W/c 28^th February 2011                 Bury and District Table Tennis League

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CUP SEMI FINALS WEEK

Dwyer Cup

A battle of Division four teams with Prestwich F who started the match at home against Maccabi C with a thirty five point lead. This lead narrowed to twenty seven by the end of the match and Prestwich F put themselves through to the final with 454 points to Maccabi on 427. After five sets it looked like Maccabi were going to claw back the lead which and shrunk to only seventeen points. The next set was drawn with forty points each to Alistair Wakefield against Frank Sheldon. Robert Clayton of Maccabi pinched one more point by winning forty points to thirty nine but the crunch set was Alistair Wakefield against Les Suss where Alistair won by fifteen points to extend their lead with one set to play to thirty one points. Frank Sheldon of Maccabi made a gallant effort against Rod Hughes winning by thirty seven points to thirty three but it wasn’t enough to put them through to the final. In the other semi final Maccabi D from division for took on Holmar A from division three and had a one hundred and four point advantage at the start of the match and comfortably ran out the winners with a final total of 524 points to Holmar’s 451. Maccabi D had some very strong winning sets which helped them keep ahead. They lost the first three and the gap was narrowed to sixty five points so Holmar were clawing back the advantage very well. However the next three sets were won by Maccabi and their lead went out to seventy five. With the final set to play Maccabi were holding on to a commanding sixty nine point advantage; too much for Holmar to recover and they were out of the Dwyer Cup.

 

Sponsors Cup

First division Seedfield Methodists A played their first semi final of the week and were at home against third division ELPM B. Seedfield had to concede one hundred and fifty five points start to the visitors. After five sets the gap was down to just fifty five points and slowly Seedfield were able to chip away at ELPM’s lead. With the final set to play the lead was just twenty fife points and it was left to David Poytress to win by twenty six against Steve Greaves to get them into the final. Poytress clawed back nineteen points in the first three games with only another seven to go but Steve Greaves held his nerve and took the last game eleven points to nine to get ELPM into the final by 524 points to 516 for Seedfield. In the second semi final Prestwich E from division two met Maccabi B at home from division three and had to concede a fifty point start which only narrowed to thirty five by the end of the match to put Prestwich E through to the final against ELPM B. After the fifth set Prestwich had wiped out the deficit and went into a sixteen point lead and gradually increased that in every set to leave Ken Crimes of Prestwich starting with a comfortable thirty point advantage over Melvyne Levene of Maccabi to take the set thirty nine points to thirty four.

 

MacDonald Cup

No score cards were available in time for this report, only the scores. Ramsbottom Town A lost to Seedfield A by 463 points to 521 for Seedfield. They face Little Lever in the final who dispatched Carlton Club A with 418 points to Carlton 317.

 

Poytress Cup

Prestwich E beat St.Philips B away by 498 points to 461. The match was played out of score card order so the match is a bit difficult to follow. At the start of the match Prestwich started seventy points ahead of St.Philips. Both teams won five sets but the winning margin for St.Philips was not enough to catch Prestwich who won by thirty seven points. In the second semi final Carlton Club B played Stand at home and it was a very close match throughout. Carlton started thirty nine points behind and won by ten. In the forth set of the night Mark Reading of Carlton had a real struggle in the third game just losing out by seventeen points to nineteen with Dave Jackson from Stand but took the set with forty seven points to thirty nine. That put Carlton eighteen points behind when yet another tight game between John Foster of Carlton and Steve Morris of Stand. The third game went Stands way in twenty two points to twenty but the set was taken by Carlton in fifty three points to thirty eight and now only three points behind. Carlton took the doubles and put them into a three point lead. In the very next set Steve Evans lost by twenty five points to forty three for Chris Sutcliffe of Stand and they drew fourteen points ahead. Back again for Carlton with Mark Reading beating Steve Morris and took a four point lead. Steve Evans was able to extend the lead to twelve points when he got the better of Dave Jackson. The final set was a nail biter and John Foster for Carlton held his nerve though losing the set to Chris Sutcliffe by two points but they finished 581 to Stand 571 where they face Prestwich E in the final.

 

Pressman Cup

ELPM B started their match against Seedfield C thirty five points ahead and ended the match forty six ahead to put themselves in the final. The first set shaped the path of the match when Steve Greaves of ELPM beat Mike Charlton forty four points to thirty four and added ten points to their lead. Alan Telfer of Seedfield retrieved seven points in the next set against Gerry Faulkner but after the doubles which Seedfield won they were still trailing by thirty six points. Paul Carter of ELPM took a massive fourteen points off Alan Telfer and despite winning the next two sets Seedfield was in runners up spot with one set to play and trailed by forty four. Steve Greaves made sure of their final spot when he beat Alan Telfer by two points. Shawfield B met Elton Vale Sports club at home in the second semi final. Elton started thirty five points ahead of Shawfield and by the time the doubles had been played Shawfield held a nine point lead. John Dodd of Elton put them ahead by winning his set by forty one points to twenty eight over Dave Stubbington. Jim Bollard increased Elton’s lead when he beat Ernie Watkins by thirty eight points to twenty nine. Frank Green increased Elton’s lead further when he beat Dave Stubbington by forty one points to twenty nine to give his team mate John Dodd a twenty five point cushion going into the last set with Wayne Ellis. Though Wayne beat John by three points it was not enough to put them through to the final and Elton Vale SC now play ELPM B.

 

Hilton Cup

Carlton Club C started eight points ahead of their rivals Prestwich F but the gap had grown to seventy eight by the end of the match and put Prestwich F through to the final. After the first three games Prestwich held a twenty three point lead but after that the lead gradually crept too far ahead for Carlton to get back. Despite a win for John Bostock over Alistair Wakefield by five points that wasn’t enough to stop Prestwich F progressing to the final. In the second semi Shawfield C took on Bury Grammar School Old Boys A and started fifty three points behind and ended up thirty seven points ahead at the finish with 497 points to 460. By the time the doubles had been played Shawfield were just three points behind and continued to take a thirty five point lead before Barry Warburton of Bury Grammar halted their advantage by beating Peter Gregory by ten points. With the final set to play Andrew Webster started twenty five points ahead of Tim Hope which he increased by a further twelve points to put them into the final against Prestwich F.

 

Division 5

Bottom team Seedfield G lost 3-7 at home to next to the bottom Ramsbottom TT Academy B to deny the home team a win so far this season. Barry Simpson won tw for the home team and John Duxbury added one. Domonic Siddall, Daniel Allen and Olivia Wallis each won two for the visitors and they added the doubles. Barry Simpson was denied his third win of the night when Olivia Wallis beat him at twelve in the fifth. Another close set was Against Val Simpson when again Olivia went the distance and won at seven in the fifth. Prestwich G bet Shawfield G 10-0 at home and moved into promotion contention with on only a few weeks of the season left. Bob Goodman kept his lead in the averages with three wins and Martin Ingram and Scott Hill were also unbeaten for Prestwich. Shawfield B lost 2-8 at home to Maccabi F who moves closer to a promotion position with five weeks of the season left. Alan Nesbitt was on top form for the visitors winning his three. Yoni Morrison and Alan Nesbitt each added two and they won the doubles. Peter Helmn and Scott Fleming each won one for the home team. Ramsbottom TT Academy A beat Wardle Conservative Club 9-1 at home. The sole win for Wardle was at six in the fifth over Tom Warburton. Nick Kroll and Callum Scott were unbeaten on the night. This ties Ramsbottom with Prestwich G who have only lost two matches compared to Ramsbottoms four. The second promotion spot could go to the last week because Maccabi E seem to have a good advantage; but who knows!