Apex recovered from a crushing defeat in the first round of the weekend to retain their leadership of the Senior British Clubs League, Championship division – though only on sets difference as Archway Peterborough won all four fixtures over the weekend.

Having breezed through the first weekend for the loss of only three individual matches, not many would have predicted the 7-1 reverse to Fusion II on Saturday morning.

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With Johan Barius and Jordan Wykes – who both won all eight of their matches – not in the line-up this time, there was hope for the chasing pack.

Israel Awolaja, who only lost once, was still present, and he picked up the first match against Fusion, defeating Frederic Wilke in three.

But Fusion reeled off the next seven, starting with Josh Bruce’s 3-2 (11-6, 16-14, 4-11, 10-12, 11-4) win over Bryan Kwan. Bruce also beat Awolaja in the fifth, while Nigerian Azeez Jamiu won his two, as did Martynas Matuzevicius.

At the same time, second-placed Archway Peterborough were making their move, by beating fourth-placed BATTS II 5-3.

BATTS went in front as Josh Bennett came from 2-1 down to beat Kai Lun Chow, but Archway won the next four matches for the combined loss of only one game.

BATTS scrapped their way back to 4-3 with wins for Luc Miller and Jack Bennett – the latter 12-10 in the fifth against Emir Culpedin, but Andrei Flamind completed a personal double by beating Ethan Walsh to complete Archway’s victory.

Also in Saturday morning’s fixtures, SpinLab ABZ Finsbury won the final two matches to seal a 5-3 win over Urban, Emile Erkekov taking a double; it was also 5-3 for Allied Pharmacy against Joola Plymouth as Lucas Li beat Hugo Nguyen in the decisive final match; and Wymondham beat Ormesby II 6-2, underpinned by winning the first four matches.

Apex were tested in the Saturday afternoon matches before finally shaking off Ormesby to win 3-2. Kwan won the first 14-12 in the fifth against Graeme Barella, but Apex saw their opponents come from 2-0 down to level and later take the match to a decider as Tom Rayner beat Josh Nashed 3-2 in match seven to make the overall score 4-3. George Downing sealed the points for Apex, beating Josh Harland 3-0 (11-8, 14-12, 14-12).

Archway’s 6-2 win over Allied Pharmacy saw them go 3-0 and 6-1 up, but obscures some close battles, including Chow coming from 2-1 down to beat Mircea Neagu in match two, Culpedin beating Joe Marlor in the fifth in match six and Chow mounting another fightback to beat Jake Davidson 3-2 (11-5, 6-11, 8-11, 13-11, 15-13) in match seven.

It was also 6-2 for Wymondham against SpinLab, a match which also featured four five-setters, including Zihan Lin’s comeback 3-2 (10-12, 7-11, 13-11, 11-9, 11-9) over Abdullah Ubaidullah.

BATTS got back to winning ways with a 7-1 score against Urban, for whom Gabriel Achampong took the opening match, while Fusion beat Plymouth 5-3 – they led 4-0 but were forced to wait as Plymouth pulled two back, including Leo Nguyen beating Wilke 3-2 (9-11, 11-13, 11-9, 11-7, 11-7). But Jamiu completed his personal double and clinched the match for Fusion, in four games against Dominic Sussex.

Sunday morning saw Apex again pushed, this time by Joola Plymouth, who will feel frustrated with a third successive 5-3 defeat. Plymouth twice came from a game down to level, and might have secured a share of the spoils had Leo Nguyen converted his 2-0 led against Kwan in match seven. It was 3-2 (14-16, 8-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6) to Kwan in the end.

Peterborough kept up the pressure at the top with an identical scoreline against Fusion. Apex led 2-0 and 4-1, with the pick of the first five matches the 3-2 (11-9, 15-13, 13-15, 6-11, 11-4) win for Culpedin over Matuzevicius. Fusion reduced the arrears to 4-3, but it was another five-set defeat for Matuzevicius in the final match which saw Apex home – Flamind won that match 3-2 (5-11, 9-11, 11-7 11-7, 13-11).

BATTS beat Wymondham 6-2 – the two defeats were in five as the unfortunate Jack Bennett missed out first to Umair Mauthoor (9-11, 11-5, 10-12, 18-16, 11-9) and then to Ryan Holland (9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9).

The other two matches finished 4-4. Ormesby are yet to win but have now drawn four times, and they will rue being 4-2 up against Finsbury, for whom Yifu Zhang won twice, including making it 3-4 by beating Adam Webster. Ubaidullah then secured a point for Finsbury, against Harland.

The other draw saw Urban 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3 up on Allied Pharmacy, who levelled for the last time and clinched a point when Li came from 2-0 down to beat Jake Grayson 3-2 (9-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-6) in match eight. Urban’s Victor Ramirez Rioja earlier came from 2-0 down to beat Marlor 3-2 (9-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-7).

Fusion and BATTS both won 8-0 on Sunday afternoon to remain three points behind the leading pair – Fusion beat Urban, while BATTS overcame Ormesby. BATTS did not need any fifth-game deciders, but Fusion did – three of them in all, including Wilke beating Achampong 10-12, 11-8, 11-6, 5-11, 16-14 in match one.

Wymondham and Allied Pharmacy shared the closest match, which finished 5-3 to the former, who were never behind, but needed the final match to be sure, having been 2-0 and 4-2 ahead. There were four five-setters, including Holland’s comeback 3-2 (9-11, 9-11, 15-13, 11-7, 11-5) win over Marlor.

The top two enjoyed matching 6-2 victories. Archway’s was against Joola Plymouth in a fixture in which every match was done in three.

Apex’s win over SpinLab saw them lead 2-0 and 6-1, though three of their wins were in the fifth, starting with Kwan’s 3-2 (7-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-4) over Munib Ahmed in match one, while Downing won both his in the decider, against Ubaidullah and Zhang.

All of which leaves Apex at the top on sets difference from Archway Peterborough, with a three-point gap to Fusion and BATTS.

In the averages, Jamiu won all eight for Fusion, joining the absent Apex duo Barius and Wykes on 100%. Jiaji Wu has lost only one of his 16 for Archway, and Awolaja only two of his 16 for Apex. Josh Bennett (BATTS) and Jake Davidson (Allied) won seven out of the eight they played this weekend, having not competed on weekend one.

The single-day ‘pivot’ weekend, with only two rounds of fixtures played around the midpoint of the league, is on Saturday 16 January, again at Nottingham TTC.