RUTH BAILEY CRUSHES COPY SHOP’S CRELLIN

DIVISION ONE

Copy Shop A (7) Foxdale A (3)

Foxdale’s Ruth Bailey provided the biggest upset of the evening by beating the top team’s Brian Crellin 11/4, 11/9, 9/11, 11/6. Crellin had lost only one game all season whereas Bailey’s average was exactly 50%. Unfortunately, Bailey’s average slipped back a bit as she then lost to Ronan McDonnell and Jane Kneale, Both Mark Townsend and Becky Bayley, fresh back from winning her second UK ranking tournament, scored fifth placed Foxdale’s only other points by beating Kneale. McDonnell and Kneale survived a 22/20 leg to deliver the doubles against Bayley and Townsend.

Arbory (3) Breakaway A (7)

Breakaway’s Mason McLarney warmed up for the Blackpool table tennis grand prix at the weekend with an impressive hat-trick against third placed Arbory. His 9/11, 11/9, 11/9, 9/11, 12/10 see-saw win over Liam Chan was a tense triple decider as Chan had earlier beaten Malcolm Cummings and Paul Corran. John Magnall defended well to wear down Cummings for Arbory’s final point but Jason Quirk was edged out 9/11 in the last leg of his wooden spoon encounter with Cummings.

Copy Shop B (3) Tower A (7)

Ewan Watterson was unavailable so Malcolm Lambert was substituted in from Copy Shop C. Alas, other than a 12/10 set against John Callow, Lambert failed to make his mark. Sean Drewry lost in five sets to Tim Baker but did the double over John and Paul Callow. Danny Hamill got close to beating Paul and Baker and finally landed a point against John 8/11, 11/7, 11/7, 6/11, 11/8. Sixth placed Tower took the doubles and look to have consigned Copy Shop B to the relegation play-off at the end of the season.

Strathallan A (5) Travellers A (5)

Hadyn McLarney won what turned-out to be the pivotal opening game for fourth placed Strathy by short-changing Gary Shilling 9/11, 10/12, 11/5, 11/5, 12/10.  He was backed-up by Julian Briercliffe who scored an emphatic hat-trick, but this was cancelled out by Strathy who all beat a listless looking Andy Horne. Paul Nelson and Chris Reynolds helped bottom placed Travellers end their losing streak by both overcoming McLarney. Strathy snatched a draw by winning the doubles.

DIVISION TWO

Salmon River Spinners (3) Tower B (7)

Another Nigel Beattie hat-trick enabled the Spinners to stay third but, with Graham McFarlane, Paul Kozlowski and Steve Curtis all beating Tommy Cowin and Colin Barron, second placed Tower remain the only side yet to be beaten this season. In a marathon match Curtis was taken to five sets by Cowin and they both gratefully sat out the doubles which was won 11/7, 11/5, 11/8 by McFarlane and Kozlowski.

Foxdale B (8) Peel B (2)

Matty Evans softened up Andy McLarney by winning Peel’s first point 7/11, 11/9, 11/8, 8/11, 11/9 which helped Ashley Reid also overcome McLarney who had opened his account with a straights ets win over Will Cross. Mike Bayley and Neil Quane won their singles and the doubles to extend table topping Foxdale’s lead to three points over Tower B.

Travellers B (8) Tower C (2)

JD2’s Carl Blatcher is also assisting Tower but neither he nor Margaret Forsyth could purloin a point against third placed Travellers, although Blatcher’s 8/11, 11/8, 8/11, 11/7, 4/11 defeat to  Steve Ellis-Pearson showed the youngster’s future promise. Dave Callow dug-in diligently to deny both Ellis-Pearson and Stu Douglas their hat-tricks, but bottom placed Tower could not deny Stu Mason his triple and a doubles victory with Ellis-Pearson.

Travellers C (1) Peel A (9)

Two player Travellers could hardly afford to gift three points to their opposition who, by winning so emphatically, helped their relegation zoned Peel B team-mates move to within one point of sixth placed Travellers. Alan Harding grabbed Travellers only point against Maggie Mulhern having lost in four sets to Malc Lewis and in five to Les Wilson. However, Maurice Campbell will count himself unlucky after getting to match point only to lose in five tie-breaker games 12/10, 12/10, 11/13, 10/12, 10/12 against Wilson. Similarly, Harding and Campbell squandered a two sets lead in the doubles which Peel purloined.

DIVISION THREE

Peel C (3) Breakaway B (7)

Peel’s Fraser Dorling played an inspired game to beat the newly crowned divisional champion, Aaron Faragher, 6/11, 11/9 11/7, 11/7. Then both he and Nathan Evans overpowered Kerenza Baker who, never-the-less, gained a valuable point for the league leaders as Peel couldn’t field a third player. Copy Shop’s Henry Hyde joined in just to make up the numbers. Chris Kewley beat both Dorling and Evans and then joined Faragher to take the doubles and stay one point clear of Copy Shop A.

Copy Shop C (7) Copy Shop D (3)

There was no question of Copy Shop D making it easy for their promotion seeking C team. Malcolm Lambert played and won his games in quick succession and rushed off to represent the B team in the first division. Rob Sim beat George Melvin and Chris Aspden but had been caught cold by Kevin Drewry who did well to win in four sets. Drewry and Aspden both beat Pedro Cardoso who bounced back to defeat Melvin. Lambert returned to join Sim in the doubles and they survived match point in the third set to eventually win 9/11, 9/11, 12/10, 11/7, 11/7 against the battling Drewry and Aspden.

Travellers D (3) Fortress Management Services (7)

Calvin Koske has transferred across from the unregistered JD squad to represent Fortress and, by winning two games, he turned a draw into a win for his new team. Koske won two five setters against Alex Buck and Juan Moore Jnr but conceded to Juan Moore Snr as he was unavailable when their game was scheduled. Karen Hassan was the hat-trick hero for Fortress and Pat Halliwell added the other two by beating Buck and Moore Jnr. Travellers took the doubles after Moore Snr was made to fight for every point in his 11/8, 9/11, 11/7, 10/12, 11/8 singles victory over Halliwell.

IOM Junior Development One (8) IOM Junior Development Two (2)

It was a privilege to watch Marcus Koske and his brother Calvin slug it out in a friendly but determined display of attacking play. Marcus scored more points cumulatively but Calvin won the encounter 9/11, 11/9, 20/18, 4/11, 11/8 and went on to earn JD2’s final point by beating Carl Blatcher. Wael Kassim was in imperious form for JD1 and completed his hat-trick but was pushed close by Calvin who was dashing from table to table in order to play in two matches. James Colgan and Liam Cooper tried their hardest for JD2 as is evidenced by Cooper’s fourth set 17/19 loss to Marcus.

MALCOLM LAMBERT