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

18th November 2008
FOURTH DIVISION ST MARY’S SCUPPER DIVISION ONE LEADERS IN HANDICAP CUP!

With the Colchester & District Table Tennis League reaching the half way stage it was the Team Handicap that came to the fore this week. This season’s competition, like the Team Knockout cup, will be held in groups for the first time and it’s just as well for Division One leaders Gt Horkesley A as they were beaten by local village rivals St Mary’s B from the Fourth Division 6-3. Young James Wilkinson was their star as he completed the night unbeaten, winning both his singles and doubles. Richard Goodhand replied with two wins for Horkesley, incredibly both in two straight sets despite having to concede a seventeen point start to Simon Smith and a fifteen point deficit to Ray Cole! It was the doubles that made the difference with the Bergholt team winning all three encounters and in spite of some tough handicapping, Gt Horkesley took defeat graciously. Another top flight team lost to lower opposition as Pegasus D won 5-4 in Group B despite some brave resistance by H20 Rowhedge B. Rowhedge stormed into a two point lead but Nigel Parmenter was the man-of-the-match winning his two singles as Pegasus took four of the last five games and that was a hard fought 25-23 win for Mike Shore over Rich Richie! In an all Division One clash Graham Farmer enjoyed his handicap as he won all four games he was involved in as his Rayne team edged out St Mary’s A 5-4. Greg Green won his two singles for St Mary’s but once again it was the doubles wins that gave the Braintree team the edge. In Group 6 there was an all Lawford battle and it was the ‘B’ team that came out on top of their ‘A’ team 7-2. P Sear led the way with four good wins, ably supported by Peter Armes and Phil Daley. H20 Rowhedge D had little trouble in dispensing Pegasus E 9-0, John Stubbings making a rare appearance, unbeaten. A much younger H20 Rowhedge F team hammered Division Three leaders St Peters 8-1 with Andrew Harvey and Brett Angel undefeated.

Back to League matters and Division Four is dominated by H20 Rowhedge with the ‘G’ and ‘H’ teams sitting pretty in first and second. Hatfield Peverel import Colin Powell is incredibly unbeaten playing for both teams! Playing for the ‘G’ team he took Ray Cole’s one hundred percent record in a 6-4 win over St Mary’s D and then led them to a similar score line against Gt Horkesley E. Third placed Pegasus E went down 7-3 to H20 Rowhedge H, Chris Chandler wining his three. Sam Burrows and Thomas Lewis scored maximum points in a 9-1 win over bottom team Lawford E. Pegasus regained some ground with a 9-1 thrashing of lowly Lawford D thanks mainly to Stan Flint and Derek Miller. St Mary’s D consolidated fourth place, drawing 5-5 with Gt Horkesley D as Ray Cole got back to maximum ways. Gt Horkesley E are fifth with games in hand and they made light work of CRGS B with Chris Jones undefeated. CRGS B recorded their first win of the season, 8-2 at home to Lawford E with Joshua Chan collecting his first maximum. Previous to this they had drawn at Gt Horkesley B, George Waldie winning his first treble. Finally, the two Lawford teams met to decide who would hold the wooden spoon for Christmas and it was the ‘D’ team who came out 6-4 winners over the ‘E’ team with Nigel Foakes winning his three.