WRITE UPS - SEASON 2019/20 BY RUSS KEITH

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W/C 02/03/20

Mike Briggs (right of picture) of Div One Railway B continues to impress with another maximum against Crafthole A and increases his ‘average’ to 87% taking him to the high ranking of 4th best player in the league. Briggs started slowly just beating Mike Cookson in five ends but needed a nervy tie break win in the fifth to gain his point after being 2 ends to nil up 11-9, 11-4, 10-12, 9-11, 12-10. His team mates John Palmer (left of picture) failed to take a point but with a brace from Gary West (middle) and the doubles with Briggs secured a 6-4 win. West’s only loss was to Iain Oxenham (2) despite leading 2-1 lost 9-11, 11-7, 11-9, 8-11, 2-11. Palmer had a battle playing Cookson  but eventually ran out of steam losing the fifth end 7-11 but with his match against Shirley Luckhurst found himself clueless against the defensive stroke play but all players agreed that it was an enjoyable night of Table Tennis all played within the spirit of the game. Chaddlewood B played their C team mates and without their regular player Chris Dunn, the B team had to recall ‘aged’ hard bat player Jon Payn for this encounter. Unfortunately during his first match back he had to retire thus losing the first point. Payn did make a recovery but still did not manage to take a point. With another excellent maximum from Chaddy B’s John Steuart and braces from his team mates they over turned their first half defeat winning in a shock 7-3 result. Railway C, for the second time, lost 3-7 to Joola Plymouth A (Kevin Giles 3 and Ian Roper 3). The match between Rails’ Bryn Ford and Joola’s Debbie Whiting saw one of the highest scoring tie-breaks. Whiting took the first end 11-8 and in an epic tight second end won 20-18. Ford then recovered to take the third end 11-8 but succumbed to Whiting’s top spin game losing the next end 11-9. Joola Plymouth B’s young Bailey Page earnt himself an exceptional maximum beating Les Cole 11-2, 7-11, 11-9, 12-10 and John Tuner 11-9, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8 along with a straight ends win over Tony Powlesland 11-8, 14-12, 11-4. Despite his heroics, Cole and Turner both managed to beat Tim Diss and Dave Pellow and win the doubles to draw the match.

Bottom club in Div Two, Astor D won their only game so far against Woodland Fort B and were hoping to defeat them again but Fort had other ideas and with a maximum from Jon Goodfield and with Norman Hall achieving his first maximum of the season (and the doubles) won 7-3 although Hall only just managed to defeat Steve Harvey 11-7, 3-11, 11-7, 7-11, 14-12. The match between Crafthole B and Woodland Fort C was a hard fought match taking 40 games to conclude, and finishing at 11:00pm leaving the Fort players a long journey home. The difference in the two teams being Fort’s Abel Hernandez who worked hard for his maximum (and the doubles) and was just too hot to handle on the night helping inflict only Crafthole’s second defeat of the season in their 6-4 win, which overturned the score from the first half of the season. 

Division Three leaders Molyneux Associates welcomed the visit of their team mates from Chaddlewood F, who fielded a weakened team, and went one nil down as James Marsh overcame John Chadwick in a close 5 setter winning 11-6, 9-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-9. Unfortunately this was their only point losing 1-9, but, Marsh should have beat Andrew Courtney after being 2 nil up but with some strong hard hitting shots Courtney won a third end tie break 12-10 and then duly upped the pace winning the next two ends 11-3 and 11-9. With Joola Plymouth D’s top of the ‘averages’ Jamie Myska-Buddell nursing a football injury, his long awaited clash with second placed ‘averages’ player Rob Jenkins of Astor E failed to materialise. Without Buddell, the match was almost a whitewash, with Astor E winning 9-1. Astor showed their class, with only Simon Dixon making any significant impression for Joola D beating Dave Harding 11-8, 11-6, 11-1.

W/C 24/02/20 

This week, league matches gave way to the second round of the Handicap Cup. This is simply a race to 500 points made up with 10 games of 2 ends of 25 points per end; or the match can be finished when one team can’t catch the other on points. 

Chaddlewood A, one of the favourites managed to acquire their required 500 points and stop Joola Plymouth C from the division below them reaching their target and they only managed 438 including a 220 handicap. Joola’s Andy Strike, Graham Pearson and Toly Beman but up a brave effort with some great shots and game play but it was just a bridge too far for them.

Chaddlewood C however, with only a 20 point start, were in the match all the way to the final game of doubles but needed to win the doubles against Joola Plymouth B who fielded an all-round hard bat specialist Tim Diss, youth Bailey Page and experienced Dave Pellow (see photo L to R). With the match almost perfectly balanced all the way through the doubles match was going to be the decider and with Chaddy having to win by a clear 23 points Diss and Pellow defeated the Chaddy pairing winning 50-41 and winning the overall match 468 433 staking their place in the quarter-finals.

Another very close match going all the way to the final game paired Div 3 Molyneux Associates (+28) against Div 2 Railway D and with the scores after the ninth game at 387-390 in favour of Railway, Molyneux put out their strongest pairing in John Dodd and hard hitting Andrew Courtney to win 25-18 and 25-18 thus winning by 11 clear points (437-426).

Despite Universities Connor Pyke winning both his played matches against Woodland Fort D (+94) beating Ralph Stone 50-42 and Bob Vella 50-29 and Uni’s Alfie Chamberlain beating Barry Oliver 50-41 all the other matches went in favour of Fort who finished the game on an unassailable 406 points against 247 points.

Crafthole C (Holly Davis, Pete Nicholson and Rui Baretto), of Div Three, had a 189 point start over Div Two side Woodland Fort B (Brian Luscombe, Jon Goodfield and Norman Hall) and with a strong performance as usual from Baretto, backed up by a solid display for Davis, were victorious winning 481-376 as it appeared the handicap was just too much for the Fort.

At the battle of the Fort’s the C team gave their team mates a handicap start of 127 and with a fine display from Nigel Aston of the F team beating Richard Searle 46-44 and Mike Willis 44-42 the match was set up to be a close finish. After the completion of all the single matches the score favoured the C team 436-424 so it was all to play for in the final doubles match. Willis paired up with Abel Hernandez and Aston with Keith Phillips but with the strength of the C team prevailed winning 50-39 and the match setting up a quarter-final against Joola Plymouth B.

Proving the handicap structure is the best the committee have adopted for some time, another close match saw Div Three Astor E start with a 247 point handicap over Div One Joola Plymouth A. The Joola players had to play with consistency along with aggressive attacking points in order to thwart their opponents, but, with both Astor’s Bob Steele and Dave Harding taking a set each against Debbie Whiting the match turned in favour of Astor. With the doubles being the last match of the evening Astor required only 6 points to win the match and duly obtained them placing them firmly in the next round. 

W/C 17/02/20  

With a total age of 206 years and having played Table Tennis for over 175 years, Astor B (L to R: Les Cole, John Turner and Tony Powlesland) of Div One are the oldest team in the division and still enjoying every minute of it. This week they were faced with the challenge from Chaddlewood C. Turner beat Shaun Gilbert to start the evening off but then found themselves 4-1 down. Then Powlesland destroyed Russ Keith 11-5, 11-5, 11-5 as Keith just couldn’t get the ball over the net and when he did missed the table by some distance. John Stuart then secured has maximum, for the second time over Astor making it 5-2 to Chaddy. With Keith beating Turner 2 nil and all square at 9-a-piece, Turner managed to get a point off the net and another one clipping the edge of the table to Keith’s dismay. The next two ends also went to Turner, both being 11-9. Despite their age the ‘old timers’ put up a great fight and just lost the match 6-4. Leaders Chaddlewood A whitewashed the visitors Shopfitting by SWS only losing two ends all match and second placed Railway A defeated Crafthole A 9-1 with Mike Cookson saving the whitewash beating Martin Parnell 11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 15-13. Joola A and B team mates squared up with victory going to the A team winning 7-3 but the B team’s young Bailey Page was so unlucky playing four tie-breaks and losing them all, two against Ian Roper (3) and two against Kevin Giles (3).

In Div Two, young newbie Sam Kilkenny, playing up from Div Three, helped Chaddlewood D to field a full team against Woodland Fort C but despite a spirited performance was not a match for the experienced players from the Fort. Chaddy again had hard hitting Steve Tyler to thank for his maximum in their draw with only Richard Searle taking an end off him. Crafthole B, leaders of the pack beat Railway D 7-3 in a closely fought match with eight tie-breaks and six 11-9 scores. Crafthole’s Anthony Shapland merited his maximum but he needed a bit of luck on the way. Whilst playing Rail’s Chris Ford he won two tie-breaks 12-10 and 17-15 and then against James Lock needed another 12-10 tie-break winning in five ends. Bottom club Astor D are still struggling after last season’s promotion and this time lost 9-1 to Joola Plymouth C with Steve Harvey saving the whitewash beating Andy Strike in straight ends. Joola’s Graham Pearson obtained his first maximum of the season during this match.

