Week 17 saw four of our six teams in action. The first match of the week saw Team 5 travel to Heriot-Watt on Tuesday 23rd January in Division 4. Rachel Petrie, Patrick Shanks and Chamika Diyunugalge were looking to repeat their first half performance against the students which they won 6-4. The students, however, had a very different looking team for their home fixture – two of their players being in the top 10 of the individual averages. The first two matches went the way of the hosts before Patrick was involved in a long and tense five set match – 2-1 down he sneaked the fourth 11-9 before the decider went to five deuces before Patrick triumphed 16-14. That, however, was as good as it got for the visitors as they could only manage two further ends in the remaining 7 matches, as they fell to a 9-1 defeat, the students pulling to within a point of the Penicuik side – another couple of wins are needed for Team 5 to secure their division 4 status.
 
The following night Team 1 of Colin Green, Peter Aird and Greig McDonell travelled to Edinburgh International. The EI Team certainly live up to their “International” billing as the Penicuik trio faced Marek Domagala, Babu Valaguruvan and Debjit Roy Choudhury. Colin and Peter were first up, and both matches went the distance. Colin won his 11-8 in the fifth v Debjit whilst Peter lost his 11-9 to Marek. The next two matches saw Greig win in four against Babu whilst Colin was involved in another marathon 5 setter against Marek. This time Colin pulled back from 2-0 down to win 11-9 in the fifth. Matches 5 and 6 saw Babu have the first straightforward match of the night as he defeated Peter in 3 but at the same time the close games continued as Greig was involved in the fourth five ender of the night – he held his nerve to defeat Debjit 11-8 in the fifth, giving the visitors a 4-2 lead going into the doubles. Greig and Colin combined and strolled into a 2-0 lead with some of their best doubles TT of the season, but the quality of the rallies was there for all to see, and it didn’t take much for the tide to turn in sets 3 and 4 as Debjit and Marek could do no wrong. The fifth set was a nightmare for the Penicuik pair – 7-1 down and they looked completely out of it. TT is a funny old game – from nowhere a fantastic comeback saw them sneak over the line 12-10. A point was secured and further wins for Colin and Peter gave the Penicuik side a 7-3 victory.
 
At Ladywood on Thursday evening Teams 2 and 6 were in action both against Edinburgh International opposition. In Division 1 Steve Collins, James Wighton and Hannah McDonell find themselves at the foot of the table whilst their opponents are competing for promotion. This was always going to be a tough match – the first half of the season saw a 9-1 victory for the Edinburgh outfit and that had been with the Penicuik side’s number 1, David Melrose in the side! Things started well for the hosts as Steve got the first win of the night but that was cancelled out by a good win for Chandrasekaran Kaliaperumal against Hannah before Artur Labecki was at his destructive best against James – James genuinely seemed shocked by the match in which Artur just attacked at will and hardly missed. When the next three singles all went the way of the visitors Team 2 were facing another heavy defeat. Hannah and Steve combined for the first time in the doubles this season and maybe that’s a combination for the future as they secured a fantastic win. Was a remarkable comeback on the cards? Nearly as both Hannah and James competed well in their final matches with some terrific rallies on show, but neither could secure a win and the match was over. Steve won match 10 on the night as the hosts fell to a 7-3 defeat.
 
