Report by Hannah McDonell
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Thank you very much to everyone who participated in Penicuik Table Tennis Club’s 2023 summer tournament. I hope you all had a great day full of lots of fun games! This year, the tournament was split into 3 events: a handicap tournament, a ballot doubles tournament, and a 3 point tournament! It really did take into account every aspect of the game and gave everybody a chance to win something! It was great to see everyone coming together, having a fun day and supporting each other. We are a club that is united and friendly, and that definitely was true at the Tournament! Well done everyone for an excellent day!

THE DOUBLES
The doubles was always going to be “unusual” if that’s how to word it - it was completely randomly drawn, meaning anyone could play with anyone. The pairings could be deemed as unfair in some people’s eyes (Colin & Damien – really!), but of course that is what it is all about! We had 3 groups (2 with 3 teams and 1 with 4 teams), playing 1 end to 15. Although the games were close and everyone seemed to have fun, there was a team in each group that came out on top: Scrabble man and Kristian, Rachel and Greig, and Colin and Damien. Joining them in the semis was Craig and Sian, who came second in the group of 4! For the semi-finals, we decided to make the match best of 3 up to 11, and although Craig and Sian, and Greig and Rachel came close, it was the other pairs that won against them in straight sets.
The final was Damien and Colin vs Krzysztof and Kristian. From the beginning, any gamblers would have had their money on Damien and Colin as favourites to win. But of course, the bookies aren’t always right - but on this occasion they were! Krzysztof and Kristian played well, but it was Damien and Colin that stormed through in straight sets to win the doubles. Well done to them for their win!!

THE 3 POINT COMPETITION
With people wanting a bit more of a different fun event, a one end first to 3 point tournament was organised and held on the spot! The most annoying thing about this format is that if you blink its over!! But of course, it helps with pressure and realising the importance of every point. And people obviously felt the pressure as Murray (who has only played for a month) beat people he was never expected to beat, making it all the way to the final where he lost out to Colin!! For his first ever tournament, Murray played very well! Well done to him. This was a first for the club, suggested by our Club Secretary Mr Bailey, and it certainly will be one we do again.

THE MAIN EVENT – INITIAL GROUPS
All matches were played best of three ends to 21. Many of the top seeds found the handicaps too hard to overcome as they failed to make it through to the quarter finals – Top Seed, Colin, came back from 0-16 down to Rachel and 0-19 to Murray to win through. Greig was worried about giving Craig and his funny rubber a 15 point start and Cara a 17 point start, but he squeaked over the line in three sets v Craig and had to bring out his trickiest serves to get past Cara (who wants more coaching at the weekend from him on how to return service!). The first seed to fall was Iain Johnstone – he found Aidan in top form, a 13 point deficit being too much to pull back. Gary McDougall also fell at the first hurdle, not able to cope with Sian’s attacking play. Damien thought he had enough to progress from his group but although he recovered from an 11 point deficit against John Bald (great to see him back), he fell to the bottom seed in the pot, Roscoe who played some excellent stuff to defeat Damien in three ends and progress to the quarters. Perhaps the best quality matches came from Group 3 – all the matches between James, Jim and Chamika went to three sets with James managing to battle back and squeeze over the line as group winner. The Quarter final line up was completed by Kristian and Phil. The players who missed out on progressing from the groups then competed in the Consolation Event.

THE CONSOLATION EVENT
The consolation singles was split into two phases and was always going to be tough. The first phase got us down to a last 8 and with handicaps fairly close, this in turn lead to some exciting games. The final 8 was then made up of Damien, Jim, Michael, Chamika, Rachel, Gary, Krzysztof and Craig. We saw many good games and talent on show, with Rachel, Chamika, Jim and Damien making the semis. Chamika was too strong for Rachel and Jim overcame the attacking Damien as the initial group players Chamika and Jim met again in the final! But unlike the group stage where Jim took the win in the decider, the tables were turned and it was Chamika who this time picked up the win, in a closely contested match. It’s amazing to see how much Chamika has improved over this season! Practice pays off they say, and Chamika is a prime example of that! Well done Chamika on your consolation win!! We should of course not forget to mention Jim, who despite saying he had an unfair handicap, by the end of the day had reached the conclusion that the handicaps were good after all! He played some amazing stuff and always had a smile on his face! Well done on your consolation runner up award Jim.

THE MAIN EVENT - QUARTER FINALS ONWARDS
There were a number of surprises at the quarter final stage – Colin got off to a bad start against Phil but still had a chance at 20-16 down to pull out a comeback in the second end – Phil brought out one of his fast illegal serves and that was it – all over for our top seed. Greig looked in control pulling back a 13 point deficit against James in the first end quite easily. He then thought he was Colin and started attacking and that was his mistake as James progressed in three sets. Aidan v Kristian was going to be totally one sided. Aidan gave Kristian a 1 point start and absolutely ran away with the first end. No one saw anything other than an Aidan win, apart from Kristian – a comeback from nowhere to progress to the semis. Two Division 4 teammates completed the quarter final line up as Sian took on Roscoe. Some terrific stuff from Sian saw her recover from a 5 point deficit to reach the semi-final. There she met James – a 13 point start for Sian and had it not been for her being unable to cope with her opponents serves she would no doubt have made the final. In the final, James would meet Kristian who defeated Phil in straight sets in his semi.