Despite the score line, many of the games were closely fought but it was Woodland Fort F of Div Three who came out best. Ex Public Secondary Pals from the early 60s, Pete Debnam (Joola Plymouth D) and Dave Backholer had a real humdinger of a third set, with Backholer having 7 Match points, before winning 17-15. In their many meetings in the past 10 years, Backholer remains undefeated! Forts Keith Phillips took a maximum but had a fight on his hands to beat Simon Dixon 11-6, 8-11, 11-2, 8-11, 11-6 in a match that ended 8-2 in favour of Fort overturning their first half defeat. The oldest team in Div Three, Astor F, Mike Perry, Cecil Downing and Jewel Vittle, with a combined age of 242 years, found themselves no match for their third placed team mates from the E team losing 10 nil with only Perry taking a single end off Dave Harding. John Dodd of leaders Molyneux Associates had a rare off night losing to Woodland Fort E’s Ken Chambers (2) 7-11, 14-12, 9-11, 8-11 and Pete Andrews 8-11, 3-11, 11-7, 11-5, 7-11. However, Molyneux still managed to beat Woodland Fort E 7-3. Family illness caused Ken Chambers to play all his games consecutively and tiredness was a factor when he lost his last game against John Chadwick (3) 11-9, 11-3, 4-11, 9-11, 5-11.

W/C 10/02/20 

Astor A of Div One overturned of first half 9-1 defeat at the hands of Chaddlewood B and came away with a 6-4 win after a maximum by Steve Cookson and a brace from Steve Garlick. Both players also took the doubles to secure their victory. The battle for leadership of the division continues with Railway A beating two player Siblyback 9-1 with Miles Noel-Johnson getting the only point for his team beating stand-in player Mike Briggs 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 10-12, 11-4. Noel-Johnson also came close to beating Martin Parnell but after losing out on two tie-breaks just came up short on his challenge. Railway’s Jacob Kodicek continues his 100% winning record (pictured). Tim Diss of Joola Plymouth B saved a whitewash beating Chaddlewood A’s Denis Cajon. Young Bailey Page took Cajon all the way to the fifth end along with pushing Tony Sweet all the way to another fifth end and losing out in a nail biting game 12-14, 4-11, 17-15, 11-6, 6-11.

All of the players of leaders Crafthole B of Div Two took a brace and they all suffered defeats at the hands University’s Connor Pike despite some tough sets. Pike has a total league win average of 86% and despite being 2 nil against Martin Wilcox managed to win the next three ends 11-9, 11-1 and 11-6. Second placed Astor C came up against a strong Abel Hernandez (78%) of Woodland Fort C after a shaky start against Trevor Mole (70%) coming back from two games down to win 4-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-9 and then went on to take a maximum. Braces from Astor’s Mole and Dave Spry plus the doubles gave Astor a narrow 6-4 victory. The question on the lips of the players between Joola Plymouth C and Woodland Fort B founded around Fort’s Brian Luscombe (3) as to whether he was a lucky man or a well-deserved winner. In his first match he came back from 2-1 down against Andy Strike to just win the next two ends 11-9, 11-9. Then, in his next match against Tolly Beman he went 2 nil up only to be pegged back at 2-a-piece and then won the deciding end on a 13-11 tie-break. You decide! Fort went on to win the match 7-3. Chaddlewood’s Steve Tyler took an excellent maximum and unlike other weeks had some support from his team mates Adam Forshaw and Mike Chapple and thus won 7-3 over Railway D.

Div Three’s Railway derby produced some great battles despite a whitewash win by the E Team. Railway F’s Alex Ryley very nearly getting the better of Peter Davies in an enthralling battle, and it was impossible to predict the outcome as the match ebbed and flowed. Ryley's much improved forehand did plenty of damage throughout, though this was countered by Davies stronger push game. Ryley's serving was also much improved and he can take many positives moving forwards! Railway F's Danielle Tweedie had a similarly intense spar with Davies though the dynamics of the match was completely different, Davies struggled to cope with Tweedie's heavy chop pushes as well as her new pendulum serve which she was eager to try out, though the match eventually swung in his favour due to a few mistakes on her service in crucial moments; again experience told the tale of success for the night. Railway E’s Wayne Tucker and Chris Willis escaped the night unscathed winning all their matches in straight sets, including their doubles, Tucker giving Ryley plenty to think about with his very consistent shots which would eventually draw the error. All in all the night was played in great spirits and both teams came away with some lovely shots to add to their table tennis memory bank! Challengers for the title Ivybridge won 7-3 against Crafthole C but maybe the score could have been so much different due to Ivybridge winning 6 out of the 8 tie-breaks. The most awaited match of the night saw Ivybridge’s Ian Reed beat Crafthole’s top player Rui Baretto 10-12, 12-10, 11-6, 14-12 in a very close match. At the battle of the Forts, the D team ran out 8-2 winners over their E team mates and overturning their first half defeat with fine maximums from Bob Vella and Ralph Stone.

W/C 03/02/20

Joola Plymouth A of Div One arrived to play Chaddlewood A with only two players due to illness and put up a brave fight only wining two points with Kevin Giles beating Chaddy’s Denis Cajon and then Roper just beating Cajon in a fifth end battle 9-11, 11-4, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9. Chaddlewood C however, with the return of Shaun Gilbert, and some fine defensive play from Steve Hill, reversed their 7-3 first half defeat by Astor A. Astor’s Steve Garlick was unlucky not to win a point losing two matches in five ends but it was Steve Cookson who managed to win a brace and then an enthralling doubles with Garlick 11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 7-11, 11-9. Crafthole A overturned their first half 4-6 defeat to Joola Plymouth B by beating them 8-2 with maximums from Mike Cookson and Shirley Luckhurst. The whole match saw 9 tie breaks in total with six of them going in favour of Crafthole and obviously the score line could have been so much different. Joola’s hard bat hero Tim Diss was unlucky in getting a duck as two of his matches ended in fifth end tie breaks the closest being against Luckhurst losing 11-8, 6-11, 11-8, 12-14, 10-12. Each member of Chaddlewood B grabbed a point in the first 4 sets against railway B (Mike Briggs 3). They however could not add to those 3 points as Railway took the rest despite strong resistance by Chaddy , who dragged the match past ‘closing time’.

After promotion from Div Three last season Astor D are still struggling to find their feet in Div Two but came up against leaders Crafthole B this week and lost 2-8 despite some close scoring matches. Crafthole’s Bob Hallett was the only person to walk away with a fine maximum only dropping one end to Nick May. Lee Mill are keeping up their push for top spot but could only manage a 6-4 (Richard Smaridge 3) over a resilient Woodland Fort C who won three of their points all in fifth end matches. Miller’s Ann Warren was unlucky not to pick up a point after being 2-1 up against Dave Wyatt, lost both the fourth and fifth ends 11-9. Astor C (Dave Spry 3) are close behind Lee Mill but have played a game more and with an 8-2 win over bottom side Railway D did their challenge no harm, except with no less than thirteen tiebreaks, 9-4 in favour of Astor, the score line could have been so much different. The tightest match of the evening saw four of these tie breaks between James Lock and Spry 10-12, 14-16, 12-10, 12-10, 5-11.

Newcomer Rui Barreto of Div Three side Crafthole is human after all, when playing top team Molyneux Associates lost to John Dodd (top of the ‘Averages’) but only just. Dodd required two 12-10 tie breaks to take the victory in a very closely fought match 7-11, 12-10, 11-5, 7-11, 12-10. Molyneux had Jake Neilson playing up for them and he managed to take a brace and help towards the 7-3 victory. Second placed Ivybridge lost ground at the top with a draw at Railway E (Dave Tucker 3) which was far better than their previous weeks defeat in the Divisional Cup to the same team. Nigel Aston (3) of Woodland Fort F had an almost perfect match only dropping one end to super veteran Cecil Downing (2) of Astor F and assisted his team to a 7-3 victory, the same as the first half of the season. Railway F, routed securely at the bottom of the division could only field two players against Astor E and lost all their matches in straight ends.

W/C 27/01/20 – DIVISIONAL CUP – Quarter Finals

Last week it was the Handicap Cup and this week it is the Quarter Final of the Divisional Cup matches which is a normal best of five ends and a race to six points.

