Galleywood A won the battle of the bottom two teams in division one with a 9-1 home victory over Chelmsford B, the result moved Galleywood off the foot of the table for the first time since Week 10.

Peter Barrett and James Hicks went undefeated for the hosts with Kelvin Edeh the sole point scorer for the visitors. All three Galleywood players produced recoveries from losing positions, Gary Brignall from 2-0 down against Waseem Qureshi, James Hicks from 2-1 down against Edeh and Peter Barrett from 2-1 behind Christopher Denyer. This victory was Galleywood’s first league since Week one when the two sides last met.

The fearsome duo of Eric Green and Bruce Kettle went unbeaten once more as Danbury A moved up to second place following an 8-2 win over fourth placed Danbury B. Green didn’t drop a game in his three wins while Kettle dropped just two. Neil Want won one for the A team but was undone by a Dan Anderson comeback from 2-1 down.

Week 20 saw division two’s bottom two teams Old Chelmsfordians B and Danbury F go toe-to-toe, with neither team getting their noses in front by more than one point during the course of the evening.

The OC’s found themselves 3-2 and 4-3 up and were on the verge of their first victory of the season before Danbury took a 5-4 lead with one match remaining. OC’s Mick Richardson managed to get the better of Denis Crapnell in four games to earn his team a 5-5 draw but the OC trio may look back at the David Porter-Ian Whiteside matchup (which finally went to Whiteside 11-5, 10-12, 7-11, 11-8, 14-12) as a missed opportunity.

Leaders Buttsbury A saw their unbeaten run ended 6-4 by an inspired Hatfield Peverel A side who had lost their previous seven matches – albeit many by narrow 6-4 scorelines. Julie Johnson put in a player-of-the-match performance with three wins though her biggest test came from youngster Joshua Freeman who she managed to see off in the fifth game: 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 10-12, 11-8.

Freeman put on a good show in his loss to Martin Archie and showed no ill effects from the Johnson match when beating Alastair Piper in an epic encounter 3-2 (9-11, 12-10, 10-12, 12-10, 12-10).

Ninth-placed Galleywood B put a spanner in the works of third placed Chelmsford C when restricting them to a 5-5 draw thanks to a treble from Gary Brignall. Brignall’s hat-trick didn’t come easy as both Chrisopher Denyer and Adi Kamma took him to four games with Kelvin Edeh going down in five having led 2-1.

Sixth-placed Danbury E beat eighth-placed Writtle B 7-3 thanks to three wins from Tim Cramphorn, two from Tony Forster and one from Dick Wyman. The closeness in league positions was reflected in the matches on the night as six of the nine singles matches went to fifth game deciders with Wyman’s sole win and two losses all going the distance.

It was a busy week for division three’s Chelmsford E who played fixtures on Monday and Friday – gaining 12 points to consolidate sixth position.

First, Andy Swales and James Grimston hit trebles in the 8-2 away win at 11th-placed Writtle E before they fell 6-4 to a Paul Sturton-inspired Buttsbury B. Sturton dropped just one game for his three wins while teammate Harry Sawford’s only defeat was to Chelmsford’s Kuzey Musabak – a two-match winner himself. The result means Buttsbury B move level on points with leaders Chelmsford D who were not in action in week 20.

Danbury G remain third despite a 7-3 loss to Writtle D who benefited from another hat-trick from Matthew Brown. The result means fourth-placed Writtle D are just three points behind third-placed Danbury G with a fixture in hand.

The fixtures between Hatfield Peverel B and Old Chelmsfordian C as well as Danbury J and Galleywood C both resulted in 5-5 draws with trebles from OCA C’s Richard Baxter and Danbury J’s Peter Harverson.

Hutton A sit 18 points clear at the top of division four following three wins by Alex Ware and two apiece by Nick Giles and Oladapo Owolabi in an 8-2 win at Chelmsford G.

Third-placed Buttsbury C cruised to a 10-0 home win over Old Chelmsfordians D thanks to perfect outings from Lucy Elliott, Frances Hutt and Oscar Hutt. The closest match of the night across the two fixtures was Chelmsford’s Martin Brunker – a two-match winner – who recovered from 2-1 down to beat Hutton’s Nick Giles. Both Buttsbury C and Hutton A have won their last eight league matches.

A 5-5 home draw with Buttsbury D meant second-placed Maldon B not only lost more ground on the leaders but will be looking over their shoulders at a Buttsbury C side who are 14 points behind them with two fixtures in hand. Chris Ravenhill and Brian Riedling won two matches each while Buttsbury’s Jenne Seibolt and Kevin Wills also won two of three.

Danbury K moved from fifth to fourth with a 7-3 victory over Danbury L, K’s Dave Powell didn’t drop a game as he fired his second treble in three matches.

Stewart Ireland and Nathan Blore were undefeated as Galleywood D cruised to a 9-1 away win over Danbury M, while Neil Wood and Bob Hillis won three apiece in Hatfield Peverel C’s 9-1 success at Highwood A.

A sixth treble of the season from Lyndon Bubb fired second-placed Buttsbury E to a hard-fought 6-4 away win at Highwood B in division five. Bubb dropped just one game from his two wins while teammate Ray Horton chipped in with two wins though lost out to Galleywood’s Keith Pallett who won two himself. Buttsbury’s Chris Hughes will feel unfortunate to have not registered a win when taking two of his matches to a deciding game.

Having seen both teammates fire trebles last week, Writtle F’s Paul Aarons posted his first hat-trick since Week two in an 8-2 away win at ARU. Aarons beat Valentino Marimelli in three, Kingsley Omo-Efe in four and the two-win Connor Casey in five as Writtle move up to third position.

Bruce Wichkam won all three as fifth-placed Hatfield Peverel D won 6-4 at ninth-placed Galleywood E. Wickham had to recover from 2-0 down against Steve Peacock while Galleywood’s Darren Wright did likewise in his match with Richard Drozd and David Benstead edged a fifth-game decider 12-10 against Galleywood’s Doug Blaber.