A hungry for success H20 Rowhedge A put their Colchester and District Table Tennis League Division One title aspirations back on track with a resounding 9-1 defeat of Tollgate B. The reigning champions suffered a 7-3 defeat first time around but extracted revenge as Tollgate’s previously unbeaten Keiron Lally suffered defeat to the trio of Michael Andrews, Steve Joslin and Antony Greenwood. Tollgate were without Paul Davison but late stand in Colin Stallwood came closest to winning a singles match going down; 4-11, 9-11, 11-6, 13-11, 15-17 to Greenwood. H20 Rowhedge go second but Tollgate’s A team head the Division following a 10-0 whitewash of Walton A. With Paul Meikle two sets up against Greg Green in the opening game and holding a match point in the fourth set, this result seemed unlikely but Green scraped home 8-11, 9-11, 11-7, 13-11, 11-9. Former Ipswich champion Charlie Fulcher was unbeaten on debut for Tollgate without dropping a set and joined by Nigel Hodder, winning his three. Despite beating H20 Rowhedge C 8-2, Gt Horkesley A drop two places, proving how tight things are at the top! Richard Goodhand starred for Horkesley, pushed to five sets by john Patrick, who also lost out by the closest of margins to Aimee Sparkes; 11-13, 12-10, 3-11, 11-8, 12-14! Sparkes won two as did Mike Wright who went down to Mark Smith, also in five sets. The relegation battle between Walton C and Lawford A ended fittingly in a 5-5 draw with Lawford debutant, Kelvin Larking winning all three of his games in four sets. Closest match of the night was John Hobson’s final set 12-10 win over Kieran Hills. Hobson was joined by Felipe Rodriguez in winning two each.
In Division Two an excellent maximum from Pete Simmonds helped his team to a 5-5 draw with Lawford B, in the crucial game with the score at 4-3 to Rowhedge, Nick Galley came back to beat Pete Giles 11-9 in the fifth end to level things up. Lawford briefly lead 5-4 thanks to George Berry’s defeat of Peter Kirkland but Simmonds came through to square the match beating the previously unbeaten Tom Malster!
Lawford C are the new outright leaders of Division Three with yet another 5-5 draw this week against H20 Rowhedge F. Matt Webb led the way with three fine wins, but it was Rowhedge’s Colin Powell that secured his team a share of the spoils with a last gasp five set defeat of Ian Sherwood. This result moves Rowhedge up to second with Gt Horkesley D moving up to third following an 8-2 success over Pegasus C. Steve Holland put in a captain’s performance unbeaten, his best win over Pegasus number one John Richie 12-10 in the fifth.
H20 Rowhedge H have finally reached the top of Division Four as the Li’s made it thirty-six straight wins between them in wrapping up a 10-0 victory against their ‘I’ team. Grant Donaldson joined the party, undefeated as was Marlene Smith in a 6-4 win for Dedham B against Lawford D that included a victory over her old team-mate Ivan Jarrad. Pegasus E move up to third, trouncing CRGS 9-1 without star player Jacky Leung for the first time, Vic little and Barry Steggles both unbeaten.
Players are reminded entries for this year’s tournament must be in by 31st January.
Division One
| P | W | D | L | A | F | |
| Tollgate A | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 27 | 63 |
| H2O Rowhedge A | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 62 |
| Gt Horkesley A | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 28 | 62 |
| Tollgate B | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 36 | 54 |
| H2O Rowhedge B | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 45 |
| H2O Rowhedge C | 9 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 58 | 32 |
| Walton B | 9 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 60 | 30 |
| Lawford A | 9 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 70 | 20 |
| Walton C | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 68 | 12 |
| Walton A | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Division Two
| P | W | D | L | A | F | |
| Walton D | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 68 |
| Gt Horkesley C | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 58 |
| Pegasus A | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 47 | 53 |
| Lawford B | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 39 | 51 |
| Clairmont A | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 35 | 45 |
| H2O Rowhedge E | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 56 | 44 |
| Gt Horkesley B | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 48 | 42 |
| H2O Rowhedge D | 9 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 55 | 35 |
| Walton E | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 57 | 33 |
| Tollesbury A | 9 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 69 | 21 |
Division Three
| P | W | D | L | A | F | |
| Lawford C | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 35 | 65 |
| H2O Rowhedge F | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 38 | 62 |
| Gt Horkesley D | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 39 | 61 |
| St Peters A | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 60 |
| Tollesbury B | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 40 | 50 |
| Pegasus B | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 37 | 43 |
| University of Essex | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 51 | 39 |
| Pegasus C | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 55 | 35 |
| H2O Rowhedge G | 9 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 64 | 26 |
| Dedham A | 9 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 71 | 19 |
Division Four
| P | W | D | L | A | F | |||
| H2O Rowhedge H | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 68 | ||
| Pegasus D | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 27 | 63 | ||
| Pegasus E | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 40 | 60 | ||
| Gt Horkesley E | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 34 | 56 | ||
| Lawford D | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 39 | 51 | ||
| CRGS A | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 56 | 44 | ||
| Dedham B | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 48 | 42 | ||
| Lawford E | 10 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 64 | 36 | ||
| H2O Rowhedge I | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 66 | 34 | ||
| Gt Horkesley F | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 74 | 16 | ||
By Martyn Green