TRAVELLERS TAKE TOP SPOT

Strathallan suffered a heavy loss against their Division One rivals Travellers A, meaning their one week reign on top of the Fun 88 IOM Table Tennis League is over.

Copy Shop B fall back into the relegation zone after a battering in Division Two, meanwhile Peel A maintain their position at the top of the table.

Travellers D managed to keep their unbeaten run intact and remain joint top of the table in Division Three. Surestrike Ramsey D still only have two points to their name at the foot of the table.

Peel C are now two points ahead of both Copy Shop D and E in Division Four.

Division One

Travellers A (7) Strathallan (2)

With Island Champion Liam Chan back from injury Travellers were able to field their strongest team. Mark Johnson duly secured his hat-trick followed by Malcolm Cummings and Chan with two apiece. Julian Briercliffe did well to beat Chan in four sets but then lost 12/10, 8/11, 9/11, 11/4, 12/14 to Cummings who failed to recover from that marathon match and lost to Andy Patterson in straight sets.

Tower A (1) Arbory (8)

Khayee Vinas got fourth-placed Arbory underway with three wins before teammate Mike Tamarov matched her performance and did likewise. Keeran Chan was also looking for a hat-trick against bottom-placed Tower but Steve Curtis managed to prevent this by taking the consolation point 11/7, 8/11, 11/8, 11/9.

Division Two

Travellers B (9) Copy Shop B (1)

Stuart Douglas and Colin Brown both hit hat-tricks before topping it off with a win in the doubles for fourth-placed Travellers B. Teammate Tommy Cowin added two more to their tally but Rob Sim stopped him from making it a clean sweep by winning 3/11, 12/10, 4/11, 11/8, 11/9.

Peel B (4) Peel A (6)

Sasha Thomas and Nathan Evans both started by notching up a point for sixth-placed Peel B followed by teammate Harry Walters who doubled the score line with fine wins over Matty Evans and Andy McLarney. A Malc Lewis hat-trick began the comeback for the league leaders followed by wins from Mattie Evans over his brother Nathan and Andy McLarney disappointing Thomas 11/9 in their fourth set. Finally Lewis and McLarney delivered the doubles to earn the win for the A team.

Surestrike Ramsey B (7) Travellers C (3)

Tim Baker maintained his unbeaten run for second-placed Ramsey B. Chris Holmes added two more and was unlucky to lose 6/11, 11/7, 8/11, 11/1, 10/12 against Paul Mathieson-Nelson who also beat Kerenza Baker.  David Buck took fifth-placed Travellers’ final point in a tie-break against Kerenza who bounced back to beat David’s son Alex. Holmes and Baker Snr kept Ramsey’s promotion hopes alive by also winning the doubles.

Division Three

Surestrike Ramsey C (5) Travellers D (5)

Wendy Hogan racked up three points for Surestrike, Fraser Dametto and Frank Feeney earned a point each which helped their side to maintain joint top place with their opponents. Travellers brought it back with a brace from Adrian Tinkler, one each for Alan Harding and Jackie Gill who had lost 11/13 in the final set of her opening tussle with Dametto.  A dominant performance in the doubles from Harding and Tinkler maintained Travellers unique unbeaten record in the league.

St Ninian’s A (10) Surestrike Ramsey D (0)

Fourth-placed St Ninian’s completed a clean sweep with hat-tricks for Matt Harvey, Pedro Cardoso and Matt Kelly. Kelly and Cardoso also picked up a win in the doubles. Bottom placed Surestrike see their points drought continue but Alex Yardley was 2-1 up in sets before losing 11/8, 9/11, 11/8, 6/11, 8/11 to Kelly.

Surestrike Ramsey X (6) Tower C (4)

Surestrike’s Dave Bufton managed to claim three points in this close encounter and Tyler Hannay followed with a brace after losing to Mike Chapman who also gathered two points for third-placed Tower C.  Chapman’s teammates Barry Jenkins and Margaret Forsyth left Sally Green without any points  but sixth-placed Surestrike landed the crucial doubles 7/11, 11/3, 11/7, 13/11 giving them the win overall.

Division Four

Peel C (7) St Ninian’s B (3)

Tiernan Garvey picked up three points while Callan Reed and Louis Faragher obtained two each for top-placed Peel C. In response Ken Hegarty gained two points for fifth-placed St Ninian’s and he and Archie Walter notched up a win in the doubles 14/12, 12/10, 11/2.

IOM JD 1 (0) Copy Shop E (10)

Josh Dudley, Cameron Dudley and Leo Doyle appeared to sweep away their young opponents by earning three points each and Cameron and Doyle combined to bag the doubles. However, William Shooter had narrowly lost 13/15, 8/11, 11/6, 11/13 against Doyle. Sam Preece took a set of Josh and Jake Levine lost two tie-breakers against Leo.

IOM JD 2 (1) IOM JD North (9)

JD2 turned up a man short so JD North leap-frogged them in the league. Glenn Callow and William Dalugduggan both attained three points and Charlie Callow was on course to do the same but Lauren Allwright prevented his hat-trick by beating him 11/6, 11/9, 8/11, 8/11, 11/9. The Callow brothers paired up too take the doubles against Allwright and Micah Clarricoates 11/9, 11/2, 13/11.