South Devon & Torbay Table Tennis League: HALWELL LEAD THE CHASE

The reigning South Devon & Torbay Table Tennis League Division 1 champions and current leaders Newton Abbot Batmen continue to keep an eye over one shoulder as the teams from Halwell lead the chasing pack for this season’s title.

Halwell A’s meetings against Brixham teams Trawlers and Gulls proved fruitful with only one point being dropped over the two matches. The veritable force of Mick Atkinson, Rod Sugden and Dave Wadling clinched all singles matches to take them within three points of the leaders. Trawlers’ Alan Maynard made life difficult for Sugden when at two sets to nil up and 7-1 up in the third, looked to have the game in the bag. Sugden, however, dug deep, won the third 11-9 and went on to claim the point 11-7 in the fifth. Indicative of Hawell’s determination, Atkinson too came back from the dead at 9-1 down in the second game to beat Ian May in four. Only Maynard and Chris Baron were able to scrape a much needed point for Trawlers, beating Atkinson and Dave Wadling 11-8 in the doubles.

Against Gulls, a much improving Michael Lu again took Halwell A’s Sugden to five only to be pipped 13-11 as Gulls’ Mark Smith and Brian Pengelly could find no answers to Halwell A’s fine form.

The 19 points take Halwell to within three points of Newton Abbot Batmen who kept abreast of their rivals with a 9-1 victory away against Full of Beans. Richard Jessop was the only player for the Bishopsteignton outfit able to score and came close to a major upset against Dennis Gibbs who narrowly beat Jessop 11-6 in the fifth.

The battle at the bottom is as close as ever with only six points separating the five teams involved. Full of Beans’ freefall from the top continues as Brixham Gulls were able to claim a brilliant 8-2 victory over Taverners to leapfrog over them. Brixham Trawlers’ point over Halwell A proved vital in addition to the four scored away to Taverners in a match that saw one of Taverners’ original team players Dave Friend win two against his old team mates. The big clash at the foot of the table resulted in victory for Newton Abbot Academicals as they hosted Dawlish Aces. Joe Clifford Jnr won a crucial maximum for Academicals and was supported well by Jim McIvor who fell just a few points short of his own hat-trick in his five-set opener against Dawlish’s Steve Cooper who also won two for Aces. The win for Academicals puts them on equal points with Full of Beans with all teams in the drop zone facing tough opposition in the next few weeks.

In Division 2 the Marldon teams continue to dominate with Denbury’s Tykes the only team keeping in contention. Marldon eased to victory against bottom of the table Hasbeens who struggled again to field players. Dave Alexander won the only game for Hasbeens in a titanic five set haul against George Breyley. New signing Dave Atkin and Graham Holmes both took maximums to take Marldon to the top on level points with stable-mates Marldon Millers.

Tykes made heavy weather in their three matches against 21 Up, Dawlish Diamonds and Barnabas Sports Trust. The 10-0 away victory against 21 Up was not all plain sailing as three of the games went all the way in favour of Chris Garner and twice for Kevin Ayling, Robert Excell being on the wrong end of the result on two of the three occasions. Against Dawlish Diamonds, Karolina Czyz caused problems for Tykes, running away with all of Diamonds’ three points whilst Dawlish’s new signing Derek Mothersele was unlucky not to score another in a five-set defeat against Tykes’ Pat Darch.

In their meeting away to Barnabas Sports Trust, it was Ed Thompson who proved to be the party pooper for Tykes winning all three of his games and, together with Roger and Hugh Doxat-Pratt, inflicted Tykes’ second defeat and prevented them from taking the top spot. The win for Barnabas saw them rocket from seventh to fourth in this, their first season in Division 2.

Brixham Pirates still lead Division 3 with a fantastic away win against Torre Table Tennis Club who held second spot on equal points with Pirates before the match. There were two hard fought maximums for Joe Holmes and Patrik Herget who both played very well on the night and combined brilliantly to take a very nervy and tense doubles match to deuce in the fifth leg, eventually winning it 14-12. Keiran Rapier won two from three but it was so nearly a maximum when he fought back brilliantly from 2-0 down to take Mick Blyth to a tense finish in the final leg. Non-playing captain Mick Marlow was delighted with the result and praised his team, especially the ever-improving Rapier: “There is now real improvement in his game and as he has been shifting through the gears in his first few matches you can see there is genuine potential there.” he said.

Torre’s nightmare fortnight was complete in their 7-3 defeat against Dawlish Dinosaurs who, with that win, jumped into second position just two points behind the leaders. Undefeated Mike Coxhead once again took a maximum without dropping a set against Torre’s Lewis and Spencer Newbould and captain Mick Blyth. Blyth did respond with wins for Torre against Michael Miller and new signing Pete Cockram, but it was young Lewis Newbould’s performance against Cockram which impressed the most which after being two sets down, came back bravely to win 11-3 in the fifth.

Coxhead was once again flying the flag for Dawlish, continuing his 100 per cent record against Brixham Swifts to earn the only points against Swifts’ Sam Zhou, Tom Schwenn and Louie Russel as Swifts move from fifth to fourth, only six points behind Torre.

Newton Team Spirits continue to add the pressure to Dawlish Drifters at the foot of the table with a 6-4 home win over 21 Down to leave themselves within one point of the team from Torre. 21 Down’s Nathanial Minskip was the player of the evening winning all three ahead of Spirits’ Kris Jury in a five-set game that went to the wire 12-10 in favour of Minskip.

The first round Challenge Cup matches were also played this week, the results for which are below.

Report by Alan Maynard, results secretary.

