In one of the most keenly fought contests of the season so far Shottery B shared the points with their visitors West Warwicks. Such was the intensity of the clash that refreshments were not taken until 10pm, by which time the hosts were 5-2 to the good and optimistic of victory, but results after the break went entirely the way of the Solihull side.
Gareth Hepworth led the way for Shottery acquiring a treble, together with doubles success in partnership with Tony Remes. Their team's other win came from Tim Fell who got the better of Jim Ferguson. Fell was also involved in the pivotal match of the fixture against Andy Rowland but, despite leading 8-6 and then 10-9 in the decider, he was unable to press home the advantage. Rowland thereby revenged his first half defeat to Fell and went on to finish the evening on a brace. Alison Stewart also chalked up two wins, with their crucial fifth being earned by Ferguson.
In contrast, proceedings were much more one-sided when Ashorne entertained leaders Shottery A. Gary Stewart and Stephen Foster both achieved maximums without dropping a game. Graham Poole also went home with a treble, but was made to work hard for his victories. He had to overcome loss of the first game to Mark Jones, and was then given an even sterner test by George Mudie. The Ashorne player took a 2-0 lead, although Poole then fought back to take their encounter to a decider where defeat looked likely until a late recovery saw him home.
Ashorne's next outing was a contest for local bragging rights against their fellow Knights Lane tenants FISSC. The fixture went on until almost 11pm and, despite both teams languishing near the foot of the table, there was some high quality table tennis from all six participants, together with a plethora of equally shared lucky 'edges'. George Mudie was in sparkling form for the village team and although taken the distance by both Peter Florence and Peter Bruce-Moore clinched the decider on both occasions. In another match to go to the wire he successfully teamed up with John Hunt in the doubles. Hunt himself notched a brace, but was denied a perfect performance by Malcolm Smith who took a two game lead before securing the fifth after Hunt had levelled the score. Smith's match against Steve Bolton was even more dramatic as he let a two game lead slip, and looked to be staring defeat in the face when 6-10 down in the decider. However he fought hard to win the next four points and went on to claim the victory. Bolton then enjoyed his usual epic with Florence which saw both players put up stern defences before the Farmer came through. Bruce-Moore also got the better of the unfortunate Bolton but it wasn't enough to prevent his team losing out 6-4.
