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Rawreth A's Kevin Read appears to be running into good form of late and he took the starring role as his side held Maldon A to a draw in the first Division of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League. Read scored three good wins over Paul Sayer, Paul Stephens and Hanish Innes with his opening game 10-12, 11-8, 11-9, 11-7 victory over last Season's Essex Closed Mens Singles Runner-Up Paul Sayer being the pick of his succeses. With Charles Sweeney adding an excellent win over Paul Stephens this match finished all square. Maldon A fared better against Billericay and Billericay's 2-8 defeat sees them slip to bottom place in the table. This time Paul Sayer remained undefeated and Paul Stephens and Lee Prentice both won twice. A four man ECC A side also picked up their biggest win of the Season as they disposed of Billericay 8-2. David Cole and Lucy Wang both took their three singles.

There are no prizes for guessing correctly that Writtle A were again the most convincing Winners in Division two and this week Writtle scored an excellent 9-1 victory over second placed Hatfield Peverel A. Gary Ward and Kevin Worthington both remained undefeated whilst Trevor Carter won twice and only missed out over five ends against John Webber. Slow starting Danbury A are rapidly improving and they did well to beat third placed Hatfield Peverel B 6-4. This match was one of those rare occasions where no one player stayed undefeated and no single player went home without picking up one victory. Danbury's Ian Whiteside came closest to picking up all three singles, and he beat both Greg and Martyn Green and in the last game of the night he just missed out 11-6, 6-11, 11-2, 7-11, 10-12 against Neil Freeman. With Whiteside back in action expect Danbury A to continue to make progress. ECC B did very well to beat the higher placed Chelmsford B 7-3, and pleasingly from their perspective all three of their players contributed equally. Trevor Collin, Ken James and Keith Spicer all picked up two wins. Keith Spicer's 11-9, 10-12, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9 win over Alastair Piper looks to have been the pick of the action whilst Piper also showed his class with an impressive quick-fire 11-6, 11-5, 11-5 victory over Trevor Collin.

Excalibur B have taken over the leadership in Division three after beating ECC E 7-3. Excalibur's Richard Hiskey and Bill Smith both remained undefeated although both players were stretched to see off Colin Blore. Blore missed out to Smith by a 10-12, 6-11, 12-10, 12-10, 10-12 margin and if that wasn't close enough he also lost to Hiskey 6-11, 11-3, 11-6, 13-15, 9-11. Writtle B did well to beat the higher-placed Excalibur C 6-4, and although none of the Writtle players were able to get the better of Michael Rostoft they redressed the balance with Matthew Brown and Chris Hibbitt both winning twice. Meanwhile, ECC D managed to beat ECC E 6-4, a result that overturned the two team's current League placings. Peter Layzell was the ECC D match-Winner as he beat all three ECC E players - Colin Blore, Jeff Lewington and Alan Thompson. It was a similar story when ECC C played ECC D, and this time the C side won 6-4, a reversal of the team's League placings. No single player stayed undefeated although Gus Heath and Holly Stubbings (ECC C) and Pater Layzell and John Wickens (ECC D) all won twice.

Division four leaders Hatfield Peverel D moved further away from their rivals by beating Danbury D 8-2, with Chris Buer and Peter Mynard both taking their three singles. With six games going to a fifth end this match appears to have been more fiercely contested than the scoreline suggests. Danbury F did very well to beat Writtle C 8-2 as both teams had 28 points going into the match. John Robinson and Dave Marsh both picked up hat-tricks for Danbury. Chelmsford E, second to bottom after six games also gave evidence of better things to come as they held Danbury E to a draw. None of the Chelmsford players were able to get the better of Craig Foster but Steve Back (two wins), Bill Wall (one win) and Frank Neill (one win) combined to redress the balance. It was also a case of sharing the points when Danbury F played OCs C. Mark Bohan remained undefeated for OCs whilst Richard Allen and Dave Marsh both won twice for Danbury 

Kings Road A have taken over the leadership of Division five although they have played two games more than second placed Danbury G. However, this latest victory, a 7-3 win over third placed ECC F indicates that they are still very much in contention to take major honours. Rob Hayne, Martin Eyles and Alison Gurner all won twice with Richard Storey picking up two wins for the losers. Richard beat both Rob and Martin and only missed out 11-9, 4-11, 11-9, 8-11, 9-11 against Alison. ECC F fared better against Chelmsford J winning 8-2 with Mick Storey and Richard Storey both winning their three singles. Chelmsford G did well to beat ECC G 7-3 despite only having two players. Stevie Pell and Mike Robinson both remained undefeated as the ECC side found it hard-going. In a match featuring the two bottom sides, the young Chelmsford H side competed well but their 7-3 defeat against EPHQ means thay are now well adrift of their rivals and it is almost certainly asking too much for them to avoid relegation. After losing two games by the closest margin in the fifth end Chelmsford may well consider themselves to have been unlucky, with Adam Pitt in particular coming very close to adding to their points total. Adam missed out 8-11, 12-10, 11-4, 3-11, 9-11 against Francis Whitbread and 10-12, 7-11, 11-8, 11-7, 10-12 against Ian Hockley, two excellent efforts against vastly more experienced opponents.   

OCs D hang onto second place in Division six, by virtue of having played more games than their rivals and this week they did well to hold Excalibur D to a draw. Mick Hayes was the top player in action, and he duly won his three singles, getting the better of all three Excalibur players - Craig McGarrigle, Craig Hiskey and Keith Fitzjohn. Chelmsford K did well to beat Chelmsford M fairly convincingly 8-2 as Tom Lee won his three singles with Paul Nicol picking up two wins for the M side. Chelmsford K added another seven points to their total by beating Great Baddow 7-3, and Tom Lee again won his three singles.His opening game 11-13, 6-11, 11-5, 11-8,11-6 win against Jim McCarthy looks to have been the pick of the action. Lowly Kings Road B gave a glimpse of better things to come, and their top player Oliver Thorogood gave a good account of himself against Excalibur E. Thorogood scored an excellent 7-11, 11-8, 15-17, 13-11, 11-6 victory against Keith Pallett and he also made a good showing against Hill Dowsett before succumbing 9-11, 4-11, 11-13. Excalibur nevertheless won the match 8-2.

Steve Kerns

Press & Publicity Officer

Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League