There were some close matches in Division One of the Hastings & District Table Tennis League, two of which occurred at the Bexhill club. Bexhill D, one place off the bottom of the table, saw the chance of points when Hollington Academy D were forced to turn out a player short. The Academics, however, are made of stern stuff and managed to grind out a 6-4 win with Andy Furnival unbeaten and Graham Deeprose winning two. Four sets went the distance but all went to the visitors.

On an adjacent table, Bexhill C went 5-1 up against Tackleway A before a late rally saw the visitors reduce the deficit to 6-4. Graham Gillett won three and Andy Chapman two for Bexhill while Roy Funnell won twice for Tackleway.

Bexhill B won 7-3 at Tackleway B with a John Ellis maximum and two wins from Andy Summers. Tackleway B also finished strongly with Adrian Goodrum gaining two late wins, both at deuce in the fifth.

Goodrum featured again for Second Division Tackleway C, who are in second place and who lost out 6-4 to leaders Saints B. Ron Davenport’s maximum was key for Saints with Goodrum and Dan Rickaby both winning twice for the losers.

Monarchs A won the Tabernacle Hall derby 6-4 against Nalgo A with Bob Lowe unbeaten and Alison Jordan winning two. Paul Hyland won two for Nalgo but Monarchs took the three singles which went the distance.

Tackleway D made a bad start against Hollington B but came back from 0-4 to draw 5-5.  Rob Clemence won three for Hollington and Owen Hatter, back from injury, won two for Tackleway.

In Division Three, Bexhill I beat Hollington D 7-3 with maximums from Jim Leppard and Dominic Goodson.

Three wins from Peter Saunders and two from Dan Kildea helped Tackleway F claim a 5-5 draw at Hollington E.

Another draw came in the encounter between Nalgo B and Tigers B. Peter Harding won three and Dave Turnbull two for Monarchs while Bryan Tichband won two for Tigers, including a rare defeat in this Division at the hands of Harding.