DIV ONE: 

Last year’s winners Chaddlewood A (Denis Cajon, Tony Sweet and Glyn Price (pictured L to R) took on their C team mates (Russ Keith, Steve Hill and Shaun Gilbert) in a very friendly atmosphere and a match played in great spirit with some fantastic Table Tennis despite some luck by Tony Sweet (3) who definitely didn’t need it as he has only lost one match all season. Gilbert was the star for the visitors taking points off Price 11-7, 11-6, 6-11, 13-11 and Cajon 11-8, 11-9, 11-8 but without support Chaddy A won 6-2.

It was the same score line in the match between Crafthole A and Joola Plymouth A (Ian Roper, Debbie Whiting and Kevin Giles) with Joola taking the win. Whiting lost both of Joola’s point losing out to Iain Oxenham and Shirley Luckhurst.

Last year’s runner-up Railway A (Phil Nile, Martin Parnell and Jacob Kodicek) played Joola Plymouth B (Tim Diss, Dave Pellow and Bailey Page) and won 6-2. Both Parnell and Kodicek (unbeaten all season) managed maximums despite some close hard fought matches with Parnell coming from 2 nil down to beat Pellow 11-13, 6-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7 and being 2-1 down to defeat Page 3-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-3, 11-9.

As close and topsy-turvy scoring match ensued between Astor B (Tony Powlesland, John Turner and Les Cole) and Chaddlewood B (Steve Hugh, Chris Dunn and Tau Manonge) with Astor reversing their 4-6 league defeat. Astor’s Turner took three points and Les Cole a brace with the pair teaming up to win the doubles, thus getting their six points required. The strangest match saw Cole go 2 nil up against Hugh 11-8 and 11-9 only to lose the next end 1-11. The fourth end saw Cole regain some composure but he lost in a 15-17 tie break game. With everything at stake in the fifth end the match turned in favour of Cole after winning 11-8.

DIV TWO:

Woodland Fort B (Jon Goodfield, Brian Luscombe and Norman Hall) turned on the style and quite convincingly beat their C team mates (Abel Hernandez, Mike Willis and Richard Searle) 6-1. Hernandez started really slowly losing the very first end 11 nil to Goodfield and the losing 2-11 and 10-12 but got better as the evening progressed. In his second match against Brian (silver fox) Luscombe he found his hitting distance and took his team’s solitary point winning 5-11, 11-9, 8-11, 13-11, 13-11. 

Steve Tyler (3) of Chaddlewood D lacked some support from Mike Chapple (1) and Adam Forshaw (0) as his team went down 4-6 to Joola Plymouth C (Andy Strike, Tolly Beman and Graham Pearson) in a very closely fought match with some close games. Chapple went 2 nil up (11-9, 11-2) against Pearson only to be pegged back at 2-a-piece (5-11, 12-14). With everything at stake in the fifth end the match eventually went to Chapple winning 11-9. With the score at 4 each, Strike beat Chapple and then left Beman and Pearson to play and win the doubles against Chapple and Tyler.

Another 6-4 match went the way of Astor C (Trevor Mole, Dave Spry and Martin Fowler) when they entertained visitors University (Alfie Chamberlain, Connor Pyke and Ciaran Richards). Seven of the ten matches were all won in straight ends which is strange for a closely fought match but all of the Astor players managed to take braces. The best come back in one of the games saw Spry lead Chamberlain 2 nil (11-5, 11-6) only for Chamberlain to win the next three ends 6-11, 9-11, 5-11.

Railway D (Andy Watmore, Chris Ford and James Lock) played host to visitors Lee Mill (Wendy Richards, Ann Warren and Mark Chapman) with Railway’s Watmore beating Richards 8-11, 11-5, 5-11, 12-10, 11-3 and then Lee Mill’s Warren beating Ford 9-11, 11-8, 2-11, 12-10, 11-7 the matches that followed ebbed and flowed for both teams until at 4-a-piece when Watmore took his maximum beating Warren and the left it to Lock and Ford to win the doubles and the match in the fifth end 11-5. 

DIV THREE:

One of the favourites for the cup, Molyneux Associates (Andrew Courtney, John Chadwick and John Dodd) had a 3 point start as visitors Astor E arrived with only two players (Bob Steele and Dave Harding). Courtney took the first two ends against Steele 11-8, 11-8 only for Steele to level 15-13, 11-8 but Courtney found his form again winning the deciding end 11-6. Chadwick then defeated Harding 12-10, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7 and finally Steele saw himself 2-1 up against Dodd only for Dodd to ‘dig in’ and win the next two ends 11-8 each.

Woodland Fort D (Barrie Oliver, Bob Vella and Ralph Stone) managed to halt the challenge of Crafthole C (Terry Wright, Holly Davis and Rui Barreto) with an excellent maximum from Stone even beating Barreto 9-11, 11-7, 11-9, 4-11, 11-8 and consequently helping his team to a 6-2 victory.

W/C 20/01/20 – HANDICAP CUP – 1st Round

This week, league matches gave way to the first round of the Handicap Cup. This is simply a race to 500 points made up with 10 games of 2 ends of 25 points per end; or the match can be finished when one team can’t catch the other on points. The lowest ranked team have been awarded a handicap which has been worked out using the leagues half way averages and hopefully providing a more levelled playing field. 

One of the favourites Chaddlewood A (Denis Cajon, Tony Sweet and Glyn price) had to give Div Two Astor C (Tony Bray, Trevor Mole and Dave Spry) a 185 start. All of the matches went in favour of Chaddy, who did have the majority of luck and fortune and won 500-439. 

The other favourites Railway A (Martin Parnell, Jacob Kodicek and Phil Nile) had to give their D team mates a 252 point start and with the A team’s Nile playing his first game of the season and losing both to James Lock 20-25, 16-25 and to Colin Easton 15-25, 20-25 this was going to be an uphill struggle and they lost 321-470 after they could not catch the D team.

Chaddlewood C (Shaun Gilbert, Russ Keith and Steve Hill) bottom of Div One played their team mates Chaddlewood D (Mike Chapple, Adam Forshaw and Steve Tyler) bottom of Div Two and had to give away a 140 point start. Here again all but one game went in favour of Chaddy C except for Tyler taking Gilbert all the way in a very close match and with some extreme hard hitting from Tyler the match finished all square 22-25, 25-22. Chaddy C need the final doubles match to complete their 497-477 victory in a friendly evening.

Div Two teams Astor D (+35) (Steve Harvey, Gerry Elliott and Nick May) played University (Connor Pyke, Alfie Chamberlain and Cairan Richards) had a topsy-turvy match with Uni’s Richards losing his matches but team mate Pyke made up for them winning all his. This is what the handicap structure is all about as every single point played is valuable in reaching the final score which is this case went to Uni 444-415.

Another all Div Two clash paired Woodland Fort B (+49) (Jon Goodfield, Brian Luscombe and Norman Hall) with Lee Mill (Wendy Roberts, Mark Chapman and Richard Smaridge) ended in favour of Fort 405-263 despite Smaridge’s best efforts trying to lead his team to victory beating Hall 25-7, 25-10 the matches never came close to the expected match levelling points.

A brilliant match ensued between Joola Plymouth B (Bailey Page, Dave Pellow and Tim Diss (+5) and Shopfitting by SWS (Steve Foster, Bryn Ford and Colin Mitchell). Foster’s first match saw him just beat Page 48-47 and then he drew with Pellow 45-45 but succumbed to Diss 41-50. Mitchell had no problems beating both Diss and Pellow 50-31 but lost out to Page 42-43. Unfortunately Ford lost all his matches and thus Joola won 449-424.

With an injured Les Cole of Astor B, he and his team mates John Turner and Tony Powlesland could not manage to defeat their other Div One opponents Joola Plymouth A (Debbie Whiting, Kevin Giles and Ian Roper) despite a 61 points handicap as Joola won 7 of the 9 games played winning 403-349.

With a massive 212 point start Div two Woodland Fort D (Barry Oliver, Bob Vella and Ralph Stone) had some close games against Div One Side Crafthole A (Iain Oxenham, Shirley Luckhurst and Mike Cookson) and therefore won convincingly 497-331 with the help of Vella even convincingly beating Oxenham 50-32.

