DaveR
12-13-2007, 07:00 PM
After a few absent years Sunderland have put a team into the british league again and although will have to work its way back to the top (currently in div 4) i am sure will do well..............
The second weekend of this season’s Senior British League signalled a trip
to Grantham for a Sunderland team lying top of Division 4 North with 8
points after the first weekend’s play. Their lead was slender, however, as
Pudsey also went into the weekend on 8 points and St Mary’s Hull in third
were just 2 points behind on 6. With both of these teams to play the
weekend looked to be a tough one, and so it proved.
The opening match on Saturday morning pitted Sunderland against Pudsey and the Yorkshire side took a 6-2 win to replace the North East team at the top of the table. The game started badly for Sunderland as Kevin Wilson was below par going down 3-1 to Chris Parker and this seemed to rub off on Keith Weatherby who was also far from his best in defeat to David Smith 3-1. With the match score at 0-2 it was already looking ominous but Graeme Barella, on his British League debut, held the team together with a calm 3-0 win against Ray Rider. With Anthony Barella then going 2-0 up against Joanna Roberts it appeared as though the fightback might be on, but he couldn’t quite get over the finish line in three close ends and was just edged out 3-2 to take the match score to 1-3. This proved to be the decisive win and Pudsey quickly cemented their victory with wins for David Smith over Kevin Wilson, Chris Parker against Graeme Barella and Joanna Roberts dispatching Keith Weatherby. It was left to Anthony Barella to regain some pride for Sunderland as he beat Ray Rider in the final match.
After such a poor display in the morning the team had no time to feel sorry for themselves as they were due to play third placed Hull in the
afternoon in a match they now had to win. Keith Weatherby was first on against the top ranked player in the division, England number 70 Luke Carrington. He produced his best form of the weekend to date but ultimately was beaten 3-1. Kevin Wilson got the team back on track with a 3-0 win against Julian Gittens before Adam Smith re-established the Hull lead with a close victory against Anthony Barella.
The teams shared the next two matches as Graeme Barella won a hard fought match against Kevin Hodgeson 11-9 in the fifth and Luke Carrington made short work of Kevin Wilson, leaving the match score at a precarious 3-2 to Hull. Keith Weatherby kept the team in the match with a 3-0 victory over Adam Smith and Graeme Barella produced the performance of the weekend to come back from 9-6 down in the fifth to beat Julian Gittens, a player 1000 points above him in the national rankings! At 4-3 it was down to Anthony Barella to secure the win, and he didn't disappoint taking a fairly comfortable victory against Kevin Hodgeson.
There was more good news too as, in the same set of matches, Pudsey had only drawn against Barnt Green, reducing their lead at the top to just one point. The weekend was to get even better for Sunderland on Sunday.The morning pitted the team against bottom side Isle of Mann and the difference in quality between the two sides quickly became clear as Sunderland took the match 8-0. In the afternoon the team played Chesterfield and, on paper, 7-1 appears to show another fairly routine win. However, the score line hides a much closer match with Keith Weatherby and Kevin Wilson both being extended to 5 ends by Chesterfield number 1 Warren Slaney, Graeme Barella having to fight hard to win both of his matches in 4 ends against Mike Bradbury and Andy Middleton and Anthony Barella, after a comfortable first win against Winston Spencer, lost his second singles to Andy Middleton with the match score at 7-0.
The real highlight of this set of fixtures, however, was on the next table with Pudsey going down 6-2 against Hull. This meant that, at the end of the second weekend's play, Sunderland have retained their top spot and, in spite of the defeat to Pudsey, extended their lead over the Yorkshire team to one point. Top performer was Graeme Barella with 7 wins out of 8 with Kevin Wilson, Keith Weatherby and Anthony Barella all winning 5.
Report by Kev (http://www.tabletennistalk.co.uk/forum/member.php?u=10)............:happy:
The second weekend of this season’s Senior British League signalled a trip
to Grantham for a Sunderland team lying top of Division 4 North with 8
points after the first weekend’s play. Their lead was slender, however, as
Pudsey also went into the weekend on 8 points and St Mary’s Hull in third
were just 2 points behind on 6. With both of these teams to play the
weekend looked to be a tough one, and so it proved.
The opening match on Saturday morning pitted Sunderland against Pudsey and the Yorkshire side took a 6-2 win to replace the North East team at the top of the table. The game started badly for Sunderland as Kevin Wilson was below par going down 3-1 to Chris Parker and this seemed to rub off on Keith Weatherby who was also far from his best in defeat to David Smith 3-1. With the match score at 0-2 it was already looking ominous but Graeme Barella, on his British League debut, held the team together with a calm 3-0 win against Ray Rider. With Anthony Barella then going 2-0 up against Joanna Roberts it appeared as though the fightback might be on, but he couldn’t quite get over the finish line in three close ends and was just edged out 3-2 to take the match score to 1-3. This proved to be the decisive win and Pudsey quickly cemented their victory with wins for David Smith over Kevin Wilson, Chris Parker against Graeme Barella and Joanna Roberts dispatching Keith Weatherby. It was left to Anthony Barella to regain some pride for Sunderland as he beat Ray Rider in the final match.
After such a poor display in the morning the team had no time to feel sorry for themselves as they were due to play third placed Hull in the
afternoon in a match they now had to win. Keith Weatherby was first on against the top ranked player in the division, England number 70 Luke Carrington. He produced his best form of the weekend to date but ultimately was beaten 3-1. Kevin Wilson got the team back on track with a 3-0 win against Julian Gittens before Adam Smith re-established the Hull lead with a close victory against Anthony Barella.
The teams shared the next two matches as Graeme Barella won a hard fought match against Kevin Hodgeson 11-9 in the fifth and Luke Carrington made short work of Kevin Wilson, leaving the match score at a precarious 3-2 to Hull. Keith Weatherby kept the team in the match with a 3-0 victory over Adam Smith and Graeme Barella produced the performance of the weekend to come back from 9-6 down in the fifth to beat Julian Gittens, a player 1000 points above him in the national rankings! At 4-3 it was down to Anthony Barella to secure the win, and he didn't disappoint taking a fairly comfortable victory against Kevin Hodgeson.
There was more good news too as, in the same set of matches, Pudsey had only drawn against Barnt Green, reducing their lead at the top to just one point. The weekend was to get even better for Sunderland on Sunday.The morning pitted the team against bottom side Isle of Mann and the difference in quality between the two sides quickly became clear as Sunderland took the match 8-0. In the afternoon the team played Chesterfield and, on paper, 7-1 appears to show another fairly routine win. However, the score line hides a much closer match with Keith Weatherby and Kevin Wilson both being extended to 5 ends by Chesterfield number 1 Warren Slaney, Graeme Barella having to fight hard to win both of his matches in 4 ends against Mike Bradbury and Andy Middleton and Anthony Barella, after a comfortable first win against Winston Spencer, lost his second singles to Andy Middleton with the match score at 7-0.
The real highlight of this set of fixtures, however, was on the next table with Pudsey going down 6-2 against Hull. This meant that, at the end of the second weekend's play, Sunderland have retained their top spot and, in spite of the defeat to Pudsey, extended their lead over the Yorkshire team to one point. Top performer was Graeme Barella with 7 wins out of 8 with Kevin Wilson, Keith Weatherby and Anthony Barella all winning 5.
Report by Kev (http://www.tabletennistalk.co.uk/forum/member.php?u=10)............:happy: