{"id":2593,"date":"2024-01-29T15:13:43","date_gmt":"2024-01-29T14:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=2593"},"modified":"2024-01-29T15:19:12","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T14:19:12","slug":"the-magic-of-mapledene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/2024\/01\/29\/the-magic-of-mapledene\/","title":{"rendered":"The magic of Mapledene"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mapledene A fielded possibly the strongest team of the whole season to date for their resounding win over Fambridge this week to storm back to the top of the Burnham & District Table Tennis League.   What a showdown this season is becoming with the potential for a winner takes all finale as the top two sides are scheduled to meet in the final week of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fambridge welcomed Mapledene A to their manor this week and were fielding a strong and experienced side of Mark Stones, Keith Adams, and Bruce Kettle.\u00a0 In a classic game of table tennis trumps Mapledene A, desperate to close the gap on Woodham A, played a blinder in the younger, but still experienced trio, of Daniel Young, Reece Seddon and Liam Squirrell. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Adams had a great start to the night where in match 2 he took a surprisingly comfortable straight sets win over Young to even up the match at 1-1.\u00a0 Unfortunately that was the end of the scoring for Adams, and Fambridge, as the younger holy trinity of Mapledene brushed aside all further attempts to halt their progress.\u00a0 So hat-tricks for Squirrell and Seddon with the only real scare coming from Adams when he took Seddon all the way to a fifth and deciding set. \u00a0\u00a0Cold Norton B look to have secured third spot this season and were just far too good for Maldon A this week.\u00a0 The Nortonites ran out 10-0 winners on the night although Maldon\u2019s superb lefty Jon Stokes made them work for it with 5 setters against Ian Wall and Eric Green, and then doing the same again with partner Lloyd Bennett-Smith in the doubles.\u00a0 No cigar for Stokes though but hat-tricks all round for Wall, Green and Sam Lowman. \u00a0Woodham B were delighted to be told that their opponents had a player drop out very late on \u2013 an extra 3 points but more importantly some extra post-match valuable team bonding time at a local hostelry beckoned.\u00a0 Imagine their bewilderment on arrival when told Cold Norton A had a) sorted out a replacement, and b) it was Duncan Taylor.\u00a0 Taylor secured a 9 dart finish across his 3 matches (he didn\u2019t drop a set), although he was at least troubled by Woodham\u2019s hard-hitting Chris Hancox who probably should have nicked at least one leg.\u00a0 Matching Taylor was Matt Stringer who also recorded a hat-trick including a comeback 5 leg win over Sanjay Saptarshi.\u00a0 So an 8-2 victory for 3 man Cold Norton A and no extra-curricular fun time for Woodham B.\u00a0 In the final top division match this week there was no repeat performance from last week\u2019s Stow Maries hero Gary Brignall.\u00a0 Mapledene B took down Brignall and his Stowmate Matthew Brown for a 9-1 inflated victory despite all the games going to 4 or 5 legs.\u00a0 Hat-tricks for Mapledene\u2019s rarely seen Keith Willett, and Kieran Skeggs, with Matthew Brown taking his team\u2019s sole point with a 5 leg triumph over Basildon\u2019s finest Mr Paul Brown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Division 2 had a full fixture list this week with the vast majority of the games being very tight.\u00a0 Stow D and Cold Norton D saw out a 5-5 draw with Tim Pulham notching another hat-trick in his amazing season to date.\u00a0 Team-mate Tim Huxtable took 2 excellent wins, and for Cold Norton Terry Hylands had 2 wins of his own.\u00a0 Then came three 6-4 home wins for Mapledene C, Maldon C, and Stow Maries B.\u00a0 Mapledene C defeated closest rivals Maldon B but probably needed a bigger scoreline if they wanted to trouble leaders Woodham C.\u00a0 Barrie Delf was once again the top player of the evening with 4 wins including the doubles.\u00a0 Maldon C came out on top against Stow Maries C.\u00a0 Not surprisingly Steve Aspland was yet again the main man for Maldon with 4 wins over the course of the evening.