Table tennis round-up: Full of Beans fight back helps Newton Abbot Batmen

In the Acacia Blinds 2010-11 South Devon & Torbay Table Tennis League, Division 1 outfit Full of Beans, who have been rooted firmly to the bottom spot for the most part of this season, have staged a remarkable fightback to see them reach level points with next best-placed Marldon who have played two matches more.

Two well fought away draws against Brixham Trawlers and Newton Abbot Academicals began the recovery with new signing Patrik Cincala taking a maximum in the Trawlers match and Martin Dilkes and Richard Jessop scoring a brace each against Academicals. Jessop was just short of making it Full of Beans’ second win of the season in his game against Jim McIvor, losing 11-8 in the fifth set.

But it was Full of Beans’ home performance against Halwell which stands out from the crowd and could end up being a decisive factor in the title race. Although the Bishopsteignton team lost 6-4, it was four big points lost in Halwell’s challenge against Newton Abbot Batmen for the Division 1 top spot.

Again, Cincala proved too strong for Halwell’s Mick Atkinson and Rod Sugden, but Dave Wadling held his own against the Slovenian import, winning 14-12 in the fourth set to take a maximum. Richard Jessop came close to forcing a draw, losing 11-8 in the last against Wadling.

Halwell dropped further points against Brixham Gulls when at 4-3 behind and looking to succumb for only the second time this season, Dave Wadlng and Mick Atkinson were able to win their final singles games and claim a straight sets victory in the doubles against Michael Lu and Mark Smith to scrape a 6-4 win. David White was the star for Gulls winning all three of his games including a stunning 5-set thriller against Wadling.

Although Halwell were able to claim a 10-0 away win against Taverners, Newton Abbot Batmen were able to win by the same margin against lowly Marldon and claim a 9-1 home win against Brixham Trawlers to keep their nearest challengers at bay.

However, it was the second meeting between the two teams this season that turned the table in Batmen’s favour, as Halwell travelled to Newton Abbot for a top of the table showdown. The first meeting between the teams resulted in a 6-4 win for the champions Batmen and once again, the scoreline was repeated to give Batmen the advantage. The first four games were complete reversals of the first meeting with Dennis Gibbs gaining revenge on Dave Wadling in straight sets. Tony Halse just lost out 12-10 in the fifth against Rod Sugden and was to come out of this one empty handed. Batmen’s Mike Dummett took two over Mick Atkinson and Sugden but made too many unforced errors to trouble Wadling. At 5-4 up, Gibbs and Dummett eased to a 6-4 victory in straight sets over Wadling and Atkinson to go 17 points clear at the top and a fourth consecutive Division 1 title that surely only Batmen can now lose.

Another showdown between the top two in Division 2 resulted in the Newton Abbot team Battlers gaining the advantage over their nearest rivals Dawlish Aces to go six points clear with only six matches to play.

The first game of the meeting set the trend for the rest of the match in which Battler’s Dave Friend gave everything to come from 2 sets to 1 down against Aces’ Steve Cooper to take the first game 15-13 in the fifth. It was a striking performance emulated with interest in the game against Ed Crawford who led 2-0 before the resurgent Friend won a deuce third 13-11 to make it 2-1. An amazing deuce fourth game saw Friend survive for a fifth when he pulled it level 20-18. At 9-9 in the last, it was anybody’s game, but Friend using all his experience and table tennis prowess, held strong and beat Crawford 11-9 to take his team 3-1 up. Although Friend lost his final game to Karolina Czyz in four, team-mate Keith Hawkins was able to raise the bar for Battlers to win a maximum, two of which again went all the way to help win the match 6-4 for the table leaders.

Battlers and Aces were able to set themselves apart from the rest in this division as they both claimed 10-0 whitewashes against Brixham Pirates as well as Aces crushing Hasbeens 9-1. Aces did excel themselves in their meeting against third placed Tykes in which Aces’ Dave Davies beat Pat Darch, Steve Metcalfe and Chris Garner to take his maximum, whilst Steve Cooper and Karolina Czyz both beat Darch and Garner to win the match 8-2 to put daylight between themselves and the chasing group.

Meanwhile 21 Up started a charge through the ranks jumping from sixth spot to fourth with wins over Hasbeens and Brixham Pirates, and a well earned draw away to Dawlish Diamonds to earn themselves 22 points from a possible 30. New signing Krzysztof Piwower won his three against Hasbeens’ Mike Wickens, Richard Fitzgerald and Gerry Bennett, whilst Martin Excell and Simon Furgol did the same against Joe Holmes, Henry Smithson and Caolan Walpot of Brixham Pirates. Mike Coxhead of Dawlish Diamonds was able to halt 21 Up’s advances to some extent dropping only one set on his way to victory over Matt Davison, Simon Furgol and Robert Excell.

In Division 3, Dawlish Drifters still hold on to the top spot but have Newton Abbot Livewires and 21 Down still breathing down their neck as these teams continue their winning form.

Livewires played Dawlish Dinosaurs twice and although they won against an under strength Dinosaurs team in their home encounter, were held to a draw in the away meeting. Unbeaten Ozzy Dee once again proved too strong for the Livewires players to take away the only points for the bottom placed team, but Robert Stephens saw through Dinosaurs’ Chris Tudball, Saidi Alikwani and new signing Don McConnel to help all but win the away match. Alikwani and Tudball however, had other ideas, as they pulled two fantastic victories against Ashleigh Stephens and Cheryl Stephens respectively to lead 5-4. A classic doubles match in which three of the five sets played went to deuce saw the Stephens brothers Ashleigh and Robert salvage a draw from Tudball and McConnel.

21 Down’s Connor Adams was in top form in their encounters with table toppers Dawlish Drifters and sixth placed Brixham Swallows. Connor won all his games over the two matches and was supported well by Daniel Brewer who won a brace in each. Adams and Brewer won their doubles tie against Tony Munson and Bruce Freeman in the Drifters encounter, but fell to Aaron and Andrew Millman in straight sets in the Swallows meeting.

Although Drifters lost the match against 21 Down, they were able to stay top thanks to a fine 7-3 win over Brixham Swallows in which the squad was strengthened by the appearance of Ozzy Dee from Dinosaurs who won a maximum and team regular Bruce Freeman who also won all three. Matt Reed also did well for Drifters beating Joshua Millman in straight sets to give his team the edge in the tightest of divisions.

Other news…

Local players were also in action in the regional qualification trials in Cirencester. Jazmin Johns, Aaron Millman, Joshua Millman and Oliver Slocombe from Brixham Table Tennis Club along with Connor Adams and Daniel Brewer of Torre Table Tennis Club all took part. Although Aaron Millman, Connor Adams and Daniel Brewer did well to reach the play-off stage, it was Jazmin Johns that shone for Torbay table tennis by qualifying not only for the under-14s National Championships, but also for the under-15s. She will compete in the Nationals to be held later this year.

For more information about the Acacia Blinds South Devon & Torbay Table Tennis League, see www. sdt-tabletennisleague.co.uk.

Report by Alan Maynard, results secretary.