'Andy's victorious return for Strathallan'
Week 16 of the Fun88 sponsored IOM Table Tennis Association league saw another Doubles only evening in Divisions 1 and 2. With only 5 rounds to go this season after this round, Travellers A remain top in Division 1 with 109 points, and Ramsey A are second on 86 points. In Division 2, Arbory B are in top spot with 121 points, with Tower B in second on 99 points, just ahead of Peel A on 97. In Division 3 Tower House remained in top spot with 73 points. Further details & statistics can be found at www.tabletennis365.com/IOM
Division 1
Tower A (0) Ramsey A (6)
Tower A’s Dave Parsons. Mike Bayley and Ken Mitchell must be tearing what's left of their hair out after 3 of their matches with Ramsey went to the fifth set, none of which went their way. The away side's first pairing of Will Dalugdugan and Adam Teare pipped Tower's second pairing of Parsons & Mitchell 11-9 in the fifth. The exact same score was recorded in the 5th end of the match between Parsons & Bayley, versus Dalugdugan & Alexander. Another chance for Tower went begging with Ramsey's No3 pairing of Teare & Alexander edging past Parsons & Bayley in the final end. This win consolidates Ramsey's second position in the league, whilst Tower are rooted firmly in 7th spot.
Strathallan (2) Travellers A (4)
The familiar sound of court barriers going flying after defensive heroics, marked the welcome return to table tennis of Andy Horne. Andy wasted no time in making a positive contribution to his team's points tally, with his pairing with Julian Briercliffe producing a fifth end win over Malcolm Cummings & Keeran Chan. His pairing with Wayne Taylor produced another excellent win against Traveller's second pairing of Scott Lewis & Chan. Keeran was playing up for the A team and competed well, but in this one the Strathallan pair nabbed the 4th end 12-10 to take the match.
Ramsey B (1) Arbory (5)
The home side's No1 pairing of Tim Baker & Chris Holmes had a 5 set thriller with Mike Tamarov & Amit Lanin, just falling at the final hurdle with the Arbory pair edging it 16-14 in a tense final end. Ramsey then suffered further agony when Baker & Becky Taylor were also pipped in the fifth end by Mike & Amit. Ramsey's only point when Becky & Chris managed to pull through 12-10 in the 5th game, in another nerve-jangler against John & Amit.
Travellers C (0) Travellers B (6)
Travellers C were once again depleted, but MIke Chapman, Margartet Forsyth and Dave Buck manfully stepped up against the mighty trio of John & Will Shooter, and Malc Lewis. All but one match was settled in straight ends, with David & Margaret stretching John & Will, who took the 4th end 12-10 for another B team victory.
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Division 2
Ramsey D (0) Tower B (6)
Tower B gave themselves an important boost with this maximum points haul at the expense of Ramsey D. Paul Callow, Steve Curtis and Simon Radcliffe made short work of the unfortunate Ramsey trio of Keith Herrington, Darren Shaw and Geoff Burchill, with no matches going beyond 3 ends.
Ramsey C (2) Peel A (4)
Francesca Lord, Wilma Dalugdugan and Adrian Slater did well to partly repel a rampant Peel side hungry for a promotion place. Ramsey's second pairing of Adrian and Wilma gelled well together with hard fought wins against Peel's No1 pairing of Ken Hegarty & Jon Taylor-Burt in 4 ends, and over Peel's No3 pairing of Ken & Maggie Mulhern 11-7 in the 5th.
Arbory C (1) Arbory B (5)
Arbory C's Jane Kneale, Kevin Drewry and Rob Wright had a tough assignment in this tie, facing Div2 league leaders Jason Quirk, Malcolm Lambert and Dan Levine. Only 2 matches went to 4 games - notably one of them involved the home side's second pairing of Kneale & Drewry, who got the better of the B team's third pairing of Levine & Lambert. It was a topsy turvy encounter, but Kneale & Drewry were firing on all cylinders to take the final 2 games and gain a valuable point for the C team. The B team came off relatively unscathed however, and maintained their comfortable lead at the top.
Travellers D (0) Desmonds Douglas (6)
Desmonds dished out another drubbing, this time at the expense of bottom placed side Travellers D. The 7 point gap between them and third placed Peel A is perhaps still a lot to make up if they are to challenge for a promotion spot, but they remain in touch. Only one match went to 4 games with the home side's Maurice Campbell & Grant Paterson pushing Brandon Montgomery & Neil Ronan hard, before falling in the 4th end.
Division 3
Tower House (5) Ramsey E (0)
Luke Sutherland and Paul Mitchinson swept aside Tony Sewell and Teddy Clayton in this tie - all matches were settled in straight games, to produce another 5 points for Tower House. The win stretches their lead at the top of the third tier.
IOM Junior Development D (2) Ramsey F (3)
This was a really competitive tie with some exciting play from those involved across a wide range of ages. Young Henry Weaver fell to Roland Bouchat in 3 ends, but gained a point by edging past Pat Halliwell in 3. Sydnie Weaver had a similarly torrid time against the more experienced Bouchat, losing in 3, but then nabbed a 4 end win over Pat. The doubles went to Pat & Roland in 4 ends.
IOM Junior Development C (1) IOM Junior Development A (4)
Liav Lanin had an interesting tussle with Eben Moore, with Eben finally emerging victorious in the 4th end. Liav had better luck against Tom Taylor-Burt taking the win 11-4 in the 4th end. Luke Begley had another excellent week with 2 superb wins against Tom in 3, and Eben in straight games. The doubles went to Luke & Liav in 3 ends against Tom and Eben.
