With the Division 1 title already decided in favour of Northlands, who still have one game to play, the fight was on this week for the runners up spot, and third and fourth places.

Favourites for second place are Brand Identity who did themselves no harm at all beating Hadleigh Forum 8-1. The brothers Jacob, David and Simon, together with Steve Muth, were rarely troubled on the night winning six matches without dropping a set, the only hiccup coming when Paul Fawell defeated Steve Muth in five sets.

Invicta completed their season with a 6-3 away win at Hockley but it wasn’t quite enough for them to catch Brand Identity, currently third, so they settle for fourth place. The match wasn’t easy for Invicta but they started well winning the first three games and benefited greatly from the return of Steve Marr, playing only his second summer league game, but he won both his singles and took the POTM award. Joseph Odegbami got Hockley’s only singles win beating Tony Ayliffe and also went to five sets against Marr. Their other successes came in the doubles Stuart Adshead and Harry Sawford beating Marr and Lee Marson in five sets, and Odegbami and Sawford beating Ayliffe and Marson also in five sets. Marson also picked up two singles wins and Ayliffe got his point beating Adshead in straight sets.

Hadleigh Forum were back at the table for a second time this week taking on bottom of the table Canvey and this time coming out on top winning 6-3. Fellow DRS Dave Woolmer got the POTM award but he and team mates Colin Barham and Anton Ranjit-Singh all won their singles with the doubles matches proving to be their Achilles heel. Doubles matches have proved to be quite a leveller in this division and what was remarkable about Canvey’s performance was that all three matches went to five sets, and they were behind in all three, twice coming back from two sets down and once from 2-1. Closest of these three was probably Des Duffield and Lee Mcgonagle’s win against Woolmer and Barham 11/7 11/5 13/15 12/14 9/11.

Stanford edged out RESSC 5-4 thanks to two singles wins each from Pete Weatherall and Rob Salvage and a doubles win from Weatherall and Mark Downey. Ron Coutts and John Tendler picked up a point each for RESSC and the doubles provided two more with wins from  Tendler and Bob Skews and Skews again with Coutts.

Results stayed very much to form in the latest round of matches in the Southend Summer Table Tennis League Division 1 with the top teams winning comfortably but we did see probably the closest match of the season so far when Invicta took on Basildon.

At the top of the table Northlands completed the perfect 9-0 whitewash against Canvey the team of Keith Adam, Kim Shead and Paul Brown not dropping a single set.

Brand Identity stay comfortably in third place after chalking up two 9-0 wins against Canvey and Stanford. The Jacob brothers Simon and David together with Steve Muth did the damage against Canvey repeating Northlands feat of a perfect whitewash. Against Stanford David Jacob, Jenny Harrison and Adam Jackman took the honours meeting a bit more resistance from the Stanford trio of Peter Weatherall, Pat White and Rob Salvage. The doubles pairing of White and Salvage almost got them off to a winning start against Jackman and Harrison but the Brand pairing came back from 2-1 down to take the deciding set 11/5. There were several close four set matches after that the closest being Jenny Harrison’s win against Pat White 9/11, 12/10, 13/11, 16/14.

Hockley find themselves in a comfortable fifth position after an 8-1 demolition of RESSC. Sid Dorn picked up his first wins of the season beating Ron Coutts and Bob Skews whilst Stuart Adshead also weighed in with two wins also beating Skews and then just edging Tarun Goel in a close five set match. Joseph Odegbami picked up the other singles win against Coutts but Tarun Goel got RESSC’s consolation point beating him in four sets. Two of the doubles went to five sets in both cases RESSC fighting back from 2-0 down to 2-2 only to lose the deciding fifth set.