THE FINAL
Kristian, who didn’t even enter the tournament until Wednesday (I totally don’t hold a grudge!!), did not disappoint. Having been out of competitive play since March 2020, he definitely came back in style - and when I say style I mean a complete change of style – returning to the Club with the dodgiest rubber ever!! But, this change obviously works well for him, as he won every single game he played! Despite being down or in trouble at points, he stuck in and always had a smile on his face. His long pimples combined with an ability to hit on his forehand caused problems all day and his energy and enthusiasm was just as good as his play! He was nearly caught in the first end but when he won that the writing was on the wall for James. A straight sets win and a great first tournament back Kristian!! Well done. And what about our Runner- Up. Penicuik Table Tennis club’s most controversial player caused even more controversy - not only did he try not to pay the entry fee, but he also disputed the 16 year old girl umpire when she called a justifiable let and edge in the final! Just to add to the list that could go on for years, he was heard to use some dodgy language in front of the massive audience watching the final, sending some people into shock!! Naughty, naughty!! In all seriousness, though, James played extremely well to reach the final and his commitment to the club is immense.  Although I love to wind him up (I get that from my dad), he really is a great teammate and coach. And despite his lack of practice due to coaching for the club, his performance was very good, taking out a tough group and then beating defending champion Greig in the quarters! His final was well fought, just missing out on the win!! So, well done to our handicap singles runner up, James.

I really enjoyed running the tournament and hope everyone had a good day. Here are some pictures to finish.                 

​Here we are in Week 27 of the Edinburgh & Lothians Table Tennis League – Week 27?? Wow!
 
The outcome of Team 3’s season would be decided with two matches against North Merchiston opposition – on Tuesday night they took on North Merchiston 4 and two nights later they were scheduled to play North Merchiston 5. They needed a point from those matches to possibly win promotion (game difference would then come into play) or two points would see promotion guaranteed.
 
Julian Taylor, Ian Hislop and Hannah McDonell faced off against Graham Booth, Slawomir Bess and Julia Domagala. First up was Ian v Slawomir and this was a one sided contest comfortably won by Ian in three straight ends. Hannah then played Graham and although she looked like she’d worked out how to play against Graham’s dodgy rubber, when it came to the big points Graham triumphed and he levelled the scores at 1-1. Julian then restored the advantage with a straight sets victory over Julia. Matches 4 and 5 were to prove crucial. Hannah came back from the loss of the first end v Slawomir to win in four whilst Ian found himself 2-0 down against Julia. Ian found a way and a 12-10 deciding end win was tough on Julia who had played some lovely table tennis. 4-1 up and a point was there for the taking as Julian faced Graham in match 6. Julian showed oodles of patience as he ground out the important win and secured at least a point for the home side. The doubles then saw Julian and Hannah take on Graham and Julia. At 1-0 and 9-5 up in the second, the game looked comfortably to be going the way of the Penicuik pair. But the visitors then reeled off 7 of the next 8 points for a 12-10 win. The third end was equally as tight – this time it was Julian and Hannah who held their nerve for a 12-10 victory and when the home pairing won the next 11-5, the overall victory was secured and with it promotion gained to Division 1 for next season. All three players won their final singles comfortably, only Ian dropping an end against Graham – a 9-1 win for a delighted Team 3.
 
No pressure then for their last match of the season on Thursday with Hannah suggesting that they could get Team 4 or 5 players to play up for them allowing Team 3 to “party”!!! She’s spent too much time with Abby we think! As it was, the last match was anti-climactic as North Merchiston conceded on the day, unable to field a team. A great season for James, Ian, Julian and Hannah. 22 matches played and only two defeats – both to the deserved League winners, Murrayfield. Team 3 will probably rue their second loss to the champions at Ladywood in early March – at 3-1 and 4-3 up they had a real chance to pull off a win and that would have made the title chase very interesting. As it was they finished four points behind the winners and three points clear of third placed Edinburgh Uni. Well done to them.
 