Division 1

Newton Abbot Batmen 50pts

Halwell A 47

Halwell B 40

Taverners 32

Brixham Gulls 26

Full of Beans 22

Newton Abbot Academicals 22

Brixham Trawlers 21

Dawlish Aces 20

Division 1 results 23rd November - 4th December:

Brixham Gulls 8 (Michael Lu 1, David White 3, Brian Pengelly 3) Taverners 2 (Nick Williamson 0, Geoff Read 1, Gerald Norton 1)

Full of Beans 1 (Tracey Lyon 0, Martin Dilkes 0, Richard Jessop 1) Newton Abbot Batmen 9 (Dennis Gibbs 3, Sam Hurst 2, Tony Halse 3)

Halwell A 9 (Mick Atkinson 3, Rod Sugden 3, Dave Wadling 3) Brixham Trawlers 1 (Alan Maynard 0, Ian May 0, Chris Baron 0)

Halwell A 10 (Mick Atkinson 3, Rod Sugden 3, Dave Wadling 3) Brixham Gulls 0 (Mark Smith 0, Michael Lu 0, Brian Pengelly 0)

Taverners 3 (Colin Harrop 1, Nick Williamson 1, Geoff Read 1) Halwell B 7 (Kevin Nicholls 3, Adrian Allen 0, Dave Nicholls 3)

Newton Abbot Academicals 6 (Jim McIvor 2, Joe Clifford Jnr 3, Doug Morgan 1) Dawlish Aces 4 (Steve Cooper 2, Don Beesley 0, Dave Davies 1)

Taverners 6 (Colin Harrop 3, Nick Williamson 2, Geoff Read 0) Brixham Trawlers 4 (Dave Friend 2, Chris Baron 1, Alan Maynard 1)

 

Division 2

Marldon 42pts

Marldon Millers 42 

Tykes 41

Barnabas Sports Trust 23

Brixham Sharks 20

Dawlish Diamonds 18

21 Up 17

Hasbeens 7

Division 2 results 23rd November - 4th December:

21 Up 7 (Martin Excell 2, Giuliano D’Aprano 3, Ilya Smirnov 1) Hasbeens 3 (Richard Fitzgerald 2, Gerry Bennett 1)

Tykes 7 (Kevin Ayling 2, Pat Darch 2, Chris Garner 2) Dawlish Diamonds 3 (Karolina Czyz 3, Derek Mothersele 0, Don Beesley 0)

Barnabus Sports Trust 3 (Roger Doxat-Pratt 1, Hugh Doxat-Pratt 1, Matt Thompson 1) Brixham Sharks 7 (Dave Friend 1, Mike Harper 2, Keith Hawkins 3)

Dawlish Diamonds 2 (Don Beesley 0, Dave Townsend 1, Frank Frain 1) Barnabus Sports Trust 8 (Ed Thompson 3, Roger Doxat-Pratt 3, Hugh Doxat-Pratt 1)

Barnabus Sports Trust 7 (Ed Thompson 3, Roger Doxat-Pratt 2, Hugh Doxat-Pratt 1) Tykes 3 (Kevin Ayling 1, Chris Garner 0, Steve Metcalfe 2)

Marldon 9 (Graham Holmes 3, Dave Atkin 3, George Breyley 2) Hasbeens 1 (Dave Alexander 1, Gerry Bennett 0)

21 Up 0 (Robert Excell 0, Ilya Smirnov 0, Martin Excell 0) Tykes 10 (Kevin Ayling 3, Chris Garner 3, Pat Darch 3)

 

Division 3

Brixham Pirates 35pts

Dawlish Dinosaurs 33

Torre Table Tennis Club 30

Brixham Swifts 24

Brixham Rebels 23

21 Down 18

Newton Team Spirits 17

Dawlish Drifters 10

Division 3 results 23rd November - 4th December:

Brixham Swifts 7 (Sam Zhou 2, Tom Schwenn 2, Louie Russel 2) Dawlish Dinosaurs 3 (Mike Coxhead 3, Chris Tudball 0, Angie Perryman 0)

Torre Table Tennis Club 1 (Mick Blyth 1, Nigel Adams 0, Connor Adams 0) Brixham Pirates 9 (Joe Holmes 3, Patrik Herget 3, Kieran Rapier 2)

Newton Team Spirits 6 (Ashleigh Stephens 1, Kris Jury 2, Cheryl Stephens 2) 21 Down 4 (Nathanial Minskip 3, Daniel Webster 1, Ben Richards 0)

Dawlish Dinosaurs 7 (Michael Miller 2, Mike Coxhead 3, Pete Cockram 1) Torre Table Tennis Club 3 (Lewis Newbould 1, Spencer Newbould 0, Mick Blyth 2)

Challenge Cup

1st round results

Tykes 4 Marldon 5

Marldon Miller 5 Newton Abbot Academicals 4

Dawlish Dinosaurs 2 Dawlish Diamonds 5

Dawlish Aces 5 Brixham Rebels 3

Brixham Trawlers 3 Brixham Gulls 5

Brixham Sharks 5 Brixham Swifts 3

Brixham Pirates 5 21 Up 2

Halwell B 0 Newton Abbot Batmen 5 (conceded)

 

2nd round fixtures (to be played week commencing 8th February 2010):

Hasbeens v Newton Abbot Batmen

Marldon v Brixham Pirates

Dawlish Drifters v 21 Down or Halwell A

Brixham Sharks v Torre Table Tennis Club

Newton Team Spirits v Dawlish Aces

Barnabas Sports Trust v Brixham Gulls

Taverners v Dawlish Diamonds

Marldon Millers v Full of Beans