Charles Stampe 2018-2019 Results and Reports

Charles Stampe Final - Monday 29th April 2019

Venue: Boxley TTC 

A YouTube video of the match is available here 

Winners Rainham 5

CST 2019 Rainham 5 & Upnor A

This years final of the Charles Stampe Trophy was a special one in the history of the Medway Towns Table Tennis League as it was the 50^th final.

It was held at Boxleys venue on Monday 29^th April and was won by Rainham 5 who beat Upnor A by 13 points (387-374).

The match started with both players (David Gracey for Upnor and Keith Adams for Rainham) playing it very cagily with Keith giving Rainham a slim 4 point lead(46-42).  Peter Worthington then took the table against Keith Chamberlain and turned the tables beating Keith by 42-33 to give Upnor their one and only lead.  The next match then pitted Marylyn Dudgeon against Brendon Moodley.  Brendon was in unstoppable form with his forehand going like a dream and he won 54-39 to give Rainham a 10 point lead.  The next match featured Peter and Keith Adams and proved that the handicaps were about right as they fought to a 42-all draw keeping Rainham 10 points in front.  Brendon then consolidated Rainhams lead by a further ten points by again showing what a force his forehand was and beat David Gracey 51-41 to increase Rainhams lead to 20.  Marylyn then took on Keith Chamberlain and despite winning both legs could only close the gap by 1 point leaving Upnor 19 points in arrears.  Peter then played Brendon and this was a very tactical game with Peter keeping the ball well away from Brendons forehand and he managed to claw 7 points back to leave Rainham 12 points to the good with 2 games left.  All to play for.  Keith Adams then played Marylyn and with a mixture of good play and not a little good luck managed to increase Rainham advantage to 17 points with just the one game to go.  This proved to be too much for David to pull back and with a good first leg showing by Keith Chamberlain in only losing it 21-20 the match was all but over.  With the pressure off David took the final leg of the final 21-6 to show what might have been but it was too little, too late and Rainham 5 triumphed by 13 points.

The individual trophies were presented to the winners and the runners-up by Charlie's daughters, Cheryl and Diane.  As it was the 50^th final we had a special guest to present the main trophy with Dennis McConkey having that honour as the player who won the deciding game 50 finals ago. 

Semi-Final

The Charles Stampe Trophy will reach its conclusion on Monday 29th April at Boxley TTC.  The match will be a first versus second division encounter as Upnor A overcame Rainham 4 and Rainham 5 beat Chatham Belfast. 

I am expecting another close contest given how these two teams got to the final so please come along to support your club colleagues or the players from your division that you have played against for the past five or so months, especially as this will be the 50th final of this competition. 

CHATHAM BELFAST 378   RAINHAM 5  405 

This was a triumph for the experience and guile of the Rainham trio of Keith Adams, Keith Chamberlain and Brendan Moodley over the youth and exuberance of the Chatham Belfast team of Harry Jones, Segun Ake and Shevon McDonald.  The individual match-ups followed a distinct pattern with Belfast winning all the sets with one following the handicaps well and the other where the Rainham team were able to extend their advantage to eventually win by 27 points.

RAINHAM  4  359   UPNOR  A  373

In this match there was never more than 7 points in the winning margin in each game and it was decided by one of the Rainham trio of Sam Woodcock, Graham Watts and Vic Hope playing two uncharacteristic loose sets which virtually settled this contest. The Upnor trio of Peter Worthington, Marylyn Dudgeon and David Gracey held their nerves better and won six of the 9 games albeit by only 22 points with Rainham winning 2 and the other was tied resulting in the winning margin being 14 points.

Quarter-Final Results

There were four very keenly contested quarter-finals this year with the maximum winning margin just 22 points and the closest match was decided by just 10 points. 

UPNOR  A  375  CLIFFE WOODS  1  360

With just the last game to be played Upnor led by just 3 points and the match was anybody's but Peter Worthington proved what a good player he has become by stretching the winning margin to 15 points after sharing the points 37-all over the two legs but his 12 point handicap advantage gave him the edge.

LUTON  INVICTA  3  370  RAINHAM  4  388

As has often been said one bad set can decide the outcome of a match and so it proved in this one.  2 bad sets in the 6th and 8th games were crucial.  After holding a 7 point lead after 5 games and again by a single point after 7 it was Luton who “blinked” and went into the final game trailing by 16 and they couldn't pull that disadvantage back.