Finally in Week 27 we had our handicap cup semi final against the same trio from Murrayfield that won the division 2 title. The selection committee stuck with the same players that had won the Quarter final against Murrayfield Opposition, Colin Green, Jim Jack and Aidan Craig. First up was Colin v Rory Thomson – Colin was giving the youngster a 7 point start in a race to 18. This was a classic handicap cup match – Rory won the first two ends 18-14, 18-11 and looked in complete control. But back came Colin with an 18-16 win followed by an 18-14 fourth end victory. The final end proved how good the handicaps were – it went the distance, deuce at 17-17. Colin took the next point and won the match courtesy of an edge! Jim then took on William Wang. This match was always probably going to come down to how consistent the Murrayfield youngsters could be against our highest handicapper – Jim had an 8-0 advantage in a race to 14. When Jim won the first end things were looking good.  William, however, is another young player who has significantly improved this season. He fought hard as he recovered to win the next two games 14-12. The fourth end could have gone either way but a 17-15 win for William levelled the tie. Aidan then took on Nichole Lee in Match 3. Aidan’s improvement this season has seen his handicap drop to just +2 - that’s low for a division 4 player but credit to his excellent season. Nichole, playing two divisions above Aidan gave him a 7 point start in a race to 16. Another classic ensued. Nichole won the first two ends 16-11, 17-15 and looked in control. As with match 1 on the night, however, the Penicuik player then reacted to win the next two ends 16-12, 17-15. Another fifth end marathon, but this time, unlike match 1, it was the Murrayfield player who got over the line. Match 4 saw Colin take on William – the magic number needed to win an end here will bring back memories of the good old days – 10-0 to William in a race to 21. Colin squeezed over the line in the first 21-19 but then lost the next 21-16. That was followed by a 22-20 win for Colin and the Midlothian side looked like they might level the match. Ends 4 and 5 changed that positivity. William played some great stuff, and the handicap cup is such that if you get off to a bad start against a player with a big lead against you, recovery can be impossible – 21-6 in the fourth seemed to dent Colin’s confidence and William ran away with the decider 21-13. 3-1 down and Penicuik were in trouble. Match 5 pitted Aidan against Rory. An 8-0 advantage in a race to 17. The first two ends were shared but Aidan then showed his quality to win the final two ends 17-13, 17-10. Penicuik back in it at 3-2 down. Match 6 saw Jim back to the table against Nichole – by this time it was already after 10pm – handicap games can take a while!! This was the only match that didn’t go beyond three ends – Nichole has great consistency and is strong on both wings – Jim got close but couldn’t quite get far enough ahead to pile the pressure on his opponent – his 10-0 start was clawed back efficiently by Nichole in each end as she triumphed 18-16, 16-14, 16-14. The pressure was now really on as Penicuik fell 4-2 behind. Aidan v William was the match with the closest starting scores – only a 5-0 lead for Aidan in a race to 13. His opponent, like his teammates, plays two divisions higher than Aidan and this was always going to be tough – it was close. William won the first 14-12 and he repeated the score in the second to put the Murrayfield side on the brink of victory. Back came Aidan with an excellent 14-7 third end win – could he repeat it? The fourth end went to deuce, but it was William who came out on top 15-13. A great effort by the Penicuik trio who gave their opponents a good run for their money. It’s about time someone else won the handicap cup isn’t it? Have we mentioned our excellent record in this event? Winners in the 2018/19 season, semi-finalists 2019/20, no event 2020/21, winners 2021/22 and semi finalists 2022/23 – we’ll give ourselves a pat on the back for that record.
 
And so, to our final player of the week award. Undefeated nights for Julian and Ian and good performances in the handicap cup by all three players. Julian and Ian both finished the Division 2 season comfortably in the top 10 of the Individual averages. Ian’s come back from 2-0 down to win in Match 5 of the night really took the pressure off the side as they fought for promotion. But this week the award is going to someone who didn’t actually play – the Team has been captained terrifically throughout the season by this man. He’s always on hand, whether playing or not, to give advice and guidance and he’s kept everyone happy (well excluding opponents obviously – they seem to dislike him with a passion)! Well done to Team Captain James. Even though he dropped out, we’re confident he would have contributed just as much to the side’s victory this week and overall in the season he’s played the most games of all four players.
 
And finally, our controversy of the week section. Our appeal against Murrayfield’s ridiculous claimed walkover win was considered by the committee. Well, we say considered – given that Team 1 had secured their status in the Premier with their win against ESC, our appeal was thought to be unnecessary!! Wow! That’s one way to deal with appeals – ignore the issue completely. Ah well, we suppose it avoids the need for any conflict, or does it???
 
Graham Booth from NM 4 has apparently been trying all season to get in our controversy of the week section! He pulled up Julian this week for UMPIRING in a white T-shirt. Ok that’s not quite how it happened but Julian was just about to umpire when Graham pointed out that he hoped he had another top to wear other than his very clean and bright white one! When he did play he had to keep his hoodie on!
 
And finally, we can’t finish off without another go at umpiring – our handicap cup team reported that they were most unhappy with one of the youngsters from Murrayfield who whilst umpiring, in their words, looked completely bored out of their mind and disinterested. We know that they’re young and they have to learn but if they can’t do it properly yet, don’t let them do it at all. All it did was cause one of our players to lose focus – our player’s problem obviously as a player should be able to ignore other matters and concentrate on the game – but it can be difficult.
 
Ah well – our summary of the season and our end of season awards Report will follow at some point over the next couple of weeks. Another season over for PTTC.  More fun and games enjoyed, more upset and distress caused, more friends made (and some lost) – we can’t wait for next season for more of the same!!!

Week 26 of the Edinburgh & Lothians Table Tennis League was always going to answer a few relegation and promotion questions as teams caught up on outstanding fixtures.
 
