W/c 4th
February 2013 Bury and District Table Tennis
League
Sponsored by Glaisyers
Solicitors Ltd
CUP QUARTER FINALS
DWYER CUP
Division four teams Seedfield C and Shawfield E faced each other and Seedfield started just ten points behind but that was wiped out in the first set when Ali McKernan for Seedfield beat Scott Fleming by twenty one points. Seedfield never regained the lead and at one point in the match got thirty five points ahead. Ali played another good set to beat Maz Kham by eighteen to reduce the lead to seventeen. Ian McKenzie lost by sixteen to Maz then Phil Cooper for Seedfield lost by just four to Scott Fleming. It was then left to Ali in the final set against James Collier to recover thirty three points and did well to win by seventeen which wasn’t enough to prevent Shawfield progressing to the semi-final. Elton Vale B started their home match against Prestwich H thirty five points behind but finished thirty four ahead of Prestwich H. In the opening set of the night home player Frank Green had three deuce games in his eventual seven points beating of Joe Walk. The next four sets were comfortably won by Elton by which time they had carved out a forty point lead and looked to be cruising to a win. Bob Goodman for Prestwich however ‘stopped the rot’ for Prestwich when he managed a two point victory against Keith Mills. So with three to play Elton held a thirty eight point lead. Rod Hall for the home side played a very steady set against Ian Connell and won comfortably by fifteen points. In the next set the roles were reversed when Joe beat Keith by thirteen to get Elton’s lead a comfortable forty points. It was left to Frank to have a relaxed last set which he lost by just six points against Bob to put Elton into the semi-final. In an incredibly close finish Prestwich C beat their G team by just three points despite starting one hundred and fifty points behind. The C team had to average seventeen points per set ahead of their G team if they were going to win. After the first four sets the C team had only pegged back forty points which seemed to spur them on because they inflicted heavy defeats over the G team and with three to play they had narrowed the lead to forty nine. Rod Hughes for the G team faced Eddie Simon and an eighteen point win for Eddie was a big help to his team/ Alistair Wakefield for the G team played an extremely good set to only lose by ten to Dave Bolton. It was left then to Paul Rourke for the G team to not lose by more than twenty two against Andy Evans. Andy took the first three games however three, four and six to narrow the G teams lead to just one. Paul was unable to keep his nose ahead of Andy and despite winning the most points in a game, seven, in this set it wasn’t enough to deny Andy victory by just three points in the match.
SPONSORS CUP
Seedfield B had the luxury of a seventy point advantage when they faced Prestwich E at home. Prestwich won the first two sets but Mike Charlton of Seedfield beat Keith Butler by seven to halt their wins. The next two sets were very close then Mike took on Mohamed Sagied for Prestwich and lost by sixteen. With three to play Seedfields lead was just twenty eight. Keith took eight points off Ian Boyle and Steve Hathaway took a handy nineteen off Mike which left Frank Carse for Seedfield to somehow hold on to the nine point lead they had when he faced ‘Sag’. Sag won by four in the first two games but Frank hit back and won the next game by seven to put the lead up to twelve. Despite Sag winning by seven in the last set it wasn’t enough and put Seedfield into the semi-final. Despite Second division ELPM A starting with two hundred and twenty seven point deficit against division five’s Ramsbottom Academy their match was made all the easier when Ramsbottom could only field two players. The mother’s car of the third player broke down at the supermarket just before setting out for the match. Even so with three maximum sets ELPM only drew ahead with one set to play. Ian Cockcroft for ELPM put team mate Paul Carter ahead by seventeen points with the last set to play against Dominic Siddall. Despite Dominic winning the third game by six points Paul had maintained enough advantage to put them through to the semi-final by forty points. Polish Catholic Club almost pulled off a victory from starting one hundred and eighty seven points behind Holmar D. They finished just five points behind Holmar who were represented by David Bell, Trevor Candler and Gary Bolton.
MACDONALD CUP
Prestwich A extended their fifty six point lead at the start of their match against their B team and finished a comfortable fifty five ahead with a final score of 527 to the A team and 472 to the B team. Ian McLean, Paul King and Nathan Buckley played for the A team and Colin Boardman, David Pegg and Rob Belli for the B team. Little Lever overcame a forty two point deficit at home to Burning Desire and won by 553 points to 530. Dennis Collier for Little Lever beat Brett Haslam by nineteen points in the opening set. Lee Devenport for Little Lever lost by two against Ben Armstrong in the next set. The third set was won by Phil Riley of Little Lever by ten points over Steve Barber. Two points separated Lee when he lost to Brett and the match score saw Little Lever behind by seventeen with wins in the next two sets for Little Lever they went ahead for the first time in the match by six points. Steve clawed three back off Lee but Little Levers win was almost secured when Phil beat Brett by twenty two. Dennis had a twenty five point cushion and despite losing the set by two to Ben they were in the semi final.
POYTRESS CUP
Challenging for the top of the division was Carlton Club D who faced Ramsbottom C and started their home match seventy points adrift. Making a welcomed return after a long absence was David Cain for Ramsbottom and he left a challenge to the handicapping committee about the number he should have. Despite that Carlton rose to the challenge and won the match by eighteen points. The first three sets were won by Carlton until David beat Keith Cheyne and asked the question about his handicap being too generous. The next two went the way of Carlton again and with three to play Ramsbottom held a slender one point lead. Paul Wood for Ramsbottom increased their lead when he beat Keith by six. Despite dropping the first game John Bostock proved too strong for David when he won by a comfortable fourteen points. Martin Ormsby for Ramsbottom somehow had to beat Steve Evans by twelve but it wasn’t to be and Carlton were through to the semis. The remaining quarter final matches are being rearranged because of fixture clashes/rooms not available.
