South Devon and Torbay Table tennis League – round-up

South Devon & Torbay Table Tennis League Division 1 champions Newton Abbot Batmen once again climbed back to the top of the table after a catch up of fixtures to overtake challengers Halwell A in the see-saw battle for the trophy.

Good away wins over strugglers Dawlish Aces and league stalwarts Taverners together with a surprising draw again on their travels to play Halwell’s B team lifted the reigning champions seven points clear over HalwellA.

In the Dawlish match, Dave Davies did well to claw a point for the division’s bottom side, beating youngster Sam Hurst in straight sets whilst together with Ed Crawford, just fell short of claiming another 11-7 in the 5th of the doubles against Hurst and Dennis Gibbs.

The Taverners’ match saw the welcome return of Stuart Gibbs, back after a long absence and gaining a brace in Batmen’s 7-3 win. The young Gibbs has always been an exciting player to watch and on this display, his forehand remains as potent as ever, which together with his mobility, makes him a difficult opponent. Only consistency let him down in his game against Nick Williamson who did well to win 11-9 in the fourth set.

The pick of the bunch from Batmen’s fixtures was against Halwell B in which an immense battle between rivals Dennis Gibbs and Kevin Nicholls kicked off the match. Nicholls took advantage twice in the game only for Gibbs to level up twice before eventually coming through as the winner at 11-9 in the fifth set. Although Sam Hurst was unable to fire up his game in this match, Batmen and Gibbs received great support from the play of Tony Halse winning against Adrian Allen and Dave Nicholls before succumbing to Kevin Nicholls in straight sets.

Halwell B continued their winning ways against lowly Full of Beans with Kevin Nicholls again scoring a maximum, while Full of Beans’ Richard Jessop and Martin Dilkes were able to claim a much needed four points to stay abreast of Dalwish Aces and in touch of Brixham Trawlers who both met and played out a tight draw to keep the relegation battle interesting with 13 points and games in hand to yet play a big part.

Newton Abbot Academicals jumped into third place following wins over Taverners and a weakened Brixham Trawlers. Joe Clifford Jnr and Jim McIvor were the stars for the Academicals with only McIvor losing out to a double hatrick against Trawlers’ Chris Baron.

In Division 2, Marldon finally broke free from the shackles of their stablemates Marldon Millers in their claim for the Division 2 title as they landed fantastic victories over Brixham Sharks and Dawlish Diamonds.

Dave Atkin, Graham Holmes and Helen Parton all secured maximums in their 10-0 crushing of Brixham Sharks, while Atkin was unable to get through Diamonds’ Ozzy Dee as they fell just one short of repeating the feat against the Division 2 strugglers. It was nearly a brace for Dee with only stamina letting him down in his 17-15, 11-4, 5-11, 12-10 defeat against Marldon’s George Breyley.

The wins give unbeaten Marldon a very healthy 16 point lead over Tykes who leapt up to second spot with a double-whitewash against 21 Up and Hasbeens. Although the win over bottom placed Hasbeens was fairly academical, the victory over 21 Up was far from it. Three of the games went the distance and four were won in four sets, however Tykes’ Kevin Ayling, Chris Garner and Pat Darch pushed all the way for the right to hold the second spot by one point over Marldon Millers who also beat Dawlish Diamonds 7-3 with maximums from Alan Tyrrell and Nigel Hunt.

Barnabas Sports Trust’s fantastic first season in the second tier continued with a good 6-4 away win over 21 Up to keep them tied to the fourth spot in the table, Ed Thompson leading the way winning all three against Martin Excell, Ilya Smirnov and Giuliano D’Aprano.

In Division 3, Brixham Pirates extended their lead at the top to a massive 18 points ahead of the challengers who may now be battling it out for second spot.

In another trio of matches, Pirates’ Joe Holmes, Patrik Herget, Dan Asker, Henry Smithson and Keiran Rapier all headed up by non-playing captain Mick Marlow all played a part in victories against 21 Down, Brixham Rebels and Newton Team Spirits to all but secure the Division 3 title.

Joe Holmes edged ahead of Patrik Herget in the team averages as he emerged undefeated in the clashes, whilst Herget lost out to 21 Down’s substitute player Connor Lowe 11-8 in the final leg of their match.

Connor Lowe continued his fine form winning a maximum against 21 Down to keep Torre Table Tennis Club in touch of the second spot whilst Brixham Swifts came through 7-3 victors against Dawlish Drifters to leave them just one point behind with a game in hand. Swifts’ Tom Schwenn and Louie Russel were the stars of the show taking maximums against Drifters’ Frank Frain, Bruce Freeman and Aran Ashley.

The third team in the running, Dawlish Dinosaurs were held in a 5-5 draw at home to Newton Team Spirits, a match in which Spirits’ Robert Stephens had his very first league maximum snatched from his grasp in four by Mike Coxhead, Dinosaurs’ undefeated hero of the season so far. The draw for Spirits helps their cause at the wrong end of the Division with only a few matches left of the season to go, while Dinosaurs remain in contention for the second spot.