\u00a0 Maldon\u2019s Garry Eames took a good 5 set victory over the lovable Dave Goody, and Peters Chastin and Layzell took 2 wins a piece for their Stow team.\u00a0 Stow B had to work harder than expected against Maldon D for their 6-4 win this week.\u00a0 No problems for the very in-form Peter Hance as he rattled off his 6th<\/sup>\u00a0hat-trick of the season.\u00a0 The Maldon trio all took a win home with them and the doubles, but the pick of the victories goes to Marty Englander who somehow got past the ferocious hitting of Nicky Reece-Ford for a noteworthy 5 set triumph.\u00a0 In a tense and noisy encounter leaders Woodham C held on for a decent 7-3 win over the very tricky Blackwater A.\u00a0 The match was not without its drama as the Blackwater trio seemed to get under the skin of the leaders \u2013 especially when the away side won an edgy doubles match to bring the match score back to 4-3.\u00a0 Woodham regrouped and managed to focus to bring home the final 3 singles to maintain their 100% record.\u00a0 Another hat-trick for Graham Briggs despite being taken to late in the decider by Alan Scammell, and 2 wins each for Chris Hancox and David Meah.\u00a0 Despite being very short of match-fit or available players Woodham D put out a strong team and duly recorded the biggest win of the week.\u00a0\u00a0 8-2 against Blackwater B, and this could have been worse for Blackwater but for some amazing play by Noah Sage and then Gary Smith at crucial times.\u00a0 For Woodham Eamonn Hall was unbeaten with 3 straight set wins, and Gus Heath matched this hat-trick.\u00a0 Woodham\u2019s third player Peter Mortensen was also on for a hat-trick and despite a tricky encounter with Sage he seemed to have wrapped up the deciding set when 10-7 up with 3 match points to play \u2013 but Sage was far from done as he won the next 5 points to pluck victory from the jaws of defeat, or did Mortensen pluck defeat from the wide open jaws of victory?\u00a0 Then in the doubles a new and rejuvenated Gary Smith emerged \u2013 fearless and attacking. Hitting winner after winner he guided his duo to a very unlikely doubles bonus point and very well deserved it was too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After this week\u2019s defeat Division 3 leaders St Lawrence now have no wins in their last 3 matches and the gap back to the peloton is narrowing.  However it remains unlikely that any of the Blackwater teams will catch the leaders as yet again they continue to take crucial points off each other.  It was Blackwater D that rocked St Lawrence this week with a 6-4 turnover.  All the damage was done by the very reliable Dave Benstead and Jacquie Treacy.  Benstead won all his singles including a notable 5 setter over the legend that is Mike Pratley, and Treacy, despite losing to Pratley, won her other 2 singles and then combined with Benstead for the doubles.  Blackwaters C and E teams fought out a 5-5 draw.  The C team\u2019s Andy Simmonds was in fine fettle with a personal hat-trick, and he was well supported by Deb Ginn with 2 wins \u2013 although Ginn did fall to Jo Hart in 4 legs for Hart\u2019s best win of the season by far, and her first brace of wins to boot.  In the final match of the week Woodham E hosted Maldon F.  The match ended in a draw, but only just as Woodham\u2019s Chris Crooks almost took off his hat when he was faced with deuce in the fifth leg against John Leavett in the final match of the evening \u2013 but the stoic Crooks held firm for the match-saving win.  Before that moment Maldon\u2019s Ross Kirby had been the main talking point as he rattled his way through the very different playing styles of the Woodham trio for an outstanding hat-trick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pic 1 \u2013 Duncan Taylor \u2013 best ever last minute call up for Cold Norton A  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pic 2 \u2013 Chris Hancox (Woodham B) v Duncan Taylor (Cold Norton A) this week<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pic 3 \u2013 The tense and noisy doubles encounter betwixt Blackwater A and Woodham C<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pic 4 \u2013 Peter Mortensen (Woodham D) serving at 10-7 in the fifth leg against the plucky Noah Sage<\/p>\n\n\n\n