JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT DRAW WITH TOP PLACED COPY SHOP C

DIVISION ONE

Copy Shop A (8) Travellers A (2)

Even without Brian Crellin the top team hoped for a whitewash against bottom placed Travellers in order maintain their slender lead over Breakaway. Although Copy Shop’s super-sub Sean Drewry did his duty by winning his matches, Paul Nelson and Gary Shilling both beat Jane Kneale in four sets. Crucially, Kneale overcame Chris Reynolds 11/2, 11/9, 5/11, 11/7 and later joined Ronan McDonnell for what proved to be a vital point in the doubles. Copy Shop’s 16 year old McDonnell won his singles in straight sets and remains unbeaten this season having also recently retained the Barry Callister Memorial Senior Top 12 Trophy for the third year running.

Foxdale A (1) Breakaway A (9)  

At 8-0 up, second placed Breakaway looked on track for a clean-sweep against Foxdale but Becky Bayley thwarted Mason McLarney’s hat-trick hopes in four sets. However, Breakaway drew a point closer to Copy Shop A as Darren Smethurst and Malcolm Cummings won the doubles after completing their hat-tricks by beating Marc Townsend, Will Bayley and his sister Becky. Earlier, Becky nearly completed a great come-back against Cummings who eventually sneaked the fifth set to win 12/10, 13/11, 5/11, 5/11, 12/10.

Copy Shop B (3) Arbory (7)

A John Magnall hat-trick in straight sets gave third placed Arbory the perfect base on which to construct their win over relegation zoned Copy Shop who were without their captain Ewan Watterson. Mikhail Tamarov added two more for Arbory by beating Dario Mazzotta and then Sean Drewry in four sets that all finished at 11/9. Danny Hamill counter attacked well to beat Tamarov in straight sets and both he and Drewry beat Keeran Chan for Copy Shop’s hard earned three points. However, the longest and closest contest of the evening was between Mazzotta and Chan. The marathon match ended 8/11, 12/10, 11/13, 11/9, 19/17 to Chan who then joined with Magnall to take the doubles in four furious sets.

Tower A (7) Strathallan A (3)  

Sixth placed Tower drew level with fourth placed Strathy and leap-frogged Foxdale following this fine win which was aided by substitute Steve Curtis’ 11/8, 10/12, 12/10, 13/11 surprise win over a hesitant Hadyn McLarney. A Tim Baker hat-trick and two singles points plus a doubles win by Paul Callow completed Tower’s total. Andy Patterson and Andy Horne both beat Curtis and then Horne secured Strathy’s final point with a straight sets win over Callow.  

DIVISION TWO

Peel A (4) Foxdale B (6)

Sixth placed Peel’s Malc Lewis upset the form book with his tremendous triple against promotion seeking Foxdale. His team-mate Les Wilson had a topsy-turvy time against Neil Quane and only just lost 11/9, 5/11, 10/12, 11/5, 8/11. However, Wilson’s walloping back-hand smashes flummoxed Ken Mitchell for Peel’s final point. Foxdale’s Mike Bayley bagged a brace by beating Wilson and Maggie Mulhern who finished pointless after losing the doubles in a ‘fire-brigade finish’ (9, 9 and 9) with the hat-trick hero Lewis.

Tower C (0) Tower B (10)

The Tower B team is on its way to promotion whereas the C team is destined to slip back into the Third Division. JD’s Wael Kassim couldn’t weave his magic this week as a substitute but did take a set off Steve Curtis and Dave Parsons which is no mean achievement. Dave Callow did similar but Margaret Forsyth’s only foray into a fourth set was with Callow in the doubles which they lost 9/11, 8/11, 11/4, 8/11 against Graham McFarlane and Parsons.

Travellers B (10) Peel B (0)

Fourth placed Travellers consolidated their position but didn’t eradicate the two point difference between them and third placed Spinners who also trounced their opposition. Young Matty Evans, Will Cross and Vishal Patel won the odd set in the singles but came closest to purloining a point in the doubles against former IOMTTA chairman, David Stevenson, and Steve Ellis-Pearson. Stu Douglas who refereed that match hadn’t dropped a set all night. 

Travellers C (0) Salmon River Spinners (10)

Just two matches got beyond the third set as third placed Spinners made up for their late arrival by rushing through their games to send sixth placed Travellers home empty handed. Alan Harding took Colin Barron to a fourth set and Maurice Campbell went one better only to lose 11/7, 9/11, 8/11, 11/9, 5/11. Jackie Gill and her fellow Traveller’s couldn’t capture a set from Tommy Cowin or the division’s top ranked player, Nigel Beattie, in either the singles or the doubles. 

DIVISION THREE

IOM Junior Development One (5) Copy Shop C (5)

Malcolm Lambert found to his cost that concreting is not an ideal warm-up for table tennis and was consequently well beaten by the emerging talent of Wael Kassim who landed a fine hat-trick for JD1 with an 11/9 final set win over Rob Sim and a close, but straight sets, win over Henry Hyde. Marcus Koske and Carl Blatcher both lost to Lambert and Sim but helped secure a well deserved draw by both beating Hyde. The league leaders, Copy Shop, avoided their second defeat of the season by winning the doubles 11/8 in the fifth set thanks mainly to the attacking efforts of Pedro Cardoso.

Travellers D (4) Breakaway B (6)

Once again the league’s top seed, Chris Kewley, conceded his place to allow all his Breakaway youngsters to play, and they didn’t let him down. Ben Christian was their hat-trick hero although he was taken to a fifth set by Juan Moore Jnr who bounced back to beat Aaron Faragher 8/11, 11/9, 11/7, 6/11, 11/8. Faragher beat Alex Buck and Juan Moore Snr and linked with Christian to take the doubles and the win after the Travellers had gained a point apiece by beating the fast improving Kerenza Baker.

Fortress Management Services (3) Copy Shop D (7)

Rhys Yardley got his league return off to a flying start with a hat-trick against third placed Copy Shop D. George Melvin, Chris Aspden and Kevin Drewry all polished off an under the weather Pat Halliwell and an unlucky Karen Hassan who was on the wrong end of two 8/11 final set defeats against Aspden and Drewry. The latter two also won the doubles which helped Copy Shop D move a point closer to Breakaway. 

Peel C (5) IOM Junior Development Two (5)

The scorecard mysteriously went missing with Peel subsequently claiming a 7-3 victory but JD2 are convinced it was 5-5. What is not in dispute is that Peel’s Nathan Evans beat James Colgan and Liam Cooper, but lost to Calvin Koske in a close fought match 9/11, 8/11, 11/9, 11/8, 10/12. It is thought that Koske went on to his hat-trick by beating Fraser Dorling and Oska Corkhill. Colgan and Cooper claim that they beat Corkill which would give JD2 five points. If Dorling and Evans both beat Cooper and Colgan and won the doubles then that would result in the draw which has been provisionally recorded.

MALCOLM LAMBERT