Hatfield Peverel B (who have been represented by a five-man squad of Gordon Fairchild, Neil Freeman, Dave Fiddeman, Guy McKenzie and Gareth Davies) have been crowned the 2014-5 Division Three champions in the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League.
They won the title the hard way by securing a draw against their nearest rivals OCs C in the last game of the season. This result sees them finish two points ahead of their close rivals.
It was a hard-fought match as you might expect and four games were decided in the fifth end. These were shared two apiece. Andrew Huckson and Daniel Berry both won twice for OCs whilst Neil Freeman picked up two wins for Hatfield Peverel. Freeman used all of his experience to score an important 3-2 (11-13, 11-8, 10-12, 11-7, 11-7) victory against Daniel Berry.
Chelmsford C completed their programme with an 8-2 win over Danbury E. Paul Nicol and Chris Denyer both scored hat-tricks. Denyer had to pull out all the stops to get the better of Nicky Reece-Ford 3-2 (6- 11, 11-7, 11-9, 8-11, 15-13) in his opening singles.
Danbury F did well to beat Danbury E 9-1. Chris Hancox (three wins), Tony Forster (three wins) and Gordon Gatherall (two wins) all played their part in a good team-performance. Ivan Chaplin made his mark with a five-set (11-8, 16-14, 5-11, 4-11, 11-9) win over Gordon Gatherall.
First division champions Bocking B could only field two players against second-placed OCs A. Fortunately, Bocking‘s Rik James (41 wins out of 44 over the season) was on top form and in what was a largely a damage-limitation exercise for the champions OCs ran out 7-3 winners. Terry Dowsett and John Cleasby both beat Gary Cattermole in five ends.
OCs A have finished the season with 104 points and they will have to wait until third-placed Rawreth & Hullbridge A (100 points) complete their fixtures against fourth-placed Maldon A to see if they finish the season as runners-up.
In Division Two Danbury D finished their season in style to take third place with a resounding 8-2 win over fourth-placed Rawreth & Hullbridge B. Both Steve Whiteley and Dave Richardson scored hat-tricks.
Rawreth & Hullbridge B had also lost 6-4 to Danbury C. Eric Green won his three singles for Danbury beating Barrie Delf (3-1), Mike Worship (3-0) and Paul Churn (3-1).
Division Four runners-up OCs F also finished their season in style by beating Danbury J 8-2. Peter Windley and Charlie Mariner were both undefeated whilst Kevin Willis shone for the losers. He beat Tom Barker 3-1 (11-8, 11-9, 10-12, 12-10).
Galleywood C did well to beat the higher-placed Elmtree Excalibur D 7-3. Allen Thompson (three wins) was well supported by John Wickens and Victor Chan who both won twice.
Chelmsford D were another side who completed their season with a handy victory. Bob Francis (three wins), Ian Austin (one win) and Sarah Austin (three wins) all played their part as they defeated Danbury J 8-2.
Runaway Division Five winners Danbury M (150 points) made it 18 wins out of 18 for the season by beating Chelmsford F 6-4. For once they didn’t have it all their own way and it was Chelmsford’s Richard Baxter who scored the three wins. Baxter beat George Ashley 3-1 (11-8, 3-11, 11-8, 12-10) and Cameron Gray 3-2 (7-11, 11-8, 4-11, 14-12, 11-4) and finally Dan Anderson 3-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-9) – only the third defeat of the season for Anderson.
Fourth-placed Maldon E powered to two 10-0 victories. Steve Lucas, Mervyn Perriman and Bryan Speller were all on target against Hatfield Peverel D and Perriman, Roger Hance and David Lamb were all undefeated against Galleywood D.
Steve Kerns (press & publicity officer)
April 27, 2015