Division three of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League looks set for a grandstand finish. Danbury G lead the way with 118 points from 18 matches – ahead of long-time leaders Hatfield Peverel B (108 points from 17 matches). Chelmsford C (105 points from 16 matches) and Maldon C (103 points from 16 matches) follow next and are both still very much in contention.

Chelmsford C (Mark Allaway, Rob Shrimpton and Paul Nicol) ran out 8-2 winners over Danbury F. Dave Marsh beat Mark Allaway 3-0 (11-8, 11-16, 12-10) for Danbury’s sole singles win.

Hatfield Peverel B won 6-4 against Chelmsford D thanks largely to a Dave Fiddeman hat-trick. Fiddeman had to pull out all the stops to get the better of Jarek Pietraszuk 3-2 (19-17, 4-11, 11-4, 10-12, 15-13).

Maldon B led by Brian Riedling’s trio of wins beat OCs E 8-2. Riedling’s closest encounter was against Sue Hickman and he finally eased home in five (11-4, 9-11, 12-10, 3-11, 16-14). Maldon C were 6-4 winners over OCs E. Ciaran Whelan won his three singles and Colin Napper won twice.

Third-placed Chelmsford A have been something of a surprise package in the first division this year. In newcomer Mateusz Zagajewski (100 % from 15 singles) they have a player who can clearly match the best and further newcomers Eddy Ogbebor and Wale Bada have also enjoyed considerable success.

Regular player Ryan Gooday is still improving rapidly and if they push on they could well be in the mix next year. They beat second-placed Liberal 6-4. Zagajewski was undefeated and he beat Paul Davison 3-1 (11-6, 11-9, 4-11, 11-9) whilst Davison was also involved in a cliff-hanger against Eddy Ogbebor. Paul Davison shaded this one 3-2 (5-11, 11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 14-12).

Danbury C ran out 6-4 winners over a two-player OCs B in division two. Neil Want dominated proceedings beating Ashley Skeggs 3-1 (10-12, 12-10, 11-8, 11-8) and Trevor Carter 3-0 (11-7, 12-10, 11-7).

Third-placed Chelmsford E closed to within a point of second-placed Danbury J with a thumping 9-1 win over Felsted in division four. Richard Upson and Karl Baldwin were both undefeated. Ashley Butler impressed for the losers by beating Richard Baxter 3-2 (11-8, 10-12, 12-10, 9-11, 11-5).

Maldon D led by a full-house from Shirley Carroll did well to beat Felsted 6-4. Clive Forster set the tone for the evening by defeating Nick Butler 3-2 (9-11, 15-17, 11-7, 11-8, 12-10) in the first game of the night.

Leaders Hatfield Peverel C are almost home and dry. They beat second-placed Danbury J 6-4. Trevor Collin was unbeaten for the champions-elect and Bob Garson won twice. Garson finally succumbed to Dave Powell in five (12-10, 8-11, 11-7, 10-12, 9-11) in the closest game of the evening.

Elsewhere, OCs F (Farooq Ahmed, Dave Newman and Adrian North) were narrow 6-4 winners over Danbury K and Chelmsford F shared the points with Danbury J. Connor Payne was unbeaten for Chelmsford F.

OCs H have dropped to third in division five although they have two matches in hand on second-placed Hatfield Peverel D. Tanishq Kotwal led OCs to a 6-4 win over Highwood.

The match between Galleywood B and Anglia Ruskin University finished tied at 5-5. Ron Salton and Nathan Blore both won twice for Galleywood whilst Taku Nerutanga and Mahmoud Abdelmagid both picked up two wins for the University team.

Chelmsford G, led by maximum returns for Steven Chambers and Martyn Hiskey, ran out 7-3 winners against Chelmsford H whilst Highwood beat OCs G 6-4 although none of their players were able to get the better of Stuart Wintle. Anne Lockhart came closest just missing out by a tantalising 16-14 in the deciding end.

Buttsbury teams dominated this week’s CLICK results. Buttsbury A (Nathan Fry and Matthew Elliott) ran out 5-0 winners over Buttsbury B. Buttsbury B (with Nathan Fry in their line-up this time) in turn beat Chelmsford J 3-2 whilst Buttsbury B (Harry Hutt and Matthew Elliott) beat Buttsbury C 4-1. Jason Yeh was on target for the losers with a 3-1 (14-12, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6) win over Harry Hutt.

Buttsbury A (this time represented by James Green and Harry Hutt) ran out 3-2 winners over Chelmsford J. James Green prevailed by the closest of margins against Ray Booty after suffering a major third game set-back (8-11, 11-6, 1-11, 11-7, 17-15).

OCs J (Fraser Heard and Jame Mitty) made no mistake against Black Notley B winning 5-0. Fraser Heard gave them an all-important winning start by beating Elliot Game 3-2 (11-5, 9-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-8) in the opening encounter.