Press Report

Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League second division leaders Baddow Village A were brought crashing down to earth by second-placed Bocking A. These two teams will almost certainly go on to gain promotion and most first division players will find this result intruiging. That a team containing such respected players as Peter Barrett, Waseem Qureshi and Neil Gooday should be beaten 8-2 suggests that their opponents were of the highest order. Step into the arena - Peter Hayden, Kevin Gowlett and James Mullane. Right from the first game where Mullane scored an outstanding 6-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9 victory over Gooday it was the Bocking team who were calling the shots. Gowlett who has been outstanding all season duly took his three singles and Peter Hayden who seems to be re-discovering the zest for the game which made him one of the best players in the County twenty years ago followed suit. OCs A and E2V Technologies have both slipped down the table and neither team won this week as both were involved in close fought matches where players "traded wins". OCs missed out 6-4 against ECC C for whom Gary Brignall and Ken James both won twice whilst E2V also went down 6-4 to a Maldon team in which Jenny Harrison and John Cleasby both picked up doubles. Baddow Village A returned to winning ways against ECC B. Division two-down Champion Peter Barrett took his three singles to make sure Baddow stayed in control as they won 7-3. Baddow Village B were also impressive 8-2 winners over Hatfield Peverel B. Adrian Pitt was unbeaten, whilst Eric Green with excellent wins over Julie Vansertima and Alastair Piper fared best of the Hatfield Peverel players with wins in the first and last singles. Peverel Captain Neil Freeman summed it up perfectly -" Great start, great ending, what went wrong in the middle ?".

Three teams face real battles to avoid relegation from division one, and it is Writtle A who have the easiest run-in who appear to have the best chance of avoiding demotion. Writtle did themselves a power of good by turning in a masterful performance in beating bottom-placed Hatfield Peverel A 8-2. Kevin Worthington was their strong-man taking his three singles as Writtle raced into a 7-0 lead. It just wasn't the Peverel side's night as Trevor Carter and Gary Ward both won twice to make sure that Writtle took full advantage. Trevor Carter excelled by beating John Gagg 11-5, 12-10, 11-7 whilst Worthington made his mark with a superb 11-6, 11-9, 16-14 success over Peter Brwonlow. Elsewhere the lower placed sides found life distinctly tough. Leaders ECC A (represented by Steve Joslin, Steve Kerns and Paul Davison) beat both Hatfield Peverel A and Billericay 10-0 whilst Excalibur A managed to beat Billericay 8-2. Gary Young and Tim Pang both stayed undefeated as Billericay had to be content with two singles victories. Keith Ashton and Brian Cole both beat Nigel Lamb, decent wins but not the results that Billericay were hoping for in a game where they might have been hopeful of securing a draw. Maldon A had the "evergreen" Ray Murray to thank as they beat Danbury B 6-4. Ray making what has been a rare appearance this season took his three singles, downing Ian Whiteside 11-7, 11-9, 5-11, 13-11 in the last game of the night to secure the Maldon victory. Jon Hill who has hit a rich vein of form made his mark with a fine 11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 14-12 success over the redoubtable Peter Ballard.

OCs B closed to within three points of leaders Excalibur B in the low-scoring division three where there is amazingly only eleven points covering the top and bottom-placed teams. OCs stormed into a 4-0 lead and although Excalibur fought back strongly OCs had enough in hand to take the match 6-4. No single player remained undefeated and therefore the 11-5, 10-12, 11-8, 12-10 doubles success achieved by John Watts and Adrian North against Richard Hiskey and Linda Murray proved vital. Linda impressed with 3-0 singles wins over both Watts and North. The two bottom teams met and in such a competitive division it was no surprise that the match ended all square. Excalibur C's Mike Rostoft took his three singles whilst Neil Thompson and Russell Forde with two wins apiece fared best of the ECC E players. ECC E also did well to hold Baddow Village D to a draw with Baddow's debutant Steve Muth remaining undefeated. Muth was also in the Baddow Village line-up in their 8-2 win over win over ECC D and his three wins combined with a Gareth Joice hat-trick enabled them to win 8-2 If he rediscovers his best form the former Romford first division player will be a major asset and Baddow will have another first division standard player on their hands. Bocking made Baddow Village C pay the penalty for turning up a player short. Robin Armstrong stayed undefeated and he impressed greatly with his 11-7, 11-5, 11-8 victory over Duncan Elloy.