PRESSMAN CUP
Just two points separated Maccabi C at the start of their home match against ELPM B and they won by eleven. In a very long fourth game in the opening set Daniel Sheldon for Maccabi won it by nineteen points to seventeen against Steve Greaves and finished the set eleven points ahead. Carol Mitchell for ELPM won the next set by three against Sheldon Lee then Gerry Faulkner for the visitors clawed back another three against Marc Sheldon. With three to play Maccabi held a twenty one point lead. Gerry won by just one against Sheldon then Steve won by a handy eighteen points when he beat Marc Sheldon. With Maccabi now only two points ahead it was left to Daniel Sheldon use his very effective defensive game to keep the fast game of Carol’s quiet. He managed to do that to win the first three games eight, six and seven to be ahead by fourteen with one to play. Carol took the last game eleven eight which wasn’t enough to put ELPM into the next round. The closest finish of the quarter finals saw Shawfield A hold on by one after starting one hundred and eighteen points ahead in their home match against Prestwich G. The first four sets were won comfortably by Prestwich until Wayne Ellis for Shawfield beat Ian Ross by nine. A comfortable win again for Prestwich in the next and with three to play Shawfield led by twenty three. Ian Ross for Prestwich beat Bob Mitchell by eighteen which left the lead for Shawfield by just five. Alistair Wakefield for Prestwich then beat Ernie Watkins by fifteen to give the lead to Prestwich for the first time in the match; by just ten points. It was left to Wayne to face Paul Rourke for Prestwich and it was Wayne who was able to eat into the lead of Prestwich and with one game to play was two behind. Wayne was able to keep his nose in front by the narrowest of margins and beat Paul by the required three points to put his team into the semi-final. Another close quarter final when Elton Vale B relinquished thirty of their thirty four point’s advantage at home against Maccabi B to put them through to the semi-final. There were some very close sets including one drawn by Elton’s Jim Bollard against Robert Williams of Maccabi. With three to play Elton still led by twenty one. That lead was wiped out when Robert beat Keith Mills by twenty three to put Maccabi into the lead for the first time in the match. Frank Green then restored Elton’s lead when he beat Alan Meltzer by four. It was left to Jim to face Melvyn Levene for Maccabi who was playing his first match of the season after a break due to illness. Melvyn too the first game by six points but Jim won nine, eight and eight to beat Maccabi by 480 to 476.
HILTON CUP
Maccabi E faced Holmar C and despite Maccabi being twenty four points ahead of Holmar in the division they ended up eight points short at the end of the match. Maccabi E had 537 to Holmar’s 545. David Bell, Jack Berry and Gary Bolton were the winning team for Holmar. Seedfield C overcame a seventy five point deficit at the start of their match at home against Shawfield D to finish 532 points to Shawfield’s 501.All nine sets were won by Seedfield and Alistair McKernan opened proceedings for Seedfield when he faced Andrew Ingham to win by a convincing twenty eight points. Fairly comfortable wins for Seedfield in the sets following this and with three to play they were nine ahead. Alistair McIver for Shawfield lost by just three points against Jonathan Fitton to increase Seedfield’s lead to twelve. Another close set followed between Phil Cooper for Seedfield against Andrew Ingham but Phil gained a further six points for Seedfield to leave Barry Collier of Shawfield to see if he could gain eighteen points over Alistair McKernan. It wasn’t to be; Alistair proved too strong and won by a comfortable thirteen points to put his team into the next round. ELPM C started their home match just three points ahead of Prestwich H but was able to extend that lead by the end of the match to twenty one points so winning the match by 523 to 502. There was a gruelling first game of the night being won twenty three to Joe Walk of Prestwich to twenty one for John Edge and the third game by fourteen to John and twelve to Joe in the third game. The set was eventually won by fifty seven to Joe and forty five to John. The closest Prestwich came later in the match was ten points and then only eleven with three to play. Debbie Wilson for ELPM comfortably beat Ian Connell by twenty points then Joe was able to claw back six when he beat Harry Uren of ELPM. With a set to go Prestwich were thirty behind and despite a win by Martin Ingram of Prestwich over John Edge for ELPM it wasn’t enough and ELPM won 523 to Prestwich 502.
LOMAX CUP
Bury Grammar School Old Boys B beat Seedfield by 428 to 410. Maccabi F started one hundred and three points behind Seedfield E but managed to wipe out that lead completely in just four sets. Robert Dexter for Maccabi then beat Graham Wright by twenty seven to put his team thirty ahead. Nathan Jacobs drew his set forty one each with Barry Simpson and then Dov Seitler for Maccabi did the same in his set against Graham Wright. With two to play Maccabi led by thirty. Nathan Jacobs extended the lead for Maccabi when he beat Val Simpson by nine and despite a narrow one point win for Barry against Robert it wasn’t enough and Maccabi won 585 to 550.
AT THE TIME OF
PUBLISHING THIS WEEK’S WRITE UP FOUR SCORES/CARDS HAD NOT BEEN RECEIVED AND
FOUR MATCHES WERE BEING REARRANGED
