Just four points separate the top two teams in division two as Chelmsford C and Hatfield Peverel A were both held to 5-5 draws in week 21.

The two sides meet in week 22 with Chelmsford looking to avenge their 8-2 loss at the hands of Monday’s visitors earlier in the season.

Division 1

All four fixtures in division one this week ended with an 8-2 scoreline as Chelmsford A, Chelmsford B, Danbury A and OCA A all posted victories.

Second-placed Chelmsford A were in action first as Harry Chivers hit a hat-trick against Galleywood A in a fixture which saw stout resistance from Gary Brignall preventing an even wider margin. Galleywood’s James Mullane was unfortunate not to earn any wins for the visitors as he saw 2-1 leads against both Chivers and Omar Wasi disappear while Brignall held his nerve in five-game contests against Wasi and Simon Jarvis.

Paul Lucas and Matthew Mulley earned trebles as OCA A beat Danbury C though Paul Davison impressively rallied from 2-1 down to beat Mark Mulley after joining forces with Trevor Lloyd to hand the reigning men’s doubles champions a rare loss.

Chris Penrose won three as Danbury A moved into third place with a win against Danbury B. Penrose beat Matthew Stringer and Daniel Piggott in three games but had to dig deep to beat Sam Lowman over five – Lowman winning two matches for the losing side.

Aidan Lees was on form as his hat-trick ensured Chelmsford B gained some breathing room at the bottom with a win over Writtle A. Lees dropped just one game over his three matches while Adi Kamma’s wins over Trevor Carter and Richard Storey both went the distance. Storey later recovered from 2-1 down to beat Wiktor Delimat.

Standings div 1: 1: Old Chelmsfordians A 110 points (from 14 matches), 2: Chelmsford A 97 points (14 matches), 3: Danbury A 85 points (15 matches).

Division 2

No change at the top of division two but leaders Chelmsford C and second-placed Hatfield Peverel A were both held to 5-5 draws.

Chris Hancox was undefeated as Maldon A posted a 7-3 win against Danbury F. Hancox was pushed to five games in his first contest of the night against John Tendler but posted more straightforward wins against Gus Heath and Steve Buer. Hamish Innes and Colin Napper won two apiece for the hosts but were both undone by Danbury’s Heath who beat Napper in three and produced a comeback from 2-1 behind to beat Innes.

The points were shared between Chelmsford D and OCA B with no individual trebles posted. Kelvin Felix started with an opening 3-2 win over Michael Hayes and later a good 3-1 win over Mick Richardson but these were either side of a 3-1 loss to David Porter. Porter had earlier beaten Keith Martin 3-1 but succumbed in three games to Dusan Doszkoty. Martin beat Hayes 3-2 having trailed 2-1 with Hayes and Richardson beating Martin and Doszkoty 3-2 in the doubles.

Danbury E cruised to a 10-0 win over Danbury G as Neil Want, Dick Wyman and Tim Cramphorn all went undefeated. Denis Crapnell was winless but yet again saw five-game action on two occasions – four of his last six contests have resulted in heartbreak in the deciding game.

Leaders Chelmsford C were held to a 5-5 draw at Writtle B and they must have feared the gap to second-placed Hatfield Peverel B would reduce the next day – only for Peverel to be held 5-5 also. The Writtle B-Chelmsford C fixture saw six five-game contests with Writtle’s Trevor Collin having an involvement in three. Collin recovered from 2-0 down against Waseem Qureshi and held off an inspired Mark Allaway comeback also from 2-0 down in his second contest. Collin gave himself work to do in his third contest having fallen 2-0 behind to Victor Chan but he recovered to level the contest only for Chan to take the decider 11-7.

Sanjay Saptarshi was back in action as his Danbury D drew 5-5 with second-placed Hatfield Peverel A. Saptarshi fell to an early 3-1 loss at the hands of Martin Archie but recovered well to beat Alastair Piper in five and Julie Johnson in four. Piper saw two other five-game contests – recovering from 2-1 down to beat David Penrose and later Dave Meah.

Standings div 2: 1: Chelmsford C 94 points (from 14 matches), 2: Hatfield Peverel A 90 points (from 14 matches), 3: Writtle C 78 points (14 matches)

Division 3

The most eagerly anticipated match of the week in division three was the clash between second-placed Buttsbury A and third-placed OCA C. Jamie Elliott moved to 32 wins from 32 matches in Buttsbury colours this season as he fired another treble, Elliott was ably assisted by Evie Knaapen who also won three with teammate Kevin Willis earning a spectacular come-from-behind win over Tom Barker 12-14, 12-14, 15-13, 11-6, 11-4.

Ian Whiteside and Tim Pulham won three apiece as Danbury H beat Danbury K 8-2, while Felix Reeve did the business for bottom of the table Chelmsford F in their 5-5 draw with Writtle D.

Peter Hance earned player of the match honours as Danbury J drew 5-5 with Hatfield Peverel B. Hance was taken to four games by Neil Freeman and Gareth Davies and also had to recover from 2-1 down to beat Paul Mulley.

Standings div 3: 1: Galleywood B 104 points (from 14 matches), 2: Buttsbury A 91 points (13 matches), 3: OCA C 71 points (from 13 matches).

Division 4

Unbeaten division four leaders Galleywood C showed their class as they cruised to a 9-1 win at Maldon B thanks to trebles from Gary Copsey and Colin Blore. Will Goodchild started the evening with two 3-0 wins but was bested by Brian Riedling in three games.

