The first half of scheduled fixtures in the Hastings & District Table Tennis League
came to an end with Division One providing the closest of contests. Leaders Saints A won a crucial battle with second placed Hollington Academy A 6-4, despite a fine maximum for Academics’ Paul Barry. Dave Butler and James Winchester both won two for Saints who came from 3-4 down to take the last three singles. The earlier doubles win for the Saints pair, decided over five games,had kept them in the match.
Third placed Bexhill A kept in the hunt when Robert Warner and David Rayment were unbeaten in the 8-2 defeat of Bexhill C.
Saints lead Academy A by four points with Bexhill a further point behind but the second and third teams have a game in hand. This is the rearranged match between Bexhill A and Academy A which is scheduled to be played before Christmas.
At 0-5 down Bexhill B looked dead and buried against Hollington Academy C but came back to lose 4-6. Nick Standen, Scott Bills and Arthur Bracken all won twice for Academics, as did Andy Summers for Bexhill.
Division Two is also well contested and leaders Saints B continued their run with a
9-1 win at Tigers A where Jamie Martin and Ron Davenport were unbeaten and Andy Syrett won two.
Hollington A gained ground with two wins which moved them into second, with
the 7-3 defeat of Tackleway C, with maximums from Shaun Godfrey and Kevin Barry, pushing the losers down to third.
Hollington also beat Monarchs A by the same score with three wins for Godfrey and two for Barry while Bob Lowe won two for Monarchs.
Bexhill F and Nalgo A drew 5-5 with Bexhill’s Harvey Webb gaining a splendid maximum while Paul Hyland and Mike Courtnage won two each for Nalgo.
Saints C have established an eight point lead in Division Three, having won all ten matches. They beat Tigers B 8-2 with Dave Watters and Andy Murphy unbeaten.
Hollington C have established a similar gap in second place after a 7-3 win over Monarchs B in which Keith Young and Pete Shoesmith both won three.