Headline: 'Epic win for Drewry, and Crellin makes a winning return in Div1 table tennis'
Week 13 of the Fun88 sponsored Isle of Man Table Tennis League took place last week at the NSC, with more familiar faces returning to action.
Division 1
Travellers B (3) Copy Shop A (7)
Sean Drewry of Copy Shop was pushed hard by John Shooter, with Shooter taking the first game 13-11. Some breathtaking rallies ensued and Drewry regained control by taking the second game 11-9, and the third 11-9. He then closed the match out 11-7 in the 4th. Drewry's 100% record therefore remains intact but he had to work for this win. Brian Crellin made a welcome return for Copy Shop, and did well to push Shooter all the way to a fifth set decider, which went to the Travellers man 11-8. William Shooter had a good match against Copy Shop's Sasha Thomas but after William levelled it after 2 games, Thomas regained control by taking the next two and the match. Elsewhere, Malc Lewis was troubled early on by Thomas, but he steadied himself to take the 3rd and 4th games 11-7 and 11-5. Crellin did well to dispose of Lewis in 3 games, as he did William. A valuable 6 points therefore for Copy Shop, with Crellin really bolstering their team.
Arbory (8) Strathallan (1)
Mike Tamarov had a tremendous week for Arbory. He beat Wayne Taylor in 3 games, and Neil Quane in 4, and perhaps most notably beat an off-colour Julian Briercliffe in 3 straight. Jason Quirk followed suit with convincing wins against Taylor and Quane, and in 4 games, Briercliffe. Khayee Vinas was Arbory's third player and she disposed of Taylor in 3 games, and Quane in 4, before falling to an improved performance from Briercliffe - ultimately settled at 11-13 in the 4th.
Ramsey A (8) Ramsey B (1)
It was business as usual for Duncan Alexander who outplayed Tim Baker in 4 tight games, with the 4th being settled 12-10. Wael Kassim and Glenn Callow each took a game off Alexander but could not do enough to avoid defeat. Left-hander Alexander has only dropped one match this season and he demonstrated why in this match. Chris Holland was ruthless for Ramsey A in 3 power play victories, sweeping aside Kassim, Callow and Baker in 3 straight games each. Chris Holmes was hugely impressive in his victories over Tim Baker in 3 games, and then against Callow in 4 games. He was then cruising to victory against Kassim, having won the first 2 ends 11-3 and 11-7. Kassim had other ideas however and staged an astonishing turnaround by taking the 3rd game 11-3, and then edged out the 4th and 5th ends 11-9. A very impressive win then for young Kassim, and the only sour note for Holmes and the A team on the night.
Travellers A (9) Ramsey C (0)
A familiar scoreline for Travellers A this season - this time Ramsey C was unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end - and were able to field only 2 players. William Dalugdugan fought hard however for the C team, taking a game off Malcolm Cummings, narrowly losing 12-10 in the 4th end. Adrian Slater also took a game off Cummings but he too lost in 4. Scott Lewis and Liam Chan were untroubled on the night for Travellers and this win further extends their lead at the top.
Desmonds Douglas A (0) Tower A (9)
Desmond's were able to field only 1 player for this tie unfortunately, so sole representative Russell Kent was always up against it. Ken Mitchell stepped up first and beat a battling Kent in 3 games. Jakk Limungkoon then did likewise in his familiar unrelenting attacking style. Mike Bayley had a trickier time against a resurgent Kent who was 2-1 up after narrowly losing the second game 10-12. Bayley used all his match play nous to steady himself and outwit Kent and took the match 11-6 in the 5th. This win lifts Tower A to 6th place in the table after 12 fixtures.
Division 2
Tower C (2) Travellers C (8)
Paul Matthieson-Nelson added to his victory tally with 3 good wins against the experienced Tower C trio of Steve Curtis, MIke Chapman, and Barry Jenkins. Curtis had an epic encounter against Traveller's David Buck, only managing to edge him out 11-7 in the 5th. Barry Jenkins had a tense 5 setter against Adrian Tinkler, coming back from 2 games down to take the next 3, with the final game being settled 12-10. Jenkins will have breathed a huge sigh of relief after that one, whilst Tinkler will have been scratching his head! The doubles went to Buck and Matthieson-Nelson in 4 games. A strong performance then from Travellers C which takes them to 4th in the table.
