Tackleway Table Tennis Club reached an historic milestone last night with the 'A' team taking maximum points from their last fixture of the season to secure runners-up spot in Division 1 for the first time ever!

In the final match against Bexhill 'A', Tackleway were without their star player Arthur Bracken - who couldn't play - but James Gorridge stepped in (as part of the 4-man squad) to give a virtuoso performance of beautifully controlled play switching from agile accurate defence to decisive sweeping attack with incredible consistency. Like a well-oiled machine he purred his way to a great maximum plus a doubles win with Roy Funnell. Mike Funnell also put in a gutsy, instinctive performance employing all manner of shots to win two vital games and Roy also got a brace with his brilliant attacking power play on both wings. The opposition put up a brave fight with another 'never say die' display from John Ellis who was unfortunate not get on the score sheet while Tina Beaney found a purple patch of powerful attack to dispatch Mike in four and Richard Hoyland 'rolled back the years' with a fury of fabulous attacking side spin and chop combinations to beat Roy.

The 8-2 win for the 'A' side capped a wonderful season during which the terrifically talented teenager Arthur Bracken became the talisman for the team in their quest for glory - he only dropped 4 games out of 33, exciting spectators with his phenomenally flamboyant and successful attacking play! I will just add that Arthur also became the Ashford Closed Champion recently and reached the Hastings Closed semi-final for a second time, surely a crown he will wear in the future. As said he definitely spurred Tackleway to greater heights this year while James Roy and Mike all had a few special wins to compliment very respectable averages - coincidentally all getting about 55-57% - and also won three and drew two matches without the star youngster.

In the final league position Tackleway 'A' got 44 points only six points behind established annual champions Academy 'A' and three ahead of runner-up contenders Bexhill 'H'.

Written by: Michael Funnell