A large crowd of spectators gathered at Melbourne Athletics Stadium on Friday 19 March for the final of the CLICK KO Cup competition. And a great night it turned out to be with some very good table tennis from the two sides, Danbury L and Excalibur Knights. The competition, in just its second season, is run on a handicap basis. The two teams emerged from the original 15 team entries after 2 knock out group stages without either loosing a match on the way to the final. So they looked well matched and the handicaps allocated suggested there was little between them.   

The final was umpired by the League's own Tournament Organiser and County Umpire Arthur Clarke, with family members and friends cheering the players on.

Neither team having played in a final before it was going to be interesting to see how they would perform before a crowd and under pressure. And with 3 of the 4 players enjoying their first full season of table tennis nerves and inexperience could just have a part to play. 

Drawn as the home side, Danbury L started the evening off with their No.1 player James Gatheral, who has had a tremendous second half of the season in the CLICK League - particularly when you remember this is his first season of table tennis. But he faced Stewart Hiskey for the Knights in his third season in CLICK and just about breaking into League standard. This was really the battle of the No.1's. Stewart made an immediate mark, narrowly taking the first end 12:10. But James hit back, and with some aggressive forehand play and controlled backhand, and surprising errors starting to creep into Stewart's game, he sailed through the next three ends 7,7 & 5 to take the opening game. A fine win for two evenly matched opponents played off scratch handicap. Chris Butler was next for Knights taking on Ben Bayley. Both of these players have shown very significant improvement over the CLICK season and again were evenly matched, but with Chris having a very small advantage on handicap. Chris made the handicap work in the first end taking the set 7:11. But Ben hit back with a fighting display to see off the handicap and even the score 11:9. Encouraged by the crowd Chris was not for giving in. Taking the next two ends 5 and 7 to level the match. 

For Stewart, the most experienced of the quartet, this was however to be a nightmare of an evening when nothing seemed to go right. Giving Ben a small points advantage in the next game he found himself well beaten 7,5 & 4. And so it was back to Chris again to try and keep Excalibur in the match. And what a fight he made of it. James played brilliant against the handicap to take the first two ends 6 & 7. But Chris was neither down nor out. Stealing the next two ends 9 & 9 in daring style much to the delight of the crowd. One more end and the match was even. James however had other ideas. With ice cool determination he began to force errors and with the 11up game you can't afford too many. In the end it was Chris's nerve that broke, James running out 3:2 winner at 11:7 in the fifth. 

So it was game set and match to Danbury L 3:1. An excellent achievement by the two boys in their first season of competitive play. Despite the presence of both the League Chairman (Richard Hiskey) and League President (Norman Smith) - supporting their respective clubs, Excalibur and Danbury, the trophies were presented by Acting Divisional Secretary Graham Turner - the CLICK KO Cup organiser. 

The applause of the crowd showed just how much they had enjoyed the evening and the effort put in by all four players. The pictures below tell their own story. 

 

It takes two teams to make a final, and Excalibur Knights  played their part in making this final an excellent match. Stewart Hiskey (centre) and Chris Butler (right) are seen here receiving their runners-up award from Divisional Secretary Graham Turner.

 

One of the best features about CLICK this season has been the level of support for the teams from family, friends and other club members. And this was certainly the case for the KO Cup Final where over 20 people gathered to watch the match, including representatives of just about every team in the CLICK competition. You have to really look hard in the picture though to find all of the CLICK Team Secretaries represented.

 

	Chris Butler (Excalibur) warms up his favoured forehand ready for the Final
For Stewart Hiskey (Excalibur) the CLICK Cup Final was to turn into something of a nightmare! One of those evenings when nothing would go right however hard you try.
	Preparing for the doubles it's not clear that James & Ben (Danbury) have it quite right. Perhaps it's just as well they didn't have to face the final doubles for the match!