Wins for Henley in top and bottom divisions of the Oxfordshire League

This week Henley first team entertained Esporta Oxford in Oxfordshire’s top division and recorded a 3/2 (16/8) victory to consolidate their position in the league.

Rick Weatherall beat Ross Gore, the Esporta professional and coach, 3/1 at first string. Whilst Gore was not at his best and looked heavy legged, Weatherall controlled the T and forced his opponent into making mistakes.

At two, Luke Power lost 3/2 – 10/9 in the fifth against Andy Longman, a full time coach. In a marathon match of conflicting styles, Power failed to capitalise on his 2 match balls and Longman managed to win the deciding point on his fifth attempt.

Simon Street lost 3/1 to former professional Jason Martin at third string as he struggled after a two week break.

Despite struggling with a new racket, Stefan Stanton managed to beat Mark Webster 3/1 at fourth string, as he continued to cross court volley drop every shot possible.

Henley were awarded a walk over at fifth string as Esporta failed to field a player.

The second team travelled to top of the table Abingdon where they were trounced by an unusually strong Abingdon team, at least two of whom normally play in their first team.

Paul Sayers played Gavin Collins and with great effort managed to take the second game. However, Collins reasserted his dominance and was able to complete a win despite hitting far too many shots into the tin.

Gary Cross by his own admission played well above his normal standard with continuous tight shots that gave James Knight very little chance to establish his normal dominance through retrieving with Cross winning 3/0.

Derek Oswald was not on form and hit too many shots out of court allowing his opponent Bobby Pearson who Oswald would normally expect to beat, to maintain dominance. A frustrated Oswald going down 3/0.

The one bright spot of the night for Henley was Nigel Richardson’s win over Andrew Smith with Richardson looking like he is back to his old form after time off for injury. Richardson won 3/1.

Roger Booker had a bad night against Brian Rawlinson and was unable to take take advantage with his trickier game, going down 3/0.

Henley 4 points Abingdon 17 points.

Henley third team had no match due to the withdrawal of Esporta from division 5.

Henley fourth team travelled to Castaways in Oxford with a stronger line-up than in recent weeks.

Making a welcome return to the 4th team, Steve Berger at 1st string came up against Richard Read. Both men are very fit and there were some excellent rallies before Berger eventually went down 1/3.

At 2nd string, Chris Pullen was suffering from sinusitis and dizziness and he did well to take a game off Dave Surrage eventually losing 1/3.

At 3rd string, Paul Ireland continued his recent winning streak, dispatching his opponent Simon Fitzgerald 3/0.

At 4th and 5th string, James Gildersleve and Duncan Nightingale were relieved to be playing at their more usual level – after several weeks of playing higher up the order – and both produced victories.

Gildersleve started slowly against Nigel Hinchin, losing the first game and was game point down in the second. He recovered to take a 3/1 win, never feeling entirely comfortable. “Not a game between two runners” was his own verdict – but he was assured by those watching that it was entertaining and better to watch than play!

Nightingale had a comfortable win over Stephen Thompson. Drop shots were the order of the day from both players, but Nightingale had the edge on retrieving. After relaxing in the 2nd game and letting his opponent back in for a brief period, he eventually won 3/1.

Overall, a win for Henley 4ths, 15 points to 8.

The Oxfordshire League Tables can be seen here.