'Tower B and Copy Shop E victorious in Divisions 2 & 3 Table Tennis'        

The final fixtures in the Fun88 IOMTTA league took place last week. As reported last week, Division 1 was won by Travellers A with Ramsey A being runners up. In Division 2, Tower B were victorious with Peel A runners up. In Division 3, the winning team was Copy Shop E with Ramsey F as runners up. 

 Division 1

 Ramsey A (1) Travellers A (8) 

This match would have had more significance had the points tally been closer between the eventual league winners and runners up, but it was more like a damp squib. Only Duncan Alexander could muster a point for Ramsey with an 11-7, 15-13, 11-9 win over Malcolm Cummings. Scott Lewis was in devastating form, crushing his 3 opponents in straight sets. Liam Chan had a tough challenge from Chris Holmes before finally pulling through 11-6 in the 5th end. Time to celebrate then for Travellers with their runaway win in Division 1, and perhaps time for Ramsey to reflect, and assess how they might close the gap next season.  

Strathallan (7) Ramsey C (2) 

Andy Patterson and Wayne Taylor were in dominant form and won all 3 matches against Ramsey's William Dalugdugan, Adrian Slater and Charlie Callow. Wiliam did well to take a game off Andy, as Charlie did, but they were unable to put up any further resistance against the experienced Strathallan duo. The third Strathallan player Neil Quane beat Adrian Slater in 4, but had to concede his other 2 matches. Strathallan finished in 4th place just ahead of Travellers B. 

Copy Shop A (7) Tower A (2) 

Copy Shop fielded Sean Drewry and Brian Crellin for this tie, and had Mike Levine play up from the E team for this tie. Tower had to forfeit 3 points as they were without a third player through illness. Drewry blasted his way past Ken Mitchell and Will Bayley in 3 games, whilst Crellin was relatively untroubled in both matches. Mitchell and Bayley both beat Levine in 4 games. Copy Shop finished mid-table in 6th place, whilst Tower finished in 8th position, to maintain their 1st division status. 

Arbory (5) Desmonds Douglas A (2) 

Arbory needed an emphatic win to round off their season but were just out of reach of second placed Ramsey A. They forfeited 2 points as they only fielded 2 players, whilst Desmonds only fielded 1 player in the form of Russell Kent. John Magnall beat Kent in 3 games, whilst MIke Tamarov completed the feat in 4 games. Arbory finished in 3rd place, only 5 points behind Ramsey A , whilst Desmonds were sadly relegated. 

Ramsey B (4) Travellers B (5) 

Tim Baker had another 2 wins for Ramsey B, as did Wael Kassim, but it was not enough to avoid defeat in this tie. Tim took John Shooter to a 4th end before going down 8-11 and defeat. Malc Lewis put up a spirited fight against Baker before finally being defeated 11-4 in the 5th. William Shooter did well to take a game off Tim but lost 8-11 in the 4th. Lewis had another 5 set epic, this time against Kassim, but was unable to repel the in-form Ramsey player, going down 7-11 in the final end. Ramsey's 3rd player Glenn Callow was unable to add any further points despite playing well against Lewis in particular. William Shooter had an impressive victory over fellow junior Callow, closing out the match 11-9 in the 3rd end. He played solidly against Kassim but could not avoid a 3 set defeat, and did well to take a game off Baker. Travellers B finished 5th in the table, whilst Ramsey B secured 7th place. 

Division 2 

Tower B (9) Peel A (1) 

Tower B showboated their way past second placed rivals Peel A, with an emphatic 9-1 win. Graham McFarlane secured 3 points, as did step up player Steve Curtis, with Dario Mazzotta adding a further 2. It wasn't all plain sailing however with McFarlane being pushed all the way by Ken Hegarty, before Hegarty's challenge fell away in the 5th, 11-3. Steve Curtis pushed and chopped his way to victory in two 5 setters against Nathan Evans and Ken Hegarty, and then swept Ronan Thompson aside in 3 games. Simon Radcliffe was unable to play in this tie (and not pictured below), but he has been a pivotal member of Tower B throughout the season. As a consolation for Peel, Evans had an excellent win over Mazzotta in 5 games.

