Second-placed Tackleway E lost ground on the leaders in Division Two of the Hastings & District Table Tennis League as they were held 5-5 at Tigers B. Tackleway included two Third Division regulars while Tigers welcomed back Rama Patel. Keith Lindsay and Danny Kildea both won twice for Tackleway but Chris Woods’ maximum ensured the draw for Tigers.

Leaders Bexhillians G stretched their lead with a 9-1 defeat of Hollington B with Ryan Heselden and Kevin McEwan unbeaten and Cameron Jones winning two. Bexhill need just two wins from their last five matches to secure the title.

Tackleway D beat Hollington A 6-4 despite Shaun Godfrey’s maximum for the losers.

Alan Blackman and Phil Toze both won two games for Tackleway, who are one of six teams contesting second place.

One of these is Bexhillians E who defeated Bexhillians F 8-2 with three wins from Tina Beaney and two each for Paul Welford and Malcolm Hilton. Diane Webb won rwice for the F side, while Harvey Webb was two games up against both Beaney and Hilton before losing in five.

Tackleway C had a 10-0 win over Saints C who were a player short. Kevin Rowe, Andy Brown and Danny Rickaby were untroubled in taking an 8-0 lead before Paulette Clarke and Derek Brown took the doubles to 9-11 in the fifth and Clarke lost to Rickaby by the same margin.

In Division Three, second-placed Bexhillians H nearly came unstuck at Saints D before edging home 6-4. Neil Pankhurst had an excellent maximum for Saints while Alan Chumbley and Dave Hazelden won two for Bexhill. Saints lost three sets in five games, with the doubles being 12-10 in the fifth.

Saints also fought out a 5-5 draw with Tackleway F when Rob Clemence (Saints) was unbeaten and Danny Kildea and Simon Newstead won twice for Tackleway. KIldea’s loss to Clemence was his first in this Division this season.

Monarchs beat Willett & Phillips 9-1 with Andrew Edwards and Peter Harding unbeaten and two from Alison Jordan.

Tigers C had maximums from Andy Holmes and Phil Talbot in a 7-3 win over Hollington D.