'Shooter Jnr outshines Shooter Snr’
Week 5 of the Fun88 sponsored IOM Table Tennis Association league saw another round of singles fixtures in Divisions 1 & 2, with the usual singles and doubles fixtures in Division 3. Strathallan A are now 2 points clear of Ramsey A in Division 1, whilst in Division 2, only 1 point separates Travellers C from Peel A. In Division 3, Travellers D are well ahead of their nearest rival. Highlights of each fixture is summarised below, with full match details and statistics to be found at www.tabletennis365.com/IOM
Division 1
Travellers A (7) Travellers B (2)
The A team was without 2 of it’s regular players which meant that John Shooter played up for the home side, whilst Keeran Chan played up from the C team. This resulted in an unexpected clash between father and son John & Will Shooter - and (perhaps) an unexpected result when Will pipped his Dad in the 5th! A tremendous scalp for Will, battling back from 2-1 down to take the final 2 ends 11-9. Will has been in excellent form recently and will now have some well earned bragging rights over his Dad! Scott Lewis was also pitted against his father, Malc in this tie. Despite being stretched at times, Island No1 Scott came out the winner in 4 ends, retaining his 100% record so far this season. Luke Begley also played up for the B team and did well to push each of his opponents.
Ramsey A (6) Arbory A (3)
Adam Teare proved once again he is a tough man to beat in this tie - he remains unbeaten this season. He saw off Sonja Shaw in 3 ends, before edging past Jason Quirk also in straight games 11-9, 14-12, 11-6. Teare saved his best for his final match with Mike Tamarov however. At 2 games apiece, Tamarov clawed his way back into the final game after being 5-9 down, after some top class attacking play. He was foiled at the death however by a determined Teare who re-grouped to see through the final 2 points, taking it 12-10 for the match. Elsewhere, Duncan Alexander did well to take points off Jason and Sonja, both in 3 ends. Tamarov was in supreme form once again though, and was too strong for Alexander, whom he beat decisively in 3 ends. Mike’s second point came from his win over Rebecca Taylor.
Arbory B (2) Strathallan (7)
Arbory’s John Magnall was joined by Dan Levine, and Malcolm Lambert who was playing up from the C team. John saw off Neil Quane in 3 ends, as he did against an off-colour Andy Patterson. Lambert did really well to push Julian Briercliffe to a 5th game before being edged out 8-11. He did the same to Andy who just managed to pip the gritty Arbory player 14-12 in the final end. Player of the Match was Julian though, who came away with 3 wins.
Tower B (0) Tower A (9)
This match was a critical one in the fight for survival at the bottom end of the table. Tower A will therefore have been delighted to take all 9 points. Ken Mitchell was pushed to a 5th game by a dogged Steve Curtis, but other than that all but one match were concluded by Messrs Parsons, Mitchell & Bayley in straight ends. The win pulls Tower A within 2 points of 6th placed Arbory B, and 3 behind Strathallan who sit in 5th place. Tower B remains firmly at the foot of the table.
Division 2
JRTE Marketing A (6) Arbory C (3)
Darren Smethurst was once again untroubled in his matches for JRTE. Arbory were unfortunate to be without some key players due to illness, so it was down to Kevin Drewry and Bob Borland to hold the fort - but they had to forfeit 3 points. Kevin did well to defeat Paul Mitchinson and Cameron Millar without dropping a game. Bob came unstuck against Mitchinson, losing in straight ends, but made amends by taking his match against Millar with room to spare.
Arbory D (6) Ramsey C (3)
Arbory D were also affected by illness and were able to field 2 only players, and thus also forfeited 3 points. The home side’s Malcolm Lambert did incredibly well on the night to not only take his 3 matches, but he also played up (as detailed above) for Arbory B, so he had a rather busy night! He swept aside Geoff Burchill and Darren Shaw in straight ends, before taking his third point by defeating a stubborn Keith Herrington in 3 closely fought ends. Mike Levine backed up Lambert extremely well to also take his 3 points. He dropped games against Herrington and Burchill but got across the line in both matches in relative comfort.
Travellers C (5) Peel A (4)
Travellers C were vying for top spot with Peel A in this clash of the titans - and the scoreline demonstrated why only one point separates them. Dave Lovelady was the only player to come away unbeaten as he breezed through his matches with Jon Taylor Burt, Stu Perry and Ken Hegarty. There is simply no stopping him at the moment. Paul Mathieson-Nelson didn’t have it quite so easy but did notch up 2 good wins for the home side against Hegarty and Perry - the latter tussle going down to a final game. Paul came unstuck against Taylor Burt, who pulled out all the stops against the gritty Travellers player, winning 11-9, 8-11, 14-12, 11-7. Dave Buck was unable to add to the home side’s tally, so they had to settle for a 5-4 win, which means they are just 1 point ahead of Peel at the top of Division 2.
Ramsey B (3) Desmonds Douglas A (6)
Ramsey’s Geoff Ball, Adrian Slater and Lisa Lord came out second best against a powerful performance from the Desmonds trio Neil Ronan, Brandon Montgomery and Russ Kent. Ronan had an excellent night, winning all his 3 matches, and was backed up well by Kent who won 2, and Montgomery who won 1. Match of the night was between Ball and Kent with the Desmonds player just edging it 11-8 in the 5th end after being pegged back from 0-2 down by a determined Ball.
Division 3
Ramsey E (5) Ramsey D (0)
Saul Tumblety came back from losing the first game 13-15 against Pat Helliwell, to take the next 3 and the match. He then did likewise against Tony Sewell to take his second point. Teddy Clayton also managed to beat Tony and Pat in 3 ends, before teaming up with Saul to take the doubles, and a clean sweep 5-0 result.
JRTE Marketing B (4) Travellers G (1)
Cameron Millar of JRTE defeated young Max Doyle in straight ends, before being taken to a 5th end by a determined Tom Taylor Burt. He fought off his young Travellers opponent after a reset, and took the final game 11-5 for the match. Gary Skillicorn also managed to beat Max in 3 games, but was defeated by a delighted Tom 6-11, 7-11, 7-11.
Travellers D (5) Travellers F (0)
Maurice Campbell and Margaret Forsyth continued their dominance of Division 3 with another strong performance, albeit poor Sydnie Weaver found herself playing solo in this tie, due to illness. This meant that the F team unfortunately had to forfeit 3 points. Maurice and Margaret deepened the woe by then taking both points against a hapless Sydnie.
Photo : Will Shooter of Travellers B beat Dad John last week (photo by Malcolm Lambert)
