League action took a back seat for the quarter finals of the Watts Cup and the Minor Trophy, the team knock out competitions of the Hastings & District Table Tennis League.
The Watts Cup produced little in the way of close contests but there were some fine individual performances. League leaders and favourites Hastings Academy A were not at full strength but still expected to account for Hollington A, who have impressed in their first season in Division One.
After losing the opening doubles, Hollington’s Kevin Barry beat Tony Catt in straight games before Ron Davenport put them in the lead with a win over Ryan Heselden at 11-9 in the fifth. That was as good as it was going to get for the underdogs as Academy took the next four sets to win 5-2 with Paul Barry winning two, Catt beating Shaun Godfrey and a doubles win from Catt and Heselden.
Bexhill A were boosted when Second Division Bexhill G could only field two players
and duly won 9-0. A feature of this match was the clash between Chris Hack (G) and Ryan Warner (A) when Hack had match points in the fourth game before the competitive Warner took the game 16-14 and the fifth 11-9.
Academy B beat Tackleway A 7-2 with Dave Butler and James Winchester unbeaten.
Tackleway could have prolonged their interest in the match but James Gorridge and Roy Funnell went down 11-9 in the fifth to Butler and John Wond. Gorridge and Mike Funnell then lost in three deuces to Butler and Winchester, possibly the strongest doubles combination in the league.
Bexhill B made it to the semi-finals when injury-hit Hollington B conceded.
The closest tie in the Minor Trophy saw Nalgo beat Monarchs B 5-4 with Paul Hyland (Nalgo) and Andrew Edwards (Monarchs) both winning two singles. At 4-4 the match was settled with a doubles win for Hyland and Phil Toze for Nalgo.
Bexhill F beat Hollington E 5-1with two wins from Dan Starnes. Hollington’s consolation came when Yasar Akar came from 0-2 down to beat Frank Brown in five games.
Odds on favourites Academy E (Jamie Martin, Terry Dean and Graham Deeprose) beat Hollington D 9-0 without losing a game.
Bexhill E (Paul Welford, Cameron Jones and George Reidy) won by the same scoreline at Hollington C where Keith Young took Welford the distance.
Academy E also played a Division Two match, beating Monarchs A 6-4 despite Bob Lowe’s maximum for Monarchs. Graham Deeprose, Terry Dean and Andy Furnival all won two for the Academics.
The line-up for the cup semi-finals, to be played week commencing 16th March, is:
Watts Cup:
Academy B v Bexhill B
Bexhill A v Academy A
Minor Trophy:
Academy E v Nalgo
Bexhill F v Bexhill E
