The leading two sides continue to set a very hot pace in the first division of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League and this week the leaders Danbury A (Reece Seddon, Gary Young and Charles Sweeney) overcame Elmtree Excalibur A 10-0.

Second-placed Bocking (Alan Burgess, Gary Cattermole and Rik James) beat Maldon A 9-1. Gary Cattermole impressed by beating both Hamish Innes 3-0 (11-7, 12- 10, 11-8) and John Poysden 3-1 (11-5, 11-8, 6-11, 11-7).

OCs A remain in third place and they defeated OCs B 6-4 this week. John Cleasby stayed undefeated whilst Steve Northcott battled well to get the better of Terry Dowsett over five ends (5-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-7).

In Division Two, Chelmsford A are on a roll at present. They defeated Galleywood A 9-1 with Waseem Qureshi and Mike Johnston both bagging hat-tricks. The game that escaped their grasp was also a noteworthy win and Bryn Thomas scored a fine 3-1 (12-10, 1-11, 11-4, 12-10) success over the in-form Ryan Gooday.

Rawreth & Hulbridge’s Paul Churn won a hat-trick of singles as his side defeated OCs C 7-3. He had to pull all the stops out to get the better of Frank Hodge 3-2 (11-7, 6-11, 11-8, 8-11, 12-10).

Maldon C were 6-4 winners over OCs E in Division Three. In a match where no single player remained undefeated, Steve Scholz and Colin Napper both won twice for Maldon and Mick Hayes picked up two wins for the Old Chelmsfordians side. Sue Hickman beat Scholz 3-2 (10-12, 13-11, 11-7, 3-11, 13-11) in the closest game of the night. OCs E in turn beat Hatfield Peverel C 7-3. Their reserve Ashton Parker led the way with a hat-trick of victories.

Further down the table, Danbury F ran out 7-3 winners against Hatfield Peverel C. Herbie Smith and Dave Marsh were both undefeated. Dave Marsh gave Danbury F a winning start to the evening with a last-gasp 3-2 (9-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 12-10) victory over Dave Carter.

Leaders OCs F impressed in Division Four. Adrian North and Ashton Parker were both unbeaten as they saw off Hatfield Peverel D 9-1. Danbury H are in second place with a game in hand and they showed their intentions by beating Danbury K 8-2. Maurice Hardy (three wins), Norman Smith (two wins) and Ivan Chaplin (two wins) all played their part in this victory.

Galleywood C ran out 7-3 winners over Chelmsford D courtesy of David Gatherall’s trio of wins whilst they also beat Elmtree Excalibur D 6-4. David Gatherall won his three singles again to establish a record of 16 wins out of 21 – 76%.

There were two close games in Division Five this week. Danbury L beat the leaders Writtle 6-4 – Writtle’s first defeat of the season. Roger Tiffin, Mick Robinson and Norman Hayes all won twice to counter Brian Steward’s hat-trick. Roger Tiffin sealed the Danbury victory by getting the better of Colin Griffiths 3-2 (11-8, 7-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5) in the last game of the evening.

OCs H and OCs G drew 5-5. Tejas Kotwal won two singles for the H side but he was trumped by Stuart Wintle who won his three singles for the G team.

OCs J did well to beat the higher placed Chelmsford H 3-2 in the CLICK League, good going as Chelmsford’s Harry Matthews won his three singles. Adam Chalk and Harry Rogers both picked up one win and they beat Matthews and Calum Day 9-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-5 in the deciding doubles.

The Open KO Cup match between Chelmsford A and Danbury A was a good one and Danbury A shaded it 5-4. Ryan Gooday was on top form and he blazed his way to two very good wins, beating Steve Whiteley (11-8, 11-7, 11-3) and Eric Green (11-2, 11-9, 11-7). Whiteley kept Danbury in the hunt by beating Waseem Qureshi 3-2 (13-11, 13-15, 12-10, 10-12, 11-9) in a real humdinger of a game and Eric Green and Ken Sheard sealed the victory by defeating Qureshi and Jarek Pietraszuk 3-1 (12-10, 4-11, 12-10, 11-6) in the all-important deciding doubles.

Danbury B (Gary Young, Glenn Johnson and Chris Buer) ran out 5-2 winners over OCs A. Chris Buer secured Danbury’s passage into the next round by getting the better of John Cleasby 3-1 (11-9, 11-7, 8-11, 11-7). Terry Dowsett impressed for the Old Chelmsfordians team by beating Glenn Johnson 3-1 (6-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-9).

All players are again reminded that the M&G Investments Chelmsford Closed tournament takes place over the weekend of Friday 29 to Sunday 31 January 2016 at Hylands School. The Closing date for entries is 18 December 2015 and as the draw will take place a day after the closing date, there will definitely not be any late entries allowed this season.

With events ranging from Under-14 Singles to Over-60s Singles, Divisional Singles for all the main divisions as well as Handicap Singles and Handicap Doubles, there are events to cater for everyone.

It is hoped as many players enter as possible this year. Entries should be sent to the competition organiser Arthur Clark as soon as possible.