Press Report

Third-placed Maldon A are making a concerted effort to capture the second spot in the first division of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League. 10-0 results have been pretty rare this year but the Maldon trio of Dave Bowles, Hamish Innes and Lee Prentice managed it against Excalibur A. Maldon added another eight points to their haul as they beat Danbury B 8-2, as they turned in another strong performance with Bowles and Innes again taking all their singles. However, they met their match in Bocking A who fielded both Peter Hayden and Rik James. Worse still, Peter and Rik were both firing on all cylinders and they both stayed undefeated as Maldon missed out 7-3.

Excalibur A's Nigel Lamb produced his best performance of the season as he took his three singles against Rawreth. It wasn't quite enough as Rawreth shaded the match 6-4, but the "enigmatic Lamb" (sounds like a dish at a Tandoori restaurant) will still be delighted with his evening's work as he beat Josh Lovett, Graeme Hurry and Steve Maltby. Lovett's is not a particularly well-known name in the Chelmsford area just yet but in the Southend League his is the name on everyone's lips. He recently won their Mens Singles title with a superb Final victory over the legendary Stuart Gibbs. Elsewhere, second-placed Elmtree Graphics A also won this week although Baddow Villages's Peter Barrett excelled by beating both Vytas Rybakas and Steve Willis as Elmtree had to settle for an 8-2 victory. Bocking understandably weren't so impressive without Hayden and James in their line-up and they missed out 7-3 against Danbury B, although Kevin Gowlett gave a demonstration of just how well he is playing at present. He scored excellent wins over all three Danbury players - Tony Forster, Jon Hill and Ian Whiteside. There were no surprises when the leaders ECC A played Writtle A and their all-star trio of Neil Charles, Paul Davison and Steve Joslin cruised home 10-0.

Billericay's Alex Green turned on the full power against Maldon B in division two. Over the nine ends of his three singles he conceded a mere 34 points and one suspects he is rather looking forward to pitting his talents against the best first division players next season. Ray Eldridge was also undefeated as Billericay won 8-2 although Babul McCleod hit back with a three straight win against Keith Ashton. With Eldridge and Marilyn Bawden again staying undefeated Billericay were also 8-2 winners over Bocking B, a scoreline that their rivals Danbury C matched when they played the Bocking team. Bocking's Barry Pritchard excelled as he beat both Dave Calleja and Dave Finlayson. Pritchard's fight-back against Finlayson where he came through to win 6-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-7, 16-14 was the best match of the night. E2V Technologies produced one of their best displays of the season as they beat the higher-placed Baddow Village B 8-2. With Dave Richardson in their line-up E2V are invariably a tough nut to crack and Richardson showed his class as he beat Julie Vansertima, Ray Lawrence and Alastair Piper. The game looks to be up for bottom-placed Excalibur B after they lost to ECC B, one of the teams that they would realistically have to have beaten to have avoided relegation. The match was well contested with only two games decided three-straight but it was ECC's Keith Spicer, Trevor Collin and Bryn Thomas who won handsomely 8-2.

After a recent blip leaders ECC E turned in another top-class performance in division four. Elmtree Graphics B were brushed aside 9-1 as Gary Copsey and Russell Forde both stayed undefeated. Second-placed OCs C also faced Elmtree Graphics and they were also successful although they had to settle for a 8-2 win. John Watts remained undefeated whilst Tony Vassallo hit back by beating Nat Ravlic and Adrian North. Division Four Down Champion Bradley Hudgell has been one of the success stories of the season and he was on target again as Baddow Village E drew with Hatfield Peverel C. Third-placed Danbury H look unlikely to make any impact on the two leading sides but they won again this week, beating bottom-placed Writtle C 8-2. Glen Laing won his singles to ensure that Danbury stayed in control throughout the match. Writle fought hard against Baddow Village F and with two players did well to pick up three games. It was no surprise that Bradley Hudgell was again undefeated.

Second-placed Danbury J produced a storming performance in division five as they hammered third-placed Excalibur D 9-1, a result that has really scuppered Excalibur's hopes of gaining promotion. An inform David Gatherall and John Skuse were both undefeated as Danbury came very close to winning 10-0. Keith Fitzjohn saved Excalibur's blushes as he edged home 11-7, 6-11, 7-11, 11-5, 13-11 against Roger Tiffin. With a different line-up Danbury also beat Baddow Village G 8-2. Bob Partridge looks rather strong for this level and stayed undefeated whilst his team-mate Ray Beckwith followed suit. Bottom side Writtle D scored their fourth win of the season, a 7-3 success over their nearest rivals Baddow Village F. However it was Rykki Vansertima's win which impressed most. Rykki came back from a two game mauling to beat Martin Goddard 5-11, 2-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-9. There was no joy for Writtle against EPHQ either. Strong undefeated performances from Ian Hockley and Francis Whitbread saw EPHQ remain in control. And as is often the case the struggling team was not blessed with any luck and Writtle had the misfortune to lose four games deep in the fifth end. Writtle did better against Excalibur D amd scored a fine 7-3 victory. None of the Writtle players were able to get the better of Ian Butler but Martin Goddard, Anne Lockhart and Wendy Hibbitt all won twice in what was a very impressive performance. Elsewhere, Hatfield Peverel D did well to beat the higher placed OCs D 6-4. Dave Fillery was relatively unpushed as he coasted through his three singles.

Danbury K look to have wrapped things up in division six. Another comfortable win, a resounding 9-1 success against Baddow Village J has seen them pull a massive 20 points clear of Baddow Village L and they have a game in hand as well. Roger Tiffin (three wins), David Gatherall (three wins) and James Gatherall (two wins) all contributed to an excellent Danbury team-performance. Third-placed Baddow Village K have probably surrendered any hopes they had of gaining promotion after losing 10-0 to a young ECC J side. Tommy O'Donnell and brother/sister duo Dacre and Stevie Pell didn't put a foot wrong as they hammered the Baddow side. Meanwhile, second-placed Baddow Village L scored a work-manlike 8-2 win over Ingatestone Exclaibur as their four-player side of Matt Skeoch, Hannah Pitt, Richard Napper and Adam Pitt all played a part in their victory. Baddow Village H were also winners this week, as they also beat the out-of-form Baddow Village K side 7-3. An unbeaten Ron Arthur completed an excellent evening's work by winning all three of his singles 3-1.

It is still neck and neck in the CLICK League between Hylands School and Baddow Village M. Hylands School lead the table by three points although Baddow Village M have a game in hand. Hylands School added 13 points to their total by winning three times. Danny Harman was their best player against OCs H where they won 4-1, and he beat both Kane Lambert and Jack Preston. Lambert was on target with an opening game victory over Danny Petit. Hylands used a three man team against Excalibur and they went one better by winning 5-0. Chris Lee, Danny Harman and Danny Petit all contributed to their victory. And they added another four points as they beat Baddow Village N 4-1. This time Colin Matthews, Aaron Piper and Edward White won all four singles between them although Piper and White missed out over five ends in a hard-fought doubles encounter against Scott Dowsett and Damien Laverty. Baddow Village M were also impressive winners and they took all five games against Danbury L. Their three-man team of Gavin Trod, Tom Lee and Matt Davis all kept clean sheets on this occasion. And it was a similar story when OCs G overcame Ingatestone Boys Club. Alex Law and Andy Law ran out 5-0 winners.