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Week 18 Report

31/1/2016

After a pretty shocking Week 17, the Club were on better form in Week 18 of the League with 5 wins out of 8 matches played.

In the Premier Division it was back to winning ways for Team 1 as they defeated Murrayfield 3 by an 8-2 scoreline. It was the first time since mid-November that Team 1 have been able to field their full team. Colin Green, who has been protecting his average since the 18th of November, only now seems to play in matches where the Team start as favourites! He led the way for the Team, undefeated on the night, whilst Greig McDonell and Stuart Gow both won 2. Greig and Colin also combined for a win in the doubles.

In Division 1, after a 7-3 defeat for Team 2 against Corstorphine 2 in Week 17, James Wighton, Gary Mcdougal and Abby Wighton had to face an away match against sterner opposition in Corstorphine's 1st Team. James was the only winner for the visitors as they fell to a 9-1 defeat. Worse news for the Team followed as Edinburgh International recorded a win against Fife (4 points out of 6 for them in the last 3 weeks) leaving Team 2 second bottom of the Division.

There was better news in the Division for our 3rd Team of Clive Liddiard, Iain Johnstone and Brian Bailey as they faced Corstorphine 2. Fortunately, Iain didn't have any 12 year olds to play this week as he returned to top form winning 3 whilst Clive won 2 and the pair combined for a crucial win in the doubles fixture as they recorded a good 6-4 win.

After the 4th Team's disappointing night against Murrayfield which saw them lose their first match of the season, they returned to winning ways with a comfortable 8-2 win against West Lothian 6. Chris Markey and Tony Brentnall both won 3 whilst Krzysztof Laszkiewicz won 2. The victory keeps Team 4 hot on the heels of the league Leaders.

In Division 3 after a couple of weeks without a match, Team 5 made a positive return to action against West Lothian 8 with an excellent 7-3 victory. John Bald won 3 whilst Phil Daly and Luke Hennessey (playing up from Division 4) both won 2.

All three of the Club’s Division 4 teams were in action with mixed success. Team 6 recorded a good 8-2 away victory at Haddington. Luke Hennessey and Louis Myatt were both undefeated on the night whilst Rachel Petrie (deputising from Team 8) added a singles victory. Meanwhile Team 7 of Stuart Bennett, Craig Johnson and Millie Bennett faced a difficult away match against Edinburgh University. All three players won 1 singles in their 7-3 defeat. And finally in a busy week for the Club, Team 8 visited North Merchiston 5. Rachel Petrie and Lewis Baldock both won a singles match in their 8-2 defeat.

And so to player of the Week - After my New Year's resolution to try and give at least one weekly award to Colin, he's surely in the running for his undefeated night against Murrayfield - but for picking and choosing who he plays against he misses out! The tightest match of the week was in Division 1 and had it not been for his 3 singles victories and a doubles win, Team 3 would not have recorded their 6th win of the season - so for that reason, and to make up for the stick he's taken at the Club for his loss last week, Iain Johnstone is this week's deserved winner.

Controversy of the Week for Week 18? Never let it be said that we only have a go at other Clubs - this week's controversy surrounds the discussions (not at all heated!!) between Teams 7 & 8 in respect of their upcoming "friendly" intra-Club fixture in Division 4. Having requested a postponement, it took some considerable "Kofi Annan style Diplomacy" from a certain Club Official to ensure that the original refusal of same was overturned and agreed to. Maybe members have forgotten our directive that it's only Murrayfield that we should refuse to grant postponements to!! (only joking AGAIN Murrayfield!). Without wanting to sound like the proverbial broken record on this subject, if the postponement rule even causes difficulties for intra-Club fixtures, it surely needs to be looked at for the future!

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Week 17 Report

24/1/2016

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Week 17 of the League, which saw five of our eight teams in action, can only be described as an extremely disappointing one for the Club.