And finally on Thursday night Team 6 fielded a different looking side with both Mat and Ian unavailable. Roscoe Cairney was joined by Sian McDonald and Phil Daly. After their best result of the season in Week 16, a 6-4 defeat against Edinburgh University, the team were hopeful of keeping the momentum going. Match 1 saw Roscoe take on the very impressive looking Manu Silverton – pen hold style and when he hit them on the table there was little Roscoe could do – but consistency was lacking from both players. After falling 2-1 behind Roscoe somehow won the fourth end 11-2 – surely he was now in control? An 11-4 win for Manu in the decider followed! Meanwhile Sian was involved in another five set match against Mike Eggar – normally it’s the children who take up the sport to follow in their parents’ footsteps – not in the Eggar family – Mike took up TT after son Glyn and daughter Karin had become cracking players – his style is slightly different than the young Eggars as well – stoic pushing – and in Division 5 that will win a lot of games – Sian lost the third end 11-2, battled back for an 11-8 fourth end win and at 11-10 up in the decider had a match point – so close but it wasn’t to be and as if to rub salt in the wounds Mike won the match with a net dribbler for a 14-12 win. Phil got the team on the scoreboard with a four end win against Alan Gracie but defeats then followed for Roscoe and Sian as the hosts fell to a 4-1 deficit. A comeback was started, however, as Phil showed his younger teammates how to play against backspin with a comfortable win against Mike before a cracking performance in the doubles from Phil and Sian saw the deficit reduced to 4-3. Sian then defeated Alan to bring the scores level before Phil gave the Penicuik side a 5-4 lead with a win v Manu. Roscoe v Mike was always going to be tough, and Mike held his nerve to secure a point for the visitors. Never mind a point lost though – this was Team 6’s first point of the season – well done to them – a win next time out??

And so, to our player of the week award. Well done to Phil for his undefeated night in Division 5 – an integral part played in securing the first point of the season for Team 6. Special mention also to Hannah who was selected to play for Scotland Under 19s last week in an International friendly – she acquitted herself very well and played some fantastic attacking table tennis. But there can only be one winner this week – Greig was back to his “blocking best” in Team 1’s match, and in addition to his two singles wins he managed to pull Colin through in the doubles and then be on the side-lines to somehow rally Colin from losing positions to win his three against Edinburgh International – OK hold on – if he can’t win the award this week he’s never going to win it! Not only did he have an undefeated night and some terrific comebacks against the Edinburgh outfit but last weekend saw him win the Over 50s Assessment tournament at Bathgate, defeating Gerry Campbell on his way to first place – he tells us he’s been trying to defeat Gerry for about 18 years now since he first entered the Vets tournaments and in fairness there are not many veterans in Scotland who can claim to have beaten Gerry 3-0 in a competitive match – well done to Colin on a terrific week.  
 
And finally, our controversy of the week section. Nothing much happened in the League this week to get too wound up about but at the aforementioned Veterans tournament there was a bit of a stand-up argument between a player and an umpire. The umpire got the score wrong in the third end of a match. The player was 5-4 up at the time and the umpire turned the score to 5-5. The player noticed this and told the umpire the score was 6-4. In a moment of confusion, the umpire turned the score to 6-4 but in favour of the other player! A genuine mistake and after the stand-up argument between player and umpire ended the scores were corrected, and the player actually went on to win the end. The player’s point was that he shouldn’t have to keep his eye on the scoreboard – that was the umpire’s job – the player should only need to concentrate on the game. A fair point if it had been raised in a calm and controlled manner. The umpire didn’t particularly take kindly to the way in which the player was behaving and suggested that if he wasn’t happy he could umpire his own game! The “argument” seemed to distract the player’s opponent rather than anyone else. Speaking to an umpire (even if he is a fellow player) in such an aggressive manner shouldn’t be tolerated and if it had been an official umpire we are sure a “card” would have been shown. In any event once the argument blew over, the pair shook hands and it appeared that that was the end of the matter. Social media has a lot of positives going for it, but many negatives as well! For some reason the player, apparently still angered by “a mistake”, decided to post a couple of comments (which were eventually removed) in which he referred to the umpire as a cheat! Let’s hope the umpire in question didn’t see the posts before they were removed (and hopefully he doesn’t read this Report). A cheat – really? Not sure what the player thought was happening but to suggest he was being cheated is outrageous – mistakes happen at every level of officiating, and we have absolutely no doubt that we have all, at some point in our “umpiring duties”, got a score wrong. If we were to start suggesting that these mistakes are cheating we may as well give up playing and umpiring! To end this particular story, the player in question played one of our teams in Week 17 and would you believe it??? You know what’s coming. Whilst umpiring he got a score wrong – no one to our knowledge suggested he was cheating!

