Ashford & District Table Tennis League
Sponsored by Trophy Pet Foods (East Kent)
Young Guns Shine against Old Guard
We are now into the fifth week of the current season, and Division 1 is looking extremely unusual. With Iron Room B leading from the front whilst perennial champions Postling A struggle and perennial challengers Iron Room A are prop up the division.
Elsewhere Ashford A put Iron Room A to the sword, with Tom Down and Mani Khapung both notching up hat tricks over the Iron Room trio of Johny Bispham (Mens Singles Champion), Steve Bispham, and Mike Lee. However the performance of the night must go to Reuben Tozer in his first season in the top division. He started brightly with a 14-12 win over Johnny, before the Iron Room A player found his range and took the next three 11-4, 11-5,11-9. But against Mike & Steve, Reuben fought hard for his wins with both going down to the final few points of the fifth leg. But Reuben, with the knowledge his team mates were playing well, had the confidence to see out both games to confirm an 8-1 lead going into the doubles. Iron Room got some small measure of revenge with Tom and Mani being set an example by Mike & Johnny whose defence/attack style proved more consistent and sealed a 11-9, 11-13, 9-11, 9-11 win. This defeat left Iron Room A rock bottom of the division, and Ashford A six points off the top spot in third but with an all important game in hand.
In the final match up Postling A (reigning champions) could only field a weakened side against title chasing Iron Room B. Paul Waumsley & Vince Corbin (Iron Room B) both left the night with a hat trick of wins over Malcolm Skates, Chris Hooper, and Brian Cook (stepping up from Division 2). In fact only Chris Hooper managed take either player the distance, narrowly losing out 12-10 in the fifth to Vince Corbin. On a positive note for Postling, Malcolm, Chris and Brian all put a point on the board against Mick Micklethewaite, then Malcolm and Chris combined to win 3-1 over Vince and Paul. The final result a 6-4 win to Iron Room B, who now have a five point cushion at the top of the league having played one more game than the chasing pack. Postling A find themselves tied for fourth place six points behind Iron Room B but on the same number of games. They are also six points above last place Iron Room A but all other teams have a game in hand.
Without a game next week Postling could well find themselves propping up the table if results go a certain way. We'll see Challock A (5th) take on Ashford A (4th), Ruckinge A (6th) play Iron Room B (1st), and Iron Room A (7th) host Little Chart A (2nd).