The week started with Team 1’s visit to relegation rivals, ESC, on Monday 3rd April. This was it for Team 1 – a loss for them here and they would become favourites for the drop - a point and they might still be safe but it could come down to game difference – a win and they were safe. The Team’s search for a third player to play up for Team 1 resulted in Hannah McDonell travelling with dad, Greig and Colin Green. ESC have also had problems lately and an injury to Scott MacKenzie had ruled him out for a number of games – Martin McKay and Graeme Sutherland were joined by Alan Nisbet from Division 1. Greig took on Martin in Match 1 – normally you can expect this to be a five end marathon, but this time Greig won in 3 to give the visitors the perfect start. Graeme’s experience was then too much for Hannah as the scores were levelled before Colin defeated Alan in 3 to restore the lead. Graeme had no problem in putting Greig away and happily pointed out that Dad had only won 1 more point in 3 ends than daughter Hannah had! Colin had trouble with Martin in the next – 1-0 down and game point down in the second he turned it around to win the last three ends 12-10, 11-9, 11-8 – 3-2 to the visitors. Hannah then played some good stuff against Alan and when she took the first end, you could see the pressure building on her opponent. Had Hannah been able to deal with Alan’s serves this could have been a real shock – as it was she lost in four ends and the scores were again tied 3-3 going into the crucial doubles. Greig and Colin took on Graeme and Martin and this pivotal match was to go the distance – the fifth end saw the visitors sneak over the line in a match which was decided by the narrowest of margins – 9-11, 13-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9! A huge victory which made the Penicuik side favourites to at least win a point. Match 8 saw Colin take on Graeme and what a match this was – some terrific play from both with amazing counter looping rallies and both players scrambling brilliantly to stay in the match – this also went the distance – down in the fifth, Colin produced some brilliant points at the end of the fifth to secure an 11-9 victory – a point secured. Match 9 saw Greig take on Alan – had this been for the draw there would probably have been more pressure on Greig, but Colin’s win had eased the tension and Greig put the match away in straight sets to give Team 1 the win. Martin played Hannah in the final match of the night, and he also fell to a first end defeat before coming to terms a bit more with Hannah’s all out attacking play – a good night for Hannah all round and she only just fell at the last hurdle in each of the ends she lost – 9-11, 11-13, 9-11 – a great effort. A terrific win for Team 1 which secured their stay in the Premier for another year and at the same time resulted in relegation for ESC.
 
Thursday night then saw Team 1 host North Merchiston 1 at Ladywood. Given her performance playing up from Division 2 on the Monday night Hannah again joined Greig and Colin. Hannah took on Willie Mabon in Match 1 and her best end of the week was surely when she won the first end against a player in the top 10 of the Premier’s Individual Averages. She fell in four. Colin defeated Geoff Hunter before Greig went the distance in his win against Quentin Renau. Two wins followed for the visitors. Willie defeated Colin in five ends – at 10-4 up in the fifth, he won 11-9 – never in doubt he said as the players shook hands! Quentin was too strong for Hannah – his lobbing causing the 4ft 1 inch Hannah real problems! Greig then defeated Geoff to bring the scores level again at 3-3 and it was déjà vu from Monday night. This time however the doubles went the way of the visitors and when Wille defeated Greig in straight sets the home side trailed 5-3 – Colin had a great match against Quentin which he won in four ends before Hannah faced Geoff in the last match of the night. Geoff’s style caused problems in the first but after some coaching at the change of ends she was a different player, narrowly losing the second 11-9 before winning the third 11-7. This was a terrific match, Geoff as tenacious as ever and his consistency eventually wore Hannah down after long rally after long rally as the visitors secured a 6-4 win.
 
 
So, one outstanding issue resolved, another issue, this time promotion, was on the line as Team 3 hosted Herriot Watt in Division 2. Team 3 couldn’t win promotion this week unless University slipped up, but they could certainly take a big stride towards their goal with a win against the students. With Hannah playing up, Julian Taylor, Ian Hislop and James Wighton took to the table for this crucial match. Ian looked in trouble a couple of times in Match 1 but although tight, he played the big points well as he won 11-9, 12-10, 12-10.  James then triumphed in four ends in match 2 before Julian won in 3 straight sets to give the Midlothian trio the perfect start. James was then in real trouble in match 4. At 2-0 down he played some terrific stuff to pull out a five end victory. When Ian and Julian both then won their second matches the contest was over – 6-0 and coasting. The doubles was close but James and Ian came through in four ends before the final 3 singles matches. Julian was the only loser on the night in Match 9 as Team 3 recorded an excellent 9-1 victory. University didn’t slip up in their final match of the season so Team 3 realistically need 1 more point from their last two matches to “probably” gain promotion on game difference – two points and it will be beyond doubt.
 
Team 5 concluded their season with a visit to East Lothian. Aidan Craig, Roscoe Cairney and Chamika Diyunugalge made the trip to face Haddington 7 in Division 4. Chamika got the team off to a great start with a straight sets win in Match 1 before Aidan secured a four end win in Match 2. At 2-1 up in ends, Roscoe probably should have made it 3-0 but his opponent fought back to win in five ends. Two further good wins for Aidan and Chamika meant that going into the doubles they led 4-2. They combined well to secure at least a point for the team with a 3-0 victory. A good night was concluded in the same way it had started with two wins out of three as Team 5 recorded an excellent 7-3 victory. For virtually all of Team 5, this season has been their first taste of league action and whilst they were probably never going to compete for promotion, they may rue a couple of matches where a loss could have become a draw and a draw probably could have been a win. In the end they finished comfortably in a mid-table bunch separated by just 3 points. A good first season for Team 5 who will benefit from the experience next season.
 
And so, to our player of the week award. There were some terrific performances this week across the board – 5 out of 6 for Colin and 4 out of 6 for Greig was enough to maintain their Premier League status. There were undefeated nights for Ian and James in Division 2 and perfect nights for Aidan and Chamika in Division 4. Although she didn’t win any this was also a good week for Hannah – we can’t ignore that although the two stalwarts won 9 singles between them guess who won the player of the match awards on both nights – yip you guessed it – Hannah! In fairness stepping up two divisions she showed real promise and competed well in all of her matches and her performances showed how much she’s improved in the past 12 months or so. In terms of best performances, however, the four players mentioned above with undefeated weeks have to be favourites for the award. James and Aidan both dropped ends in their matches (1 for Aidan and 3 for James). Both Ian and Chamika won 9 ends out of 9 played – they both won the doubles as well – although Ian blames James for the end they lost, that’s the difference – what a night for Chamika – 12 ends of table tennis played and 12 won – a well deserved POTW Award for him.
 
