to run out 7-3 victors.
The leaders of Division Two, Reading FC, had a hard fought 6-4 win at third placed Tidmarsh B. This match saw the number one players in the Division Mike Childs lose for the third time this season, beaten by Tidmarsh’s Rob McMillan in four 11-6 7-11 11-8 11-7.
Simon Rowland managed a treble for Reading FC that included a 9-11 8-11 11-8 11-4 11-4 opening victory against Rob. Second placed Kingfisher F beat Kingfisher G 7-3 to all but confirm their promotion in a match which saw Qing Wu gain a very good maximum for the G team.
Our Lady of Peace A and Springfield A drew 5-5 with Dave Godfrey getting a fine maximum for OLOP. Pangbourne WMC lost 7-3 to Kingfisher E, a result which just about confirms their relegation with Akeel Mir getting a maximum for Kingfisher.
The set of the night was a marathon between the two captains with Andrew Adair pipping Leroy Wilson in the fifth 9-11 18-16 11-5 10-12 12-10.
In Division Three, Kingfisher I had an opportunity to close the 11-point gap on leaders Our Lady of Peace C who had a bye week and they duly did so by winning 8-2 at Tilehurst Methodists C to close the gap to just three points.
All two points for the home team came from Steve Christelow, but the highlight of the match was the doubles game where the away team won in a thrilling fifth set with the second set going to deuce many times.
Chris Webb was the player of the match for Tidmarsh D with his treble as they beat Kingfisher J 7-3. Our Lady of Peace B beat Tilehurst Methodists B 9-1, and the away team’s only point came from Nigel Rowland.
Nigel managed to win his team’s only point from coming 1-2 down to beat Mark Carless. Jacek Piechocki continued his perfect run for OLOP and extended his unbeaten streak to 21 matches.
Sonning Sports B won 7-3 against Our Lady of Peace D. Grant Baartman was on form and helped his team to win the game by having another treble.