In Division 1, Team 2 faced a home match against Corstorphine 2 who sat two points above them in the struggle towards the foot of the Division 1 table. James Wighton, Gary Mcdougal and Abby Wighton had lost out 6-4 in the reverse fixture in October against the same trio of Jeff Clark, Tom Wallace and Tommy Sutherland. The home side got off to a good start with a win for James in the opening match but before they knew it the next four matches all went the way of the visitors. Gary kept the game alive with a win in match 6 to reduce the deficit to 4-2 going into the vital doubles fixture. When James and Gary lost that match, the writing was on the wall for the home trio and only Gary managed to pick up a win in the final 3 singles leading to a very disappointing 7-3 defeat for Team 2. Gary won 2 whilst James won 1 as Team 2 now trail their opponents by four points and more worryingly are only a point above the relegation zone in the Division.

Team 3 of Clive Liddiard, Iain Johnstone and Brian Bailey were also in action in Division 1 as they travelled to face one of the contenders for the title, Edinburgh Sports Club 2. Iain has been in excellent form so far this season with 30 wins out of 36 matches going into the fixture. The crucial match of the night was Iain's game against young Faye Leggett, surely one to watch for the future. With the visitors 2-1 down going into Match 4 Iain knew that a win would keep the tie in the balance but from 2 ends to 1 down, young Faye (is she really only 12!!) showed her determination and poise as she won the last two ends 1-9, 11-9. A 3-1 lead soon became 5-1 as Brian and Clive lost their second matches of the night and with it went any real chances of a point - The score was made to look respectable as first Clive and Iain won the doubles and then Iain and Clive both won their final matches in the resultant 6-4 defeat. There was no doubt that the star of the night was young Faye with her 3 wins.

Team 4’s form has surprised many and they went into Week 17 undefeated throughout the season, although only a point ahead of their opponents Murrayfield 5 as a result of 3 draws in the first half of the season. Chris Markey, arguably the Team’s best player this season (83%) was unfortunately unavailable for the top of the table clash. Tony Brentnall, Krzysztof Laszkiewicz and Gavin Hunter were still in the match going into the doubles fixture at 4-2 down and when Tony and Krzysztof upset the form book by defeating Rowan Campbell and Jake Somerville (both sitting around the 90% mark in the Division) in five ends there was renewed hope for the visitors that they could maintain their lead in the Division. The final three singles matches saw Rowan (who was seemingly playing an absolute blinder) dispatch Krys in extra quick style before Tony took on Jake knowing that a win was essential to keep the match alive. Tony reports that he felt he couldn't have done much more - he gave Jake a fright by winning the first end 11-6 but the match was ended as young Jake won the next 3 ends in style. Tony and Krys both won 1 and combined for the win in the doubles in the resultant 7-3 defeat. Team 4 may come to rue those draws from 2015 as they fall behind their opponents for the first time.

The only bright points of an otherwise poor week for the Club came in Division 4. Team 7 of Stuart Bennett, Craig Johnson and Millie Bennett recorded their third win of the season as they defeated Haddington 2 by a 7-3 scoreline. All three players won 2 singles whilst Stuart and Millie combined for a win in the doubles, a result which sees the Team jump 3 places in the Division 4 table.
Team 8 were in action at Ladywood as Sean Lennon, Martyn Levy and Lewis Baldock took on Murrayfield 8. In a topsy turvy match, the Penicuik trio were never behind their opponents but couldn’t quite get away from them. Going into the doubles fixture the match was evenly poised at 3-3. Sean and Lewis came back from the loss of the first end to win that important match but back came Murrayfield to level the scores at 4-4 before Lewis restored the advantage with a win in Match 9. Sean then played the deciding match but couldn’t quite get the Team over the line as Murrayfield stole a 5-5 draw. Sean won 2 on the night whilst Martyn and Lewis each won 1.

And so to player of the Week - A difficult one this week - Had Sean won that final match he would have been a cert for the award - Sorry Sean!! Also with two wins and a doubles win this week is Iain but he lost to a 12 year old girl so I can't bring myself to give him the award. So this week's award goes to Stuart Bennett - 2 wins and a doubles victory and he won an end in the one match he lost - Well done Stuart.

