Brandon Crusaders continued their dominant form in Division 4 this week as they beat Ouston B 9-1. The Crusaders line-up of Jamie Westwater, Jamie Collins and Brian Childs are currently top of the Individual Averages in the league with 12, 12 and 11 wins respectively. Ouston visited Brandon with Duncan Hindmarsh, Jamie Milroy and Shirley Robson and, unfortunately, were no match for the experienced home team. Hindmarsh did well to beat Jamie Collins but Milroy and Robson couldn’t pick up any wins.

Lanchester and Cramlington Jaguars had a closer game as a hat-trick and Player of the Match performance from Alan Kent helped the home side to a 6-4 victory. John Rayner picked up 2 wins and Nigel Cardale picked up another, Mick Sursham and John Murrells winning the only games for the Jaguars. This was an important win for Lanchester as they find themselves bottom of the table, albeit with 2 matches in hand.

Brandon’s other team in Division 4, the Devils, continue to find themselves unable to win any matches as they were on the receiving end of a 7-3 loss against Redby. Istvan Franko and Malcolm Deneven both won their hat-tricks plus the doubles. Brandon recouped some points as their line-up of John Spencer, Ian Cumpson and Caroline Lee were all able to pick up wins against Redby’s Angela Wilkinson but on the night it wasn’t enough for them to acquire any points to aid their struggle for survival.

Things aren’t looking great for Brandon’s Division 5 team either. The group of youngsters playing under the banner of Brandon Energy are brand new to competitive table tennis and have barely won a game all season, registering only 2 sets won. This week was unfortunately no different as they faced Cramlington’s brightest youngster Matthew Mastaglio and his teammates Patrick Easton and John Hogg. The Brandon line-up of Jack Huntley, Stevaan Hall and Jacob Hall were unable to win any games leading to a 10-0 defeat, keeping them bottom of the table. 

East Boldon were also on the receiving end of a heavy defeat this week as they travelled to Oxhill to play against Backspin C. Backspin’s Debbie Irwin won her hat-trick plus Player of the Match, supported by another hat-trick from Lyndsey Beacham and 2 wins from Bob Cook. Bruce Davison won a consolation game for the away team but James Collar and William Walton were unable to pick up any wins ending up in a 9-1 win for the home team.

It’s Cramlington Falcons who are top of Division 5 and their bid for promotion received a welcome boost as they beat club rivals Cramlington Magpies 10-0. Israel Shodeinde, Alfie Davies and Jack Cairns are all top of the averages in the division and Shodeinde just pipped Davies to the post in this match as he lost the fewest points and therefore won the Player of the Match award. New players Jessica Yang and Oliver Ho, supported by Paul Athey, did well to win some sets but none of the games ever really looked in doubt.