Matthew Mulley has established himself as a regular member of the Essex County Junior second team this Season and he is now going about making his presence felt in the first division of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League. Mulley was instrumental in helping Elmtree Graphics A beat ECC A 7-3 with wins over Peter Lau, Steve Kerns and Lucy Wang and he won twice against Maldon A by beating both Paul Stephens and Hamish Innes. Paul Stephens made his mark in this match as well by scoring a fine 3-1 victory over John Holland. Rawreth A consolidated second position by getting the better of Danbury A 9-1 with Duncan Taylor and newcomer Paul Whatton both remaining undefeated. Excalibur won again, beating OCs A 6-4 and it was the still-improving Gary Young who led the way. His trio of wins included an excellent 11-9, 5-11, 9-11, 11-9, 15-13 victory over Paul Davison. Leaders Bocking A failed to win for only the second time this Season when they were held to a draw by ECC A. Rik James was a class apart and he won his three singles comfortably but all three ECC players (Lau, Kerns and Wang) did well to beat Michael Andrews and Lau and Kerns also won a very rare doubles encounter. They edged out Rik James and Kevin Gowlett 19- 17, 9-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9. Writtle’s hopes of avoiding relegation were dashed when they were beaten 9-1 by OCs A. It was a strong all-round performance from the Old Chelmsfordians side with Nikki Kennard (three wins), Paul Davison (three wins) and Steve Northcott (two wins) dominating the action. Writtle will undoubtedly be disappointed with the result, losing all three games that were decided in the fifth end. Nikki Kennard did well to beat Paul Cuming 11-8, 8- 11, 11-4, 5-11, 11-7 in one of the games you might well have classed as a "50/50" encounter.

Danbury B are making a late bid to avoid relegation from division two. With brothers Dave and Paul Richardson staying undefeated they beat Excalibur B 9-1 and they followed this up by drawing with Hatfield Peverel B. Greg Green and Martyn Green both won twice for Hatfield Peverel and Dave Richardson and Ivan Chaplin both picked up two singles for Danbury. Dave Richardson edged out Guy McKenzie 7-11, 6-11, 11-9, 12-10, 12-10 in the closest game of the night. Liberal A are on the cusp of the promotion race and they did well to beat Hatfield Peverel B 7-3. Steve Elmes, Barry Pritchard and Steve Pennell all won twice with Barry Pritchard coming closest to scoring a hat-trick. Pritchard only missed out 10-12, 9-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-13 in his last singles against Greg Green. Leaders Chelmsford A took a step closer to the title by beating Chelmsford B 8-2. Bradley Hudgell and Waseem Qureshi were both undefeated although Peter Barrett did not have the best of nights. Peter was beaten by both Mike Johnston and Ryan Pitt.

Third division leaders Danbury D were held to a draw by ECC C. None of their players were able to get the better of Gray Copsey who completed his hat- trick by defeating Tim Pulham 11-5, 6-11, 11-9, 11-9 to earn his side a share of the points. Hatfield Peverel C were convincing 8-2 winners over ECC C. Peter Mynard and Clive Allenby were both unbeaten with Chris Buer winning twice. Russell Ford picked up Peverel’s sole singles when he beat Chris Buer 3-0. Peverel added seven points to their tally by getting the better of ECC E 7-3. Clive Allenby again stayed undefeated and this time Peter Mynard won twice. Colin Blore with wins over Mynard and Buer was ECC’s best player. James Hicks was the dominant force when ECC C played ECC E. Hicks won his three singles in style as the match finished all square. The match between ECC D and OCs C was another game that finished level, with Trevor Roberts staying unbeaten for the D team and Mark Bohan and David Porter winning their two singles for the Old Chelmsfordians side.

Hylands A look to be untouchable in division four after beating Danbury G 9- 1. Brandon Crouchman, Terry Dowsett and Scott Dowsett raced through all nine singles to retain their 100 % record. John Robinson and Dave Marsh did well to beat Brandon Crouchman and Scott Dowsett 6-11, 12-10, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8 in the doubles. Second-placed Bocking B fell back and they were beaten 7-3 by third- placed Elmtree Graphics B. With both Ev Lucas and Fred Button in their line- up, Elmtree Graphics were always going to be a formidable proposition and so it proved. Both Button and Lucas stayed undefeated, with Ev Lucas getting the better of Richard Jennings 9-11, 11-5, 11-8, 7-11, 17-15. Chelmsford D edged out Danbury F 6-4 after a close fought match where only one game was decided three-straight. Six games were decided in the fifth end and Chelmsford won four of them. Trevor Palmer won twice for the Danbury side with Dave Parker and Sam Pitt both picking up two singles for the Chelmsford team. Dave Powell’s game against Dave Parker ebbed one way and then the other before Parker finally clinched victory 2-11, 11-6, 11-3, 5-11, 13-11.

ECC F pulled further ahead in division five by beating Hatfield Peverel E 9- 1, with Colin Barham (three wins), Richard Storey (three wins) and Mick Storey (two wins) all playing their part in their success. They lead EPHQ by 16 points after EPHQ lost 7-3 against Danbury J. Roget Tiffin was Danbury’s best player winning all three of his singles and he was supported by Tony Reece- Ford who won twice. Writtle C moved into contention for second place by beating Chelmsford G 10-0 as Frank Neil, Andy Fox and Tony Lambert turned in a dominant performance. However, Writtle were unable to make any further inroads on the teams above them when they could only turn out two players against Hatfield Peverel E. New signing Justin Sander won both of his games and this enabled Hatfield Peverel E to shade the match 6-4.

Excalibur D with 13 wins out of 13 remain firmly on target to win division six, but, they almost came unstuck against OCs F, where they only won 6-4. Keith Fitzjohn held his side together by winning his three singles which included a hard-fought 6-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-13, 11-8 success against Charles Eaton. Excalibur D added another nine points to their total by beating OCs E 9-1, with Tom Adams winning Excalibur’s sole singles, after a very hard-fought 11-9, 14-12, 11-9 win against Keith Fitzjohn. OCs F were in turn successful, by beating Chelmsford K 8-2. Charles Eaton led the way by winning his three singles.

Steve Kerns

Press & Publicity Officer

Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League