Invicta stay just above Hockley in fourth place after beating Hadleigh Forum 7-2. Forum started the match well winning the first doubles but promptly lost the next four before Anton Ranjit-Singh claimed their second point beating Barbara Chabior in straight sets. Tony Ayliffe and Lee Marson both won their singles for Invicta but Ayliffe was pushed to five sets by Ranjit-Singh and there was another close five set match in the final doubles with Ayliffe and Chabior just edging Ranjit-Singh and Colin Barham 11/9 in the fifth.

By far the closest and most exciting match of the week was the encounter between Invicta and Basildon. No less than five matches went to five sets including the first four games of the evening leaving the score at 2-2. Tony Ayliffe and Lee Marson set the tone for the evening coming back from two sets down against Lin Roff and Garry Hartgrove winning the final set 11/8. Szymon Jarka levelled things up for Basildon with a 12/10 final set win against Martin Shaugnessy before Ayliffe restored Invicta’s lead with another comeback win from two sets down winning 11/9 in the fifth against Roff. The score see sawed back and forth after that with Basildon leading 4-2 before Invicta pulled it back to 4-4 leaving the final doubles as the deciding match. Marson and Shaughnessy lined up against Hartgrove and Jarka and it was the Basildon pair who edged the first two sets 12/10 11/9 before Invicta fought back to level the match winning 11/9 11/8. The decider turned out to be a little more straightforward as Hartgrove and Jarka took the win 11/7 and the match 5-4.

Basildon stay in second place in the division.

Northlands have returned to the top of Division 1 of the Southend Summer League after chalking up two 9-0 wins and now sit 7 points clear of Basildon and still with a game in hand. Their large squad of top ranked players continue to carry all before them and it is now just a question of how many individual games they might lose as they certainly won’t lose any matches on this form!

They started their week with a rearranged match at Hockley where Kim Shead, Dan Zeffie and Peter Barrett did the honours. David Chenery came closest for the home side leading 2-1 at one stage against Dan Zeffie before Dan stepped up a gear winning the last two games 11/5 11/5.

Two days later they were in action again against Invicta, Kim partnered this time by Paul Brown and James Elliott but no game went beyond four sets.

Second placed Basildon kept up their winning ways with a 7-2 win at RESSC. Tarun Goel and John Tendler got the points for the home side both getting the better of Garry Hartgrove and RESSC almost got a third point in the final doubles of the evening when John Holland and Tarun took on Ian Wall and Garry. Ian and Garry took the first two sets only to see a strong fight back ending in a decisive fifth set. Needless to say Ian and Garry took it 11/6. Les Hoey was POTM winning both his singles. Basildon are 21 points ahead of Brand Identity in third place who have no less then three games in hand.

Final game of the week saw Canvey take on Stanford and the away team travelled home with a 7-2 victory the match actually being level at 2-2 at one stage. Des Duffield and Kevin Walsingham got the Islanders off to a good start beating Peter Weatherall and Mark Downey in a closely fought five set match coming back from two sets down to win the last three 12/10, 13/11, 12/10. Two singles wins for Peter and Robert Salvage put Stanford in front only for Des to level things up with a straight set win against Mark. After that though it was all plain sailing for Stanford winning the next four games and then claiming the final doubles as Tony Westwell had to withdraw due to a back injury – fortunately not serious. Canvey stay bottom after this with just four points won from the four games played so far.

With the top two teams in Division 1 of the Southend Summer league without a game this week, the stage was clear for some of the chasing teams to make an impact and close the gap at the top.

Third placed Brand Identity must have been hoping for a good win against Invicta but found themselves in a see saw battle not settled until the final game of the evening. They certainly had the edge in the singles winning four out of the six on offer thanks to Steve Muth and David Jacob, both unbeaten, but Invicta won two out of the three doubles to keep them in the match until the final game. Invicta actually led 4-3 with two games to go but Steve Muth levelled things up to take it to the final doubles and Invicta must have been hopeful going into it. Tony Ayliffe and Lee Marson lined up for Invicta against Steve Muth and David Jacob but their hope of pulling off a shock win disappeared quickly as Steve and David ran out 11/9 11/5 11/7 winners to give Brand a 5-4 victory.

