Chelmsford A, the outstanding team in the first division of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League, were held to a 5-5 draw by OCA A. OCA’s Matthew Mulley was the star of this match, no question, and he powered his way to three singles wins beating James Liddiard (11-7 11-9, 11-9), Kim Shead (11-6, 11-7, 11-7) and Gary Young (12-14, 11-6, 11-3, 11-8). He has a 100 % singles record (12/12 wins). Kim Shead played his part by beating Mark Mulley (9-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9) having previously lost to Rob Burton (9-11, 11-9, 8-11, 5-11). The low scoring nature of this division can be illustrated by the fact that Danbury C are now in second place with 62 points out of 120. They did well to beat Danbury B 6-4. Trevor Lloyd was again their star performer and he stormed to a hat-trick of wins. He defeated Dan Anderson (11-5, 11-6, 11-8), Cameron Gray (11-6, 11-3, 11-9) and Chris Buer (11-6, 11-4, 11-3). Very impressive.  Writtle A have slipped back.  Lee McHugh was unbeaten against Chelmsford B but Saul Chivers, Harry Buckle and Charlie Craig all won twice as Chelmsford won 7-3. McHugh had to pull out all the stops against Charlie Craig before he won 13-11, 6-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-9.    

Division two produced three tightly fought matches this week. John Webber and Gary Ward were both undefeated as Writtle C beat OCA B 6-4. Writtle C now have 72 points, the same as Hatfield Peverel A in second place. Webber fought back from 2-0 down to beat Charles Yeung 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-6 in the opening game of the evening. Danbury E also won 6-4, against Danbury F. Neil Want led the way with three wins. He beat Gordon Gatheral (11-4, 11-7, 11-5), Ken Sheard (11-5. 11-8, 11-5) and Alan Scammell (11-4, 11-9, 11-5). Pretty dominant. The match between OCA C and Writtle B finished tied at 5-5. No one player stayed unbeaten and Mick Richardson and Dave Porter (OCA) and Matthew Brown (Writtle) all bagged two wins. Matthew Brown gave Writtle a winning start by beating Mick Richardson (11-13, 11-7, 10-12, 14-12, 11-8) and he carried on the good work by defeating Dave Porter (11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 10-12, 11-8) but he became a victim of Mick Hayes in his third singles (9-11, 7-11, 6-11).  An excellent win for Mick Hayes. The exceptional result in this division was the very strong performance that Hatfield Peverel A turned in to beat Chelmsford D 8-2. Martin Archie led the way with three wins and he received excellent support from Neil Freeman and Gareth Davies who both won twice. Martin Archie defeated Victor Chan, the best of the Chelmsford players – 12-10, 6-11, 11-1, 14-12. A rather unusual looking scoreline.

Galleywood B (101 points out of a possible 130) are almost as dominant in division three as Chelmsford A are in division one. This week they beat Danbury J 8-2. John Holland and Gary Copsey were both undefeated whilst Dave Meah beat Mark Glenister (11-8, 11-4, 9-11, 11-8) for the losers. Chelmsford E also won 8-2 against Hatfield Peverel B. Rev Matthews and Joachin Mapes both won their three singles. Michael Lucey missed out by the narrowest possible margin twice. He lost 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, 9-11, 10-12 to Joachin Mapes and equally closely (8-11, 11-13, 11-9, 11-7, 9-11) to Rev Matthews. Andy Swales dominated affairs as Chelmsford F beat OCA D 7-3. Swales completed his hat-trick by beating Amanda Hogger (11-5, 11-13, 12-10, 8-11, 11-5).

In division four Danbury L made it 10 wins out of 12 by defeating Galleywood C 7-3. Denis Crapnell (24 wins out of 24) retained his 100 % record and he beat Colin Blore (two wins for the Galleywood side) 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6. Blore also had a fought win against Denis Balic and he battled back from 2-0 down to triumph 7-11, 9-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-9. OCA E ran out 9-1 winners against Maldon B in a match where Farooq Ahmed and David Bishop gave nothing away. Writtle E beat Chelmsford G 6-4. Chelmsford were handicapped by being a player short but Neil Thompson beat both Dusan Doszkoty (18-20, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7) and Vasile Barbulet (11-8, 11-5, 11-9) to ensure Writtle emerged as winners.

In division five Buttsbury surged to a superb 9-1 win over the higher placed Hatfield Peverel C team. Jamie Elliott (three wins), Gary Carr (three wins) and Ben Brown (two wins) called the shots. Richard Drozd prevented Hatfield Peverel C from being whitewashed with his 9-11, 11-9, 2-11, 11-7, 16-14 success against Ben Brown.  Hatfield Peverel C did better against Hatfield Peverel E and won 6-4. Mick Carter led the way with a hat-trick and he sealed the victory for his side by beating Gary Simmons 12-10, 11-5, 11-7 in the last game of the evening. Roger Slade was unbeaten for Hatfield Peverel D who beat Danbury M 7-3 whilst Maldon C combined well to get the better of Chelmsford J 6-4. Paul Bullock was unbeaten for Chelmsford J and this included a widely fluctuating 11-6, 6-11, 11-3, 5-11, 11-7 win over Rob Sach.

Steve Kerns Press Officer Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League