Matthew Mulley took his record to 66 division one matches undefeated in the C&DTTL as league leaders Old Chelmsfordians A drew at unbeaten Chelmsford A.

Division 1

Old Chelmsfordians A end the year at the top of division 1 with a seven-point lead following a 5-5 draw at Chelmsford A. OCA’s Mark Mulley beat the returning Saul Chivers 3-1 in the opening contest before Chelmsford’s Gary Young recovered from one game down to beat Paul Lucas by the same scoreline.

Matthew Mulley’s first appearance of the evening saw him put the disappointment of losing game three by a 14-12 scoreline behind him to win the remaining two games in a 3-2 victory over Harry Chivers while Chelmsford’s Young won his second individual match of the evening with a 3-1 success over Mark Mulley.

Matthew Mulley restored OCA’s lead with a 3-0 win over Saul Chivers before Chelmsford then got their noses in front with Harry Chivers winning 3-0 over Paul Lucas and a 3-2 doubles success. OCA then responded when Matthew Mulley beat Gary Young 3-1 and Mark Mulley beat Harry Chivers 3-1 which set up the final match of the evening in which Saul Chivers fought back from 1-0 down against Lucas to earn Chelmsford a well deserved draw.

Danbury B moved up into fourth position with a 10-0 victory over Writtle A. Sam Lowman, Ian Wall and Dan Anderson all secured trebles with just one game lost between them.

Standings div 1: 1: Old Chelmsfordians A 82 points (from 11 matches), 2: Chelmsford A 75 points (11 matches), 3: Danbury C 69 points (12 matches).

Division 2

Division 2 represents the closest division in the C&DTTL this season and with just 14 points separating the top six teams – a good run of results by any of those sides in the second half of the season could see the title go their way.

Gary Ward and John Webber were both on form winning all of their individual matches and teaming together for doubles success as Writtle C took back third position from Maldon A with a 7-3 victory at home to Danbury F. The closest match of the evening was Steve Buer’s 3-2 win over John Parodi while Chris Buer’s recent run of victories ended with a 3-0 loss against Webber and 3-1 loss against Ward.

Richard Storey continued his fine division 2 form with another treble as his Writtle B side won 8-2 over Danbury D. Storey’s teammate Phil Smith also won three times with Trevor Carter’s hopes of joining them being dashed by an Eamonn Hall recovery from 2-1 down. Carter had earlier seen five-game action against Dave Meah with victory secured by an 11-9 scoreline in the decider.

Standings div 2: 1: Chelmsford C 68 points (from 10 matches), 2: Hatfield Peverel A 63 points (from 10 matches), 3: Writtle C 60 points (11 matches)

Division 3

Paul Sturton and Jamie Elliot earned trebles as Buttsbury A closed the gap on division 3 league leaders Galleywood B with an 8-2 victory. Elliot won all his matches 3-0 while Sturton dropped just one game – in his final match of the evening against Malcolm Storey. The opening contest saw the closest scoreline as Storey got the better of Gary Carr over five games – Carr lost out to Dave Moles after beating Ian Hockley.

Standings div 3: 1: Galleywood B 72 points (from 10 matches), 2: Buttsbury A 67 points (10 matches), 3: OCA C 57 points (from 10 matches).

Open Cup

Round one: Chelmsford C advanced to the semi-finals of the Open Cup with a 5-2 victory over clubmates Chelmsford D. The duo of Keith Martin and Omar Wasi got the D team off to a solid start in the opening contest of the night with a 3-1 win over Harrison Hill and Waseem Qureshi but Hill and Victor Chan won their individual matches against Keith Martin and Kelvin Felix to put the C team 2-1 up.

Qureshi then lost 3-1 to Wasi to level the overall match score before a doubles win for Chan/Hill followed by individual wins for Qureshi and Hill booked the C team’s place in the next round.

Danbury A set up a semi-final tie with Chelmsford C with a 5-3 home win against Chelmsford B. The visitors took the lead with a 3-0 victory in the opening doubles contest before Danbury hit back with individual wins for Eric Green, Bruce Kettle and Dave Richardson.