And finally, our controversy of the week section. We don’t have to look far for this one. Our Second Team has struggled for most of the season to get out of the relegation dogfight in Division 1. But with 1 match left to go they needed a point to give them a chance of survival. They sat third bottom of the Division but the problem for them was that the two teams below them had one match left to play and it was against each other. That meant bizarrely that any result in that match, would result in one of the teams below Team 2 leapfrogging them – UNLESS Team 2 could pick up at least a draw in their last match v Murrayfield 5 (a win would have secured safety). No more important match this season then for Team 2. Imagine the disbelief therefore when the news came through of a concession by Team 2 to their opponents – that must be a mistake – surely? Nope – Team 2 who had already rearranged this final match of the season to last week couldn’t field a team! In fairness Team 3 were playing the same night but surely it would have been better to try and call on players from Div 3 or 4 for assistance than just concede! Never mind – maybe both Murrayfield 7 and Merchiston 3 want to get relegated from Division 1 and they will just declare their final match as void resulting in Team 2 surviving. Or maybe Team 2 fancy a go in Division 2 next season? A poor end to a poor season for our second team – come on Murrayfield and North Merchiston – do the decent thing and don’t play your final match…….
 
Handicap Cup Semi-final this week together with Team 3’s last two matches in Division 2 to decide their fate. Week 27 here we come.

Week 25 of the Edinburgh & Lothians Table Tennis League was a busy one for the Club with all five of our teams in action.
 
The week started with Team 3’s visit to the Gyle on Tuesday 28th March to take on Murrayfield 8 in Division 2. After their good win against Uni 3B in Week 24, Team 3 know that they can afford no slip ups as they try and finish 2nd and gain promotion to Division 1.  Uni 2 sat in second place going into Week 25 a point ahead of Team 3 but with the Penicuik side having two games in hand.  Julian Taylor returned after missing Week 24 as he joined James Wighton and Ian Hislop. The match could not have started any better for the visitors – Julian won Match 1 in straight sets before two vital five enders both went the way of the Penicuik side, Ian defeating Amit Kumar 11-8 in the fifth and James defeating Richard Lo 11-6 in the decider. 3-0 to the visitors and that got even better when Julian defeated Amit to make it 4-0. A five setter then went the way of the hosts as Phillipe Almichel defeated James to get the Murrayfield side on the scoreboard. When Ian defeated Richard in 4 ends, it looked plain sailing for the visitors – 5-1 up and coasting.  With the doubles expert in Hannah not playing, Julian and James combined but fell in straight sets – all Julian’s fault according to James and that made it 5-2. James then fell to Amit in another five end marathon and suddenly it was 5-3. Ian was outplayed in straight sets by Phillipe but fortunately, Julian was able to secure the win with a four end victory over Richard. From 5-1 up the visitors were ultimately relieved to get over the line with a 6-4 win. That temporarily put the side back into second place, prior to Edinburgh Uni’s match on Friday night v Corstorphine when a 6-4 win for the students resulted in the positions reversing again. 1 match left for Edinburgh Uni and 3 left for Team 3.   
 
Wednesday night saw Team 1 travel to Fife knowing that they still needed at least a point if not 2 to secure their Premier League status for another year. In the first half of the season, Greig and Colin had played a player short and just fell to a 6-4 defeat. The call for a third player on this occasion was answered by Krzysztof Laszkiewicz from Team 2. According to Fife Captain Peter Aird, Fife had been struggling to get a full side out and the interest in playing had waned to the extent that they were likely to only have two players – yeah right Peter – They played their last two away matches a player short but it was a different story for this home match – 10 players to pick from (how’s that fair!) Peter was joined by Grant Williams and Tales Yamamoto. Krys had a great opener against Grant and was 2-1 up before Grant found his form – 11-2, 11-3 in the final two ends gave the Fife team the perfect start. Greig meanwhile was involved in his own five setter against Tales – having squared the contest with an 11-7 fourth end win, he completely lost his concentration in the decider – 2-0 to Fife. Colin then faced Peter and this also went the distance – 2-1 up, Colin had match point in the fourth but lost out 13-11 before an 11-7 defeat in the fifth gave the hosts their third consecutive five end win. It got worse for the visitors as Tales defeated Krys in 3 straight sets. 4-0 down and struggling. The tide turned a little in the next two matches played simultaneously – at last the visitors came out on top in a five end match as Colin defeated Grant 11-9 in the fifth and at the same time Greig defeated Peter in four ends – 4-2. Peter played Krys out of order and before the doubles and that victory gave the hosts a 5-2 advantage but that was pulled back in the doubles - Greig and Colin lost their doubles in the first half against Fife but not on this occasion – a straight sets win and the Penicuik side were in with a chance of salvaging a draw at 5-3 down. Déjà vu with Week 24 – the last two matches were shared as Team 1 fell to another narrow 6-4 defeat, their fifth of the season. Not said it for a while but this feels like a good time to bring it back – which part of Edinburgh and Lothians is Inverkeithing in again?? Team 1 are still in all sorts of trouble, one place above the relegation zone with two games left to play.
 