Chaddlewood B of Div One (Steve Hugh, Tau Manonge and Chris Dunn) faced Div Three Astor F (Bob Steele, Rob Jenkins and Dave Harding) and had to give them a 217 point start and the handicap proved to be almost perfect with Astor narrowly winning 504-500. This match probably turned in favour of Astor when Steele only lost to Dunn 23-25 and 22-25 and goes to prove these games are all about different player’s styles. The final match saw Steele and Jenkins needing 36 points against Hugh and Manonge and with a good first end they only lost 20-25 putting the pressure on Chaddy. With victory close for both teams, Astor’s pairing manged to secure their place in the next round by getting 19 points when only requiring 16.

Without regular John Belton, Ivybridge (+140) fielded Alan Davis along with Ian Reed and Alan Spencer when they took on Crafthole B (Paul Ager, Martin Wilcox and Anthony Shapland) from the division above them and missed out by just two points losing 477-478. Those two points could have come anytime in the 20 ends played with a lucky edge or net but they would have probably won if Belton was playing. However, Reed tried his best beating Martin Wilcox 25-17, 25-21 setting up what must have been a tense final doubles match.

Other results:

Railway F (+45) -v- Astor F 340-422

Molyneux Associates (+163) -v- two player Astor A 507-292

Railway E (+85) -v- Woodland Fort C 

W/C 13/01/20 

Div One Railway B, John Palmer, Gary West and Mike Briggs (pictured L:R) welcomed Chaddlewood C, who had two previous Railway team mates Shaun Gilbert and Russ Keith returning to play against them. In the first match Keith’s hard hitting backhand earnt his team the first point beating Palmer. West then beat Gilbert in straight ends. Briggs and John Steuart squared up with some brilliant hard hitting rallies but winning two tie breaks Briggs took the point. Chaddy managed to level the match at 3-a-piece with Steuart beating Palmer and Gilbert beating ‘averages’ (winning over 75% of their matches) player Briggs 11-5, 11-8, 6-11, 11-2. Surprisingly Palmer went on to beat Gilbert after his previous week’s loss playing up for the ‘A’ team and with some long rallies Palmer wore down his opponent 11-7, 6-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-8. Railway took the honours winning 7-3 in a very friendly and entertaining evening. Chaddlewood A (Glyn Price, Denis Cajon and Tony Sweet) completed the double whitewash over Astor B who were without Les Cole due to injury and called up replacement Tony Bray from Div Two. Astor’s John Turner put up a brave resistance even taking Cajon to a fifth end tie break but losing it 10-12. Tony Powlesland lost the first end to Cajon but manged to win the next two ends 11-9 and 11-7 but Cajon proved to strong coming back to win the next two ends 11-9 and 11-4.  Miles Noel-Johnson of Siblyback came away undefeated after playing Joola Plymouth B but he needed all 5 ends in all 3 matches to get his points but surprisingly he left the doubles match in the hands of Colin Jago and Jim Hughes who hadn’t won a match all night, but, to their credit managed to defeat Tim Diss and Baily Page 11-8, 12-10, 9-11, 11-6 and the final score ended 6-4 in favour of Joola.

Well it had to happen sooner or later; leaders Crafthole B of Div Two lost a league match for the first time this season to a strong Woodland Fort B team who were keen to prove that their 6-5 cup win over the home side wasn't a fluke. With two players from each team in the ‘averages’ something was bound to give. The first match of the evening set the standards with Crafthole’s Anthony Shapland going 2-1 up by winning two tie breaks over Brian Luscombe. Luscombe then levelled the match winning the fourth end 11-9 only for Shapland to reverse the score in the final end taken a great point for Crafthole. With a 4-1 lead Crafthole failed to win another point to eventually lose the match 4-6, even Shapland having his sights set on a maximum lost to Norman Hall in 3 straight games. Another all ‘averages’ match saw Luscombe defeat Bob Hallet 11-7, 10-12, 11-7, 12-10 in a hard fought match. 

Molyneux Associates renewed their challenge for top spot in Div Three after last week’s defeat by beating third placed Railway E 9-1 with Railway unable to field a strong side especially that unbeaten Wayne Tucker has missed both of these clashes and did not face Moly’s John Dodd (3) who was back on form even beating Chris Willis 15-13, 11-8, 16-14. Willis did nevertheless take the only point for Railway beating John Chadwick. Newcomer Rui Barreto of Crafthole C is already proving far too strong for Div Three with another good maximum (and the doubles) this time over Woodland Fort D who even had one of their stronger players in Ralph Stone playing and losing 11-4, 11-3, 11-7. However, with all of Fort’s players picking up braces, Fort eventually won 6-4. Nigel Aston had a bad evening when Woodland Fort F lost to their E Team 4-6. Usually reliable Aston lost to Ken Chambers (3) 3-11, 3-11, 11-7, 11-9, 8-11 and to Peter Andrews (3) 7-11, 3-11, 5-11. Fort F’s Dave Backholer went home happy after beating Dave Brown 11-9, 12-14, 11-3, 4-11, 14-12 in the evening's first game and winning the doubles with Aston 11-8, 11-6, 11-7 in the last game of the evening.

W/C 25/11/19 

Colin Mitchell played up for Div One leaders Railway A and took a maximum in their 9-1 over Astor A who started with their only point coming from Steve Cookson beating Martin Parnell but needing two tie-breaks in accomplishing this. Again Railway’s Jacob Kodicek took another straight games maximum and is still unbeaten. Bottom club Chaddlewood C (Russ Keith 3, John Stuart and Steve Hill) won their first match of the season defeating a mixed team of young, Bailey Page; youth, Harry Chan and mature Dave Pellow (his words not mine) 7-3. Mike Cookson was the inform player taking a maximum for Crafthole in a drawn game against visiting Siblyback and even managed to defeat Siblyback’s top player Miles Noel-Johnson quite convincingly after a closely fought first two ends 11-9, 7-11, 11-3, 11-2. Astor B remain close to the bottom of the league with a 8-2 defeat against Railway B who had Mike Briggs and Gary West on song in an enjoyable evening with great banter and good sportsmanship all round. The tightest and by far the closest match saw Astor’s Tony Powlesland overcome John Palmer 3-11, 11-8, 11-7, 5-11, 11-8. Ian Roper of Joola Plymouth A came away with the only maximum and helped secure his team’s 6-4 win over visitor’s Chaddlewood B. Joola’s Kevin Giles was unlucky not to also take a maximum but after being 2-0 up lost the next two ends to set up a close final fifth end which Steve Hugh won 12-10.

Lee Mill in Div 2 have played one game less than the leaders Crafthole B who have played all of their first half of the seasons games and with the Millers beating Woodland Fort B 7-3 are now within striking distance of catching Crafthole if they can next beat lowly Astor D. Lee Mill’s Richard Smaridge and Fort’s Jon Goodfield had both only lost 2 games each so far so something had to give and expectations would have been high. However, Smaridge claimed an easy victory by all accounts winning 11-3, 12-10, 11-8 and then going on to beat Bruce Damerell 2, 2, 3 and Norman Hall 4, 5 and 3. Woodland Fort C notched up their fourth draw whilst playing Railway D with Rail’s James Lock coming away undefeated but it was hard fought for him winning two points in five ends and one in four ends with the closest topsy-turvy match being against Abel Hernandez 11-7, 7-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-6. Astor C defeated Joola Plymouth C with a maximum from Trevor Mole secured by a win over Graham Pearson after a shaky start from both players 11-1, 3-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9. Dave Spry chipped in with a couple being deprived of his maximum by Andy Strike 11-6, 8-11, 6-11, 13-11, 10-12. A foolhardy Tony Bray played on through the pain and discomfort of a bad back and dodgy knee to save his duck by defeating Andy Strike in five ends 11-5, 5-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-9. Mole and Spry teamed up for the doubles taking it in straight games to secure the win 7-3.

In Div 3 team sponsors Molyneux Associates must be delighted with their team (Chaddlewood E) returning to the top of the table as closets rivals Ivybridge did not have a game this week. With both teams now having played 10 matches Molyneux (see photo, left to right: John Dodd, Mike Hoskins and Andrew Courtney) lead the division by only 4 points after only their second maximum of the season this time over super veterans Astor F. Table Tennis is a strange game as Astor’s Cecil Downing found out after losing to Dodd 1-11 in the first end, Downing then turned the match around winning the next 11-8 but perhaps Dodd, who has only lost one game all season took his eye off the ball as he recovered quickly to beat downing in the next two ends 11-4 and 11-5. All the other games finished in straight sets including newcomer Courtney beating Mike (Chopper) Perry 2, 6 and 8. As a further note, all of Molyneux’s playing team this week are in the ‘Averages’ (a player winning more than 75% of their games). Jason Butler of bottom club Railway F nearly managed his first win since week four leading Woodland Fort F’s Dave Backholer 2-1 but then the wheels came off and he lost the next two ends and thus again Railway lost 10 nil. Railway E are up to third in the league with a 8-2 victory over Woodland Fort E and pushing towards top spot. Very surprisingly Fort’s Pete Andrews suffered a rare duck losing a close fought match with unbeaten Wayne Tucker 8-11, 11-13, 12-10, 7-11. Nine year old Jamie Myska-Buddell of Joola Plymouth D still continues to impress and is a credit to his parents with another maximum over Woodland Fort D making it 24 victories from 27 matches and securing his team’s 7-3 win. Barry Oliver (2) did however push him all the way but lost out on two tie-breaks 11-9, 7-11, 10-12, 10-12.  

