After the fourth round of matches in the Premier Division, British League favourites Drumchapel and Ormesby continue to set the pace.
Ormesby beat North Ayrshire 8-0, though their opponents were beset by selection issues, with Colin Dalglish having limited recovery time after playing for Scotland in Albania just a couple of days earlier.
Further disruption hit the club when Sean Doherty and Richie Main pulled out on medical advice. Taking their place was Martin Johnson and Andy Macpherson, giving them a great opportunity to play against some of the best players in the country.
Everyone in the team played well and did not hand Ormesby any single point easily, with Johnson being the standout player for North Ayrshire when he was playing Liam McTiernan.
Johnson produced an excellent performance, getting off to a perfect start by going two sets up. In the end he was narrowly beaten by his opponent in the fifth, but this match proved he can challenge at this high level.
Ultimately, as it may have been expected, Ormesby completed the match without dropping a point. Filip Szymanski was given man of the match after winning both of his games in straight sets (11-4, 11-4, 11-6) and (11-8, 11-3, 11-4.
Along with Drumchapel, the club seem to be unstoppable at this point in the season but the two teams will be going head to head in the next round, when Ormesby will be the host.
Hosting Drumchapel at the Wales Institute of Sport, Cardiff City battled with the tough opponent and suffered another 8-0 loss. Despite the score, all of the Cardiff City players enjoyed the match and the challenges it brought.
Making his debut, Dean Cundy, put in a good performance against Liu Song with some close games but ultimately lost in three sets, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9.
It was a great experience and exposure to a high level of play for the two juniors, Marc Castro and Pouyan Javanmard, who both put everything they had into their matches for City.
From Drumchapel’s point of view, it was a successful first away match of the season. The club did not drop a single set throughout the match and He Zhi When took home man of the match after his convincing wins against Lloyd Gregory (11-3, 11-2, 11-6) and Cundy (11-1, 11-5, 11-6).
Drumchapel also welcomed back Chris Wheeler, who has moved to Sweden to train full time, and he won both his games comfortably.
For their first home game of the season, Fusion welcomed Halton to South Bermondsey. Both clubs were at the bottom of the table coming into this match with Fusion only being one point above Halton, so both clubs had it all to play for.
The Fusion line-up for this crucial match was Kazeem Adeleke, Lorestas Trumpauskas, Emran Hussain and Joseph Hee. Stepping up first was Adeleke, against Richard Lightowler for Halton. This proved to be an exciting start for both clubs it went to five sets, Lightowler holding his final two serves to complete an 11-6, 11-4, 6-11, 5-11, 11-9 win.
From then on it really was Fusion’s match with a 3-0 win when player of the match Hussain went up against Kin Fung Chan and a further two 3-0 wins for Fusion thanks to Hee and his trademark chops.
Fusion finished with a 7-1 victory, their best result of the season, giving them something to build on as they go into their next match against North Ayrshire.
Lightowler performed strongly – as well as his victory over Adeleke, he narrowly missed out against Hussain in another five-set battle (9-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 9-11).
As it has been the case throughout the season so far, Halton struggled with their team selection, with some players traveling 11 hours to reach the match. The next round will see Halton welcome Batts for their first home match of the season, and they are keen to take advantage of this opportunity.
The next round of matches will take place on Saturday December 3.