Having avoided relegation from Division 3 with their victory in Week 24, Team 4 were in relaxed mood as they took on Herriot Watt 2 at Ladywood on Thursday night. Bob Porteous and Richard Millar were joined by Craig Linton, recovered from an injury which has meant he’s missed virtually the whole season. The students of Herriot Watt were already relegated before this match but if their number 1, Vladyslav Kapinus, had played more than half a season they would probably have been safe – he had played 30 matches before his visit to Ladywood and had won 28 of them. He was to keep that record going with another 3 victories, Craig doing best by taking an end from him. Only one other match all night went to four ends, Craig defeating Cameron Denholm 13-11 in the fourth. Team 4 don’t mess about – as Team Captain Bob pointed out their moto seemed to be win fast and lose fast! 8 matches were over in a flash by 3-0 scorelines and the home side won 6 of them – a 7-3 victory for the hosts with all three players picking up two wins, was a good finish to the season for Team 4. In the end although they diced with relegation throughout, the tightness of this division saw them finish in a group of teams on 15 points, well clear of relegation and another point could have seen them remarkably finish in fifth place on their own. The second half of the season saw them pick up double the amount of points they had done in the first half. Bob has led the side brilliantly in Craig’s absence through injury – a terrific first season for him winning 44 of his 60 matches played and the team’s fortunes were certainly improved by Richard joining the Team – he won two thirds of his 21 games played.
 
Team 2 were also in action at Ladywood but their match with West Lothian 2 was probably of more interest to Corstorphine than it was to them. It looks like Team 2 are not going to survive in Division 1 but at the other end of the table, Corstorphine who had led the way and been in the promotion spots since the season started, needed a favour from Penicuik to kept them in second place. Going into the match, a couple of 5-5 draws combined with a loss to league leaders Edinburgh University meant that Corstorphine had concluded their season and sat in 2nd place with 36 points and a games difference of +92. West Lothian had recruited Ben Hart from Stirlingshire for the second half of the season and he’s made a huge difference. They went into the match knowing that a win would put them level on points with Corstorphine – they started the night with a game difference of +88. The maths told them that they needed an 8-2 win or better to win the second promotion place! 7-3 and goodness knows what would happen – they’d be tied on points and games difference. With Gary McDougal on holiday, Charlie Brindley made a rare appearance this season as he joined Krzysztof Laszkiewicz and Abby Wighton. When the first three matches all went the way of the visitors in rapid fashion, this looked like being a walk in the park for the promotion chasing Bathgate side. Match 4 saw Abby take on Ben – we won’t mention the first end, but at 2-0 down she caused a little bit of anxiety by winning the third end 11-5 – she couldn’t sustain it though as she fell in four ends – 0-4. The next two matches got the WL hearts fluttering even more – Jamie Toner v Charlie and Mark Robertson v Krys – both games went the distance – the other Corstorphine side who were at Ladywood playing our fifth team would maybe have something positive to report back to their Team 1 – the fifth ends in both matches went the way of the visitors and 6-0 became 7-0 when the doubles was won in four ends by Ben and Jamie. Could the unthinkable happen and Penicuik win the last three matches? Eh no! Charlie did get on the board in match 10 but by then WL had done enough and a 9-1 victory saw them leapfrog Corstorphine and gain promotion to the Premier League. In a season where the teams played 220 games, Corstorphine lost out winning 156 compared to WL’s 158 – that’s got to hurt!
 
Finally on a busy night at Ladywood, Team 5 hosted top of the table Corstorphine 4 who had already secured the Division 4 title. This was always going to be a difficult match for the Club’s newest side who started the match some 20 points behind the Champions. Aidan Craig, Patrick Shanks and Sian McDonald, however, were not going to roll over. Aidan’s win in Match 1 of the night in four ends was followed by the narrowest of five end defeats for Sian – she lost out 11-9 in the decider. Match 3 saw Patrick go the distance but on this occasion the home player came out on top with a 13-11 fifth end win. Match 4 went the way of the visitors and that was followed by a loss for Aidan in Match 5 to give the visitors their first lead of the night. Patrick was getting his money’s worth as his second match also went to a fifth end decider and he triumphed again with an 11-7 victory. This topsy turvy affair was all square going into the doubles and a comfortable win for Aidan and Sian put the hosts ahead at 4-3. Sian couldn’t quite get over the line in Match 8 as she fell to a four end defeat. 4-4 going into the last two matches. Patrick played match 9 and according to NPC Brian, he seemed to be taken over by fatigue, losing quickly in 3 sets. The team surely deserved something out of this match and it was left to Aidan to produce some great table tennis to gain the team a terrific 5-5 draw against the Division 4 Champions. One match to go for Team 5 as they travel to Haddington next week.
 
And so, to our player of the week award. Team 4 were our best performing team this week with two wins each for all three players and a doubles victory contributing to their 7-3 win. Only one player was undefeated and that was Julian for Team 3. Julian’s three wins were obviously crucial as Team 3 sneaked over the line 6-4 to maintain their push for promotion. Julian has been in excellent form recently and with 3 matches still to go for Team 3, he is in contention to have the Club’s best individual average across the divisions. He’s got some stern competition though from Aidan and Bob. But that’s the competition for our player of the season award – there can be no doubt this week that, despite a loss in the doubles, Julian’s 3 singles took some pressure of his teammates and was pivotal in the win for Team 3 – well done to Julian.
 