Chelmsford C then reduced the match score to 3-2 with a second doubles victory of the evening and Saul Chivers then produced a fine 3-1 win over Richardson to put Chelmsford level at 3-3. Kettle then beat Aidan Lees to restore Danbury’s lead and put them within one of winning the tie and his teammate Eric Green duly obliged with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Kim Shead.

Round one to play:
16/01/2024 OCA v Writtle

Semi-finals:
OCA/Writtle v Chelmsford A
Danbury A v Chelmsford C

Division 3 Cup

Round one: Writtle D cruised through to the semi-final of the division 3 cup with a 5-0 victory over Chelmsford E. Trevor Collin, Malcolm Henstock and Peter Layzell all won their individual matches with Henstock recovering from 2-0 down against Rev Matthews.

The OCA C trio of Tom Barker, Richard Upson and Luke Richardson all had a hand in their sides 5-1 away win at Highwood A. Roger Patient’s 3-0 win over Upson levelled the match score at 1-1 before the next four contests went in favour of the visitors. Barker and Upson recovered from 2-0 down to win the second doubles match of the evening before Upson made amends for his loss to Patient with a 3-0 win over Keith Fitz-John to secure OCA’s victory.

A fine team effort by Peter Hance, Dave Marsh and Louis Gunn saw Danbury J sweep into the semi-finals with a 5-2 home win over Writtle E. Two three-game doubles wins within the first five contests helped Danbury take a 4-1 lead before Neil Thompson reduced the arrears for the visitors with an epic 3-2 win over Gunn (13-11, 11-8, 10-12, 10-12, 11-9).

The visitors may have left the venue ruing their slow start to the evening as Ian Hockley went close in his contest with Marsh – the Danbury ace secured the win 14-12 in the fifth game.

Semi-finals:
Writtle D v Danbury J
OCA C v Buttsbury A

Division 5 Cup

Round one: Lucy Elliott won twice as Buttsbury C set up a semi-final against clubmates Buttsbury B with a 5-3 victory over Highwood B. Elliott beat Martin Goddard 3-0 and clinched Buttsbury’s win with a come from behind 3-1 win over Nicola Pippen. Joseph Hutt recovered from 2-1 down to beat Keith Pallet, while Pippen and Goddard had given Highwood a glimmer of hope when reducing the match score to 2-3 with a fight back from 2-0 down in their doubles encounter with Elliott and Torsten Greenan.

Semi-final: Chelmsford J won through to the final of the division 5 cup with a convincing 5-1 win over clubmates Chelmsford H. The J team won three of the first four matches by a 3-0 scoreline – the only exception being the match between Dave Parker and Peter Davenport which saw Parker rally from 2-1 down. The H team put themselves on the scoreboard with a five-game victory in the doubles before Elliot Hawthorn secured progress with an 11-9, 9-11, 13-11, 13-11 win over Jason Clark.

Semi-final to play:
Buttsbury C v Buttsbury B
Final
Chelmsford J v Buttsbury C/Buttsbury B

Other cup matches due to be played in the New Year:
Ladies Cup
Semi-finals:
03/01/2024 Highwood v Buttsbury B
12/01/2024 Chelmsford v Buttsbury A
Division 2 cup
Quarter-finals:
16/01/2024 Writtle C v Chelmsford F
16/01/2024 Writtle B v Chelmsford D
17/01/2024 Danbury D v OCA B
18/01/2024 Danbury F v Chelmsford C
Semi-finals
TBC Writtle C/Chelmsford F v Danbury D/OCA B
TBC Writtle B/Chelmsford D v Danbury F/Chelmsford C
Handicap cup
Round two:
TBC Chelmsford J v Danbury B
Quarter-finals:
20/02/2024 Writtle C v Chelmsford B
21/02/2024 Highwood B v Chelmsford G
23/02/2024 Buttsbury F v Chelmsford J/Danbury B
23/02/2024 Chelmsford E v Buttsbury D/Buttsbury B
Junior Cup
Round one:
TBC Chelmsford2 v Buttsbury2
Semi-finals:
TBC Chelmsford2/Buttsbury2 v Chelmsford3
TBC Chelmsford1 v Buttsbury1