Club Report 230214
Durham CA A v Aces
Aces are putting together some excellent performances but fortune is not favouring the brave and again the result does not reflect the nights play. Aces with Ian and Davey McAllister and Jon Mawson were against the Durham CA team of John Williamson, Colin Hunt and Anthony Ainley. John and Colin are two of the best performing players in the league so this was a tough game for the Aces  and so it proved as  Colin beat Davey in three very close games .Ian had an even better game taking an end off Anthony but lost out 3-1 and Jon Mawson made John Williamson fight all the way  before the Durham CA and took the game 3-1. The rest of the match proved similar with most of the breaks going Durham CA’s way who ran out winners and taking all the points
Bombers v St Gabriels B
Bombers with Dan Hutchinson, Nigel Coe and Ian McPherson were against St Gabriel’s Dave Revell, Steve Young and Mark Burton. A close fought game developed and went down to the wire to decide the points, Dan Hutchinson playing good attacking strokes was worn down by the defensive play of the opponents and despite taking 2 games to 5 ends was unfortunate to come away with no points, He did however take the doubles with Nigel in three straight ends. Nigel with his controlled play won his singles against Steve Young, while Ian McPherson had the better of both Mark Burton and Steve Young but with Dave Revell being layer of the match and winning all three this gave St Gabriels a 6-4 victory and 3 of the 4 points on offer

Saints v Comets
Comets were drawn against Saints who were from 2 leagues higher in the handicap cup and were not favoured for a positive result.. Comets fielded regulars Debbie and Nikki Irwin alongside Colin Pritchard and Saints turned out Steven Dawson, Tom Marley and Vin Killen. The Home team started off well with Steve beating Colin over two ends 21-18 21-18. Debbie fought back to take her match against  Vin in 2 ends to even the score. Nikki put up a tremendous performance against the experienced Tom and made him work over all three ends before Tom ran out a 2-1 winner. Colin redressed the balance with an easy 2-0 love win without even needing his handicap. Nikki then took the match  to 3-2 with a 2 end win over Saint’s number 1 Steve. However Tom beat Debbie to draw the match level. In Nikki’s final game she went down 21-17 in the first end but fought back playing steady consistent shots to take the next two ends and the game. Colin had a tough game against Tom who was the player of the match not losing a game and beat Colin 2-0. This left the final match between Debbie and Steve. Debbie won the first end 21-11 but the second end went right to the wire with tremendous rallies between two aggressive players before Debbie took the second end 24-22 and the game to the Comets 5-4 who progress to the next round.
St Johns A v Chargers. 
St John’s A have proved formidable in the league and have been unbeaten all season, and they turned out all the big guns against the recently improving Chargers with Istvan Soos, Craig Hilton and Crain Burton. Chargers had made some changes themselves and turned up with the reliable Jeff McKenna, the consistent Anna Kiwitt and debutant Simon Hackett. Jeff kept every end tight against Istvan but couldn’t prevent him winning over three ends. Simon proved to be the player of the night and in his first game convincingly beat Craig Hilton. Craig Burton was made to work hard against Anna and managed the win 3-0. Craig Hilton against Jeff was a long game with Jeff keeping the ball on the table but Craig’s aggressive play took him to success 3-1. The doubles was a really tight game with regulars Istvan and Craig Hilton being  pressed all the way by Jeff and Simon in their first game together and experience showed with St Johns winning 3-1. Istvan then beat Anna in three ends but Simon continued his excellent return to Table tennis with a 3 end win over Craig Burton. Craig Burton outgunned Anna in a tremendous contest of power play, but the Chargers ended with two wins in a row with Jeff beating Craig Burton over four ends and Simon beating Istvan again over 4 ends giving him the player of the match award and the Chargers took a point  off St Johns in a 6-4 defeat.
Desperadoes v Lanchester. 
A highly enjoyable game to watch with both teams fielding young players. For Sacriston Sam Duffin always attacks at every opportunity and although he beat Francis Guthrie over 5 ends the counter attacking of Joe Hume and Sam Hume proved too strong for him. Max Duffin played a more tactical game and used hid defensive style well to beat Francis and in his game against Sam Hume took him to 5 ends before losing out 13-11 in the final end. Aidan who plays a close to the table game would often surprise his opponents with his reactions and took an end off Francis but the attacking style of the Lanchester players proved too powerful; for him. With the experienced John Cook joining Joe Hume for the doubles, the pairing were too strong for Max and Sam Duffin and Lanchester ran out 8-2 winners.
Report from Sunderland   Closed Championships Sunday Feb 23rd
A record entry of competitors from Sacriston met with varied success against the cream of North East Table Tennis talent. Our youngest entrant Max Duffin was in his first competition and entered both the Under 13 and Under 15 section.  He played really well and unlike other competitors used tactics very well to reach the semi-finals of the Under 13 section and in the Under 15 section was only  knocked out by the eventual winner Robert Renton.
Simone Knopf was the winner of the Under 13 last year again took the crown beating Joshua Weatherby in the final . He also reached the semi-final of the Under 15 and was knocked out of the Under 18 by the nationally rated Alex Ward .
Erin Harrison was defending her Under 18 win from last year and got off to a bad start losing her first two games against Lauren Cook from Lanchester but she settled down, pulled things around and took the next three sets to win her first game. She then went on to beat the rest of the opponents and successfully defend her trophy well done. Erin was also in the Open Female competition and played Anna Kiwitt from the club in the first round and beat her 3-1 but was beaten by the experienced 1st Division player Diane Cartmel in the 2nd Rround
Both the McAllisters(Ian and Davey) were entered   into the Open Championship and did very well to progress through the initial rounds but were beaten in the 4th round. They also played in the Open doubles and won their first game convincingly but were beaten in the second round.
Peter Whitfield entered the Over 60’s but was no match for the rated Veteran John Williamson who beat him in three ends 
Peter and Anna also entered the mixed doubles but were unfortunate in meeting eventual finalists in the first round Anthony Barella and Lynn Errington and were beaten 3-0.
Games this week
Because of the Handicap Cup  there are few scheduled games this week
  28/02/2014 Fri Comets N Home Cram Lions                                        
 Peter Whitfield is playing Robert Renton in the handicap cup on Thursday with a 7 point start
Sam Duffin is playing Joe Muldowney at Freemans Quay on Friday with a 13 point start
The Draw for the next round of the Northumbria handicap cup has been made and Comets are to play Old England Crocks in the quarter finals. Go for it Comets!