And finally, our controversy of the week section. Team 1’s match in Fife was good fun! How can a team with ten registered players field only two out of ten – as we reported above this has happened on the last two occasions when Fife have played away from home or to put it another way when they’ve played in the Edinburgh and Lothians area! Putting that to one side, on Wednesday night we were met by a full team of three (yeah thanks Fife) and were told from when the tables were being set up that they were on a tight schedule and needed to get on with the matches. Nothing wrong with that – we are in a similar position at Ladywood. First two matches on simultaneously causes no difficulty but when one of the matches finished, the Fife team Captain effectively interrupted the ongoing match to tell Colin who was umpiring Greig v Tales that he needed to now give up his umpiring duties and he would be replaced by Grant. Really – could that not wait until the ongoing match was finished? Greig proceeded to quickly lose the fifth end and the score in the Peter v Colin match at that point was 3-3 in the first end. Hold on, as if enough disruption had not already occurred the Fife Team captain then stops playing to come over to the other table to look at who was on next – in the middle of a game –Krys, who now had the umpiring duties in the Colin v Peter game had to get up from his seat and be replaced so he could play match 4. This palaver took a few minutes to be resolved much to the irritation of the visitors and much to the annoyance of the Fife team captain who saw nothing wrong with what was going on. “That’s just the way it has to be” he screamed. The musical chairs continued through the night all on the basis that Fife would run out of time had we not done so. 5 matches completed, match 6 was going into a fifth end – hold on let’s just now play things out of order – we will miss the doubles so we can get Match 8 played! What?? Really? Not only do we have to interrupt the matches as we go we now have to play a final singles match before the doubles – now call us old fashioned but scoreboard pressure can play a part in matches like this. The doubles is often key. Greig and Colin have a good record in the doubles. But no, we’ll get another singles started at 4-1 to the hosts rather than waiting 5 minutes and then playing the doubles – had it been played in order we would have been at 4-3 playing matches 8 and 9 respectively and then 5-4 whilst playing match 10 – maybe the pressure would have been more on the hosts at that stage to secure a victory? As it was the match was finished by 9.20pm and we couldn’t resist pointing out repeatedly to our Fife hosts that we had managed to finish with plenty time “left on the clock”. Whilst we recognise that time constraints are often an issue it is ridiculous in our view to have to rush the way we did on Wednesday night – by all means play two matches at once (although we don’t like that we recognise this needs to be done for most of us) BUT don’t disrupt games and switch umpires mid game and then play out of order – even with four matches going to deciding fifth ends there was still more than half an hour left at the end of the night. There should be a rule introduced to prevent such craziness!  
 
In a similar vein, Team 5 have a policy when they play at home of starting their matches on one table – they play the first three singles out before then moving onto two tables for the rest of the night. This is NPC Brian’s idea and we like it – his rationale is that it enables the side to see all their opponents in action before moving on to the second round of singles matches – we have a 10pm finishing time and Team 5 have never fallen foul of that. Our opponents on Thursday night were not too keen on this idea though and complained a little that the match should be on two tables from the outset – surely it's up to the home team though to decide how the matches should be played – maybe that’s something which needs clarified for next season. 

The regular season over - some outstanding fixtures to be caught up on which will determine all of our outstanding promotion / relegation issues and the semi-finals and final of the Handicap Cup still to come! What fun awaits....

​Three of our teams were in action in Week 24 of the Edinburgh & Lothians Table Tennis League.
 
The week started with Team 4’s visit to Fife on Wednesday 22nd March. The previous night had seen two other teams in relegation trouble take part in a vital Division 3 encounter as Haddington 6 hosted University 5. A win for the East Lothian side meant that they secured safety and Team 4 would join them if they could pick up a win against Fife.  Bob Porteous, Richard Millar and Rachel Petrie made the trip to Inverkeithing and when Bob and Richard won the first two singles matches of the night hopes were high that the visitors would secure the points needed for survival. Rachel has had some agonisingly narrow defeats recently and her match against Neil Hoggan went the distance – could she come out on the right side this time? She came so close but fell to an 11-9 defeat in the fifth. Match 4 also went the distance as Bob struggled against Davy Duffy – the fifth end turned out to be rather one-sided with Bob running away with it 11-3 to give the visitors a crucial 3-1 lead. Steve Saunders then defeated Rachel and that was followed by another five end tussle involving Neil, this time against Richard. Neil again triumphed and suddenly the match was back in the balance at 3-3. How often do we say that the doubles is critical – no more so than on this night – Bob and Richard are a formidable pairing and they secured their fourth win out of five doubles matches played this season with a 3-0 victory over Steve and Neil. Rachel then took to the table in Match 8 and was over the moon to defeat Davy in three straight ends – a point was secured. Player of the match, Bob, then secured the win against Neil before Richard made the score look more comfortable than it was with a win in the last match of the night. A terrific 7-3 victory for the visitors and with that, their Division 3 status was secured – well done Team 4.  One match to go and a win in that would leave the team in a very positive mood for next season.
 
