Lee ladies and Southsea men's II take pride of place

The former kept the club's successful run going when they overcame Canoe Lake 4-0.

Lee run nine teams across the various weekend divisions.

To date, those teams have played a total of 27 matches, losing just five of them '“ and two of those were when Lee ladies' II played their third team.

Southsea II, who play in division three '“ one division higher than Southsea's first team '“ were on top form in a hard-fought match with Rowlands Castle.

The opening round of rubbers was shared, with John Stones and Matt Bennett needing a match tie-break to overcome Southsea's Simon Troke and Simon Courtnell.

But Troke and Courtnell were too strong for Castle's second pair in the reverse rubbers, and when Stones and Bennett lost a first-set tie-break to Southsea's Matt Wilde and Peter Candlish it was game over.

The match between Southsea's firsts and Avenue III was even closer.

Once again the first round of rubbers was shared, with Avenue's Ian Marks and Andy Bucknell needing a third-set tie-break to overcome Joe Rawlins and Dan Lee.

But Rawlins and Lee then comfortably disposed of Bryan Wiggins and George Knight to put Southsea in the driving seat.

Marks and Bucknell then shared the first two sets of the second rubber with Mike Wareing and John Kemble, before winning another match tie-break to secure the rubber and a point for their team.

Southsea claimed the extra winning draw point by winning six sets to four.

Ryde Lawn IV rounded off the weekend results with their first win of the winter season '“ a comfortable 4-0 win over Warsash III.

Midweek action saw Chichester ladies gain a winning draw against Avenue, helped by one of the Avenue players being unable to compete in the reverse round of rubbers.

And with Fishbourne easing past Ryde Lawn 3-1, the division is now wide open, with Chichester, Avenue and Fishbourne all in the fight for the championship.

Fishbourne Ladies II had a busy week, playing two matches in successive days to catch up on a backlog of matches rained off earlier in the season.

Unfortunately, they lost both of them.

The first match was against Lee, with the rubbers being shared 2-2.

However, Lee's Julie Ashton and Jane Arnold managed to claim a set in the rubber they lost to Caroline James and Nicola Dawtry, with the result that Lee claimed the extra winning draw point.

And the very next day three of the same four Fishbourne II players took on Avenue II.

This time the Havant-based outfit won 4-0, though no doubt the result reflected the fact that Fishbourne had played two matches in two days.

- ALAN BEST