News & Views from the Colchester Table Tennis League
with Press Officer Martyn Green

13th October-2008
THREE WAY BID FOR DIVISION ONE HONOURS

With all three of the top teams winning this week, remaining unbeaten, surely there will be a new name on the Division One trophy of the Colchester & District Table Tennis League. Gt Horkesley A lead by seven points following a commanding 8-2 win over Walton B. There star player Richard Goodhand completed his fourth straight maximum and was joined by Jimmy Farrow although both were pushed to five sets in one of each of their games, Goodhand by Neil Crook and Farrow by John Rice. H20 Rowhedge B are second as they accounted for Gt Horkesley’s B team 7-3 with Michael Andrews the only player to beat Horkesley debutant Ian Brown in five sets as he won his three. Steadily moving up the table are H20 Rowhedge C and they are just four points behind their ‘B’ team with a game in hand as they hammered their beleaguered ‘A’ team 9-1. David Moss and Alan Burgess were undefeated but there was a good first win for Sam Clarke as he downed John Andrews in three straight sets game 3, 5 & 7! Rayne and St Mary’s A are joint fourth and they were inseparable when the two met at West Bergholt . The highlight of the evening was Gary Young’s four set win over Steve Kerns as Young’s maximum sealed a 5-5 draw. In an unbelievable doubles encounter Young and Greg Green surrendered a two-set to one and 10-5 lead in the fourth end winning only one point from the next nineteen available to Kerns and Steve Elms which leaves their team still looking for their first match win! Walton A beat Gt Horkesley B 7-3 to jump over them thanks mainly to a majestic John Rice treble. Chris Gouldthorpe won two on debut for Horkesley including an impressive five set win over Martin Hogg who was also surprisingly beaten by Michael Rostoft.

H20 Rowhedge D march on in Division Two, beating Tollesbury A 7-3 without Fred Button. Phil Smith completed fifteen straight wins with Neil Grandy putting up stiff resistance winning two. Ten points back are Gt Horkesley C who matched Rowhedge with a 7-3 defeat of Pegasus B. Lorrie Austin scored his first maximum of the season and the prodigious Wuidong Liu joined him. Pegasus A are five points behind with a game in hand, remarkably still unbeaten as they overcame Lawford A 6-4. No player went through the evening unbeaten, the highlights Clive Forster’s 13-11 fifth end win and Steve Noble’s three set defeat of Graham Mortimer. Jobserve recorded their first win at the fifth attempt beating bottom team Clairmont 6-4. Roger Warren won his three, the best of which was a straight sets win over Paul Tracey, who won two.

In Division Three St Peters have hit the top with Dave Jones scoring back-to-back triples as his side overpowered Tollesbury B 9-1. Ed Rudge is another man on a mission as he secured three wins for H20 Rowhedge F who are fourth in a tremendous 7-3 win over second placed Pegasus B. Tollesbury B drop to third as four points separate the top five. Lawford B beat St Mary’s B 7-3 to join the quintet with Mark Nowers ominously winning his first three. Marlene Smith’s two five sets wins stood out for the West Bergholt side. Bottom side Lawford C leapfrogged CRGS A with a 7-3 victory courtesy of Len Betts three wins.

H20 Rowhedge G came out on top in both senses of the word as they won the Rowhedge battle 7-3 against their ‘H’ team. Jess Page won three emulated by Derek Miller and Andrew Cousins in second placed Pegasus B’s 8-2 win over Lawford E. Gt Horkesley E jump up four places.