ABC ARBORISTS LOG ANOTHER CLEAN SWEEP

In the First Division of the DLP Adapted Bathrooms sponsored Isle of Man Table Tennis League ABC Arborists saw off bottom-placed Foxdale and closed the gap with Copy Shop A to just three points. Breakaway A beat Tower A to move into fourth place behind Strathy who had a rest week. In the relegation zone Travellers A moved three points clear of Zurich Spinners who have a game in hand over Foxdale.

Travellers B extended their lead in Division Two and Peel A consolidated second place as Copy Shop B lost heavily to fourth-placed Surestrike Ramsey A. Tower C remain anchored at the bottom but Peel B pulled five precious points clear of Travellers D who had no fixture. 

In the Third Division Surestrike Ramsey C and Victory Roll Saints go marching on towards promotion. Copy Shop D are comfortably third but 25 points short of contending for second place.

DIVISION ONE

Foxdale A (0) ABC Arborists (9)

Once again Foxdale awarded the opposition three points by failing the field a third player. Ken Mitchell banked a consolation set for Foxdale but John Magnall, Sam Bailey and Mike Tamarov had a harder time beating Will Bayley who got to 8/11 in the last leg of two of his matches. The Arborists have logged three 9-0 victories since defeating top-placed Copy Shop A 5-4 in January.

Travellers A (3) Copy Shop A (6)

Copy Shop A required a stand-in to gain them a point just for turning up. Sixth-placed Travellers A were a player short but Stu Mason and Stu Douglas both beat not so super-sub Malcolm Lambert. Then Douglas discombobulated Jane Kneale with his wobbly pimples-out rubber to win Traveller’s third valuable point 9/11, 14/12, 8/11, 11/7, 11/7.The newly crowned double Top 12 title holder Sean Drewry had no such troubles against the Travellers who meet fellow relegation zoned Zurich Spinners next week.

Tower A (3) Breakaway A (6)

The youngsters from Breakaway may have had a 3-0 start but they exceeded expectations by beating two-man Tower A to leap-frog them into fourth-place. Keeran Chan edged out Tower’s Mike Bayley 12/14, 11/5, 11/8, 7/11, 11/8 and then outgunned Graham McFarlane who also lost to Ben Christian. Bayley had straight sets conversions over Christian and Aaron Faragher but it took McFarlane four sets to finish off Faragher for Tower’s final point.

DIVISION TWO  

Peel B (1) Travellers B (9)

Travellers B extended their lead at the top of the division to 23 points with a game in hand after beating two-man Peel B who remain ninth. Gary Shilling and Colin Brown never looked like dropping a game whereas Juan Moore Jnr was taken to a fourth set by Harry Walters and then out-hit by the fast improving Sasha Thomas. Moore had won their last two encounters but on this occasion Thomas triumphed 11/5, 11/9, 11/8.   

Travellers C (2) Peel A (8)

Alan Harding and Jackie Gill both outgunned Maggie Mulhern for Travellers’ two points but Mike Campbell misfired. Gill nearly netted another point losing in a tense tie-breaker 11/9, 8/11, 11/8, 7/11, 14/16 to Matt Evans. Malc Lewis and Evans were hat-trick heroes for second-placed Peel A who also delivered the doubles which helped to propel them six points clear of Copy Shop B.

Copy Shop B (3) Surestrike Ramsey A (7)

Rhys Yardley dropped just one set on his way to a hat-trick and another leg in winning the doubles with Wael Kassim. The latter had to work harder for his singles point 11/4, 10/12, 10/12, 11/6, 11/7 against Rob Sim who ended up pointless for third-placed Copy Shop B. Carl Blatcher had an excellent night for fourth-placed Ramsey beating both Sim and Vishal Patel, but losing to Copy Shop’s captain Adam Davies who also beat Kassim.

Surestrike Ramsey B (10) Tower C (0)

Only two matches made it past the third set as fifth-placed Surestrike took bottom-placed Tower C to the cleaners. Heather Kennett and John Atherton found points hard to come by, particularly against the division’s top seed Tim Baker. Margaret Forsyth managed two tie breakers against Kerenza Baker and then hauled herself back from two sets down against young Jack Craik only to lose-out 7/11, 12/14, 11/5, 11/9, 5/11. The Bakers then delivered the doubles.

Copy Shop C (7) Tower B (3)

Malcolm Lambert’s hat-trick was built on by Max Walker who top-spun his way to victory over fifth-placed Tower’s Steve Curtis and Yanchun Wang. Pedro Cardoso lost to Curtis and Simon Radcliffe but completed the white-wash over Wang. Walker almost wangled another win but surrendered a two set lead to lose 11/8, 11/9, 9/11, 9/11, 11/13 in a nail-biter with Radcliffe. However, the Copy Shop youngsters took the doubles which moved the team up to seventh-place.

DIVISION THREE

Victory Roll Saints (7) Copy Shop E (3)

Matty Kelly was made to sweat by Pat Halliwell who took him to five sets but Kelly and Matt Harvey both hit a hat-trick and then secured the doubles for second-placed Victory Rolls Saints. Copy Shop’s Freya Melvin and Libby Quaggin both prevented Andy Simpson from reaching a fifth set but Halliwell needed another five setter to subdue Simpson 11/5, 6/11, 10/12, 11/8, 11/7.  

Breakaway B (7) Surestrike Ramsey D (3)

Kieran Lane won the very first set against Jack Yardley but lost 13/11, 6/11, 8/11, 2/11. All remaining matches were settled in straight sets. Yardley registered his fourth hat-trick in a row for eighth-placed Surestrike but Breakaway’s Jack Christian, Joe Walters and Lane were just too consistent for Jack’s grandsons Alex and Dylan Yardley. Breakaway remain in fourth-place.

Copy Shop D (8) Surestrike Ramsey E (2)

Copy Shop D consolidated their third place thanks to hat-tricks from Zac Walker and Billy Coulter. Kyle Dodd added two more by bowling out Sally Green and Jack Gilbert but he was skittled out 11/7, 5/11, 11/9, 8/11, 3/11 by Finn Hill. Gilbert and Hill finished on a positive note by purloining the doubles for fifth-placed Surestrike E.

Junior Development (0) Surestrike Ramsey C (10)

In this top v bottom clash the result was never really in doubt. Billy Cain, Matthew Emison and Tyler Hannay cleaned-up as expected but Leo Doyle, Jordan Hamer and Tiernan Garvey gave a good account of themselves. Doyle took a set off Emison, Garvey got to 8/11 against Hannay and Hamer hit some hot shots. 

MALCOLM LAMBERT