The first round of the Braintree Table Tennis League handicap cup produced its usual share of ups and downs and close finishes<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three matches were decided at 5-4 and two at 6-3, suggesting the handicap formula did its job pretty well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The three 5-4s featured a dramatic comeback, a match decided by the toss of a coin and a match with three sets decided by two points in the third game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Black Notley G looked dead and buried against Netts E with the scoreline 4-1 against them..<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Jacqueline Smith, Peter Davenport and Ken Wilding were not done and grabbed the last four to inch through to the next round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smith’s win over Cley Dearsley (playing off +8) at 24-22 in the third game started the comeback followed by Wilding’s equally nail-biting 19-21, 24-22, 21-18 win over Richard Fewings (off +10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Notley I’s match with Rayne H reached 4-4 before the venue had to close. The Rayne team generously offered to toss a coin rather than claiming the final set and were rewarded when the coin fell the right way for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conrad Gomes’s three wins were vital for Rayne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rayne F’s match against Rayne D also went to 4-4 before Scott Whiteside (+6) clinched it with a 21-18, 20-22, 21-19 win over Paul Wellington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two 6-3 matches both featured a Finchingfield team against a Sudbury team and in both cases it was the Finchingfieldians who won.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finchingfield A and Sudbury Nomads stood at 3-3 before the home team took the last three singles. John Barrett, Peter Clark and Dave Punt all won twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chad Rose was unbeaten as the village’s B team overcame Sudbury Wanderers in another match that had been level after six sets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Netts F had an easier time, coming past Rayne E 7-2, with James Howard unbeaten, while<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rayne G and Sudbury Strollers won 8-1 against Notley E and Yeldham B respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alastair Brown and Tim Townsend were unbeaten for Rayne G and Terry Hunneybel and Tim Matthews for Strollers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Report by Ron Fosker<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first round of the Braintree Table Tennis League handicap cup produced its usual share of ups and downs and close finishes Three matches were decided at 5-4 and two at 6-3, suggesting the handicap formula did its job pretty well. The three 5-4s featured a dramatic comeback, a match decided by the toss of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":2768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[10],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3486"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3486"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3488,"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3486\/revisions\/3488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/ul><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"