Press Report

A very strong Maldon A side came up with an excellent performance by defeating Rawreth a 8-2 in the top division of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League. Inform County Veteran Dave Bowles led the way by staying undefeated and his team-mates Keiran Lally and Hamish Innes both won twice. Bowles set the ball rolling for the Goldhanger team as he opened proceedings with a fine 3-1 win over Duncan Taylor. Keiran Lally almost marked what has been a rare appearance this season with a hat-trick, and he just succumbed to Taylor 11-6, 11-7, 3-11, 2-11, 12-14, as Duncan produced an excellent fight-back. Maldon's chief rivals for second place - Elmtree Graphics A also won 8-2, and they beat Danbury B with John Holland and Vytas Rybakas both staying undefeated. Ian Whiteside and Dave Jacobs both took the former Chelmsford Mens Singles Champion Vytas the full distance before missing out in the fifth end. Elsewhere leaders ECC A had to field a reserve for their match with Baddow Village A but with 2006 Chelmsford Mens Singles Champion David Cole and Steve Joslin both giving nothing away they were still able to win 7-3.

The battle to avoid relegation could well go all the way to the last week of the season and there was little to choose between two of the sides involved when Excalibur A met Writtle A. Excalibur's Gary Young excelled by taking his three singles but it wasn't quite enough and doubles for Gary Ward and Kevin Worthington enabled Writtle to shade the match 6-4. Tony Halling's three-straight victory over Vytas Rybakas in the Mens Singles Quarter-Final was one of the main talking points of this year's M&G Investments Chelmsford Closed Tournament and the two players met again in the build-up to the event. This time it was Vytas who edged it, scraping home 11-4, 6-11, 7-11, 11-4, 13-11. This victory completed a good night for Elmtree Graphics A as they emerged as 7-3 winners over Rawreth.

This week's division two matches produced five sets of clear-cut winners. Hatfield Peverel A really had the bit between their teeth as they hammered ECC C 9-1 with Peter Brownlow and John Parodi both staying undefeated. ECC C found it equally tough against Baddow Village B and Gary Brignall's five game victory over Alistair Piper was the total of their success. Julie Vansertima and Adrian Pitt were both undefeated for the Baddow Village side with Julie giving a precursor of the excellent form that she displayed in the Championships. ECC D were succesful in their match against Baddow Village B, winning 9-1. Keith Spicer, an impressive Winner of the Handicap Singles at the Championships scored a hat-trick and his tight opening game win over Alastair Piper by a 9-11, 12-14, 11-9, 11-8, 12-10 margin undoubtedly set his team up for a succesful evening. Lowly Excalibur B will be pleased to have picked up two games against Billericay. Richard Hiskey came good with a 3-0 win over Marilyn Bawden and Kevin Smart impressed with an excellent 3-0 win over Ray Eldridge. An undefeated Keith Ashton held the Billericay side together. Leaders Danbury C were also 8-2 winners, as they beat E2V Technologies. Dave Richardson, made a rare appearance for the works team and he made his presence felt with two fine three-straight wins over Eric Green and Dave Finlayson.

Division three leaders OCs A almost came unstuck against Hatfield Peverel B. Steve Northcott was the difference between the two sides and he stayed undefeated. OCs reserve Nat Ravlic made his mark with a hard-fought 11-7, 2-11, 10-12, 11-9, 12-10 victory over Greg Green. Matthew Brown was another player to take a hat-trick as he led Writtle B to a 7-3 victory over Danbury E. He received excellent support from team-mate Hector Rogers who scored fine wins over Herbie Smith and Janet Pannell.

It will be a major surprise if ECC D fail to capture the division four title. They showed how far they are ahead of their rivals by defeating Writtle C 9-1 and OCs B 8-2. Andy Hanlon and Gary Copsey were both undefeated in the match against Writtle whilst Andy Fox did well to prevent the whitewash by beating Russell Forde 11-9, 12-10, 11-8 in the last game of the night. Neil Thompson and Gus Heath joined Russell Forde when they played OCs B and Forde stayed undefeated this time. John Watts was involved in three nail-biting finishes. He opened his account with an 11-9 in the fifth set win over Gus Heath but in his second singles he missed out 12-10 in the decider to Russell Forde. His last game of the evening was equally close but it was Neil Thompson who edged home 3-11, 11-6, 11-8, 10-12, 11-9. Fast improving Bradley Hudgell was the difference between the two sides as Baddow Village E edged out ECC F 6-4. Allan Thompson gave Hudgell his most competitive test before missing out 12-10, 5-11, 9-11, 10-12. Danbury H produced a fine collective team-effort to beat Hatfield Peverel C 9-1.Five games were decided in a fifth end and Danbury won four of them. Glen Laing and Tim Pulham were both undefeated.

Tom Hill, such an impressive winner of the Under 16 Singles in the Closed Championships has not been able to replicate that form in the League matches this season, although he came close to doing so in ECC H's 3-7 defeat against Hatfield Peverel D in division five. Wins over Mike Bard (3-2) and Dave Bridge (3-1) kept his team in contention but in his third singles he was a surprise loser to the much-improved Colin Powell by a 10-12, 10-12, 10-12 margin. Powell added to his tally of wins by beating Lorna Staff 3-0 but he missed out 8-11, 7-11, 10-12 to Dacre Pell. 10-0 results have been pretty rare in recent weeks but the experienced Danbury J side turned on the style to overwhelm Baddow Village F. On this occasion it was a case of the Danbury side of John Robinson, Norman Hayes and Roger Tiffin having that little bit too much know-how. ECC G were also handsome 9-1 winners with Ian Rogers and Mick Storey both taking their three singles. Anne Lockhart saved her sides's blushes by winning the last game of the evening, fighting back from 2-1 behind to beat Colin Barham 3-2.

Danbury K took no chances in their division six clash with Baddow Village K. They turned out their best side of Peter Sun, Roger Tiffin and David Gatherall and Baddow Village K were never able to get on terms. An early five game success for Alex Stone over David Gatherall was all they could muster as Danbury romped home 9-1. The match between Ingatestone Excalibur and Baddow Village H was something of a rarity in a match that wasn't decided 10-0 as all ten games were decided three-straight. The match ended 8-2 in Ingatestone Exclaibur's favour after Jamie Cheesman had taken his threee singles. Ron Arthur fared best of the Baddow players beating both Chris Butler and Stewart Hiskey.

Baddow Village O, Baddow Village M and Hylands were all clear-cut winners in the CLICK League this week. Hylands employed a three player team and their squad of Colin Matthews, Aaron Piper and Edward White beat Baddow Village O 5-0. Not deterred by this defeat Baddow Village O in turn managed to beat Ingatestone 4-1 with an undefeated Claire Austin leading the way this time. Baddow Village M complete this week's results and they ran out convincing 5-0 winners against OCs G. Tom Lee and Matt Davis were both undefeated.