Danbury H top the divisison four table but having suffered two defeats it is Writtle B and Danbury G who are arguably in the driving seat. Danbury H's 6-4 defeat against OCs C saw Tony Cohen score three fine singles wins, his opening game 11-8, 10-12, 14-12, 11-6 victory over Neil Want being particularly notable. Worse followed as they were also beaten 6-4 by lowly EPHQ. Ian Hockley's hard-fought opening game 12-10, 11-13, 11-9, 7-11, 11-4 victory over Jean Chasmer set EPHQ on their way and despite their determined efforts Danbury were never able to get back on even terms. EPHQ were in turn beaten 7-3 by a four-man Danbury F side. Danbury's Terry Hyland excelled by scoring an early 3-1 victory over Francis Whitbread. Third-placed Danbury G were another team to suffer a set-back as they were beaten 6-4 by Elmtree Graphics B. Tony Vassallo held the Elmtree team together by staying undefeated as Brian Ellis and Dave Goody both recorded excellent wins over Colchester League first division player Phil Smith. However, this division was turned on it's head when bottom side ECC F hammered mid-table Baddow Village E 9-1. Allen Thompson and Jeff Lewington both stayed undefeated and Mohammed Mohseni picked up two wins as the ECC side produced their best performance of the season.

The top two teams both picked up four point wins in division five this week. Hatfield Peverel D took no chances against their E team turning out their strongest line-up of Martin and Greg Green as well as Lorrie Austin and it was therefore no surprise that they won 8-2. Martin predictably stayed undefeated whilst Matthew Webber responded for the E team with excellent wins over Greg Green and Lorrie Austin. Second-placed Danbury J also took all four points as they steam-rollered fourth placed ECC G 9-1. Glenn Laing, Mark Wheeler and Tim Pulham all hit top form racing through their nine singles in style. Whoever said that doubles is "a great leveller" certainly had a point, at least as far as this game is concerned as Ian Rogers and Mick Storey combined superbly to score a fine 12-14, 12-10, 11-6, 6-11, 11-8 victory over Laing and Pulham. ECC H are fighting hard to avoid relegation but this week's 7-3 defeat against fellow strugglers Baddow Village F means they face an uphill battle and they probably have too much to do. Baddow's Peter Sun and Mike Robinson dominated.

Bottom side Baddow Village O couldn't add to their points total in the CLICK League as they lost 5-0 to third-placed OCs F. But they put up a fare performance in defeat with Clare Austin giving both Kane Lambert and James Stapley a good run for their money. Clare pushed Kane to four ends before succumbing 5-11, 8-11, 15-13, 10-12 and in an equally determined display she only succumbed 5-11, 7-11, 11-9, 6-11 to James Stapley.

Chelmsford's Junior Girls side of Holly Stubbings (Colchester) plus the home grown talents of Lorna Staff and Laura Pyman made the long trip to the Aldersley Lesiure Centre, Wolverhampton to take part in the second round of the Junior British League Competition and managed to hold onto third placed in division two of the ETTA's top Junior Team Competition. Holly with a superb record of 17 wins out of 20 over the two weekends was the Chelmsford team's top performer, a magnificent record and one that should be a "spring-board" for her to go on to even greater things.Chelmsford became something of the "draw specialists" with seven of their ten matches finishing 3-3. They also came close to holding the Champions Ormesby to a draw, only succumbing 4-2 against the "most" famous Club in the Sport, whose Head Coach Carole Moore was a three times English Ladies Champion as well as being the Coach to the Sport's latest prodigy - the brilliant Paul Drinkhall. Holly played superbly to beat Rachel Greener 3-2 and in equally determined style she prevailed 3-2 against Katherine Lefevre. Lorna Staff wasn't too far away from beating Katherine either, just missing out 11-9, 9-11, 9-11, 5-11. Second-placed Club Mid-Cheshire were a little too strong for Chelmsford although the 5-1 victory flattered them. Holly missed out 11-8, 12-14, 11-5, 9-11, 11-13 after a furious battle against Linsey Pich but she came up trumps 11-7 in the fifth end against Reena Ardeshana, a player she had lost to in the first half of the season. Lorna Staff was desperately unlucky to lose 3-0 to Rachel Baker succumbing 10-12, 12-14, 11-13. They don't come much closer !