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.