W/C 18/11/19 

Chaddlewood C are routed to the bottom of Div One and the only team still without a win as they lost 3-7 to third placed Joola Plymouth A, Ian Roper (3), Kevin Giles (3) and Debbie Whiting, in an excellent hard fought match with some exhilarating hard hitting from both sides. There was another great night of Table Tennis during the Railway Club clash of the A (Jacob Kodicek, Martin Parnell and Colin Mitchell playing up) and B (John Palmer, Gary West, Mike Briggs) team mates with Palmer just missing out on a victory against Parnell after being 5-1 down in the fifth and pulling back to 7-7 but Parnell kept his cool and came out the winner 11-9. Parnell also rode his luck against West and came from 2-1 down to win 11-9, 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8. The players from the B team all agreed that Kodicek was ‘on another planet’ wining all his matches in straight games.

Astor D in Div Two, secured their first win of the season over Woodland Fort B who were unable to field their strongest line-up and had Ken Chambers playing up. A fine maximum from Steve Harvey was the foundation of the 6-4 victory and Astor narrowly failed to improve on the score line in a close fought doubles with Harvey and Nick May taking a 2-0 lead only to eventually lose two tie-breaks and the match to Chambers and Norman Hall 11-9, 11-6, 10-12, 9-11, 11-13. Leaders Crafthole B had a much more difficult match than the overall 8-2 victory over bottom club Chaddlewood D suggests and the pivotal point being Crafthole’s Bob Hallett (3) overcoming Steve Tyler (no not the one from Aerosmith) in a gripping battle 16-14, 10-12, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9. Challengers Lee Mill, Richard Smaridge (3), Mark Chapman (3) defeated Joola Plymouth C in some close matches with no less than 9 tie-breaks during the whole evening. Lee Mill’s Wendy Richards only playing her second match of the season suffered a duck but her closest match was against the young Ptolemy Beman losing the first two ends 14-12 and 12-10 only to win the next tie-break 10-12 but then lost her way losing 3-11 in the fourth end.

In Div 3 an evenly matched evening saw Joola Plymouth D and Chaddlewood F square up with the doubles going down to the wire, with Joola snatching victory 11-8 in the 5th set to draw the match. Chaddy’s James Marsh managed a good win over young Jamie Myska-Buddell and although no win for Joola’s John Bone, his performance was much improved and better than the scores suggest, enjoying some excellent rallies with Stuart Young, losing one game 15-13. Both Woodland Fort D and E defeated Astor F and E 8-2. Fort D’s Rob Batten and Fort’s E Pete Andrews the ones coming away with maximums. Bob Steele returned for his first match of the season for Astor E but failed to gain a point and thus Astor bid fair well to their loaned player Andy Donald who will now return to his home club Chaddlewood. With Molynuex Associates not playing this week, Ivybridge, John Belton, Ian Reed and Alan Spencer returned to the top of the table after demolishing bottom club Railway F 10 nil.

W/C 11/11/19 

The battle of the Railway Clubs in Div One saw the B team John Palmer, Gary West (3) and Mike Briggs (3) beat their C team (Shopfitting by SWS) 8-2 with Colin Mitchell picking up his first duck of the season. Bryn Ford saved a good point beating Palmer after being 2-1 down and then winning the next two ends 2 and 7. Palmer was also involved in a very close match against Steve Foster but managed to win the fifth end tie break 13-11. Another all club clash saw Chaddlewood A, Tony Sweet (3), Denis Cajon (3) and Garry Reed almost whitewash their C team mates except for John Steuart saving the blushes beating Reed in a topsy-turvy match 18-16, 1-11, 11-9, 11-8. Astor B played Railway A with Gary West playing up for the Rail and during his defeat to John Turner, Turner pulled a calf muscle and had to retire injured after beating West 13-11, 11-4, 4-11, 11-5 and could not play his remaining match against Martin Parnell. Despite Turner’s point this was his team one and only point in a 1-9 defeat taking Railway back to the top of the table. Unfortunately Iain Oxenham of Crafthole A suffered a whitewash himself against Chaddlewood B but his partners Shirley Luckhurst and Mike Cookson won all their matches including the doubles to win 7-3. Chaddy’s Jon Payn, after beating Oxenham in the fourth end with a net-cord, has now decided to retire from Table Tennis due to ill health at present. Cerys Evans, of Joola Plymouth B, playing her first match in the league was extremely unlucky only losing out in a fifth end tie-break to Astor A’s Steve Garlick. Astor’s John Sherlock had to retire injured after beating Evans and could not complete his game against Tim Diss. Despite Sherlock’s retirement his team mates took four points between them and the doubles and thus won 6-4.

It was a hard fought evening as Div 2 leaders Crafthole B came up against third placed Astor C and lost their 100% winning record this season. Crafthole took a 4-2 lead with 2 from Paul Ager, backed up with a game each from Martin Wilcox and Anthony Shapland who came from 2 behind to win a deuce game in the third and go on to defeat Tony Bray in 5 games. Astor C rallied in the second half of the evening taking 3 of the remaining four games, with Dave Spry overcoming Martin Wilcox in a tense and gruelling 5 ends. Tony Bray overcame his disappointment at losing his first two singles in 5 ends to save his duck and deprive Paul Ager of his maximum. A tense doubles saw Dave Spry and Trevor Mole win out with help of two deuce games. So the end result a draw, after a long evening of good table tennis. Woodland Fort C, Mike Willis, Abel Hernandez (3) and Dave Wyatt (3) played lowly Astor D and the 8-2 win was no shock for Fort who are pushing hard for third place in the league. Wyatt started the evening winning two tie-breaks to beat Steve Harvey and finished the evening with another winning tie-break to beat Gerry Elliott. Railway D drew their first match of the season taking on the University players who had Alfie Chamberlain taking away a maximum all won in four ends. Rail’s Colin Easton held his nerve in the fifth end tie-break against Ciaran Richards beating him 13-11 but the surprise of the evening came in the last singles match when Rail’s James Lock outplayed ‘Averages’ player Connor Pyke despatching him 11-6, 11-6, 11-3.

Top of Div Three played bottom of Three and as certain as Egg are Eggs Molyneux Associates whitewashed the spirited effort of Railway F Josh Thynne, Jason Butler and Ben Osborn. Two player Crafthole C faced title chasing Railway E and wouldn’t have expecting more than their single point won by Terry Wright beating Chris Willis in 5 end and thus losing the match 1-9. This win keeps Rail within 7 points of the leaders. Ivybridge, John Belton, Ian Reed and Alan Spencer continue to impress in their first season in the league and are still in the running to win the league after an 8-2 victory over Woodland Fort F. The most outstanding match saw Spencer lose the first end to Keith Phillips 15-17 only to win the next end 14-12. Phillips then won the third end convincingly 11-4 but with the third and fourth tie-breaks in the match lost them both 10-12. Simon Dixon saved Joola Plymouth D from a whitewash beating Woodland Fort D’s Peter Andrews in 5 ends, however he lost to Dave Brown (3) in 4 ends and to ken Chambers (3) in 5 ends as Woodland Fort won 9-1. The only draw in this league this week was between Chaddlewood F and Visitor Astor F with super veteran Mike Parry taking a maximum for Astor. Chaddlewood’s newbie, Sam Kilkenny-Marlton, manage to beat Jewel Vittle as did Stuart Young who took his very first point this season, well done!