Chelmsford G were the main beneficiaries of Maldon’s loss and catapulted themselves into second position with an 8-2 away win at Buttsbury B. Cleon Fernandes earned another hat-trick and he was well backed up by two wins apiece for Salih Salim and Dion Fernandes. Buttsbury’s Oscar Hutt saw three five-gamers – first beating Salin 12-10 in the decider, then losing out to Cleon Fernandes having led 2-1 before fighting back from 2-0 down against Dion Fernandes only to lose out in a tight fifth.

Neil Wood was undefeated as Hatfield Peverel D won 6-4 at Danbury L. Wood teamed with Deb Ginn to recover from 2-1 down to beat Ken Wilding and John Manning in the doubles.

Melanie Bonnett was the star of the show as Highwood A drew 5-5 at OCA D. Bonnett beat Russell Hall in three, Farooq Ahmed in four and David Bishop in five – her match with Bishop decided by a 12-10 scoreline.

Standings div 4: 1: Galleywood C 97 points (from 12 matches), 2: Chelmsford G 79 matches (from 12 matches), 3: Maldon B 78 points (from 12 matches)

Division 5

Another top of the table match-up this week saw division 5 leaders Danbury M travel to second placed Chelmsford H – the leaders took a healthy 19-point lead into the contest and that was extended further following the resounding 9-1 win by the visitors.

Peter Harverson’s record moved to 10 wins from 12 division 5 matches as he dropped two games in his victories over Shengbing Zhu, Jacqui Smith and James Grindlay, while David Smith also won three – though had to recover from 2-1 down against Jacqui Smith.

Mark Nolan hit a hat-trick as Chelmsford J moved above clubmates Chelmsford H into second place. Nolan dropped just one game in completing his three wins while teammate Elliott Hawthorne won one but lost two five-gamers. David Parker won twice for Chelmsford but was bested by Wayne Smithies in four.

Martin Goddard won three as Highwood B won 7-3 at Writtle F. Goddard dropped just one game as teammate Keith Pallett’s hopes of a hat-trick were dashed with a 3-0 loss at the hands of Ron Tam.

Buttsbury C eased to a 9-1 home win over the two-manned Hatfield Peverel F. The evening started well for the visitors as Alastair Brown won 3-1 against Freya Hart but Buttsbury’s Joseph Hutt and Mukal Luthra both won their matches with Hart chipping in with a win over Doug Marsh.

Standings div 5: 1: Danbury M 102 points (from 14 matches), 2: Chelmsford J 78 points (13 matches), 3: Chelmsford H 73 points (from 13 matches).

Chelmsford Junior League division 2A

Chelmsford Cougars made it two wins from two matches with a 4-1 home win over the Danbury Dragons. Peter Harverson continued his fine form from the previous week with a 3-1 win over Adhuna Das to put the Dragons 1-0 up but Luka Ha levelled the match with a 3-0 win over Oliver Martin. Ha managed to hold on for a 3-2 win against Harverson despite seeing his opponent rally from 2-0 down – Ha won the decider 13-11. Das then put the host 3-1 up with a 3-2 victory over Martin in a match she had trailed 2-0 but came through a tight third game 13-11 before winning the final two games 11-8, 11-9.

After a narrow loss at the Danbury Dragons last week, the Hutton Hawks stormed to their first win of the season with a 4-1 home victory over the Buttsbury Bears. Callum Walker gave the visitors an early lead with a 3-1 win over Jago Ware but Charlie Gould beat both Joseph Hutt and Walker by 3-0 scorelines. Ware then fought back from 2-1 down to take the fourth game 13-11 before winning the decider 11-7. The doubles contest also went to five games with Hutt and Walker recovering from 2-0 down before Gould and Ware took the win.

Chelmsford Junior League division 2B

Chelmsford Tigers raced to their second successive 5-0 win thanks to Ryan Peiris and William Guilloux both earning two wins against Hutton Hyenas. Peiris and Guilloux won all of their matches 3-0 but were well tested in the doubles encounter in which they had to recover from 2-1 down against the duo of Vicente Deco and Hugo Perry.

Hutton Harriers earned their second victory of the season with a 4-1 home win against Buttsbury Bulldogs. Lewis Woods put the visitors one up with a 3-0 win over Thomas Hall before Billy Andrews hit back for the Harriers with 3-0 wins over Shay Coughlan and Lewis Woods. Hall then saw his 2-0 lead against Shay Coughlan disappear before winning the decider 11-8

Chelmsford Junior League division 2C

Chelmsford Jaguars earned their second 5-0 win of the season thanks to a dominating display by Ethan Li (four wins out of four this season) and Atharv Srivastava against the Hutton Hornets. Li dropped just 17 points over the course of his two matches Chelmsford Panthers won 5-0 at the Hutton Hammerheads with two wins apiece from Henry Mansell and Ethan Collins – Mansell was well tested in the opening contest by James Williamson which went the distance.

Chelmsford Junior League division 2D

Archie Spurrier moved to four wins from four matches this season as the Chelmsford Pumas beat the Buttsbury Bees 5-0. Spurrier and teammate Ishar Srivastava won all of their matches by a 3-0 scoreline.

Buttsbury Bats won their first match of the season in their first appearance with a 4-1 away win at Hutton Hares. Shay Couglan won his two games 3-0 while teammate Ethan Ferris made amends for his 3-1 loss to Leon Smith with a fine comeback from 2-0 down against Louis Smith – winning the decider 12-10.