RELEGATION LOOMS FOR DANBURY A

Danbury A’s slim hopes of avoiding relegation from division one of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League were dealt a major blow when they were beaten 8-2 by OCs A, a team they might have hoped to have fared a little better against. Nikki Kennard won her three singles for the Old Chelmsfordians side and although Ian Whiteside (a superb four game winner over Paul Davison) and Jon Hill (a fine five game winner over Steve Northcott) both picked up valuable wins for Danbury - 8-2 will still be seen as a heavy defeat. Further up the table Maldon A just shaded the match 6-4 against their B side. This match followed quite a simple pattern - Neil Charles won his four games for the B team whilst Paul Sayer, Hamish Innes and Lee Prentice all won twice for the A team. Lee Prentice avenged a first half defeat by getting the better of John Cleasby by a last gasp 14-12, 11-8, 8-11, 7-11, 14-12 margin.

Division two leaders Chelmsford A scored their fourteenth win of the Season, a 7-3 success against OCs B. The only frailty this team have shown this year has been a failure to field a full side week-in week-out but with players of the calibre of Waseem Qureshi and Peter Barrett (who were both undefeated this week) they have been able to overcome this difficulty with considerable comfort.

Kings Road have been making major efforts to climb out of the division three relegation zone in recent weeks, and their 6-4 win over Excalibur C means they are now only one point adrift of the next-placed ECC D. Their victory over Excalibur was earned the hard way as it was the opposition’s Michael Rostoft who won his three singles. Rob Hayne won twice and this included a 11-4, 11-5, 10-12, 6-11, 12-10 victory over Dave Moles. ECC D had an undefeated John Stubbings to thank as they drew with Danbury C. Stubbings came through his closest test against Peter Hance 5-11, 13-11, 5-11, 12-10, 11-8.

Results went to form in division four with Rawreth B getting the better of Danbury G 6-4 and Hatfield Peverel D beating Chelmsford D 7-3. Mike Worship (Rawreth) and Neil Freeman (Hatfield Peverel) were both unbeaten for their respective teams.

Runaway division five leaders ECC F scored their fourteenth win of the season as they beat Chelmsford F 9-1. Richard and Mick Storey were both undefeated whilst Colin Barham only succumbed to Matt Skeoch. Chelmsford F moved up to fourth place by beating ECC G 8-2. Tom Lee won his three singles and he received good support from Matthew Davis and Stevie Pell who both won twice. Arthur Clark did well for ECC, picking up their two wins.

Danbury L were comfortable 9-1 winners over OCs E in division six as they consolidated second place. Graham Briggs (three wins), Lee McHugh (three wins) and Chris Hancox (two wins) all played a part in this success. Elsewhere, the match between Chelmsford J and Excalibur E was much closer fought and it finished all square. No one player stayed undefeated and Patrick Whelpdale and Robert Shrimpton (Chelmsford ) and Craig Hiskey and Keith Pallett (Excalibur) all won twice.

CLICK League leaders Hylands School B (Philip Bigland, Jamie Dowsett and Bradley Sheridan) beat Chelmsford N 4-1 for their eleventh win of the Season. Rebecca Denyer was on target for the Chelmsford side and she beat Bradley Sheridan 4-11, 12-10, 13-11, 11-8. Chelmsford O just came out on top - 3-2 against Chelmsford L. Oliver Hicks, Chris Denyer and Ryan Gooday all played a part in this victory.

Steve Kerns

Press & Publicity Officer

Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League