W/C 04/11/19

An epic encounter took place between two of the bottom clubs of Div One when Chaddlewood C hosted the visit of Crafthole A, and with it being Fireworks night there were some rockets and bangers of shots and returns. Bottom club Chaddy took the first game in 5 ends, the next 3 points went to Crafthole in a total of 13 ends and so the match continued well into the evening with only 2 matches being won in straight ends. Crafthole’s Shirley Luckhurst took a deserved maximum but Chaddy’s newcomer Tau Manonge, who had only recently moved to the West Country, played some brilliant table tennis but his serve despite being dominant in the games failed him at the very last point serving off the table in two separate matches. Unbelievable! The match finished 8-2 in favour of the visitors leaving Chaddlewood at the bottom of the league. Railway A leap back to the top of the league beating their C team mates 8-2. The closest match saw C team’s Colin Mitchell push Martin Parnell all the way in a close fought match but Parnell survived a fifth end tie break to win 11-9, 6-11, 9-11, 11-9, 12-10. Bryn Ford of the C team must have been the unluckiest player losing three tie breaks in his defeat to John Palmer 10-12, 15-17, 11-3, 10-12.

Chaddlewood D in Div Two are still without a win despite an excellent maximum from Steve Tyler (yes, not the one from Aerosmith, we already know that) but Tyler now needs some back up as his team lost 4-6. Tyler’s showed some dogged play after being two games to one down both against Astor C’s Trevor Mole and Dave Spryto come back and win the next two ends. James Lock of Railway D accomplished a maximum and thus assisted his team to their second win of the season beating Astor D, who, despite getting promoted last season are having a torrid time and are routed to the bottom of the league. Astor’s jubilant players from last season were all smiles when showing off their trophy (see photo, left to right, Steve Harvey, Nick May and Gerry ‘super veteran’ Elliott), hopefully their luck will change very soon. At the battle of the Fort, both Woodland Fort B and C shared the spoils with Jon Goodfield for the B team coming away unbeaten and surprisingly his team mate Brian ‘silver fox’ Luscombe lost in five ends to Abel Hernandez 6-11, 8-11, 11-5, 13-11, 7-11. Unbeaten leaders, Crafthole B, faced unbeaten Lee Mill but Lee Mill only travelled the long journey from South Brent to Anthony with two players. The journey favoured Richard Smaridge who came away with a maximum but poor old Mark Chapman suffered his first duck of the season. The first three matches were see-saw games; firstly Crafthole’s Anthony Shapland beat Mark Chapman 11-9, 3-11, 11-8, 1-11, 11-3, then Smaridge defeated Paul Ager 8-11, 11-6, 11-3, 4-11, 11-3 but Ager then came from 2 ends to 1 down to overcome Chapman 11-8, 8-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-9. Crafthole eventually won the match 6-4.

In Div Three it was the clash of the top two teams with leaders Ivybridge (with a four point lead) hosting Molynuex Associates but with a maximum from Moly’s John Dodd and braces from Andrew Courtney and Mike Hoskins including the doubles, Molyneux won 8-2 and now lead the table as the only team undefeated in the league. Ivybridge’s Alan Spencer suffered his first duck of the season but newbie Alan Davis managed to beat Hoskins in a fourth end tie-break. Woodland Fort D had hardly a scare playing bottom club Railway F with only Forts’ Rob Batten conceding an end to Alex Ryley. Fourteen year old Holly Davis of Crafthole C played her best Table Tennis so far this season winning two and only losing the third match 12-14 in the fifth end to Astor E’s Robbie Jenkins (3) who’s team went on to win 6-4, this being their fourth 6-4 score line. Ken Chambers and Peter Andrews of Woodland Fort E both secured maximums for their team in an 8-2 win over Astor F. Astor’s Jewel Vittle was really unfortunate not to get her second point of the season losing in the fifth end to Dave Brown 11-13.

W/C 28/10/19 

With Mark Weymouth now not available for Railway A due to having an operation which will keep him out for the rest of the season, his team mates have a slender four point lead over closest rivals Chaddlewood A. His team mates Jacob Kodicek (100%), Martin Parnell and with the help of Gary West Playing up whitewashed two player Joola Plymouth A, inflicting young Bailey Page’s first duck of the season. The closest match saw blocker Dave Pellow take Parnell all the way to a tie break in the fifth end losing 11-7, 7-11, 15-17, 9-10, 12-10. Meanwhile Chaddy A went one nil down as Garry Reed lost to Astor A’s Steve Cookson in a very tough and close match including three tie breaks 7-11, 9-11, 13-11, 14-12, 10-12. After that is was almost plain sailing for Chaddy who then were ran out 9-1 winners with the doubles being particularly close and entertaining. A mid-table clash saw Steve Foster of the draw specialists (4) Shopfitting by SWS claim a fine first maximum in a drawn match with Astor B and at the foot of the table Siblyback had Miles Noel-Johnson to thank for his maximum in their drawn game against visitors Chaddlewood C who had Steve Tyler from Div Two playing up and taking a brace saving their sixth defeat of the season.

Tyler back in his own Div again took a brace for Chaddlewood D but that was his team’s only points as they succumbed to an unbeaten Lee Mill with a great performance especially from Richard Smardge (3). Two player Woodland Fort B, Brian Luscombe and John Goodfield took all their available points when they visited Railway D. Dave Wyatt of Woodland Fort C played extremely well to achieve his first maximum of the season but his team could still only manage a draw against Joola Plymouth C.

Leaders of Div Three, Ivybridge (John Belton and Ian Reed 3) keep adding to their points advantage over second placed Molyneux Associates, this time with another 9-1 win at Woodland Fort D with Bob Vella saving the whitewash beating Alan Spencer. Molyneux could only manage a 8-2 win over visitors Woodland Fort F with Nigel Aston getting their only points and inflicting a first loss of the season for John Dodd, however Mike (dodgy knee) Hoskins of Molyneux had a hard fought maximum and will now be in agony for days. Again bottom club Railway F suffered another whitewash this time at the hands of hosts Chaddlewood F who had young delighted Sam Kilkenny-Marlton, only playing his second match ever coming away with a maximum. Railway E again could only field two players but still managed a 6-4 win against Astor E with Railways Wayne Tucker having the best performance of the evening. Crafthole lying second from bottom, saved their sixth straight defeat drawing their match against Joola Plymouth D but none of the players could beat Jamie Myska-Buddell although it took young Buddell 14 of the 15 ends to win his matches.

W/C 21/10/19

John Steuart of Chaddlewood in Div One must wish he could play Astor B every week due to the fact that he beat all of Astor’s players playing for his own team of Chaddlewood C at the start of this month and finished it by playing for the B team with another maximum with only John Turner taking a solitary end of him. Steuart cheekily then partnered Chris Dunn for the first time and defeated the pairing of John Turner and Les Cole beating them 11-6, 7,and 8 and winning the match 6-4. Two player Joola Plymouth B fielded the ‘young’ and the ‘old’ with Bailey Page (3) and Dave Pellow (2) and still managed to come away with a draw against Shopfitting by SWS. This was young Page’s first maximum since the very first game of the season. 

With second placed Astor C and third placed Lee Mill in Div Two squaring up everyone knew this was going to be a very close match, however Lee Mill’s Wendy Roberts had to retire unwell before playing her final match. There was a solid maximum from her team mate Mark Chapman and a brace and the doubles from Richard Smaridge which helped Lee Mill to a 6-4 victory. It was a torrid evening for Smaridge who was beaten in four games by Trevor Mole sticking doggedly to his game plan. Astor’s Tony Bray fought back from a two game deficit to take a 9-7 lead in the fifth end only to succumb to determined play from Smaridge. Another close match saw Astor’s Martin Fowler fight back from a similar two game deficit to take it to the fifth end, but he trailed by the odd couple of points throughout finally losing out 9-11 again to Smaridge.

Leaders Ivybridge in Div Three are pulling away from Molyneux Associates after a 9-1 victory over lowly Chaddlewood F with James Marsh saving the whitewash whilst Molyneux could only manage a 7-3 win over close rivals Woodland Fort D. Once again John Dodd took a maximum only losing one end to Fort’s Bob Vella. Neither Astor F’s Jewel Vittle or Crafthole’s Pete Nicholson had won a game up until now and something obviously had to give. Nicholson took the first two ends 9 and 4 and then lost the third to 7 only to recover quickly and win the next end 11-4 but Vittle’s team had the last laugh winning 6-4 with a maximum by super veteran Mike Perry. Buses arrived at Joola Plymouth D versus Railway E, firstly youngster Jamie Myska-Buddell lost his first match last week and then lost to Railway’s Andy Hill who last week accomplished his first maximum of the season and his second this week. Joola’s Pete Debnam won his first point of the season beating Andy Hill in straight games and nearly claimed his second after being 2 games to 1 up against Chris Willis only to just lose the next two ends both to 9 points. The evening finished in favour of Railway winning 6-4.