RAINHAM  5  358  CHATHAM  GANNET  348

This match was also decided by one player having a below par couple of games and consequently losing what was an enthralling match with the margin between the two teams fluctuating as the match went on the 7th game proved decisive as it enabled Rainham to establish a 33 point margin and although this was closed to just 6 going into the last game Rainham clung on to win.

BOXLEY  2  350  CHATHAM  BELFAST  372

Chatham Belfast were never behind in this match although their lead fluctuated from 9 points down to 4 after four games they won every game from then on albeit by only a handful of points each time and went into the last game leading by 24 but after the first leg that had been reduced to 18 Boxley never got close enough to make it really interesting.

Third Round results

The third round of this year’s competition is now complete.  One match was conceded and one match unfortunately had to be adjudicated with Chatham Gannet and Upnor A going through in those two matches.

In the closest match, Cliffe Woods 1 overcame a gutsy Chatham Endurance team by just 4 points and there was never more than 15 points in it and they went into the last match with Cliffe Woods leading by 4 but after the first leg the match was all square but in the last leg Vinni McAneney used all his experience and got back those 4 crucial points. 

Luton Invicta 3 overcame Anchorians 5 by 28 points thanks to a good performance from Jack Coleman who had been co-opted from their 4^th team and gained 39 points (a feat that has not gone unnoticed). 

Chatham Ark Royal were always struggling with the handicaps in their match with Rainham 4 and eventually lost by 38 points which equates to just 1 point difference in all the handicaps.

Howard 5 were another team who struggled with the handicaps against a team from the same division in Rainham 5 who fielded a very strong team and managed to win by 21 points (just over a point a leg). 

A closer finish occurred at Boxley where Gary Hentschel was the difference, leading his team to a 10 point win over a gallant Cliffe Woods 3 for whom Peter Mortley put in a good performance but it wasn't quite enough. 

Chatham Belfast overcame their divisional rivals Rainham 1 by 23 points thanks to a match-winning performance from Harry Jones who won all his games on the handicap despite giving points in 2 of them.

Second Round Results

Three teams got through to round three by default, those teams being  Cliffe Woods 1, Luton Invicta 3 and Chatham Belfast.

Of the 13 matches that were played three resulted in winning margins which can be put down to handicapping errors (these will be adjusted in future rounds). These matches were a 79 point win for Howard 6, a 78 point win for Chatham Endurance and  a 73 point win for Rainham 5.

Three more matches were decided by larger margins than could have been foreseen and these will be looked at carefully. Rainham 4 beat Chatham Cumberland by 60 points but Cumberland did have to play a player from Furious in this match.  Howard 5 beat Luton Invicta 4 by 55 points and Howard 4 beat Howard 1 by 53 points but this match was marred by circumstances that resulted in teams being adjusted to at least get a match.

The remaining 7 games were mainly close matches with only an average of about 2 points a leg or less deciding the final outcome.  Chatham Gannet beat Luton Invicta 5 by 45 points, Upnor A beat their clubmates Upnor D by 24 and  Rainham 1 beat Howard three by 17 points.

The last four games were really close being decided by 10 points or less.  Chatham Ark Royal beat Rainham 3 by 10 points in a match where Chatham's lead was never more than 14 points. Cliffe Woods 3 beat Sturdee 1 by 8 but Cliffe were never in front until the end of the 7th game.  Boxley 2 beat Chatham Furious by 6 points in a match where two games ended all square and Furious were never in front.  Sturdee 2 lost to Anchorians 5 by a mere 2 points but were up against it from the start when they trailed by 14 points after the first game and although they steadily closed the gap they could never quite get over the line.

First Round

Originally there were due to be 6 matches in the first round of this seasons Charles Stampe Trophy but due to sickness and unavailability only 3 of these matches were played.  Chatham Cumberland, Luton Invicta 5 and Howard 3 received walkovers as Anchorians 4, Upnor B and Upnor C respectively were unable to fulfil the fixture.

David Gracey for Upnor A finished with a plus 35 score as they beat Boxley 3 by 32 points. 

Wayne Matthews recorded a plus 32 point margin as Sturdee I beat Cliffe Woods by 44 points. 

Mike Proctor also finished with plus 32 as Sturdee 2 beat Anchorians 3 by 19 points.

Malcolm Kay.