Occasionally a performance causes the whole of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League to take note. Adam Buxton’s superb trio of wins for Liberal A versus Danbury A in the first division certainly fell into that category and it must also be a contender for “Best Performance of the Season.”
Buxton defeated Reece Seddon 3-1 (9-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-3) and Keith Adams 3-1 (11-7, 4-11, 11-8, 11-5) and finally Glen Johnson 3-2 (6-11, 11-6, 12-10, 9-11, 11-16) in a match that ended 5-5 – an excellent evening‘s work. The all-action Keith Adams in turn made his presence felt with a widely fluctuating five-game win over Paul Davison (2-11, 11-9, 11-4, 6-11, 11-6).
In division two Rawreth B have climbed into second place by beating Danbury C 8- 2. Paul Churn was undefeated for Rawreth whilst Neil Want picked up two wins for Danbury C. This included an excellent 3-2 (6-11, 11-6, 12-10, 10-12, 11-8) victory over Kim Shead.
Danbury D stay top and it was Chris Buer who led the way as they beat Chelmsford B 8-2. Buer beat Julie Johnston – Chelmsford’s best player – 3-1 (11-7, 4-11, 12-10, 11-9).
Hatfield Peverel B stay top in division three with Neil Freeman‘s hat-trick being instrumental as they beat Danbury E 6-4. Freeman beat David Gatheral – who won twice for Danbury E – 3-1 (5-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-8). Chelmsford D did well to draw with the higher placed Danbury G. Dan Anderson won twice for Danbury G whilst Jarek Pietraszuk and Keith Martin both picked up two wins for Chelmsford G.
Maldon D featured in two division four matches and Roger Hance was on top form winning all six singles as they drew 5-5 with Danbury J and lost 6-4 to Felsted RBL. Dave Goody provided Hance with his most severe test before he ran out a 3-2 (7-11, 11-3, 12-10, 8-11, 11-6) winner.
There has been plenty of cup action over the Christmas period. Chelmsford (Ryan Gooday, Mark Allaway and Robert Shrimpton) impressed by beating Hatfield Peverel A 5-2 in the Open Cup. Mark Allaway scored two superb wins – beating Gary Ward 3-1 (9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 12-10) and John Gagg 3-1 (11-6, 7-11, 11-6, 13-11).
Danbury A (Gary Young, Eric Green and Steve Whiteley) gave nothing away in beating Danbury B 5-0. Ace defender Eric Green again impressed as he defeated Peter Mynard 3-1 (11-9, 4-11, 11-5, 11-7).
Mynard was in turn on the winning side in the Division Two Cup. He led Danbury A to a 5-1 win over Danbury B. Sam Lowman made his mark for the B team by beating Glen Laing 3-0 (13-11, 11-9, 11-2).
By virtue of their consistent displays in the League Hatfield Peverel A are going to take some stopping in the Division Three Cup. Neil Freeman, Dave Fiddeman and Gareth Davies gave nothing away as they beat Maldon C 9-0.
The match between Danbury A and Danbury C was a closer affair and Danbury A shaded it 5-3. David Gatheral won twice for the Danbury A side.
Maldon B beat Chelmsford 5-3 in another closely fought match. Maldon won all three five enders with Colin Napper and Steve Scholz beating Victor Chan and Robert Shrimpton 3-2 (12-10, 8-11, 5-11, 11-7, 13-11) in the opening doubles and Ciaran Whelan pipping Pauil Nicol 3-2 (11-8, 10-12, 8-11, 11-8, 12-10) in their singles encounter. Ciaran Whelan and Colin Napper got the better of Victor Chan and Robert Shrimpton in five (8-11, 11-7, 4-11, 11-9, 11-9) in the middle doubles. A close match could quite conceivably have been even closer.
The Division Five Cup produced the two closest matches of the round. Writtle Excalibur A fought back from 4-3 down to pip OCs A 5-4. Nicola Pippen beat Vince Gurney 3-0 (14-12, 11-5, 11-2) to level the scores and Keith Fitzjohn and Keith Pallett defeated Vince Gurney and Mike Morecroft 3-1 (11-7, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9) to seal the Writtle victory.
The match between Highwood and Writtle Excalibur B was equally close – mainly due to the fine form of Highwood’s Francis Whitbread who beat both Frank Neill (11-9, 11-7, 6-11, 11-8) and David Meah (12-10, 11-6, 11-7), With the scores poised at 4-4 Frank Neill and David Meah came up trumps by beating Martin Goddard and Russell Downton 3-1 (11-6, 7-11, 11-6, 11-9) to seal a very hard earned victory.
Buttsbury A are safely through to the next round of the Junior Knock Out Cup. Nathan Fry, Matthew Elliott and Alex Headley emerged as 5-3 winners over Chelmsford despite the fact that Chelmsford‘s Connor Payne remained undefeated. Payne beat Matthew Elliott 14-12, 10-12, 3-11, 11-8, 11-8 in a five-game thriller.
In the Handicap Knock Out Cup OCs G (Tanishq Kotwal, Dave Bishop and Stuart Wintle) ran out 5-3 winners over Writtle Excalibur A whilst Chelmsford D (John Wickens, Robert Shrimpton and Martyn Hiskey) beat Danbury B 5-0.
Writtle Excalibur B (Dave Moles, Steve Siggs and Alan Offord) are also through to the next round by beating Danbury C 5-3. Offord was the OCs match-winner on this occasion with a hat-trick and he sealed the victory by getting the better of Mo Hardy 22-10, 21-17.
OCs A – Peter Windley, Frank Hodge and Nat Ravlic) did well to beat Danbury A 5-1. Five games were decided in the third end and OCs won four of them. Peter Windley and Frank Hodge both won twice.
Hatfield Peverel B ran out 6-2 winners over Highwood. Dave Fiddeman and Neil Freeman were both undefeated on this occasion.