Peel B (6) Copy Shop B (4)
Peel B secured an excellent win with Maggie Mulhern and Nathan Evans excelling in the narrow 6-4 win over the Copy Shop B team. Evans reversed the 10-12 final end defeat he suffered earlier in the season by beating Malcolm Lambert by the same score on Wednesday - a highly creditable win, in an incredibly close match. Then, Mulhern, playing in the final match of the evening, did well to defeat a lacklustre Lambert, for the 'first time that he can remember' - 12-10 and 11-9 in their 4th and 5th sets to win the match for third placed Peel B 6-4. Earlier, Evans disposed of step up player Kevin Drewry in 3 straight games. He didn't have it all his own way however with Sonja Shaw knocking the stuffing out of Evans, beating him in 3 straight games - a superb win for Sonja. She followed this with an impressive 4 set win over Maggie Mulhern. Stuart Perry played very well to defeat Malcolm in 3 straight, as he did against Sonja. Kevin Drewry then stepped forward and turned form on its head yet again by defeating Perry in 5 games with the last 2 going to 12-10. Evans and Perry took the doubles in 4 games against Lambert and Shaw.
Tower B (8) Copy Shop C (2)
Kevin Drewry had a tremendous win against Graham McFarlane, completing the task in 5 intensive games. McFarlane suffered a similar fate against step up player Mike Levine - a great win in 4 extremely close ends for the Copy Shop player. Dario Mazzotta continued his excellent form with 3 solid wins against Levine, Drewry and Dan Levine - all made him work hard for it however. Simon Radcliffe also had a good night with 3 wins. Tower B are now 2 points aheadt the top of the table and look intent on making a deserved return to Division 1 next season.
Peel A (6) Ramsey D (4)
Ronan Thompson had a clean sweep of wins for Peel A against Ramsey's Charlie Callow in 4 games, Wilma Dalugdugan in 5, and Francesca Lord in 4. He didn't have it all his own way however and had to work hard for these wins with the final game against Wilma going to 11-9 and 17-15 in the 4th against Francesca. In the absence of Stu Mason and Ken Hegarty, Matty Evans played up in this tie, and enjoyed success against Wilma, and Francesca but fell to a battling Callow in 3 games. A somewhat depleted team limited Peel A to 6 points but still leaves them well in the hunt 2 points behind Tower B.
Desmonds Douglas B (7) Travellers D (3)
Neil Ronan continued his excellent form with 3 emphatic wins in this tie, over Jackie Gill, Maurice Campbell and Junior Development step up player Wilma Dalugdugan. Richard Hill added 2 points for Desmonds, and Peter Russell added another. For Travellers D, Jackie Gill had a tremendous 5 set victory over Russell. No such luck for Maurice Campbell, who after a battling performance fell to the accomplished Russell in the 5th end. Wilma then swept aside Russell in 3 games in an impressive performance, but had a closer match against Hill before finally edging it 11-8 in the 5th.
Division 3
Copy Shop D (1) Ramsey G (9)
Copy Shop D unfortunately was only able to field Pat Halliwell in this tie so Ramsey were instantly 6-0 up as those points were forfeited. Megan Lord and Geoff Burchill took advantage of this and added a further 2 points and the doubles to their tally. The only ray of light for Copy Shop was that Pat was able to take a point off Henry de Silva in 4 games.
Peel C (2) Copy Shop E (8)
Amit Lanin and his Dad Vlad both took points off Dan Levine, but both matches were very tight with Amit only edging it 12-10 in the 5th. Ege Niyazi continues to impress and his victory for Copy Shop over Amit was particularly notable. He added wins against Vlad and Bob Borland for a clean sweep on the night. Mike Levine continued his 100% success rate with 4 set wins over Amit, Vlad, and Bob. Not straightforward wins at all but to his credit he continues to be unbeaten in the third tier - no mean feat with some excellent youngsters in that division now. The doubles went to Ege and Mike in 3 straight to round off a very satisfying evening for Copy Shop.
Peel D (2) Ramsey F (8)
Matthew Bell and Ryan Holland were in dominant form for Ramsey F, contributing 3 points apiece in this tie, and team mate Tom Tstitsos added another. James Devereau and Liam Bobby were able to overcome Tom to take 2 consolation points for Peel. Ramsey F remains 2nd in the table.
Picture below (credit to Malcolm Lambert) - 'Ege Niyazi was on form again last week for Copy Shop E'
