TRAVELLERS B ARE NOW TEN POINTS CLEAR IN DIVISION TWO
Young player of the week, Tiernan Garvey, played brilliantly to hit a hat-trick for Junior Development in the Third Division of the DLP Adapted Bathrooms sponsored Isle of Man Table Tennis League.
Copy Shop A are now six points clear in the First Division after a 9-0 win. ABC Arborists won by the same score to move back to 2nd place, one point ahead of Strathallan A. Travellers B beat second placed Copy Shop B 9-1 and now stand ten points ahead of Peel A in Division Two. Surestrike Ramsey C had a free night but retained their lead in Division Three by two points as Victory Roll Saints failed to field a third player and so squandered three valuable points.
DIVISION ONE
Zurich Spinners (0) Copy Shop A (9)
Super sub Dario Mazzotta stepped in for Copy Shop A and helped them maintain top spot. His 11/9, 9/11, 14/12, 13/11 nail biter against Tommy Cowin consigned the Spinners to a pointless night. Colin Barron took a consolation set off Jane Kneale but Sean Drewry didn’t drop more than seven points in any game against newly promoted Zurich Spinners who were without their top player Nigel Beattie.
Travellers A (0) ABC Arborists (9)
Mike Tamarov, John Magnall and Jason Quirk made short work of finishing off two man Travellers. Although Stu Douglas took Tamarov to five sets he narrowly lost 9/11, 11/8, 14/12, 9/11, 8/11. Former IoMTTA chairman Dave Stevenson also secured a set against Tamarov but the Arborists were in tremendous form.
Tower A (3) Strathallan A (6)
Two apiece from Julian Briercliffe, Andy Horne and Andy Patterson extended the points gap between third placed Strathy and their fourth placed opponents. Graham McFarlane found the going tough and team-mate Dave Parsons had a taxing time winning his two for Tower. Having accounted for Patterson he came back from 2-1 down in sets to disappoint Horne 13/11, but then lost 7/11 in the final frame against Briercliffe who had earlier been beaten by Paul Kozlowski.
Foxdale A (2) Breakaway A (7)
Foxdale’s Will Bayley and Ken Mitchell both beat Ben Christian but Dave Lovelady lost his opening match to Breakaway’s captain Paul Corran and then couldn’t continue. Corran went on to secure his hat-trick and Keeran Chan clobbered Mitchell after beating Bayley 11/8, 13/11, 14/12. Christian came close against Mitchell but had to be content with his walk-over point from Lovelady.
DIVISION TWO
Copy Shop B (1) Travellers B (9)
Travellers trampled on Copy Shop’s hopes of maintaining second spot which now reverts to Peel A. Colin Brown and Paul Nelson put in another faultless performance and Gary Shilling added two points with wins over Vishal Patel and Rob Sim. However, against Adam Davies, Shilling could not replicate his 12/10 final set Houdini performance which scuppered Sim. Although Shilling bobbed back from two sets down, his hat-trick hopes were put paid 6/11, 8/11, 14/12, 12/10, 9/11 by Davies.
Peel B (5) Surestrike Ramsey B (5)
Tim Baker was too hot for the young Peelers to handle. Nathan Evans and Harry Walters struck back with two apiece by toppling Surestrike’s Carl Blatcher and Billy Cain. Sasha Thomas delivered the draw for Peel rebounding from two sets down to bounce out Blatcher 7/11, 3/11, 11/5, 11/4 11/9. However, Baker and Cain were able to balance the books in a straight sets doubles win for Ramsey.
Surestrike Ramsey A (6) Peel A (4)
Malc Lewis overcame Surestrike’s Rhys Yardley 11/9, 10/12, 3/11, 11/5, 11/7 in their hat-trick decider and Peel’s final point came when Matty Evans subdued substitute Carl Blatcher in straight sets. For Surestrike, Yardley defeated Evans and Maggie Mulhern as did Wael Kassim. In the wooden spoon play-off Blatcher beat Mulhern to make it 5-4, leaving Yardley and Kassim to deliver the doubles.
Travellers C (10) Tower C (0)
Travellers moved well clear of the relegation zone at the expense of bottom placed Tower. Heather Kennett went out in straight sets but hard bat specialist Margaret Forsyth was involved in two four set sagas. Firstly, against Jackie Gill and then later with Owen Cutajar when they lost 2/11, 8/11, 11/9 8/11 to Alan Harding and Maurice Campbell in the doubles.
DIVISION THREE
IOM Junior Development (3) Peel C (7)
JD’s Tiernan Garvey was undoubtedly the young player of the week. His splendid maiden hat-trick included a 15/13, 12/10, 6/11, 9/11, 12/10 marathon against Corin Haddock and another close five setter against Mason Princess. Peel’s emergency substitute Steve Haddock fared no better against Garvey but the Peelers won their remaining matches against JD’s Izzy Scarffe and William Walmsley.
Victory Roll Saints (7) Surestrike Ramsey D (3)
Ramsey’s Tyler Hannay went two sets up against Rob Campbell but lost 12/10, 11/7, 3/11, 3/11, 5/11. That was the closest that Surestrike came to winning a match against the St Ninian’s teachers Campbell and Matty Kelly. However, Hannay, Dylan Yardley and Leon Crowe each picked up a point as second placed Saints became sinners for failing to field a third player.
Breakaway B (9) Copy Shop E (1)
During rallies Copy Shop’s canny Pat Halliwell hits on the half-volley to hinder her younger and faster opponents. This ploy worked against Kieran Lane but Jack Christian came back from two sets down to win 13/11 in their final frame. Christian marched on to his hat-trick as did Joe Walters who was just too consistent for Halliwell and the ebullient Copy Shop youngsters Libby Quaggin and Sophie Sheard.
Surestrike Ramsey E (5) Copy Shop D (5)
Zac Walters was the hat-trick hero for Copy Shop and Billy Coulter added two more to secure the draw. However, Jack Craik hit back for Surestrike by beating both Coulter and Kyle Dodd. Fin Hill and Matthew Emison continued the comeback with a point apiece at the expense of Dodd who went down 17/15, 8/11, 11/4, 9/11, 9/11 in a humdinger with Hill. The score was levelled with a 14/12 fourth frame win for Hill and Craik in the doubles.
MALCOLM LAMBERT
