Press Report

A full strength Elmtree Graphics A side turned in the best performance in division one of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League this week as they hammered promoted Bocking A 9-1. Bocking were tipped as possible outsiders for the title but they made little impression on this occasion. Vytas Rybakas and John Holland were both undefeated and Paul Lucas only lost once, going down in four ends to Peter Hayden's clever touch-play. James Mullane failed to get on the scoresheet but he came close to causing a sensation, taking a 2-1 lead against Essex's top Junior player Vytas Rybakas and only losing the fourth end 11-8. Vytas eventually took command in the fifth end winning comfortably 11-3. Kevin Gowlett, so impressive in division two last season also worked really hard and he pushed Lucas all the way to 11-9 in the fifth end but was ultimately unable to register a win. A new-look Danbury B also turned in an impressive performance as they beat Writtle A 8-2, Andrew Halling stayed undefeated and he received excellent support from Jon Hill and David Jacobs who both won twice. Last year's Champions ECC A made it two wins out of two as they beat Excalibur A 7-3, although unusually for them they were only able to field two players. New signing - BATTS Team Peniel British League Premier Division star, Neil Charles won his three singles fairly comfortably as you would expect.

E2V Technologies have made a promising start in division two, and they sailed through their second fixture by beating Bocking B 8-2. Dave Richardson was again undefeated whilst Barrie Pritchard who beat both Ivan Chaplin and Mo Hardy replied for the losers. A very strong Danbury C really went to town this week, as they hammered Excalibur B 10-0, as their line-up of Eric Green, Andrew Halling and Dave Finlayson had things pretty much all their own way.

The division three meeting between ECC D and Writtle B finished all square. Writtle's Chris Hibbitt played the starring role here as he won his three singles with excellent

victories over Trevor Roberts, Peter Layzell and John Wickens. ECC's Trevor Roberts, who previously played for the defunct Chelmer TTC some 20 years ago marked his return to the Chelmsford League with two excellent successes over Matthew Brown and Hector Rogers.

OCs C, led by an undefeated John Watts scraped home 6-4 in division four. Watts, who a couple of years ago was holding his own in division two should do well at this level and it is difficult to see him losing too many games. There was an upset at Eves Corner where Danbury H did very well to get the better of their colleagues Danbury F 7-3. Tim Pulham and Glen Laing both took their three singles with impressive displays. In the words of Danbury H's non-playing Captain John Knights "Tim played as well as I have ever seen him play, the only thing he did wrong all night was catch his Captain's hands with the Table as the Table was put away !". .... Ouch !

Division five produced three close matches, which all finished with 6-4 wins to the Home side. Writtle D had Martin Goddard undefeated as they beat Hatfield Peverel D, whilst Excalibur D's Ian Butler won his three singles against Baddow Village F. Baddow Village F's win over Baddow Village G on the other hand, owed a lot to team-effort as Same Pitt (two wins), Richard Upson (one win) and Haydn Upson (two wins) combined well to counter the three singles that Mike Robinson picked up for the G side.

Division six saw two sides score impressive wins, and it has to be said that both teams looked a little strong for the lowest division of the main League. ECC J were bolstered by the inclusion of Cecil Butcher into their line-up and no surprises here, he remained undefeated against Ingatestone Boys Club/Excalibur Combined as ECC ran out 7-3 winners. The overall strength of the Danbury K was also very impressive for division six and there was little surprise that their team of Peter Sun, David Gatherall and James Gatherall beat Ingatestone Boys Club/Excalibur Combined 9-1. James Cheeseman made his mark for the losers with a 3-0 win over James Gatherall.

Newcomers OCs G made a great start in the CLICK League as they beat Baddow Village N 4-1. Alex Law with two wins and Andy Law who won once both impressed whilst Scott Dowsett replied for the losers. Baddow Village M went one better taking all five games against OCs H with Claire Austin and Tom Lee both staying undefeated. Claire had to pull out all the stops before she finally got the better of Kane Lambert 11-7, 12-10, 4-11, 8-11, 11-9. OCs H also tasted success as they beat Baddow Village N 3-2.This time Kane Lambert won his two singles beating both Scott Dowsett and Matthew Davis.