Finally to our Controversy of the Week. Those thorny subjects of postponements and Umpiring rear their ugly heads again. Firstly, we have made our view clear that to avoid bad feeling between teams perhaps postponements should just be done away with (other than in exceptional circumstances). This week what may effectively have been the Division 2 decider took place between our Team 4 and Murrayfield - surely Murrayfield don't feature in yet another controversy!! Team Captain Gavin sought a postponement on the basis that our Number 1 player, Chris, was unavailable and Gavin himself was struggling to arrange family commitments to make the match. Postponement refused. And whilst there is nothing wrong with that (we would probably have done the same thing - unless it was Brian "Mr Nice" Bailey who was asked), it does nothing to generate feelings of goodwill and sportsmanship between Clubs - in fairness to Murrayfield they too were weakened by the absence of 85% player Lynn replaced by 66% Roger - but for a match of such importance wouldn't it have been nice for both teams to have been at full strength.

Whilst in any sport mistakes will always be made by referees, there's nothing like a dodgy umpiring decision to get the blood boiling! In Team 2's match against Corstorphine there was some ill feeling in one of Abby's match when everyone in the hall saw a double bounce on the opponents side of the table other than the Umpiring Corstorphine member and the opponent himself! Would it have made any difference to the eventual outcome? Probably not. What can be done about it? Not a lot! A controversial proposal - maybe each Team should have to have one of their member go through an umpiring qualification? We have already touched this season on how many of us actually have such qualifications - we would be surprised if the percentage was in double figures!

Bring on Week 18!!

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Week 16 Report

18/1/2016

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Six of the Club's 8 teams were in action in Week 16 of the League and taking centre stage this week was the intra-club clash between Teams 2 and 3 in Division 1. Team 2 of James Wighton, Gary McDougal and Abby Wighton have found it tough going since they won the Division 2 title last season and they started the match only two points clear of the relegation play-off spot and desperate for a win to kick start their season. Team 3 of Iain Johnston, Brian Bailey and Clive Liddiard have fared much better than their club-mates mainly down to the form of Iain who started the night in third place in the Division 1 individual averages. Last season saw a win and a draw for Team 2 (although no Iain for Team 3 obviously - he was playing in the Premier Division). This season's first encounter resulted in a 5-5 draw but on that night Team 3 were missing Clive.

Match 1 saw a comfortable win for James against Clive. That was followed by a 4 end victory for Iain against Abby who gave Iain a fright and had she won the fourth end with the couple of game points she had who knows how the fifth would have gone. Team 2 restored their advantage when Gary defeated Brian in 3 straight ends. When Abby then defeated Clive in Match 4, a surprise result looked on the cards. Clive looked out of sorts and feeling unwell he conceded his last match to Gary and when that was followed by a win for James against Brian, Team 2 looked in complete control at 5-1 up. Iain kept Team 3 alive with another 4 end victory over Gary before the crucial doubles fixture. With Clive out of the running, Iain combined with Brian to take on Abby and Gary - the match looked over as Abby and Gary claimed the first two ends 11-8, 12-10 putting them one end away from an unassailable 6-2 lead. But then something miraculous seemed to happen to Iain and Brian who somehow managed to find their form when most needed as they stormed back to to win the next 3 ends bringing the scoreline to 5-3. The last two matches were played simultaneously - Abby v Brian and Iain v James. Abby had defeated Brian in 3 straight ends in the first half of the season but Brian called upon his 87 years of experience to play some terrific table tennis to defeat Abby in four ends. The final match of the night was a classic which swung one way then the other, James won the first end before Iain won the next two only for James to win the fourth. It was fitting that an excellent match be concluded by a final end shootout. In a tense finish Iain looked in trouble but somehow found a way to win by the tightest of margins 11-9 thereby securing a brilliant comeback for Team 3. Another draw - a fair result?? Definitely a better point for Team 3 than for Team 2 who continue to struggle to turn match winning positions into victories.

Away from the derby match, Teams 1 & 6 were also in action at Ladywood. Team 1 of Greig McDonell and ..... eh no one else actually turned up in the snow to take on defending Champions Murrayfield 1 - Gow and Green trying to protect their averages perhaps?? Of course with the ruling that a one player Team is effectively a concession, Greig spoiled the night for Team 6 by taking Luke Hennessy out of their match against North Merchiston, leaving an already understrength Team 6 (missing Louis Mc as a result of his broken ankle) with an even more difficult task.