The following night at Ladywood saw Teams 1 and 3 both in action. Team 3’s Division 2 campaign has seen them sit in the top two for most of the season but a run of cancellations and a slip up against Edinburgh International left them coming into this match in third place, three points behind 2nd place albeit with 3 games in hand. James Wighton, Hannah McDonell and Ian Hislop hosted Edinburgh University 3B, hoping to close the gap on second place. Ian was first up and won his match in four ends before a win from James in 3 was followed by a straight sets victory for Hannah in Match 3. 3-0 up and it was looking good for the hosts. The next three singles were all won in straight sets and the victory was secured. James and Hannah then combined in the doubles, which proved to be the closest match of the night, the hosts just coming through in five ends. The match was concluded in the same way it had begun with another round of singles all going the way of the hosts as they recorded an excellent 10-0 win – they now sit 1 point behind second place with two games in hand.
 
Team 1 have had a torrid time since Brian Hunter was injured and declared out for the season in Week 6. They faced Murrayfield 3 in Week 24 and called upon Craig Linton from Division 3 to make his premier league debut – Craig acquitted himself well but didn’t manage to get on the scoreboard – so it was up to Greig McDonell and Colin Green to try and somehow find 5 or 6 wins between them. When Colin lost to Zihao Li the hopes of a win took a big knock. Greig reversed his result from the first half against Tomasz Bracha to keep the hosts in with a chance and when Colin defeated Haydn Jackson in four ends the score was 3-2 going into match 6. Greig took on Zihao. Greig sneaked the first end 12-10 but then lost the next two and the writing was on the wall – a fourth end 11-7 victory sent the match into the fifth and lo and behold Greig held 3 match points at 10-7 in the decider – he probably needed to finish it on his own serve, but he didn’t and a 12-10 defeat left him extremely frustrated at what might have been. Greig and Colin have a good doubles record and another victory for them brought them within 2 games of a draw – Colin v Tomasz and Greig v Haydn. Colin did what he needed to do in four ends. Greig had played Haydn three times this season before this match, twice in the League and once in the Scottish National League – he had never lost – you know what’s coming – pressure and nerves probably played a part as Greig fell to a deuce in the fifth loss and with it a 6-4 defeat for Team 1. Oh dear – still not safe from relegation – three matches to go – they need to pick up a point or preferably two to avoid the drop.
 
And so, to our player of the week award. Bob has been brilliant throughout the season for Team 4. 57 games played and 42 games won – he’s made the difference, especially in the latter part of the season when points have been picked up to avoid relegation. He had another sterling performance in Week 24 with 3 wins and a doubles victory in the sides 7-3 win. All of Team 3 were also undefeated this week. Of all our Teams in the League, Team 3 have been the most successful (whether they win promotion or not). On the night James won player of the match (how did that happen) and Hannah played the most entertaining and pleasing to the eye table tennis, but this week’s award goes to the most senior player of the trio – goodness knows what age he really is but Greig remembers playing him in the mid-80s and thinking he was near to retirement age back then!! That old green bat of his may be gone, but he still gives 100% and still causes difficulties to all of his opponents. He may not have played as many matches as his teammates (because he’s always on holiday!) but his contribution this season has been vital to the team – well done to Ian Hislop – a well deserved and long overdue (he says) weekly award.
 
And finally, our controversy of the week section. In Team 4’s match in Fife there was an incident involving Rachel during her first match. In the first end of that match the “home team umpire” appears to have had an issue with Rachel’s serves. According to the team, this was influenced by someone watching from the side-lines and did not apparently come direct from the umpire. The issue was that Rachel was not throwing the ball up high enough. The most controversial element of this, however, was that the Umpire didn’t raise this direct with Rachel but instead the Umpire rose from his chair and marched into the adjoining court where Bob was playing to tell Bob that Rachel wasn’t throwing the ball up properly! What? How bizarre! We assume this was done because Bob was Team captain?? Who knows why it was done but completely unnecessary and at a time when Bob was involved in playing an important match of his own. Rachel pointed out to the Umpire that he should be speaking to her and not Bob – it had nothing to do with Bob. Apparently, the umpire then rather aggressively said to Rachel “I’m watching you now, you’ve been warned” – Yikes! Whilst Rachel is not claiming that this caused her to lose the match, it definitely affected her. There are ways to bring up matters such as this and this was definitely not the way to do it!
 
As the end of the season approaches, the issue of concessions rears it’s head. In Division 3, there was a tight battle at the foot of the table to avoid relegation. Haddington 6 secured their Division 3 status with a victory over Edinburgh University. They would have been a target for Team 4 had that result not gone their way – imagine the effect therefore of a 10-0 concession being given by Fife to Haddington last week – apparently Fife couldn’t muster a team to make the trip to East Lothian. A 10-0 victory that, even had they not defeated Uni last week, would then have made them safe to the detriment of some other team of course. Maybe if Fife had still been in danger of the drop they would not have conceded but it’s the impact on others which needs to be borne in mind. Or is it just luck of the draw and something we have to put up with? It does seem entirely unfair that relegation (and indeed promotion) could be influenced and affected as a result of such concessions – perhaps the “punishment” for conceding needs to be harsher to avoid teams doing so? Mind you we don’t want that rule introduced yet given that as we reported last week, we have a concession on our record that we didn’t even know about!!  We have now appealed against that!
 
Virtually all over for another year – a busy couple of weeks coming up to bring the season to a close.