The Bexhill club dominated the lower divisions of the Hastings & District Table Tennis League, providing the champions of both Division 2 and Division 3.
In one of the strongest Division 2 competitions for many years, Bexhill D went one better than last year, when they finished second, to take the title with three weeks to spare. With Brian Beaney outstanding and excellent support from John Bradbury and Trevor Towner, two of Bexhill’s three defeats came after the title had been secured.
Hollington Academy D finished the season with a run of seven straight wins to take second place, three points in arrears of the champions. Kevin Barry had a fine season for the Academics and Ryan Heselden finished the season strongly.
Tackleway D finished third after a good second half, winning ten of their last eleven matches, with Sue Pingram, Alan Blackman and Owen Hatter proving hard to beat.
The one defeat in this run, to Academy, eventually proved decisive for second place.
The challenge of Saints C, led by Andy Syrett and Paul Hyland’s NALGO A tailed off in the last few weeks of the season.
On the debit side for Bexhill, the G team finished at the foot of the table with just one win, seven points adrift of Saints D.
Hollington A were nearly dragged into the relegation struggle after losing their No. 1, Sean Godfrey, to injury in January.
The individual averages show Godfrey top with 92.3% and Barry on 92.2% as the top players in the division. Syrett (87.3%) and Brian Beaney (87.2%) could also be barely separated and Hyland, Pingram, Blackman and Chris Woods (Tigers) all having impressive stats.
Bexhill F (Harvey Webb, Malcolm Glover, Ricky Knight, Diane Webb) were worthy champions of Division 3, winning every match. Their only opposition came from relegated Monarchs (Andrew Edwards, Peter Harding, Dave Turnbull) who won all their matches except the two against the champions to finish second.
Hollington D came third with Ryan Demeza and Kieran Gibbs making good progress.
Harvey Webb topped the averages with only two defeats, followed by Mike Charter and David Tran (both Tigers). Outside of the top two teams there were good individual performances from Neil Pankhurst (Saints), Phil Bailey (Willett & Phillips) and Peter Watters (McPhersons).
