Radford trio of wins not enough to secure Writtle safety from relegation
Writtle A and OCs A couldn’t be separated in their battle to avoid relegation from the first division of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League. Peter Radford led the way for Writtle and stayed undefeated with wins over Terry Dowsett, Peter Hayden and Brandon Crouchman whilst Hayden and Crouchman both won twice for OCs. Brandon Crouchman impressed by beating Paul Cuming 3-1 (11-7, 11-6, 1-11, 11-8) and Kevin Worthington 3-2 (14-12, 7-11, 4-11, 11-3, 11-9). This result means that OCs A are definitely safe whilst Writtle can’t be certain.
Bocking look good for second place and they edged out Elmtree Graphics A 6-4. No single player remained undefeated and Elmtree’s Gary Young and Gary Baker and Bocking’s Kevin Gowlett and Paul Davison all won twice. Gowlett scored a fine four-game win over Gary Young but he missed out 2-3 (9-11, 11-13, 11-9, 11-7, 8-11) against Gary Baker. Paul Davison made no mistake against Gary Baker racing to a 3-0 (11-6, 11-9, 11-4) win but he was found wanting against old rival Gary Young, succumbing 1-3 (6-11, 6-11, 11-5, 10-12).
Elsewhere in the first division Danbury A ran out clear-cut 8-2 winners against Maldon A. Antony Greenwood was undefeated for Danbury but he had to pull out all the stops to get the better of Chris Jacob, eventually winning 3-2 (11-7, 3-11, 11-3, 5-11, 11-9). Jacob in turn made his mark with excellent wins over Michael Andrews and Eric Green. OCs A did well to beat ECC A 6-3 in what became a two-a-side match as both teams were a player short. Peter Hayden beat both Lucy Wang and Reuben Okai to ensure that OCs stayed in charge.
In division four EPHQ beat Danbury H 6-4, good going as they were a player short. Ian Hockley won his three singles for EPHQ and this included a hard-fought 3-2 (10-12, 6-11, 11-7, 13-11,11-8) win over Norman Hayes.
Felsted came out on top 3-2 against ECC G after a marathon CLICK League match in which all five games were decided in the fifth end. Samuel Porter did well to beat Nathan Blore 3-2 (11-9, 8-11, 10-12, 16-14, 11-9) but he missed out against Ben Clifford 2-3 (11-5, 6-11, 11-8, 8-11, 8-11). Felsted’s Alex Pinto defeated Nathan Blore after fighting back strongly from 2-0 down to win 3-2 (6-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-2, 11-7).
ECC, Veterans Knock-Out Cup winners in 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 were beaten 5-4 at the Semi-Final stage by Writtle. Important wins here were the five game successes for Writtle’s Gary Ward against David Evans (11-7, 7-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-5) and a very hard-fought victory for Writtle’s Peter Radford/Kevin Worthington against Steve Kerns/Lucy Wang in the middle doubles 3-2 (11-4,15-17, 16-14, 8-11, 11-9).
Lucy Wang kept ECC in the game by fighting back from 10-7 down in the fifth end to beat Gary Ward 3-2 (11-7, 8-11, 5-11, 11-5, 13-11) but Writtle prevailed in a hard-fought Final doubles encounter. Peter Radford/Gary Ward pulled through in five ends by getting the better of Lucy Wang/Dave Evans 3-2 (8-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-8, 11-4). An excellent match – one of the hardest fought Cup games in the history of the Veterans Knock-Out Cup.
Steve Kerns
Press & Publicity Officer
Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League