Copy Shop B (8) Ramsey D (2) 

For the home side Malcolm Lambert once again had an excellent week, with 3 wins against Charlie Callow, Sally Green, and step up player Matthew Bell. John Paul Banaag had an excellent 3 wins, pulling through against the battling Charlie and Sally in 5 topsy turvy games, and then managed to defeat Matthew in 3 games. Kevin Drewry added to the haul by defeating Sally and Matthew, but fell to Charlie in the 4th game - an excellent win for him. The doubles went to Matthew and Charlie in an outstanding 5 set win over the experienced duo of Lambert and Drewry.

Travellers C (7) Travellers D (3)

Paul Matthieson-Nelson rounded off his season without loss in 41 matches - an incredible feat. He defeated Maurice Campbell and Jackie Gill in 3 games, but was pushed all the way by an excellent performance from Junior Development Player Ryan Holland, who only lost out 11-8 in the 5th end. Travellers C forfeited 3 points as they were without a third player, but David Buck backed up teammate Paul flawlessly with 3 wins. He was also pushed to a 5th set decider with Ryan, but he too pulled through 11-8. 

Peel B (5) Desmonds Douglas B (5)

Neil Ronan contributed 3 points for the away side in this tie, in what has been an excellent season for him. He managed to beat Maggie Mulhern and Amit Lannin in 4 games, and Bob Borland in 3. Richard Hill added a point by defeating Bob Borland. Desmonds conceded 3 points as they were only able to field 2 players. For the home side, Mulhern had a good win against Hill in 3 games, whilst Amit pulled through 11-4 in the 5th end against Hill. The Desmonds duo took the doubles in 4 games. The 5 points secured 3rd place in the table for Peel B. 

Copy Shop C (9) Tower C (1) 

Barry Jenkins was the sole representative for Tower C in this tie unfortunately. However he put up a tremendous fight against Rob Wright, winning the first 2 games, before Wright changed tack and took the final 3 games and the match. Step up player Ege Niyazi had fewer issues, winning the match in impressive style in 3 games. It was a busy night for Jenkins but it was worth it in the end, as he managed to defeat Copy Shop's other set up player Dan Levine in 5 games.  

Division 3

Ramsey E (9) Copy Shop D (1) 

Wilma Dalugdugan and Francesca Lord rounded off a successful season with 3 very good wins against Darren Shaw, Pat Halliwell and Jake Saulnier. Both of these young players have improved through this season and look likely to continue that momentum into next season. They were backed up admirably by Lisa Lord who defeated Jake and Pat, only to come unstuck against Shaw who pulled out one the performances of his season to defeat Lisa in 3. Wilma and Francesca ended the evening with an emphatic 3 set doubles win over Shaw and Halliwell. Ramsey E finished a creditable 4th place in what has been a highly competitive 3rd tier this season.  

Ramsey G (0) Peel C (10) 

Amit and Vlad Lannin, and Bob Borland were in ruthless form in this tie, securing all 10 points. Martyn Howard put up a tremendous fight in his matches, only losing in 5 to the Lannins, and then in 4 to Borland. Megan Lord played extremely well in her matches, only losing out to Borland 14-16 and 12-14 in the 1st and 3rd games. She also took a game off Amit before losing in the 4th end. Peel C ended up in 3rd place in the table, just behind Ramsey F, and will surely go from strength to strength. 

Copy Shop E (10) Peel D (0) 

Third Division champions Copy Shop E had another excellent win to round off their season. Mike and Dan Levine, and Ege Niyazi were 'The Invincibles' of the division and will play in Division 2 next season with keen ambition. James Deverau and Liam Bibby did all they could to prevent a landslide, each playing well within each match, but were scuppered somewhat by the fact that they had no third player. They did especially well in the doubles to take the second game 17-15 having only lost the first 11-13. Daniel and Ege then stepped up a gear and took the 3rd and 4th for the match, and a resounding victory.  

Picture: (credit to Malcolm Lambert): 'Copy Shop E's Mike Levine, Ege Niyazi and Dan Levine who won Division 3'