As Arctic weather descended on East Sussex and venues cut back on heating budgets, players in the Hastings Table Tennis League bravely soldiered on, albeit with the assistance of extra layers of designer thermals.
Bexhill A had the thankless task of facing Division One leaders Academy A and went down 8-2 after maximums from Paul Barry and Ryan Heselden for the champions. For Bexhill, John Ellis and Andy Panayi both enjoyed good wins over Nick Standen.
Undeterred by the absence of the talismanic Graham Gillett, Bexhill B beat Tackleway B 7-3 with two wins each for Pete Robinson, Alan McCleave and Andy Chapman. This was one of those odd games where the Bexhill players all lost to a different opponent, resulting in Roger Pingram, Malcolm Barber and Dan Rickaby all winning once for the losers. Highlight of the evening was probably Rickaby’s win over Robinson at 13-11 in the fifth after scraping the third 17-15.
Hollington A and Academy C fought out a 5-5 draw. Hollington may have been confident after recent results and with Academy at the foot of the table, but Academy’s revival coincided with the return of Rose Rainton who was unbeaten on the night. Robin Gibbs won two for Academics and Kevin Barry did likewise for Hollington after he had led Rainton 2-0 before she stormed through games four and five before scrambling home 16-14 in the decider.
Tackleway A had an excellent 6-4 win over Academy B in which Arthur Bracken was unbeaten and Dave Butler and James Winchester both won twice for the losers. The key clash here saw Michael Funnell of Tackleway beat Jamie Martin at 12-10 in the fifth.
Two postponements in Division Two enabled Tackleway C to establish a mini buffer at the top with a 10-0 defeat of Bexhill E in which Adrian Goodrum, Aaron Pain and Kevin Rowe were all unbeaten. Bexhill were missing Richard Hoyland.
Hollington B are three points adrift after beating Tackleway D 7-3 with a maximum from Paul Hyland and Yasar Akar winning twice. Jacob McCarthy won two for Tackleway.
Division Three is already looking like a two-horse race and leaders Bexhill F beat Tackleway F 10-0 with three wins each from George Reidy, Harvey Webb and Jim Leppard. Tackleway’s Phil Talbot lost a marathon to Leppard 9-11 in the fifth game.
Also 100%, but with two matches in hand, are Hollington D who beat Tackleway E 7-3 with maximums for Rob Clemence and Steph Sargent. The top two are due to meet at Bexhill on Thursday 12th January.
Phil Bailey led Hollington C to a 6-4 win at Tackleway H with a maximum while Matt Gilman won two for the losers.
Academy E beat Tackleway G 7-3 with Andy Murphy unbeaten and Daniel Quinn-Graham winning two. Martin Woodward won twice for Tackleway.