Hockley pulled off the biggest win of the week storming to a 9-0 whitewash of Stanford which keeps them in fifth place but now level on points with Invicta albeit they have played a game more. High points for Stanford were hard to find their best performance coming in the doubles between Mark Downey and John Handscombe for Stanford and Harry Sawford and Stuart Adshead for Hockley. Stanford held a 2-1 advantage at one stage before the Hockley boys turned up the heat and won the last two sets 11/6 11/8. Other than that Joseph Odegbami claimed the POTM award for his straight set singles wins against Chris Crooks and John Handscombe plus two doubles wins dropping just one set. Stanford stay seventh in the table.

RESSC finally won their first match of the season and lifted themselves off the bottom of the table with a hard fought 6-3 win at Hadleigh Forum. Four games went to five sets but the key to the win was in the doubles all won by RESSC. This must have been frustrating for Forum’s Tony Jacks who won both his singles and took the POTM award but still finished on the losing side. John Holland, John Tendler and Tarun Goel made up the winning team whilst Dave Bassett got Forum’s other point beating John Tendler.

On the 29th May Mossford TTC met to celebrate their 75th anniversary! Former Chairman Dave Humble writes as follows:-

“We had well over 200 attendees at our venue and, as an aside, raised well over £400 for a local child hospice charity. The day was an outstanding advert for table tennis both for devotees and newcomers. The Mossford committee has put on a wonderful show. Emotionally I am just about recovering today.

I was asked to put together a brief history of the club and this was available on the day and is also available on request by either hard copy or email attachment from the club. Josh Dye held court on the TT side with Sam Walker being the star attraction. Tony Cantale handled the presentation and some publicity, but as usual attempted to keep in the background – no chance. Our reasonably recent Chairman John Bath is a wonderful acquisition and is backed by a very strong team.

All in all, a fabulous day for a fabulous club.”

I’m sure everyone in the Essex table tennis community will wish to congratulate Mossford on their achievements over the first 75 years and hope for their continued success in the future.

We are into the fifth week of the Southend and District Summer League and already it’s not too hard to see who are likely to be the winners in Division 1.  Northlands sit top having played and won three games, dropped just one point, and are two points clear of second placed Basildon who have played a game more.

The Northlands team is packed full of Premier Division talent being able to call on the likes of Kevin Read, Keith Adams, Gurjit Bhambra and Deborah Auvache, all top 40 ranked players. They have already beaten closest rivals Basildon 8-1 and that point was in the  doubles so all their players boast 100% records in singles at the present time.

Basildon, having played the top team, have also played Brand Identity currently sitting third, and fared much better winning 6-3 with Ian Wall picking up two good wins beating the Jacob brothers Simon and David.

There is already a seven point gap between third and fourth where we find Hockley A and, a point behind them but with a game in hand, are Invicta A. Based on rankings it looks like Invicta have the stronger line up but it will be interesting to see how Sid Dorn performs for Hockley who returns to league action after some time, and they also feature Joseph Odegbami who is making his Southend league debut this season. Good to see young Harry Sawford showing improving form having won 5 of his 6 singles matches so far.

Hadleigh Forum haven’t made the best of starts but are full of experienced Div 1/Prem players like Dave Bassett, Anton Ranjit-Singh and Tony Jacks, and these three saw them to a first win of the season 6-3 against Hockley this week.

At the bottom of the table at the moment are Stanford and RESSC who may struggle to make an impact featuring players more used to Div 2 level. RESSC have enjoyed two highly successful seasons in the lower divisions but it will be interesting to see how this team of really experienced players will do against the top Premier players in this league.

In Division 1 Wakering are one of three unbeaten teams, and top the table at this stage, albeit that they have played more games than their closest rivals.  The backbone of the side is the trio of Stew Mills, Paul England and Zac England.  These three performed well in the recent winter league and their good form has clearly continued.

