WEEK 21 MATCH REPORTS

 Table Tennis Report by Malcolm Wenn

Division 1

With Copy Shop A having already retained the title the battle for survival took centre stage. 

At the start of the evening the young Foxdale A team had a two point advantage over Travellers A.  One team would be automatically relegated while the other would have another chance in the play off with the runner up in Division 2.

Both teams had tricky matches – Foxdale took on Tower A while Travellers faced Strathallan.

Travellers put in a good team performance and led 5-2 at one stage but Julian Briercliffe beat Gary Shilling and Andy Patterson stopped Malcolm Cummings from achieving his hat-trick. Another impressive doubles win for Cummings and Shilling gave their team victory but was it enough to overtake Foxdale A?

 Will Bayley has been in impressive form this season, Rebecca Bayley has just become Island champion while Ruth Bailey has achieved some notable wins. Will and Rebecca gave them the perfect start by defeating John Callow and Dave Parsons respectively. Tim Baker then reduced the margin with victory over Ruth but he lost to Will and in the pick of the games Rebecca held on to beat Callow 12/14 11/9 11/7 15/17 11/7.

Ruth then joined the party with a good win against Parsons but just missed out to Callow 11/6 10/12 10/12 9/11.

Baker beat Rebecca and combined with Parsons for a doubles win but Will remained unbeaten to give his team a 6-4 win and the play off place.

Champions Copy Shop A overcame a strong Arbory team including John Magnall and Liam Chan. Island Champion Ronan McDonnell won his games quite comfortably while Brian Crellin came from two games to one down against both Chan and Magnall to achieve his hat-trick.

Ramsey A’s faltering end to their season continued with only Darren Smethurst available to play against Breakaway A. He did really well to defeat both Paul Corran and Chris Kewley.

Division 2

Travellers B had an eight point cushion over Tower B at the start of the evening so they needed to win three sets against Copy Shop B or hope that Tower B would lose three against Foxdale B to secure second place and the play off spot.

Colin Brown was unwell so Stu Mason stepped in but like his team-mates he found that the league winners were not in a charitable mood. Stu Douglas took Sean Drewry to five games and four other sets went to four games but they all went to Copy Shop.

So Travellers had to rely on Foxdale taking three points from Tower B. Dave Callow deputised for Dave Stevenson and played well to beat Ken Mitchell in five and Andy McLarney in four. Steve Curtis produced his usual tenacious play to win two including a marathon with Mitchell 11/9 6/11 12/10 9/11 12/10.

Graham McFarlane chipped in with two wins and took the first two games against Neil Quane but the Foxdale player took the next three 11/9 11/8 11/4 on his way to a treble. So it will be Foxdale A and Travellers B in the play off.

Dave Callow added to his two wins for Tower B with a brace for the C team against Salmon River Spinners. However Nigel Beattie stood firm and Tommy Cowin and Colin Barron ensured a successful end to the season for Spinners.

Things might have been different for Travellers C had Kathy Yamazaki been able to play all season but we wish her well during her pregnancy and look forward to meeting the new arrival in due course. Last week they were only able to field two players due to holidays and work commitments but Malcolm Wenn and Alan Harding made Peel A work hard for their victory.

Division 3

Congratulations to Peel C on becoming champions and a special mention for Chris Holmes who lost only one match all season. That loss was to Chas Grills last November but Holmes has beaten Grills twice since then including last week.

Sean Cassidy and Ashley Reid have both played their part to the full and feature in the top ten in the averages. Good luck to them in Division 2 next season.

Finishing a mere three points behind the champions, Peel B have a chance of being promoted via the play off with Tower C. Last week they had a great match with Copy Shop C. This was one of the last matches to finish and a look at the scorecard tells the story.

Nine sets went to four or five games. Matty Evans and Will Cross won a close fought doubles against Kevin Drewry and Oliver Cain 11/9 11/8 12/14 12/14 12/10 while in the singles Cross beat Chris Aspden 11/9 in the fifth and Cain 15/13 in the fourth. Andreas Gutzold was busy too. He beat Cain in four, lost 9/11 in the fifth to Drewry but outlasted Aspden 6/11 16/14 11/7 9/11 12/10. Phew!  

Despite the emphatic result there were lots of close affairs in the encounter between Peel D and Fortress. Mahmoud Hassan had mixed fortunes losing to Eann Mulhern 12/14 in the fifth but getting the better of George Melvin 12/10 again in the deciding game.

Melvin also went to five in his other sets – he came out on top against Pat Halliwell but not against Karen Hassan. Halliwell’s defeat of Eann Mulhern was another over five games while the doubles was decided in favour of Fortress 14/12 18/16 9/11 11/7.      

Breakaway B proved too strong for Peel E but Vishal Patel had close tussles with both Sam Callister and Aaron Faragher. Against Callister it was a 9/11 11/9 9/11 11/3 9/11 defeat while it was a 12/10 in the fifth success against Faragher.   

Division 1

Copy Shop A 7 (B. Crellin 3, R. McDonnell 3, J. Coulthurst, Dbls), Arbory A 3 (L. Chan 1, J. Magnall 1, M. Tamarov 1); Breakaway A 8 (S. O’Hare 1, P. Corran, C. Kewley, walkovers 7), Ramsey A 2 (D. Smethurst 2); Foxdale A 6 (W. Bayley 3, R. Bayley 2, R. Bailey 1), Tower A 4 (T. Baker 2, J. Callow 1, D. Parsons, Dbls); Strathallan 4 (J. Briercliffe 2, A. Patterson 2, H. McLarney), Travellers A 6 (M. Cummings 2,  P. Nelson 2, G. Shilling 1, Dbls).

Division 2

Foxdale B 3 (N. Quane 3, A. McLarney, K. Mitchell), Tower B 7 (D. Callow 2, S. Curtis 2, G. McFarlane 2, Dbls); Salmon River Spinners 7 (N. Beattie 3, T. Cowin 2, C. Barron 1, Dbls), Tower C 3 (D. Callow 2, M. Chapman 1, M. Forsyth); Travellers B 0 (S. Douglas, S. Ellis-Pearson, S. Mason), Copy Shop B 10 (E. Watterson 3, S. Drewry 3, D. Hamill 3, Dbls}; Peel A 6 (M. Lewis 1, L. Wilson 1, M Mulhern, walkovers 3, Dbls), Travellers C 4 (M. Wenn 3, A. Harding 1).

Division 3

Copy Shop C 1 (K. Drewry 1, C. Aspden, O, Cain), Peel B 9 (W. Cross 3, M. Evans 3, A. Gutzold 2, Dbls); Peel D 2 (G. Melvin 1, E. Mulhern 1, D. Mulhern), Fortress 8 (K. Hassan 3, P. Halliwell 2, M. Hassan 2, Dbls); Peel E 1 (V Patel 1, F. Dorling, O. Mitchell), Breakaway B 9 (S. Callister 3, B. Christian 3, A. Faragher 2, Dbls);Ramsey B 4 (M. Forrest 2, C. Grills 2, C. Maschmann), Peel C 6 (C. Holmes 3, S. Cassidy 1, A. Reid 1, Dbls).

Author: via Isle Of Man Table Tennis Association
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