Our final controversy is a little tamer – In a match involving Phil the umpire was asked to remind both players that the ball must be held in the flat of the hand before serve. At the end of the match, Phil’s opponent suggested to Phil that he had been serving from under the table. Phil was surprised and said he should have mentioned it to the umpire at the time. He pointed out that it’s not something he’d ever been accused of in the past. We think what he meant by this was that Phil was throwing the ball up from under the table, not serving from under the table which would be a pretty impressive skill which, no disrespect to Phil, he doesn’t have. We’re certainly not aware from seeing Phil in practice that he does this – there may be numerous other problems with his serve but coming from below the table is not one of them!! The point of course is just as Phil pointed out – if there is an issue, there’s no point waiting until the match is over to raise it – raise it with the umpire at the time – but in a polite and courteous manner obviously!
 
Week 18 already – the season will be over before we know it!

Week 16 was full on for the Club with seven matches crammed into the last two days of the week. Ladywood on Thursday 18th January saw Teams 1, 3 and 5 in action.
 
In the Premier Division, Team 1 of Colin Green, Peter Aird and Greig McDonell were looking to repeat their first half performance against Edinburgh University where they recorded an 8-2 victory. Peter was first up and found it tough going against Alasdair Crofton – a five set loss was cancelled out by a four set win for Colin. The next two matches both went the way of the hosts as Greig defeated Connor Smith in straight sets and Colin defeated Peter’s conqueror by the same margin – 3-1 up and in control? Maybe not – surprising losses for both Greig and Peter followed, and the match was level going into to the doubles. A repeat of the first half match where Alasdair and Connor had sneaked home in five sets – it was a different story on this occasion with a four set win for Greig and Colin – they had the advantage again. When the Uni won match 8 it was left to Colin and Peter to win their games for the win – Colin was 2-0 down in Match 9 but looked to be turning it around as he clawed back to 2-1 and 9-5 up in the fourth – a run of 6 points for Connor gave the visitors a 5-4 lead. Peter, who, by his standards, had had a poor night got into a rhythm in the tenth match of the night as he secured a point for the hosts in a tight and tense match.
 
Krzysztof Laszkiewicz, Bob Porteous and Gary McDougal hosted Murrayfield 9 in Division 2 in confident mood. Like Team 1 their first half fixture had seen them win 8-2.  Lynn Somerville, youngster William Goh and Peter McDade were the opponents. The tightness of this match was shown by the first three singles games - Bob secured an excellent five set win against Lynn but Gary then lost in five to William before Krys was pushed all the way to five in match 3. 15 ends played after three matches! Match 4 saw Lynn again involved in a five-ender, but this time he came out on top against Gary. When Bob lost match 5 Murrayfield took their first lead of the night, but Krys pulled the scores level with the first straight sets win of the night. 3-3 going into the crucial doubles – Gary and Krys somehow won the third set by 11 points to 1 to go 2-1 up but they were unable to maintain any consistency as they fell to a disastrous 11-9 in the fifth defeat – advantage Murrayfield! When Gary lost Match 8 only a point was available for Team 3 – Krys kept the match alive, but Bob couldn’t deal with the attacking play of young William as the Midlothian side fell to a damaging 6-4 defeat.

The last match at Ladywood saw Team 5 take on Edinburgh University 6 in Division 4. Rachel Petrie, Patrick Shanks and Chamika Diyunugalge were looking to improve on their first half 5-5 draw against the students. Same team for Penicuik but two new players for the University. When the first two matches of the night saw losses for Rachel and Chamika it was looking grim for the hosts but there then followed a run of 4 wins in the singles matches before the doubles. When the doubles went the way off Chamika and Patrick, Team 5 had secured at least a point. The run of wins was continued in matches 8 and 9 and suddenly from 2-0 down the home side had run off seven consecutive wins. Rachel couldn’t manage an eighth win but a terrific 7-3 victory for Team 5 relieves some of the pressure on them towards the foot of the Division 4 table as they jump five points clear of relegation. Patrick was undefeated on the night, Chamika won 2 and Rachel won 1.
 
