Crosby E 6 Princes St E 4
Mini match report

They say that in life 2 things are certain - death and taxes.

In the Southport league the two certainties are that the ageing Princes St squad will pick up injuries and that super coach Dave Graham will continue to produce excellent young players for his Crosby team.

And so both things came to pass last Friday evening.

The Princes had a double blow in the week of the match with proposed debutant Peter Williams pulling out through a shoulder injury and stalwart Andy Armstrong unable to play due to family illness. That left Captain Nick , Derek , Brian Haslam and young Sam stepping up from the 3rd division.

Crosby had their own injury problems with Elliott ruled out with a sore ankle so they lined up with the Moustaka twins and 2 newcomers to me Keiran Lynch and Charlie Williams in what must have been one of the youngest teams ever to play in Div2.

All of the Crosby lads played well but the 2 newcomers were a revelation. Young Charlie was fantastic in beating Brian in 5 compelling games and will only get better when he can see over the table. Keiran , as chance would have it had played against Derek earlier in the week when he beat Derek in 5 but Derek , the cunning fox changed his game and managed to get his revenge in 3.

However everything changed in the 2nd set of matches. Brian sadly injured himself playing Chris Moustaka and had to concede that match and the doubles he was scheduled to play and Keiran beat the Princes own boy wonder Sam with a superb display of attacking table tennis.

Derek beat Nick Moustaka to earn a fine double with Captain Nick also winning both his singles matches .

In the best game of the evening young Charlie beat Sam in 5 excellent games. What was particularly impressive was Charlie's ability to change his usual attacking play to a more defensive mode when the point dictated it.

Yet again coach Graham has produced two excellent young players who will surely serve Crosby and Southport table tennis proud in the coming years. Not only did all the Crosby youngsters play well but they were a credit to their club and families with the respect and manners they showed on the table.

A final word on the dedication of Dave Graham. Not only did he open the hall and encourage all his young players but when he left late on it was to drive straight to Northamptionshire to oversee a young Lancashire team playing the following day. Southport table tennis is very lucky to have people like Dave involved in the development of young players in their league.