Hamstreet Top But Looking Over Their Shoulder!

This week Challock E were not in action giving Hamstreet B and Sportsmen C a chance to leap frog them into top sport.  Sportsmen C entertained the youngsters of Ashford TT E who will be looking to improve on their 7-3 defeat by Sportmens in the reverse fixture.  The evening started brightly for the youngsters with Arthur Ellison-Burroughs winning the opening leg against Maureen Penny.  However the home side hit back taking the next two legs by fairly convincing margins, only for Arthur to turn it around in the fourth and force a decider.  On this occasion experience won out over youth with an 11-7 win for Maureen, but meaning no disrespect I fear that might be the last time she beats the junior as he continues to improve.  Colin Healy had no such problems dispatching Harvey Horsley in three straight legs.  Honourary junior Andrew Charley was able to get his team n the board after losing the first leg to Alan Brand he edged the next two 17-15, 13-11 before waltzing through the final leg 11-5.  Colin Healy was on hand for Sportsmen to keep the scoreboard ticking over with a 3-0 over Arthur.  In a very tight affair Andrew shared five legs with Maureen eventually coming through 8-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 8-11.  Harvey Horsely then levelled the scores on the night with a fine win over Alan Brand coming from 2-1 down to take the fourth and fifth legs.  The result meant a second win of the season for Harvey, and his third was not far away.  Colin completed his hat trick with a 3-2 won over Andrew, and Alan ensured his team would avoid defeat by beating Arthur 3-0.  With the score at 5-3 Harvey stepped up against Maureen, and despite a second leg reversal the result was never really in doubt.  Hopefully a sign of things to come for next season for the young Ashford player.  Arthur and Andrew did hold a 2-1 lead over Alan and Colin but home advantage saw the Sportsmen pair come through 11-8, 11-8, and secure a 6-4 win.  But an improvement for Ashford TT E, and with a bit of work in the summer this defeat could easily be turned into a first team win.  

Hamstreet B had an altogether different prospect taking on Ashford TT C, relegated from Division 3 at Christmas and looking to bounce straight back.  Hamstreet won the reverse fixture 6-4 so it was shaping up to be a tight affair with both sides in need of points to usurp the other in the promotion race.  On the night it was Ashfords Michael Radford who turned in the performance of the night securing his hat trick with only Tim Woodhouse able to put a blemish on his recorded but unable to stop him taking the win 3-1.  Tim himself did go on to record a brace over Bob Young and Elliott Heal, bit the 3-0 and 3-1 score lines belied the tight nature of the games.  Bob Young then secured his brace with wins over Andrew Millbank and Darren Holliday, and Elliott chipped in with a fine win over Andrew Millbank.  Holding 6-3 lead going into the doubles Hamstreet called in reserve David Smith to partner Darren Holliday against Michael and Elliott, a ploy which almost worked when the home side recovered from 2-0 to win the fourth leg 12-10 and force a decider.  With the league looking very tight ever point counts, and this time Ashford TT C held their never for a 11-6 win, and 7-3 on the night.  The result means Hamstreet retake the top stop, but Challock have two games in hand, and are only three points behind.  Ashford TT C move up to fourth, elven points behind Hamstreet but also with two games in hand.  So the last match on the season between Challock and Hamstreet could be critical in determining which two teams gain promotion to Division 3.

Community Table Tennis at Repton Connect continues to grow to the point where they are looking to add a sixth table to accommodate everyone.  The sessions are open to, and run every Thursday evening from 8pm-10:30pm at a cost of £3 per session.  Bats and balls are provided unless of course you have your own.