REAGAN BACK WITH A VENGEANCE

A Strong Elmtree Graphics A side did well to hold second placed Rawreth A to a draw in the first division of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League. Reagan Nettleingham, the 1997 Chelmsford Mens Singles Champion was the Elmtree inspiration and he secured three excellent victories downing Stuart Gibbs (3- 0), John Poysden (3-1) and Duncan Taylor (3-0). Third placed Maldon B have two games in hand on Rawreth and they secured their fourth win of the season as they beat OCs A 6-4. Current Mens Singles Champion Neil Charles was again unbeaten.

Division two leaders Chelmsford A have made it seven wins out of seven. They beat Excalibur B 7-3 and their only sign of fallibility appears to be their incapability to field a full side every week. Bradley Hudgell and Waseem Qureshi were both on target as they took all seven games against Excalibur. With a full strength team on display Chelmsford A made short work of their B team. Hudgell and Qureshi were again unbeaten, whilst Alastair Piper stole Chelmsford B’s point with a fine 3-1 victory over Peter Barrett. Chelmsford B who are a distant second were held to a 5-5 draw by Liberal. Steve Pennell won his three singles to bolster the Liberal side‘s effort. A draw was also the order of the day in the match between Chelmsford C and ECC B. ECC’s Keith Spicer took his three singles and he shared a nail-biting Doubles win. Paired with Ken James they beat Mike Johnston and Ryan Pitt 12-14, 11-8, 12-10, 9-11, 20-18. Games don’t get much closer than that !. Danbury B look to be struggling and they were made to pay by OCs B for being a player short. Nat Ravlic and Steve Northcott both stayed undefeated for the Old Chelmsfordians who romped home 9-1. Former League Press Officer Maurice Hardy fared best of the Danbury players and he scored a fine 4-11, 3-11, 11-3, 16-14, 11-9 victory over John Watts. Maurice was also involved in a real nail-biter against Nat Ravlic and here he just missed out 4-11, 11-5, 10-12, 12-10, 10-12.

The Division three match between Danbury D and ECC E went pretty much to form with second-placed Danbury D winning 7-3. Tim Pulham (three wins), Glen Laing (two wins) and Neil Want| (one win) dominated the match. Pulham’s clash with Bryn Thomas turned out to be the closest of the night with Pulham edging it 11- 9, 9-11, 14-12, 7-11, 14-12.

All four results in Division four involve Danbury teams. It was Danbury G (Dave Marsh, John Robinson and Dave Hancox) who were the week’s big winners as they overcame Chelmsford D 10-0. Lowly Danbury F did well to beat fourth placed OCs D 8-2. It was a strong performance all round from Brian Ellis (three wins), Dave Goody (two wins) and Dave Powell (two wins). Third-placed Danbury E found the going tougher against Elmtree Graphics B and it was an undefeated Phil Smith who led Elmtree to a 6-4 victory. Smith completed his hat-trick with a match-winning 12-10, 13-11, 11-6 victory over Rob Kneale. Elmtree Graphics A were also successful against a two-player Danbury G. Phil Smith was again the best player on view as Elmtree won 6-4 .

Two good results for Writtle see them jump into third place in Division five. Frank Neil won his three singles against Chelmsford G in their 8-2 win and he received good support from Andy Fox and Tony Lambert who both won twice. Neil took his three singles against Chelmsford E as well, as Writtle ran out 7-3 winners on this occasion. Neil’s game against Bob Francis vied one way and then the other and he eventually eased home 11-7, 11-9, 2-11, 6-11, 11-5. EPHQ paid the price for being a player short against Chelmsford F, and an unbeaten Matt Davis ensured that Chelmsford edged home by winning 6-4. Davis scored two fine hard-fought fives set wins : 11-9, 10-12, 11-6, 4-11, 11-5 against Ian Hockley and 12-10, 5-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-8 against Francis Whitbread. ECC F look to be the team to beat in this Division and they were comfortable 8-2 winners against Chelmsford G. It was again a Family affair with Richard Storey (three wins), Mick Storey (two wins) and Malcolm Storey (three wins) all contributing to a comfortable victory. Ian Austin was Chelmsford’s only winner and he had to pull out all the stops to beat Mick Storey 4-11, 11-9, 11-2, 7-11, 11-9.

Danbury L have moved into third place in Division six. This came about after they secured an 8-2 win against Chelmsford H and a 7-3 win against OCs F. Lee McHugh and Graham Briggs were both unbeaten against Chelmsford H whilst McHugh, Chris Hancox and Ray Cheung all won twice against OCs. Charles Eaton proved to be their stumbling block and he must have gone home exhausted, winning all three of his games against the Danbury side in the fifth end. OCs E, well served by an undefeated Tom Adams did well to beat Chelmsford K 8-2. Adams came under real pressure against Sarah Austin and he just prevailed 6-11, 11-6, 7- 11, 11-4, 13-11.

Chelmsford M top the Click League but they didn’t have it all their own way against Chelmsford L as the L team’s Jack Crook won twice. An inform Crook beat both Bradley Sullivan (11-8, 12-10, 11-5) and Seb Larwill (14-12, 11-13, 11-9, 12-10).

All players are reminded that the Closing Date for entering the Chelmsford closed Tournament is Monday 08 December 2008. This event takes place over the weekend of 30 January 2009 to 01 February 2009 at Anglia Ruskin University, Bishops Hall Lane, Rivermead Campus, Chelmsford. Entry forms are contained in the League Handbook and should be sent to the Tournament Organiser - Arthur Clark, 2 Top Road, Woodham Walter, Chelmsford, CM9 6RQ.