Round EIGHT: 14-Mar & 17-Mar

Fri 17-Mar:

Surrey stamp their authority

Round eight concluded as Surrey travelled to first-season Bexley in a match that featured quite possibly the strongest lineup PSL has ever seen.  The defending champions stamped their authority on the match, establishing a three-nil lead and finally taking 19 points to move to second place in the Division B table with a game in hand.

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Tue 14-Mar:

Bristol and Leicester enhance playoff hopes,
Coolhurst stun leaders Chichester

With just three rounds to go – for some of the teams just two matches – and with both divisions too close to call, the race for playoff places was sure to be intense tonight.

In Division A handily-placed Bristol took early advantage over visitors Pontefract, winning the second, third and fourth string matches, all three-nil, to guarantee the win. Laura Massaro beat Tesni Evans to pull one back for Pontefract, and James Willstrop came from one-two down to beat Marwan Elshorbagy to make it 3-2 to the home side.

At the University of Birmingham the early exchanges were shared as Sarah-Jane Perry won for the Lions but Darren Lewis levelled for Leicester. Jan Van Den Herrewegen put Birmingham back in front, but Mark Fuller levelled for Leicester to set up a deciding match, in which Daryl Selby came from a game down to beat Joel Makin to give Leicester the win.

Bristol and Leicester now occupy the top two positions, but it’s still possible for any two of the five teams to qualify!

In Division B leaders Colchester were put under immediate pressure as Joe Green and Donna Urquhart delighted the home fans to put Coolhurst two ahead. Rising star Paul Coll started the Chichester fightback with a three-nil win over Adrian Waller in the top string, and Olly Pett levelled the match with a 3-2 win against Tim Vail.

The decider saw Coolhurst’s Raphael Kandra prevail in five games against Nathan Lake to give the bottom team a 3-2 win over the division leaders!