GREAT RESULT FOR DANBURY B

Danbury B, bottom of Division two of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League produced the most unexpected result of the week, beating Hatfield Peverel A 7-3. Dave Richardson, Dave Calleja and Ivan Chaplin all won twice, and in what also has to go down as a very good performance for the losers all three Danbury players lost to Super Veteran Dave Carter. Hatfield Peverel regulars John Gagg and John Parodi both went home empty-handed. Another player to give a superb account of himself was Chelmsford C’s Ryan Pitt, an impressive winner of all three singles against Hatfield Peverel B . Included in Ryan’s excellent trio of wins was a fine 11-13, 4-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 victory against Greg Green. This match finished tied at 5-5. A strong looking Liberals side were the week’s big winners in this division, and they had both Barry Pritchard and Steve Pennell undefeated as they beat Excalibur 9-1. Richard Hiskey was Excalibur’s only winner, and he got the better of Robin Armstrong in the last game of the night.

The even nature of this year‘s first division was illustrated by this week’s scorecards, with the match results of 4-6, 5-5 and 6-4. Writtle A did well to hold Elmtree Graphics A to a draw after Writtle’s Reagan Nettleingham had remained undefeated. Paul Cuming and Trevor Carter both won twice, both doing very well to beat both Ev Lucas and Matt Mulley. Elsewhere, ECC A impressed by beating Maldon A 6-4 with Lucy Wang crowning a fine ECC performance by getting the better of the redoubtable Peter Ballard 7-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7, 14-12 in the last game of the night. Danbury A, continue to pick up points and it took a Paul Davison hat-trick to condemn them to a 6-4 defeat against OCs A. Hard- hitting Steve Northcott had to work hard for his sole win and he just saw off ace-defender Eric Green 11-7, 9-11, 5-11,12-10, 12-10. Third-placed Danbury C were comfortable 7-3 winners against ECC D in division three in a match where no single player remained undefeated. All three Danbury players - Herbie Smith, Peter Hance and Norman Smith won twice.

In division four Rawreth B did well to beat the higher placed Danbury G. Mike Worship took his three singles to give Rawreth the advantage. There was no joy for bottom side Danbury H but as they only had two players their 4-6 defeat against Hatfield Peverel D represented a decent effort. Gordon Gatherall and Peter Sun both won twice.

Division five leaders Writtle C came unstuck against the unpredictable EPHQ team, and it is ECC F who trail the leaders by two points but have a game in hand, who look the most likely winners. EPHQ’s Ian Hockley and Francis Whitbread both scored hat-tricks with Whitbread completing an excellent night’s work by getting the better of Andy Fox 15-13, 11-9, 11-3 to seal their 6-4 victory. Chelmsford F also won 6-4, and again it all rested on the last game.

It was Tom Lee who secured their victory, overcoming Amir Vasquez 11-13, 11-5, 11-9, 11-4. Excalibur K (Craig McGarrigle, Keith Fitzjohn and Steve Cheesman) are the team to beat in division six, and they had few problems seeing off a game Chelmsford K side. A definite case of experience ruling the day in this match.

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 209 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, CM9 6RQ.