W/C 14/10/19 

The ‘Elderly Blocker’ is at it again in Div One! Dave Pellow of Joola Plymouth B took a maximum using his normal block everything method of play this time defeating all of the Astor B players but despite his solid defence his team succumbed 4-6. New Team mate Keith Sexton failed to pick up a point and young Bailey Page only managed a single point. None of the Astor players have yet managed a maximum this season. Chaddlewood team mate squared up against each other when the B team met the C team and with the scores all square at 3-a-piece the B team showed their potency to eventually win all the remaining games with a fine dogged defensive maximum from Steve ‘New Bat’ Hugh. B teams Chris Dunn let a lead go to John Steuart to finally lose the fifth end on a tie-break 11-3, 11-13, 4-11, 11-8, 12-14. Crafthole (Shirley Luckhurst 3) are still without a win yet in a drawn match against Railway B as Gary West lost his first match of the season, and like buses, then lost his second only to recover to beat Crafthole’s Iain Oxenham who is still without a point this season. Miles Noel-Johnson of Siblyback eventually picked up his first maximum of the season although Steve Cookson of Astor A took him all the way to the fifth end. In a close tough fought match Siblyback got their first win of the season eventually winning 6-4.

Both results from Div 2 have not arrived, so obviously no write up!

The battle of the Forts took place in Div Three with the Dragoons squaring up against the Farriers. Woodland Fort D’s Bob Vella and Rob Batten got their first maximums of the season but Ian Lindsay threw away an 8-3 advantage in the fifth end against John Cobbledick and is still pointless this term. Railway E are going great guns at the moment this time whitewashing Astor F in almost straight games. Rail’s Andy Hill got his first ever maximum in the league but ultra-veteran Mike Perry, being 2 sets to 1 up, should have never let Hill back into the game. The final two ends going to Hill 11-8 and 11-7. The spoils were shared as Chaddlewood F met their team mates from Molyneux Associates (Chaddlewood E) with Moly’s John Dodd taking an excellent maximum only losing one game to James Marsh (2). Marsh was backed up with a brace from newbie Jake Neilson playing some aggressive table tennis. Ivybridge (Ian Reed 3, Alan Spencer 3) now lead the table by 1 point with a magnificent 9-1 win over Woodland Fort E with only Pete Andrews getting a point for the Fort beating John Belton. Fort’s Ken Chambers was unlucky losing a fifth end tie break to Reed 11-6, 11-13, 11-8, 9-11, 10-12. Talented youngster Jamie Myska-Buddell of Joola Plymouth D lost his first match of the season to Astor E’s Rob Jenkins after taking the first end, but Jenkins then recovered to take the next three ends 7, 4 and 7. Finally Astor emerged 6-4 winning in a very long entertain evening of table tennis. 

W/C 07/10/19 

In Div One, our Sponsor’s team Shopfitting by SWS, thanks to Colin Mitchell beating Denis Cajon managed to prevent the whitewash and almost managed to get another point from their usual doubles pairing of Mitchell and Steve Foster but they fell apart at the fifth end against Cajon and Tony Sweet losing 4-11, 13-11, 2-11, 12-10, 2-11. At the bottom of the league Astor B took a 4-1 lead against Chaddlewood C and finally finished 6-4 winners although none of the Astor players managed to defeat John Steuart who found a bit of form to take a well-deserved maximum, his first in over twelve months. Siblyback suffered their third 2-8 defeat, this time at the hands of Railway B who had Colin Mitchell playing up and taking the only maximum. Siblyback’s Colin Jago did extremely well to ‘bottle up’ Mike Briggs winning 16-14, 11-8, 4-11, 11-8. Railway’s John Palmer fought hard only to lose 12-10 in the fifth end against Miles Noel-Johnson after going 0-5 down at the start of the end.

Crafthole B (Martin Hynes, Anthony Shapland and Bob Hallett) in Div Two maintained their unbeaten start to the season whitewashing 2 player Railway D and with this win go top of the table. Two player Chaddlewood D lost 2-8 to Woodland Fort C who claimed their first win of the season probably thanks to Steve Tyler who was missing from the Chaddy team. Chaddys Adam Foreshaw took a point and then paired up with Mike Chapple to just win the doubles after being 0-2 down 5-11, 4-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-9.

Jamie Myska-Buddell of Div 3 Joola Plymouth D is fortunately still unbeaten but Woodland Fort F’s Keith Phillips took him all the way to the fifth end and with the score at 9-a-piece and with Phillips serving, Phillips managed an ‘Air-Shot’ giving the advantage to Buddell who then won the last point to win 11-7, 4-11, 12-10, 10-12, 11-9. Even Fort’s Dave Backholer was close to beating Buddell losing two tie breaks to Buddell, 9-11, 10-12, 13-15. There were no less than eleven tie-breaks in the whole match but in a very close fought evening Joola won 6-4. Molyneux Associates still claim top spot in the division this time with a 6-4 over Woodland Fort E and this was only possibly with Molyneux getting 2 points from John Dodd and Andrew Courtney both beating Ken Chambers in five games else the score could have been reversed. The battle of Astor E and F took place this week and as team mates squared up the odds looked in favour of the E team who with Robbie Jenkins taking a good maximum, Dave Harding 2 and Andy Donald 1, won the game 7-3 and moved to second in the table. This league is proving very tight at present with only 5 points separating the top 6 teams.

W/C 30/09/19 

With over noisy exuberant some of the young and older players in the Div One match against leaders Chaddlewood A and Joola Plymouth B had to be reminded that they were not the only teams playing and to compose themselves for the sake of the other matches. However Chaddy’s Tony sweet and Glyn Price maintain their 100% start of the season with a 8-2 with over Joola with Garry Reed losing the two points to Tim Diss and Bailey Page 12-10, 7-9, 9-11, 11-7, 5-11. No single person obtained a maximum in a close scoring match between Crafthole A and Shipfitting by SWS. SWS won the first match but then went 3-1 down after a good fight back from Crafthole. It was then the turn of SWS to fight back taking a 4-3 lead and then again to be pegged back at 5-4 to Crafthole. So, onto the doubles which saw Crafthole’s Iain Oxenham and Shirley Luckhurst take a 2 nil lead only to fall apart as Colin Mitchell and Steve Foster (the teams normal pairing) pulled their socks up to win the next three ends levelling the scores at 5-a-piece. Siblyback must be cursing their home luck as they have been whitewashed in both of them as this time they were quite convincingly beaten by Railway A who even had Mike Briggs playing up for them. Joola Plymouth A won 7-3 (Kevin Giles and Ian Roper 3) over Astor B. The most remarkable match saw the turnaround from Giles and Roper who were 2 games down (9-11, 9-11) before beating John Turner and Les Cole 11-8, 11-8, 11-8.

Woodland Fort B of Div Two claimed a 9-1 victory over Joola Plymouth C with Graham Pearson picking up the solitary point beating Norman Hall, but, Pearson came very close to beating 100% Brian Luscombe just losing the fifth end in a tie-break 5-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-5, 15-17. League leaders Astor C raced into a 5 nil lead against Woodland Fort C and eventually only won 7-3. Astor’s Trevor Mole claimed a good maximum especially beating Abel Hernandez after coming back from 2-1 down 11-7, 6-7, 7-11, 11-7, 11-6. Mole partnered Dave Spry in the doubles while Hernandez paired up with Dave Wyatt who had not won a match all night. The game was an extremely close fought match with three of the five ends going to tie-breaks with Astor eventually winning 11-8, 10-12, 12-14, 13-11, 11-9. Woodland Fort F (Nigel Aston 3, Keith Phillips 3) climbed the table with a 9-1 win over Chaddlewood F with James Marsh saving the whitewash beating Dave Backholer in straight games. The doubles match saw Chaddy take a 2-1 lead only to capitulate the next two ends 5 and 6. Although Railway D came away 8-2 winners over Chaddlewood D, Railways Chris Ford lost both of the sets to Adam Foreshaw and Newbie Steve Tyler who is doing extremely well playing his first season in this league. With some outstanding rallies throughout the evening and some very close sets the result could have been very different.

At the battle of the Forts in Div Three, No maximums were achieved in the match but at one stage Woodland Fort E were being held by their D team mates at 3-a-piece only then to turn up the pressure and lead 6-3 only then to lose the doubles. When Joola Plymouth D met Astor F (the oldest team in the league) it was quite an evening, opening up with the youngest player and the old player in the league squaring up. 9 year old Jamie Buddell and 85 year young Mike Perry went about playing out an hard fought 5 games with Buddell eventually won wearing out Perry 12-10, 9-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-5. Also in this match John Bone overcame his old team partner from last season beating Jewel Vittle after Vittle had taken the first end in quite a long evening of table tennis. Railway A met their B team mates but only had two player but still managed maximum points in their 7-3 victory. New comers Ivybridge travelled to Crafthole to play their C team and came away with a 9-1 victory taking them to the top of the league. Ian Reed secured his first ever maximum along with Alan Spencer who had a default win over Tim Collings (1) who was suffering chest pains and withdraw from playing his third match. Thankfully it was just a muscle strain and nothing worse.