Team 2 had two matches in Week 16. On Thursday night they travelled to East Lothian to take on Haddington 2 in Division 1. David Melrose, Steve Collins and James Wighton have been cut adrift at the foot of the table although with games in hand against their closest rivals. This was probably a “must win encounter” or at worst a “must not lose” match, even at this early stage of the second half of the season. Steve got the side off to a great start with a four end victory before David was involved in a lengthy five ender – an 11-9 deciding end loss for him and the scores were level – James then went the distance in match 3 but prevailed in five ends to give the advantage back to the visitors. Four end losses for Steve and James then gave the East Lothian side their first lead of the night but David’s first win of the evening levelled the scores going into the doubles. We always say how crucial the doubles are and when matches are close they take on even more importance – From 2-0 down Steve and David pulled out the win to put the visitors two games away from the victory. The match was levelled again as James lost out in Match 8 but a win for Steve gave Penicuik a point and a chance of victory – David was bitterly disappointed not to secure the match as he fell in four close ends to his East Lothian opponent – a point for the visitors but probably a point lost rather than one gained.
 
The following night David and Steve were joined by Hannah McDonell as they visited Edinburgh University. A 5-5 draw in the first half of the season but a very tough looking student team awaited the Penicuik trio. The first two matches were shared with a win for Steve in five and a loss for Hannah in 4. When David lost to the very impressive Tomoya Nagasaka in straight sets, the visitors knew they were in for a tough night. Matches 4 and 5 however both went Penicuik’s way with wins for Hannah and David. Steve lost match 6 so going into the doubles it was a repeat of the previous night – 3-3. Unlike at Haddington, however, David and Steve could not find that important doubles victory – advantage University – the next two matches were shared leaving Steve to play the final match of the night for a draw. It wasn’t to be as Team 2 fell to a narrow 6-4 loss.
 
Also facing University opponents on Friday evening were Teams 4 and 6. Team 4 again called on the services of Patrick Shanks from Division 4 as he joined regulars Kristian Skotzen and Craig Linton for their Division 3 encounter with the students. The first two matches went to four ends, Kristian losing his but Craig getting the visitors on the board. From 2-0 up and coasting in Match 3, Patrick was suddenly under pressure as his opponent forced a deciding leg. Patrick came through the decider to give the Penicuik side a 2-1 advantage. Kristian won Match 4 before Patrick was involved in another marathon, this time losing out 11-8 in the fifth. Match 6 was to prove crucial as Craig secured a five end victory giving the visitors a two game buffer going into the doubles and when that doubles match went the way of Kristian and Craig a point was secured.  That point became two after Patrick secured another 5 end victory and when Craig and Kristian both won their final matches in four ends, the visiting side recorded a solid 8-2 win.
 
Team 6 also made the trip to St Leonards Land on Friday evening as they faced University 7 in Division 5. Ian Millar and Roscoe Cairney were joined by Sian McDonald fresh from her travels which saw her miss the first half of the season. Sian didn’t waste any time recording her first win in straight sets. Roscoe was then involved in a lengthy five set match, and he recovered well from losing a close fourth end (13-11) to win the decider in comfortable fashion, 11-4. 2-0 up for the first time this season was a huge improvement for the visitors. Losses for Ian in Matches 3 and 5 were sandwiched by another good win for Sian before Roscoe fell in Match 6. With the crucial doubles to come, the scores were tied at 3-3. It wasn’t to be for Roscoe and Sian as they lost out in four ends, giving the students their first lead of the night. Unfortunately for the visitors, Matches 8 and 9 were both won by the hosts and the match was over as a contest. Roscoe picked up his second win of the night as the Penicuik trio fell to a 6-4 defeat.