In the end, Luke enjoyed the experience of playing against the "big boys" and the highlight of the night must have been the doubles where the home duo took the first end from Calum Morrison and John Hannah and had two game points in game 4 to send the match to a deciding fifth end - proof if ever it was needed that despite what Aussie Green thinks, Greig is a masterful doubles player who always manages to get the best out of his teammates!! Greig won the solitary match for the home side on the night as Murrayfield ran out 9-1 winners.

Team 6 saw mother and son duo, Rachel (stepping up form Team 8) and Louis battle against North Merchiston 6 in Division 4. Both defeated different opponents deuce in the fifth end as they fell to an 8-2 defeat and El Presidente takes partial responsibility for that!! Mum went home in a slightly better mood than son, however, as she was awarded player of the night.

Also in Division 4, Teams 7 and 8 were in action. Without Craig, Team 7 called on the services of Martyn Levy in their away match to North Merchiston 5 to join father and daughter duo, Stuart and Millie. 2 of Stuart's three singles matches went to five ends but the only winner on the night was Millie in the resulting 9-1 defeat.

Team 8 travelled to Fife in the snow and with Martyn continuing his busy week, this time joining Lewis Baldock and Kathryn McKenzie. All three players won 1 singles match on the night and Kathryn was unlucky not to win her second match losing 11-8 in the deciding end as Team 8 went down to a 7-3 defeat.

Player of Week 16? Only one contender really - it has to go to Iain Johnstone for his performance in the derby match - not only did he win his 3 singles and hold his nerve to win the tightest of final matches against James, but he also somehow managed to get the best out of Brian, 70 years his senior, in the crucial doubles match - Brian by the end of the night was seemingly feeling like a 60 year old again. Well done Iain.

Controversy of the Week this week? The saga of the Handicap Cup match between Penicuik and Murrayfield was eventually put to bed it would appear at a League Committee meeting - not sure we even knew it was on the agenda - but seemingly it was discussed and Ken Ben had the task of making the final decision on the matter - with the scores at 4-4, the match had of course been conceded by us resulting in a Murrayfield victory. The view taken was that it would set an unwelcome precedent, for both Cup and League, to allow matches to be concluded on a different date and the result therefore stands. Thats not really the most controversial thing to happen however. To prove the point we have made over the last few weeks of Brian's changed character, his response by email was in the following terms:-

"Thanks again for your kind attention. We agree with your decision - an invidious position to have put you in, really. If anything, the decision was Murrayfield's to make and I'm not sure that we would have offered to play on later, in their position. So no hard feelings - the match was very enjoyable and played in good spirit."

What has happened to Mr Bailey??!! Magnanimous is his new middle name!

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Week 15 Report

10/1/2016

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The second half of the Edinburgh & Lothians Table Tennis League Season got underway with all eight of our teams in action.

The performance of the Week came from the young guns of Team 6 who faced an away trip to West Lothian 9. In the reverse fixture at Ladywood the same six players had competed and the Bathgate side had run out 8-2 victors. The hope of putting youngsters into the League is that throughout the season with more match play and practice they will improve and that certainly seemed to be the case for Luke Hennessey, Louis Myatt and Louis McLeod as they reversed that 8-2 defeat and ran out 7-3 winners. Luke maintained his excellent form winning all three of his singles and combining with Louis McLeod for a win in the doubles, Louis Myatt picked up 2 singles wins whilst Louis McLeod won 1, all three players improving on their results from the first match of the season. Some sad news for the Team, however, came later in the week with the news that young Louis McLeod has broken his ankle and is likely to miss the majority if not all of the rest of the season - we wish Louis well in his recovery.

Maintaining the Penicuik v West Lothian theme, Team 2 faced an away match against WL 2, surely favourites for the Division 1 title. James Wighton, Gary Mcdougal and Abby Wighton have had a difficult season so far in this Division, having won the League 2 title last year. Although they went down to an 8-2 defeat with wins from Gary and Abby, there were positive signs for the Penicuik trio with a much improved performance compared to their 10-0 defeat against the same trio in the reverse fixture. Both Gary and Abby took an end of the undefeated Stan Stoodley and Gary was unlucky not to win against Dave Fletcher. Good signs for a strong second half hopefully.