W/C 23/09/19

In Div One, Railway B played their first match of the season with Gary West straight out of the blocks with a fine maximum and a close fought match against Chaddlewood B’s Steve Hugh just winning 7-11, 11-8, 11-6, 7-11, 12-10. With West partnering Mike Briggs for the double Railway managed a 6-4 win. Shopfitting by SWS (Railway C) did slightly better with a maximum from Colin Mitchell and braces from Bryn Ford and Steve Foster they overcame the travellers from Liskeard by beating Siblyback 8-2 with Miles Noel-Johnson getting both of Siblyback’s points. Astor A (Steve Cookson 3) saw off Chaddlewood C 7-3 but the game will only be remembered for the unusual amount of foul serves by both teams. Joola Plymouth B also played their first game of the season and veteran ‘blocker’ Dave Pellow took an excellent maximum over Crafthole A in their 6-4 victory. A depleted Joola Plymouth A called on Andy Strike from Div Two to help out against an even more depleted Chaddlewood B as they only had two players. Despite this Chaddy took all their available points wining 7-3.

Division Two saw Lee Mill play their first match of the season and off to winning ways beating Woodland Fort C 7-3. Lee Mill’s Mark Chapman took a maximum but Fort’s Abel Hernandez secured a cracking victory over last season’s top of the Averages Richard Smaridge beating him in straight game 5, 2 and 9. Ann Warren of Lee Mill also managed her first win since January this year. Dave Spry of Astor C got his team’s first maximum of the season and helped secure a 7-3 victory against Railway D who had James Lock (2) to thank for their points. It was a tough evening for Railways Andy Watmore who went to the 5th end in all of his matches but only came away with a consolation in helping take the doubles with Lock.

Division Three Molyneux Associates managed to defeat Crafthole C 9-1 with last year’s top player John Dodd taking a maximum along with newbie Andrew Courtney. Young Holly Davis took Crafthole’s solitary point beating John Chadwick who dislocated his finger before cracking it back into place and continuing as if nothing had happened. Ivybridge, playing their second game this week, suffered a narrow 4-6 defeat as they came up against an in form Wayne Tucker (3) of Railway E. Railways Chris Willis achieved a brace but all his matches went to 5 ends. Keith Phillips of Woodland Fort F (7-3) took an almost perfect maximum except for dropping a game against Mike Perry of Astor F. Perry however, had the strangest of games against Dave Backholer. After losing the first end 1-11 Perry recovered to win the next 11-9 only to fall to bits again losing 2-11 in the third end. With Perry needing the fourth end to keep in the match he duly won it 17-15 in a very close tie-break and then went on to win the final end 11-9. Railway F, despite having five players registered, could only field two players against opponents Astor E who went home with all the points.

W/C 16/09/19 

After two weeks, Chaddlewood A of Div One still hold an 100% record after whitewashing Astor B with the tightest game seeing Denis Cajon only just beating Astor’s Les Cole 11-9, 9-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6. The same can be said for Chaddy’s closest challengers Railway A who beat Chaddlewood B with all games won in straight sets.

Joola Plymouth A had another 7-3 victory as they visited Crafthole A with Ian Roper and Kevin Giles taking all their points including the doubles.

Newcomer Steve Tyler, of Division Two, continued his impressive start to the season with his second maximum for Chaddlewood D this time against Astor D with a great and close game against Steve Harvey winning 9-11, 11-8, 11-6, 8-11, 11-9, however his team could only manage a draw again. Joola Plymouth A had another 7-3 victory, this week over Crafthole A in a reasonably quick evening, with no sets going to the fifth end and 6 sets all won in straight games.

With Woodland Fort A unfortunately dropping out of the league, Brian Luscombe dropped down to the B team and without his help would have suffered a whitewash but he won all of his games, including the doubles with Norman Hall but the team still lost 4-6 to Crafthole B.

In Div Three the battle of the ‘Forts’ took place with Woodland Fort E just getting the better of their F club mates but no-one came away with a maximum. It was a close evening of Table Tennis with four sets going to the fifth end with the E team winning 3 of them. The only one they lost was when E teams John Dean came from 4-9 down in the fifth end but levelled it at 9-9 against Keith Phillips. With Dean serving he put his serve into the net and then Phillips took the winning point.

Joola Plymouth D ran out 7-3 winners over Railway F but this was a good result for Railway as during the whole of last season they only manged 20 points in total, so 3 points at this stage of the season must be encouraging and obviously showing improvement. Joola’s 9 year old sensation Jamie Myska-Buddell, unbeaten in 2 matches now, along with his team mate Simon Dixon both obtained maximums. 

Two player Railway E lost 2-8 to Molyneux Associates with both points coming from Chris Willis. Moly’s new comer Andrew Courtney took advantage of the player short to secure his first league maximum even beating Willis 11-3, 11-9, 11-3.

W/C 09/09/19 

This week saw the return of the Plymouth and District Table Tennis League with our new sponsor “Shopfitting by SWS" and one new club Ivybridge joining the other 33 teams and consisting of 10 new players.

Division One Winners Railway A and Runners-up Chaddlewood A from last season both started this season with maximums over Chaddlewood C and Crafthole A respectively and have paved the way ahead for the rest of the season. Despite Chaddy’s defeat there was some outstanding Table Tennis from both teams especially when John Steuart squared up against Railway’s Jacob Kodicek.

Joola Plymouth A ran out 7-3 winners over Siblyback with all of Siblyback’s points coming from defeating Debbie Whiting. Whiting was unfortunate not to get a point against Jim Hughes after she lead 2 nil but lost 11-5, 11-7, 5-11, 8-11, 8-11.

Chaddlewood B have only two players signed at present but managed to get Steve Hill to play up for them despite him not winning a set. Chaddy’s Chris Dunn took a maximum to help secure the draw against Railway C.

Steve Tyler (not the one from Aerosmith, although the hair does slightly resemble the musician) of Division Two Chaddlewood D played his first ever matches in the league and came away with a straights sets win (as he “Didn’t Want To Miss A Thing” and he certainly wasn’t “Livin’ On The Edge”) over Woodland Fort B but his heroics only saw his team manage a draw.

The only other game played in Division two also saw a draw between the Club clash of Astor C and D. This turned out to be a hard fought opener to the season with eleven tie-breaks and a few very low scoring games. Steve Harvey of Astor D, with all guns blazing, took a fine maximum especially with an extremely close game against Dave Spry 11-13, 11-9, 12-10, 13-11. The draw was a fair result with lack of game practice evident among a few of the players.

In Division Three there was an enjoyable first match of the season with a dramatic first game between Railway F’s Jason Butler & Astor F’s veteran Cecil Downing which went the full distance, with Butler losing 12-10 in the fifth. The other matches were well contested, with Butler picking up the only win for Railway F. Railway’s Josh Thynne was initiated in his first ever league match, whilst the other two watched on knowingly, having been in his boots for the previous seasons baptism of fire. All three railway players struggled with the fierce slicing chops of another veteran Mike Perry, who greatly impressed the railway children, proving that age really is just a number. The score ended 9-1 in Astor’s favour.

Chaddlewood F (7-3) fielded two new players with 14 year old Sam Kilkenny-Marlton winning his first ever match against the Chairman Pete Nicholson 14-12, 3-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-9 after only about 4 months of playing Table Tennis. The other newbie Jake Neilson won a straights sets maximum although Crafthole C’s youngster Holly Davis but up a good fight 13-11, 11-9, 13-11.

New team Ivybridge started with a 6-4 win over Joola Plymouth D but none of the new players Alan Spencer, Ian Reed or John Belton could manage to beat 9 year old Jamie Buddell with his calm and assured match play. 

Molyneux Associates (John Dodd 3) drew with Astor E but Molyneux’s newbie Andrew Courtney managed a brace in his first ever competitive match. Astor’s loanee Andy Donald managed to beat another new player John Chadwick 2-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8 in an enjoyable evening.

Wayne Tucker started the season with a maximum for Railway E but came away on the losing team (4-6) against Woodland Fort D. Railway’s Andy Hill playing his first ever match was unlucky in losing to Rob Batten 10-12, 8-11, 14-12, 10-12.