FAIRCHILD WINS LAST GAME THRILLER 

There can be no doubt about the performance of the round in the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League Knock Out Cup Competitions. That honour goes to Bocking, thrilling 5-4 winners against Hatfield Peverel D in the Quarter Final of the Handicap Knock Out Cup. With the tie level at 4-4 a determined Gordon Fairchild (playing off a Handicap of 51) became his side's hero by beating Neil Freeman (64) 17-21, 28-26, 24-22. This was Fairchild's second win of the evening, after he had also been successful against Peter Mynard (57) 19-21, 22-20, 21-18. Chris Buer (59) also made his mark by getting the better of Rik James (86), a four times Winner of the Handicap Singles title in the Chelmsford Closed Tournament.

Chelmsford F (Stevie Pell, Hannah Pitt and Mick Robinson) also advanced to the Semi-Finals of the Handicap Competition by a 5-4 margin, but their victory was achieved more comfortably. Mick Robinson had no problem beating E2V's Pip French 21-13, 21-7 to see his team home safely. E2V's Mo Hardy had kept the tie alive by getting the better of Stevie Pell 21-16, 11-21, 24-22.

Writtle A, runaway leaders of Division Two didn't have it all their own way when they beat Chelmsford A 5-3 in the Two-Down Knock Out Cup. Waseem Qureshi was an excellent four game winner over Kevin Worthington and Julie Vansertima an equally impressive three game winner against Gary Ward. Trevor Carter came to Writtle's rescue by beating Alastair Piper in four ends and Worthington added a further singles win when he beat Piper. Ward wrapped up what had been a tricky evening's work by getting the better of Waseem Qureshi 13-11, 7-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-4. Hatfield Peverel A, third-placed in Division Two also advanced safely into the next round. They beat Writtle B 7-2 with Peverel's John Gagg remaining undefeated. Writtle's Matthew Brown scored a fine 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, 12-10 win over John Parodi and team-mate Malcolm Henstock did well to beat Dave Carter 10-12, 11-9, 11-8, 6-11, 11-8.

In the Open Knock Out Cup, the holders ECC made it through to the Final by beating Danbury A 5-0. Lucy Wang who was taken to five sets by Neil Want came under the most  pressure. In an earlier round Chelmsford A beat their C team colleagues 5-1. The underdogs put up a real fight with the first four games going to five ends. Ryan Pitt gave the Chelmsford League's new star Bradley Hudgell plenty to think about before succumbing  4-11, 12-10, 13-11, 4-11, 7-11 whilst Dacre Pell pushed Neil Gooday hard before admitting defeat 8-11, 11-9, 13-11, 1-11, 4-11. 

Elmtree Graphics had few major problems reaching the Four-Down Knock Out Cup Semi-Final by beating Chelmsford E 5-0. Phil Smith, Rod Maclennan and Nicola Pippen were all undefeated. Maclennan's 11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 13-11 victory against Richard Upson looks to have been the pick of the action. They will be joined at the Semi-Final stage by Danbury A, 5-1 winners over Danbury C. Glenn Laing, Neil Want and Tim Pulham won all four singles played.    

ECC, the favourites made it through to the last four of the Mixed Knock-Out Cup competition by beating Elmtree Graphics A 5-2. Elmtree made a good start when John Holland/Nicola Pippen beat Steve Kerns/Holly Stubbings over four ends, but three successive singles wins gave ECC the edge and the relatively untried pairing of Dave  Cole/Steve Kerns took the match out of Elmtree's reach by getting the better of Ev Lucas/John Holland in the middle doubles. This match fluctuated one way and then the other before Cole/Kerns pulled clear in the fifth end to win 12-10, 6-11, 11-2, 7-11, 11-5.

Danbury A just made it through their Preliminary round encounter 5-4, in the Six-Down Knock Out Cup. Their leading player, the very experienced former Chelmsford Veterans Singles Champion Trevor Palmer was predictably responsible for four of their wins. Danbury's line-up on this occasion was something of a surprise, and it included Paula Cant, the 1964 Chelmsford Ladies Singles Champion, who was making a very rare appearance. Paula teamed up with Trevor Palmer to win the middle doubles, a last gasp 8-11, 11-9, 7-11, 12-10, 12-10 success against Paul Nichol and Chris High.

Steve Kerns

Press & Publicity Officer

Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League