Meanwhile also in Division 1, Team 3 of Clive Liddiard, Iain Johnstone and Brian Bailey started their second half of the season with a comfortable 8-2 victory against Edinburgh International 4. The match was made more comfortable for the home side as EI were only able to field a two man team, Ken and George. Iain won 3 and combined with Clive for a doubles victory whilst Brian and Clive both won 2.

The performances of the first half of the season have came from Team 4 who started the New Year in top spot in Division 2. Having gone through the first half undefeated, they went into their away match against Corstorphine 4 with the confidence of an 8-2 victory in the reverse fixture behind them. They had also seen, however, earlier in the week Murrayfield 5 leap frog them into top spot with a 9-1 victory over Corstorphine 3. Tony Brentnall, Krzysztof Laszkiewicz and Gavin Hunter matched that result and maintained their undefeated season as they ran out 9-1 winners on the night. Krzysztof and Tony won three whilst Gavin won two and combined with Krzysztof for a win in the doubles match.

In Division 3, Team 5 of John Bald, Gregory Leplatre and Phil Daly played two matches in Week 15. First up they faced League Leaders North Merchiston 3. Although the result seems somewhat one sided, the crucial games of the night came with the scoreline at 3-1 to the League Leaders. In match 5, John from 2-0 up lost the next three ends 9-11, 13-15, 8-11; that was followed by Gregory losing match 6 11-9 in the fifth and when match 7 went the same way as Phil and Gregory lost the doubles in five ends, the match was over. On the night, Gregory and Phil both won 1 as North Merchiston triumphed by an 8-2 scoreline. 24 hours later, Team 5 bounced back as they faced a home match against Edinburgh Sports Club 4. In another match where the scoreline doesn't do justice to the very tight battle which took place, five of the ten games went to a deciding fifth end but on this occasion the home side won all five and ran out 7-3 winners. All three players won 2 singles and John and Gregory combined for an important win in the doubles fixture.

In Division 4, Team 7 were not able to match the improvement of Team 6 from the first half of the season as Stuart Bennett, Craig Johnson and Millie Bennett all won 1 singles in their 7-3 loss to Murrayfield 8, the same scoreline as the first half of the season.

Finally, there were two walkover wins for the Club as Teams 1 and 8 both received concessions.

Player of Week 15?? For the improvement from the first half of the season and for bouncing back after his disappointment in the Edinburgh Championships, young Luke wins the award this week. Not only did he contribute all 3 singles wins and a doubles victory but he defeated a player to whom he'd lost in the first half (Stuart Gibson) and who was ahead of him in the individual averages - that's a great sign of improvement.

And finally to our controversy of the week. Two things this week, firstly surely Ken Benjamin must have read my New Year President's Report in relation to Brian's quest to win a player of the night award!! Iain was undefeated, Clive won 2 and defeated Ken in 4 ends and combined with Iain for a win in the doubles - but let's ignore that, Brian who has not won a player of the night award since it's inception got the honour at long last - I can only think it's due to him recovering from 2-1 down to defeat Ken in five!!

Secondly, back to that thorny subject of postponements, concessions, point deductions etc. Team 8 this Week had arranged their busy lives around a match on Wednesday night, were all ready and raring to go and simply no sign of their opponents. No contact from them prior to Wednesday and no contact from them on the night - indeed no contact from them since!! Whilst we have made our position clear in the past that a point deduction can be a double punishment to a Club, this is the type of scenario when a point deduction or some other form of punishment / fine is entirely appropriate. Putting aside the fact that our venue was booked for other matches and there was no financial loss to the Club as a result, the wasted time for the players involved leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. An apology/explanation from Edinburgh Uni would help...

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NEW YEAR PRESIDENT'S REPORT

3/1/2016

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It's that time of year again when we summarise the first half of the season and wish everyone all the best for 2016. The President's take on the first half of the season is contained in his New Year's address (bit like the Queen's Speech) available here.

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Week 18 Report

Week 17 Report

Week 16 Report

Week 15 Report

NEW YEAR PRESIDENT'S REPORT

Penicuik TTC

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