Hockley ‘B’ occupy second place, 6 points off the top having played a game less.  With Paul Strutt and Ben Cook currently unbeaten in singles, and good experience at this level in their squad, they seem sure to be challenging for the title at the end of the season.

The third unbeaten team is Basildon ‘B’ who have games in hand on both the top two, although they have 15 points to make up.  Another experienced squad includes Szymon Jarka who has only been beaten once in singles, and that defeat came against a tough Premier League opponent.  Of the other 6 players who have turned out for Basildon, 3 of them remain unbeaten.

Runnymede are in fourth position and could yet challenge the top sides, but only if their quality players, Tony Millward and Dmitry Kisil, turn out together on a regular basis.

Of the other teams, Invicta ‘B’ seem likely to finish in the top half of the table.  They have 2 players new to our league, Barbara Chabior and Martin Shaughnessy, who have both shown good form, Barbara is unbeaten and Martin has won 6 of his 8 singles.

Hadleigh Forum ‘B’ occupy the mid table position.  They have a largely inexperienced squad but the experience and quality of Neal Barker has ensured that they have stayed away from the lower reaches of the division. 

The remaining 5 teams are separated by only 4 points and have won only 3 matches between them.

Although winless, Megazone have picked up seful points in every match so far. Jonathan Allen is their leading player to date, and with a number experienced players to back him up, their first win is surely not far away.

Stanford ‘B’ and Invicta ‘C’ are locked together on 11 points after 5 games matches played. Stanford were the winners when these 2 sides met earlier in the season, and they have picked up good points in 2 other matches, but have also suffered two 9-0 defeats.

Trisha Winter is the leading player so far for Invicta ‘C’ with 5 wins from her 8 singles, but she will need some support from the rest of the squad if they are to move up the table.

Hockley ‘C’ are on 9 points but have played a game less than the 3 teams above them.  Their sole win came against a Hadleigh Forum side who were without Neal Barker, but they have only managed to pick up 3 points in their other matches.

Canvey ‘B’ are bottom of the table and lost their first 4 matches, gaining only 2 points. However, they have recently added Jo Hills to their squad and this paid immediate dividends as she was player of the match when they defeated Invicta ‘C’  to record their only win to date. 

Reports provided by Paul Strutt (Div 1) and David Woolmer (Div 2).

Calling our women and girls’ attention to this tournament in West Sussex on Saturday 1^st July. These women and girls’ tournaments are becoming very popular and already 50 women and girls have entered this tournament. They have room for up to a hundred entrants so if you would enjoy a whole day of table tennis against other women and girls’ please drop Tournament Organiser Sally Hughes a line. Details below. Entry deadline is 23^rd June.

Event: Sussex Women and Girls Summer 2 STAR Singles Table Tennis Tournament Venue: The Triangle Leisure Centre, Burgess Hill, West Sussex, RH15 8WA Date: Saturday 1st July 2023
Start: 9am
Deadline for entries: 23rd June 2023

Schedule9.00am – 1.45pm Girls U139.00am – 1.45pm Girls U159.00am – 1.45pm Girls U19
9.00am – 1.45pm Women 19-39
9.00am – 1.45pm Women 40 and over 
1.45pm – 6pm Women and Girls Open (All Ages)
Request an entry form from Sally Hughes at: sally@worthingttc.com Enquiries to Sally by email or tel: 07837406996

League and Cup double for Danbury F

Danbury F, runaway winners of division three of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League added the division three Knock Out Cup to their trophy haul with a 5-0 win over division three runners-up Danbury K. Chris Buer, Gus Heath and Steve Buer carried all before them. The opening doubles went to five ends but Gus Heath and Steve Buer prevailed (8-11, 11-5, 11-9, 8-11, 11-6) against Mervyn Perriman and Denis Crapnell. Danbury F established a 2-0 win when Chris Buer defeated Denis Balic (6-11, 12-10, 11-4, 8-11, 11-4) and thereafter they cruised to victory.  

