Brave fight but Stickney triumph in table tennis clash

In a match re-arranged from October, Sam Cooper beat both Vince Lozynsky and Gavin Herberts in five sets, whilst Dave Coulson also needed five sets to overcome Vince, having lost out in four sets to both Jack Christian and Gavin.

It was the same result in the doubles, Sam and Dave taking just one set in their defeat to Jack and Gavin.

Graves Park A romped to a 9-1 victory over two-man Lodgers Blades, which further compounds Blades’ predicament in the relegation dog-fight.

Alan Reetham won his two matches without dropping a set, although both Simon Raistrick and Gavin Read took Alan to deuce in one set.

Meanwhile, Gavin forced Rob Smith to a deciding fifth set - although the final two legs were all one-way traffic.

Phil Brooks and Simon set the record for the longest end of the evening, Phil emerging victor 19-17 in his four set win, Phil then sitting it out in the doubles as Rob and Alan took on Simon and Gavin.

At 2-0 sets down, the Park pair put themselves back in contention with two deuce victories, only to find the Blades rather sharper in the deciding leg, winning their only point of the night.

Trev Blackbourn played a captain’s part when Lodgers B hosted Graves Park C, beating James Quinton and Martin Walters, both in four sets.

Colin Bell took Martin to five sets, and Dave Kime took a set from James and Martin, but Graham Walters led the way for the Park, winning his three in straight sets.

Colin and Trev bounced back against Martin and Graham in the doubles, taking the fourth set 15-13 to secure their third point of the evening.

Stickney looked all set to take all 10 points when they visited Lodgers C, with Jack Christian winning his three in straight sets, but Darcie Proud struck back for Lodgers with a fine three-set victory over Vince Lozynsky.

Andy Birks made Paul Hartnett work hard for his five-set victory, Paul going 2-0 sets down before taking the next three, whilst Andrew Pocklington had to be content with taking a set off Vince.

With a result of 9–1 in favour of Lodgers B in their match against Sibsey C, it would appear to have been a totally one sided affair, but with five games going the full distance and four more going to four ends, this was hardly the case.

Unfortunately for Sibsey, all the deciding legs went the way of Lodgers apart from game nine in what was probably the game of the evening, between Dave ‘Smiler’ Smith and Dave ‘The Accountant’ Kime, Dave using all his prowess and angles against the more straightforward attacking style of ‘Smiler’.

‘Smiler’ though took the fifth end 11-9 much to his relief, thus avoiding the whitewash.

Graves Park C’s rise up the table was given a knock when they played host to current league leaders Lodgers A, James Quinton being the only Park player to register a victory, a tight three set win over Tim Day.

Martin Walters was within a whisker of winning the second end against Kelvin Clements, Kelvin edging it 13-11 to keep his record intact of not dropping a set all evening.

Graham Lacey had a fright against Martin, needing a deciding fifth leg, which Graham narrowly won 12-10, to leave the Park licking their wounds.

Results: Division One - Wrangle 3 Stickney 7, Graves Park A 9 Lodgers Blades 1, Lodgers B 3 Graves Park C 7, Lodgers C 1 Stickney 9, Sibsey C 1 Lodgers B 9, Graves Park C 1 Lodgers A 9; Division Two - Graves Park Nomads 5 Lodgers D 5, Graves Park E 2 Sibsey D 8, Belchford 8 Graves Park Nomads 2.