Danbury B are the leaders of Division Two of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League at the halfway stage and they top the table with 66 points from 10 matches – good going in what is traditionally one of the League’s most evenly contested divisions.
The addition of Charles Sweeney to an already strong squad of Lewis Ewers, Andrew Halling, Sidney Dorn, Chris Buer, Matthew Brown and Steve Buer can only improve their chances and his hat-trick went a long way to enabling them to beat Liberal 7-3. Sweeney had to dig deep to get the better of the improving Adam Buxton – the best of the Liberal players – 3-2 (11-4, 11-9, 8-11, 8-11, 11-9).
Bottom side Elmtree Excalibur C are still without a win but they came close to beating Hatfield Peverel A, before missing out 6-4. Gary Ward’s three singles wins gave Hatfield Peverel the ascendancy. Lin Attridge made her mark with two excellent wins over Dave Calleja and John Parodi.
Danbury C are in third place and they advanced their cause by beating Elmtree Excalibur C 7-3. Graham Briggs was their match-winner with a trio of victories.
The match between Galleywood B and Elmtree Excalibur B finished as a 5-5 draw. Gus Heath won his three singles for Elmtree Excalibur B, whilst Gary Brignall picked up two wins for the Galleywood team. This included a fine 3-1 (14-12, 11-13, 11-8, 12-10) victory over Lee McHugh.
In a match played earlier in the season, Danbury D beat Hatfield Peverel A 6-4. David Richardson won his three singles for the Danbury team – beating Gary Ward, John Parodi and John Webber. The game between John Webber and Steve Whiteley was a hotly contested affair and Webber sneaked home 3-2 (12-10, 4-11, 11-5, 10-12, 14-12).
Division Three is shaping up and Hatfield Peverel B (Gordon Fairchild, Dave Fiddeman, Neil Freeman, Guy McKenzie and Gareth Davies) are the leaders at the halfway stage with 66 points from nine matches, with eight wins out of nine.
OCs C follow next with 62 points and they beat Danbury F 7-3. Daniel Berry, Frank Hodge and Nat Ravlic all won twice. In a reversal of fortunes Danbury F beat Chelmsford B 7-3. Chris Hancox won his three singles and he was well supported by Gordon Gatherall, who won twice.
Danbury F (Tim Pulham, Gordon Gatheral and Ken Sheard) beat Maldon C 6-4 in a mid-table clash. However, none of their players were able to get the better of Brian Riedling who retained his 100 per cent record (14 wins out of 14 to date).
Maldon D lead the way in Division Four with 74 points out of 100 and the addition of Ev Lucas to their ranks makes them strong favourites to take the title. Lucas was unbeaten as they defeated OCs E 7-3 although Adrian North impressed for the losers. He scored a fine 3-2 (4-11, 4-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-6) victory over Ciaran Whelan.
OCs F follow in second place and Peter Windley (24 wins out of 29) stayed undefeated as they beat OCs E 7-3. Windley’s team-mates – Charlie Mariner and Thomas Barker both won twice.
Danbury M (75 points out of a possible 90 and a perfect record of nine wins out of nine) showed their strength in Division Five by beating Highwood 10-0. George Ashley, Daniel Richardson and Daniel Anderson were all unbeaten.
Danbury L are in second place and they beat Elmtree Excalibur E 9-1. Scott Perry and Eamon Hall both picked up three wins. Keith Fitz-John defeated Alan Shrimpton 3-2 (11-6, 7-11, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10) in the closest game of the night. Elmtree Excalibur were bolstered by the inclusion of Wiktor Delimat – back from university – and they were 6-4 winners over Highwood. Delimat won his three singles.
Last but not least Chelmsford E (Adam Pitt, Jacqueline Smith and Harry Isaacs) were 9-1 winners against Galleywood D.
Happy new year to all players and league officials
Steve Kerns (press & publicity officer)
January 5, 2015