Writtle B (Paul Sturton, Matthew Brown and Trevor Collin) excelled to win the division two Knock-Out Cup, beating a composite Galleywood B team 5-3 in the final featuring James Hicks of Galleywood A and John Holland and Mark Glenister of Galleywood B. Paul Sturton led the way with a five game win over John Holland (8-11, 11-5,10-12, 11-5, 11-6) and with his side leading 4-3 he produced a superb performance to beat James Hicks (11-9, 11-5, 11-9). Trevor Collin played his part with a vital (11-6, 13-11, 6-11, 2-11, 11-9) victory over Mark Glenister.

Favourites Chelmsford A (Harry Chivers, Saul Chivers and James Donald) annexed the Junior Knock Out Cup, beating Chelmsford B (Nikita Tkachuk, Harrison Hill and Omar Mohammad) 7-1 in the Final. Nikita Tkachuk scored an excellent (14-12, 11-7, 11-4) win over Saul Chivers and he also extended Harry Chivers to five ends before succumbing (11-13, 14-12, 11-7, 3-11, 5-11).

The Handicap Knock Out Cup final was another all Chelmsford affair and Chelmsford F emerged as 5-2 winners over Chelmsford C (Alesha Ellis-Austin, Emilie Guilloux and Todd Martin). Dion Fernandes (handicap of 37), Alex Tkachuk (51) and Cleon Fernandes (40) all played a part in this win with Chelmsford F taking the two three setters. Alex Tkachuk beat Todd Martin (41) (16-21, 22-20, 21-14) and he also beat Emilie Guilloux (40) (22-20, 13-21, 21-19) which turned out to be the match-clinching win. Cleon Fernandes powered to wins over Todd Martin (21-10, 21-16) and Emilie Guilloux (21-10, 21-11).   

With division four still undecided Buttsbury A were crowned as Champions by beating Hatfield Peverel D 7-3. With 133 points they finished four points clear of Danbury L. Jamie Elliott who has enjoyed a magnificent season with an 89 % record led the way with three singles wins and Kevin Willis (71 %) won twice. Jamie Elliott showed his class by beating Neil Wood, the best of the Hatfield Peverel players (11-2,11-7, 11-9).

Buttsbury  B (Ben Brown, Lucy Elliott and Oscar Hutt) completed their division five campaign with a 10-0 win over Galleywood D. The last game of the night looks to have been a roller-coaster encounter with Ben Brown defeating Paul Cockrell (8-11, 11-1, 11-6, 13-15, 11-5).

Buttsbury Bees beat Chelmsford Lions 3-2 in Junior division 2A. Grace Liu was undefeated for the Lions beating Thomas Lewis (11-3, 11-6, 11-5) and Charlie Ware (11-4, 11-3, 11-6).

Buttsbury Bats concluded their season in style, beating the higher placed Chelmsford Antelopes 5-0. Will Fullerton gave his side a winning start with a hard fought (11-7, 12-10, 11-13, 12-10) victory over Hugo Read.

The Chelmsford League Annual General General meeting takes place on Thursday 25 May 2023 at 19.30 hours at Old Chelmsfordians Association. Trophies will be presented. Copies of Officer’s reports will be available on the League Web-Site but printed copies will not be available on the night. Vacancies exist on the Chelmsford Committee for two Committee members plus a Press Officer. Steve Kerns is standing down as Press Officer after 31 years. Looking back at his stint in the role Steve recalls “the early years when Ken Cracknell helped him to write his reports with his extensive and well-informed notes”. Steve also commented on another immensely enjoyable spell in the job where he used to travel into London to work with Graham Turner, and they were able to swap score cards and details of notable performances on the journeys. Steve went onto say that “the Annual Championships were easily the highlight of each year with every single Championships throwing up it’s own head line making stories”.  

Steve Kerns Press Officer Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League