In a delayed match the Rawreth & Hullbridge A side secured the runners-up position in the first division of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League by beating Maldon A 8-2.

Gary Young and Ben Warner both bagged hat-tricks whilst Glenn Johnson picked up two wins. Johnson was hard-pushed to get the better of old rival Hamish Innes and he finally won 3-2 (6-11, 11-8, 11-7, 6-11, 12-10).

The result meant that Rawreth finished the season with 108 points which enabled them to leapfrog OCs A.

The outstanding performance in this year’s Knock-Out Cup competitions came in the final of the Four-Down Competition. It is quite rare for a lower placed side to beat a team from a higher division in a cup final but the Danbury side (Dan Richardson, Dan Anderson and George Ashley), the runaway winners of Division Five, succeeded in fine style.

Pitted against OCs – the runners-up in Division Four – it was the Danbury team who ran out 5-2 winners. The first doubles, as is often the case, proved vital and after the Danbury pairing of Richardson and Ashley beat Tom Barker and Charlie Mariner 3-2 (5-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-9, 11-8) they never looked back. George Ashley completed a thrilling victory by getting the better of Tom Barker 3-2 (11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-9).

Danbury (Lewis Ewers, Chris Buer and Steve Buer) completed a League and Cup double by winning the Two-Down Cup final. They beat Elmtree Excalibur 5-0 in the final.

All three Danbury players were on good form in their singles. Ewers (with a record of 83% in League play) defeated the improving Paul Sturton 3-1 (8-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-5), whilst Chris Buer (63%) beat Phil Smith 3-1 (11-8, 11-7, 6-11, 11-8) and Steve Buer (41%) got the better of Rod Maclennan 3-0 (11-5, 11-8, 11-9).

Galleywood are the 2014-5 Veterans Knock-Out Cup champions. Their side of Steve Kerns, Lucy Wang and John Holland beat Danbury 5-0 in the Final. The Danbury duo of Tony Forster and Neil Want missed out narrowly 3-1 (12-10, 12-14, 6-11, 10-12) to John Holland and Steve Kerns in the opening doubles encounter and in the best game of the night with the ball flying through the air at an increasingly rapid rate of knots Steve Whiteley pushed Wang before succumbing 3-1 (4-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-13).

There was further success for Galleywood in the Mixed Knock-Out Cup final. The same side of Kerns, Holland and Wang beat Elmtree Excalibur 5-1 in the final. In the game of the night a determined Richard Storey scored a fine last-gasp 3-2 (10-12, 11-7, 12-14, 12-10, 11-9) victory over Holland. Lin Attridge pushed Wang before she pulled clear in the fourth end to win 3-1 (10-12, 11-5, 11-9, 11-7).

The Danbury side (Dan Richardson, Dan Anderson and George Ashley), who were such impressive winners of the Four-Down Competition also made it through to the final of the Handicap Competition but they missed out 5-3 this time against OCs B, who were represented by  Daniel Berry, Frank Hodge and Charles Yeung.

Berry sealed the OCs victory by getting the better of Ashley 2-1 (21-18, 19-12, 21-18), whilst in another stirring encounter Frank Hodge defeated Dan Anderson 2-1 (23-21, 18-21, 21-17). Dan Anderson had earlier pulled out all the stops to get the better of Charles Yeung in three (19-21, 21-14, 22-20(.

All players are reminded that the League’s Annual General Meeting will take place on Thursday May 28 at Danbury TTC, Danbury Village Hall, Main Road, Danbury at 7.30pm. Items on the agenda will include the likelihood that all League play next season will have to take place with the new plastic ball and the optimum number of teams required in each division to ensure the most competitive playing standards.

Steve Kerns (press & publicity officer)
May 26, 2015