As this is a handicap competition the Shawfield side were given a 254 point start and after a full night of play the scores finished absolutely level at 439 – 439 and as such this match will have to be replayed to settle the tie.
Peter Gregory, Roger Snowden and Andrew Webster of Shawfield C were involved in another thrilling encounter winning there match against BGSOB A in the final set of the evening by 6 points. The final score was 449 – 443 with Barry Warburton particularly unlucky for the visitors.
Maccabi D were unable to field their regular side so Sheldon Lee joined the experienced Louis Samuels and Barry Cohen as they hosted Holmar D. The Maccabi side started just 14 points behind and soon clawed this back to win by 46 points with relative comfort.
Having seen off top second division side Adelphi in the 1st round, Shawfield F were rewarded with another away fixture against another top second division side – St Philips A. The match ended up just a few points difference by the time it came down to 1vs 1 (Mike Singleton vs Dennis Collier) to determine who would progress. Mike put on a tremendous performance taking 2 sets to deuce but Dennis showed his class and it is St Philips who make the 3rd round.
Polish Catholic Club were unable to raise a side so they had to concede to division 2 leaders Wardle Cons A. Wardle will travel to 3rd division Maccabi B in the next round as they saw off Seedfield E in dramatic fashion in their fixture. Maccabi started 151 points behind against there 4th division opponents and just like in the 1st round Alan Meltzer and Frank Sheldon used there skill, experience and guile to whittle the advantage away and put Dean Clyne in a position to win the game in the last fixture of the night. Going into the fixture Maccabi led by 5 points but Ian Mckenzie took the 1st set in a tie break to leave Maccabi with just a 3 point lead. Ian was also to win the 3rd set in a tie break in a terrific show of resistance against the current bury handicapped singles champion but it was in vain as Dean won both of the other 2 sets 11-6 to steer Maccabi home by 11 points.
In an inter club fixture at Seedfield the A team, fielding father and son combination, Rob & Paul Carter, started over 200 points behind but were able to gradually chip away their F team and would eventually go on to win by 26 points, 471–445. They will face Holmar C in the 3rd round after they saw off there B team in another inter club fixture which went right down to the wire, The tactics of the C team in switching their playing order proving decisive as they won by a narrow 23 point margin. Alan Hibbert was unfortunate to be on the losing side having put in a fine individual performance.
St Sebastians, beaten in the 4th division only once this year, faced the side that hold that win over them, Prestwich F in their Dwyer Cup fixture. The current Dwyer Cup holders avenged the league loss with a comfortable 58 point win. Dave Stevens was in fine form giving St Sebs and early advantage and this was backed up by Mark Stevens & Dave Hargreaves.
Carlton Club B of the 2nd Division had to concede 117 points in their match with Seedfield C. They chipped away at this total all through the night and at 1 point it looked as though Carlton would overhaul the 3rd division side but Pete Ingham was able to halt the slide by keeping his point losses to a minimum and it is Seedfield that go through after a 37 point victory.
Last years 2nd division runners up ELPM A hosted last years 3rd division runners up Prestwich C. The Prestwich side started the match 61 points ahead which should have resulted in a close fixture but Prestwich would actually extend this lead over the evening to win by 88. Paeder McKinstry was on fire for the visitors and was ably assisted by league chairman Ken Crimes and Bryan Beer.
Maccabi E had some tactical decisions to make before their fixture with BGSOB B. Would they opt for lower handicaps and field their better players and chase the game or higher handicaps and try and defend a lead? In the end it was a mixture as Ashley Landes teamed with regular players Bobby Lee & Peter Canter. The fixture started with Maccabi 17 points ahead but BGSOB would quickly make up the ground and stretched this to a 73 point victory over the course of the evening.
Carlton C had a 53 point start over Holmar A in the all 4th division clash. Ignoring handicaps for a moment this was a terrific table tennis match with 6 of the 9 matches ending 2 games each. Over the course of the evening Holmar would eat into the lead but once again a valuable contribution from a number 3 player proved decisive, in this case it was Clive Roberts of Carlton Club who managed to keep his point losses to a minimum, ensuring that Carlton were the victors by 23 points.
In last years cup competitions Seedfield D twice dumped out Prestwich D so the Prestwich trio were keen to avenge these losses. Just like the 1st round Prestwich had to concede a considerable start to lower league opposition but large point gains by Steve Hathaway & Dave Bolton were enough and Prestwich edged it by 23 points. Prestwich will face ELPM B who defeated Hilton YMCA.
3rd Division Stand hosted Ramsbottom C and the handicaps meant that Stand started 152 ahead. To secure victory the 1st division side would have to take roughly 16 points from each match up. The Stand trio of Chris Sutcliffe, Paul Tatlock and Dave Jackson would all play superbly on the evening though and the result was never in doubt as Stand conceded just 79 points over the course of the evening’s 36 sets to win by 72.
The tie of the round was undoubtedly the Burning Desire vs Elton Vale fixture. Burning Desire fielded a strong side in Steve Barber, Phil Riley and Ben Armstrong and would have to chase down 153 points against their 3rd division opponents. The Elton Vale trio did their jobs superbly in the first 8 matches stealing a few vital sets and restricting the losses in the others. However it looked like it would be in vain as Burning Desire got the deficit down to 5 points going in to the final match of the night – Steve Barber, recent conquerer of the current Oldham Champion Mark Ramsbottom, vs David Hall. David however hadn’t read the script and would thump Steve 11–2 in the 1st set stretching the lead to 14 points with 3 sets to play. Steve went up a level in the 2nd but David refused to lie down and restricted the loss to 13-11, the lead now just 12 points with 2 sets to go. Steve would take the 3rd 11-6. An 11-4 for Steve in the last set would mean a draw, 11-3 or better a Burning Desire win and 5-11 or better an Elton Vale win. David produced a magnificent set going down 11-8 but winning the match for his side who will now face St Philips B.
There was another close encounter as Wardle Cons B of the 5th division hosted Prestwich A of the 1st. Prestwich had to give Wardle a 205 start meaning they had to take roughly 23 points from each individual match up. Wardle started well and restricted Prestwich’s gain to just 23 in the first 2 matches with Peter ward conceding just 18 against the experienced George Jones and Dave Watts produced a great performance against Joe Redikin keeping Joe’s gain down to just 5. Prestwich would then go on to pick up the pace and with 3 to play were 70 behind to leave the game delicately poised. Joe Redikin then proved his class winning 44-10 against Harry Barlow to leave Prestwich 36 behind. Colin Boardman would then win by 24 and in the final set George Jones won by 22 to give Prestwich a narrow victory 476-466.
Other results received were Prestwich B defeated the Shawfield G side 471-444, Little Lever were bested by ELPM C and 5th Division Shawfield E had a fine win against 2nd division Adelphi.
Another ELPM side, this time the D, travelled to Seedfield B. As a 2nd division side Seedfield had to give up 202 points against there 5th division opponents. Steady gains throughout the evening left Seedfield needing 50 points in the final 3 match ups of the evening and a Seedfield victory looked likely. Somebody forgot to tell Lawrence Paynter of ELPM D though and he produced a brilliant individual performance in the 3vs3 match up taking a set as well as keeping his losses to a minimum in the other sets coming away with a 34-43 result. Stephen Siddall though produced an equally brilliant performance for Seedfield in the next match up and won 44-7 putting Seedfield 4 behind going into the final match and Julian Nuttall anchored the side home in the final match up resulting in a 21 point win for the home team, 474-453.
The next rounds will be played W/C 14th December and the handicaps will be put on the website on the evening of Monday 7th December.
