REAGAN GIVES ELMTREE GRAPHICS A BOOST

New signing, Reagan Nettleingham, the 1997 Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League Mens Singles Champion (was it really that long ago when he won the title ?) has given Elmtree Graphics A a massive lift and his presence enabled them to beat Chelmsford A 8-2 in their first division clash. Nettleingham and his former mentor John Holland were both undefeated. Neil Gooday went down fighting and he pushed Reagan all the way before succumbing 11-8, 12-10, 3-11, 4-11, 9-11. Third placed ECC A failed to make any ground up on the two leading teams when they could only beat a two-man Maldon A 7-3. Peter Ballard beat both Steve Kerns and Lucy Wang, only missing out 3-1 against England no. three Junior Girl Sarra Wang. Maldon B stay in second place and their big guns Neil Charles and Paul Davison were firing on all cylinders as they beat Excalibur A 8-2. Gary Young and Gary Baker ensured that Excalibur picked up two important points as they both overcame Ray Murray. Rawreth A's challenge for the title has faltered and they could only draw against OCs A. Ryan Savill was the main "thorn in their side" and he won his three singles. However, Ryan had to pull out all the stops to get the better of the still formidable Stuart Gibbs 18-16, 5-11, 11-7, 4-11, 11-8.   

Writtle A are now a massive 27 points clear in division two after fourteen matches, one of the biggest leads in League history after they had added a further nine points to their total by beating Chelmsford C 9-1, their thirteenth win of the Season. Kevin Worthington and Gary Ward were both undefeated whilst Gareth Joice was Chelmsford's sole winner when he beat Trevor Carter 11-8, 11-9, 2-11, 6-11, 12-10. Danbury A moved back into second place by beating Chelmsford D 7-3 and it was Ian Whiteside who led the way with a hat-trick. Dean Andrews fared best of the Chelmsford players beating both Tony Forster and Dave Calleja. Hatfield Peverel A remain in third place, and they also won 7-3, beating Hatfield Peverel B. John Webber took his three singles which included a 11-4, 5-11, 11-6, 11-6 victory against Greg Green. Further down the table E2V Technologies scored their fourth win of the Season, a 6-4 victory against ECC B. Dave Richardson remained undefeated after a hard-fought match in which E2V won the last five games after trailing 4-1. The last four games all provided fifth game wins for the E2V side and they now have 50 points, the same as Chelmsford D, although they have played a.match more than their rivals. There was no respite for bottom team Danbury B and they were well beaten 10-0 by Chelmsford B for whom Waseem Qureshi, Julie Vansertima and Alastair Piper were all undefeated.

Division three produced four closely fought matches with the three leading teams - Excalibur B, ECC E and OCs B all involved. Excalibur B were held to a draw by ECC D despite the fact that their leading player Richard Hiskey remained undefeated whilst ECC E just shaded their match against Rawreth B 6-4. Colin Blore and Bryn Thomas both won twice, although they both missed out to Rawreth's unbeaten Mike Worship. OCs B were also 6-4 winners and as with ECC E team-work played a large part in their success. Adrian North and Mark Bohan both won twice to counter Clive Allenby's trio off wins. Allenby completed his hat-trick by coming back from a first game thrashing to get the better of John Watts 2-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-4. In yet another closely fought match ECC C just managed to beat Excalibur C 6-4. This time no single player remained undefeated, although Russell Forde and Gus Heath both won twice for ECC C and Michael Rostoft and Dave Moles both picked up two wins for the Excalibur team.

In division four, it was also a case of the two higher placed sides scoring narrow 6-4 victories over lower placed opponents. OCs C were successful in the last three singles to get the better of Hatfield Peverel D after an unbeaten David Porter had led the way. Porter's third singles caused him the greatest difficulty and he had to pull out all the stops to get the better of Steve Buer 11-9, 6-11, 3-11, 11-6, 11-8.  Fourth placed Elmtree Graphics B were made to fight by second to bottom-placed Writtle C and it was four down Singles Champion Phil Smith who held his team together. The experienced Clacton League stalwart showed his class by beating Writtle C's leading player Malcolm Henstock 13-11, 4-11, 11-4, 11-7.    

In contrast, in division five there were five clear-cut winners with the leaders Kings Road A leading the way as they thrashed Hatfield Peverel E 10-0. Martin Eyles, Alison Gurner and Rob Hayne were all on top form as Kings Road breezed through their opponents. Third placed ECC F (Mick Stroey, Malcolm Storey and Richard Storey) were all equally dominant as they hammered Chelmsford H 10-0, in what could perhaps be described as a "short story". Chelmsford J led by Haydn Upson also produced a strong performance as they beat Chelmsford G 8-2 whilst Danbury H had Rob Kneale remaining undefeated as they beat EPHQ by the same scoreline. Second-placed Danbury G lost ground on the leaders and by turning out a player short they were only able to beat ECC G 7-3. Kevin Willis and Peter Sun won all seven games played.

Danbury J went a long way to assuring that they will become division six Champions, by beating second-placed Chelmsford K 8-2. Trevor Palmer led the way by winning his three singles and he received excellent support from John Knights and John Skuse who both won twice. Excalibur D remain in third place, after beating Chelmsford L 7-3 with Craig McGarrigle and Keith Fitzjohn both staying undefeated. Hylands A also produced a strong performance as they beat Great Baddow 9-1. Their two up-and-coming stars Brandon Crouchman and Scott Dowsett both stayed undefeated whilst Patrick Whelpdale also picked up two hard-fought wins. Whelpdale beat Lewis Templeton 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9 and Rob Collins 11-6, 9-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-9. Kings Road B battled bravely against OCs D but the 10-0 reverse wasn't that surprising as they have found the going tough all year. OC s' Mick Hayes, Rishi Maini and Mick Parkhurst were all undefeated.

In the CLICK League Chelmsford O did well to beat Chelmsford P 4-1. Robert Shrimpton set the ball rolling with a hard-fought 5-11, 10-12, 11-5, 11-9, 11-8 success against Ryan Carter in the opening singles and he also beat Mitchell Carter 11-5, 11-8, 11-4. Mitchell Carter was on target for the P side, and he beat Michael Whelpdale 13-11, 11-7, 12-10. Second-placed OCs F were hard-pushed to see off Chelmsford N 3-2. Sarah Austin caused the OCs side the most problems beating both Ricky Childs and Jack Preston.

Steve Kerns

Press & Publicity Officer

Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League