And so, to our player of the week award. Krzysztof and Craig were the only players this week to have undefeated nights in singles play – well done to them. Credit this week to Sian and Roscoe – Sian’s first match of the season and two good wins and for Mr Consistency, Roscoe, he broke his run of matches where he had won 1 match. But this week’s winner is due credit for playing on consecutive nights and winning 5 out of 6 matches played – an undefeated night in singles and doubles for his own team was followed by two crucial wins playing up for Team 4 – well done to Patrick.
 
And finally, our controversy of the week section. We’ve raised in previous seasons concerns reported to us by our teams regarding the issue of the playing conditions at St Leonard’s Land. In fairness there has definitely been a huge improvement with the lighting, particularly in the “Dance Hall”. There could be no complaints there. Even the other hall where Team 4 were playing seemed to be better lit. Perhaps the Uni could invest some money for scoreboards and for some seats – those old wooden PE style benches really aren’t good for the oldies – once seated it’s difficult to get back up. Maybe that was the reason why so many students were just wandering aimlessly around the hall – in Team 6s match it was probably just inexperience which saw players walk back and forth right behind players who were involved in a match. In one match if Roscoe had taken up a position of 6 feet away from the table a student might well have walked right in front of him never mind behind him!
 
Whilst the Division 5 incidents were, as we’ve said, an “experience issue” the same cannot be said for the behaviour of a certain opponent in the Division 1 match. In the player’s first match of the night, the umpire could quite easily have given a number of yellow cards! There was shouting, there was swearing, there was an occasion where having lost a point she picked up the ball and rather than passing it back to her opponent for her to serve, she fired it back above head height and there was an occasion where the player struck the table in anger. All of that was done in frustration. Fast forward to the final match of the night and the same player has finished playing her three games. Steve was battling away in the hope of salvaging a draw. In the middle of the first end equipment starts getting removed, including the two barriers which were in position. We are fairly sure they could have remained. It wasn’t as if it was late, and the students were going to get thrown out. Indeed, in the other hall two matches went on for about half an hour after this match had finished. Shortly after leaving the hall with one of the barriers, the player wanders back in. She meanders directly behind the action to a small table, we assume to gather up some of her stuff, completely oblivious it would appear to the fact that a match was going on right in front of her – and an important one at that. The player was politely asked, both by Steve and her own teammate to sit down. It was pointed out that she could not simply wander around behind one of the players. She sat down. For a few seconds anyway! Would you believe it, mid-point she decides to stand up again to wander back to the table! Perhaps a little less politely than the first time Steve indicated that the player had two choices - either sit down or leave the hall. In fairness to Steve’s opponent, he too made it clear to his teammate that she could not wander about in the manner she had been, thus disrupting the match. She left but not before she commented that Steve was only getting annoyed because he was losing! A totally unnecessary altercation. The player was nothing if not persistent – after having left the hall she came back in again, in time for the final set. Although this time she remained seated she took every opportunity to clap each and every point won by her teammate – we are fairly sure this was done deliberately to get a reaction from Steve who did well not to bite at the clear provocation. At the end of the match the Uni player who had been playing Steve apologised to Team 2 for his teammate’s behaviour and it was good of him to do so. It certainly wasn’t his fault that a match that had generally been played in good spirits ended the way it did. Perhaps we should give the benefit of the doubt to the player who maybe didn’t fully realise what she was doing – oh hold on – it turns out from speaking to another Division 1 team that she must have known exactly what she was doing as the same conduct had arisen in a previous match resulting in an almost identical argument taking place – that’s just not on!
 
Oh well – if nothing else it gave us something to write about this week! On we go to Week 17.

Happy New Year to all our members and to our fellow TT enthusiasts. 2024 got underway week beginning 8th January with four of our six teams in action.
 
On Tuesday 9th January Team 3 made the trip to Edinburgh Sports Club in Division 2, hoping for a repeat of their first half result when they were victorious by 7 games to 3. Gary McDougal, Krzysztof Laszkiewicz and Bob Porteous took to the table for the visitors. The first two matches set the tone for the night – Bob won in three, but two of the three ends went to deuce. Gary then went the distance against Keith Walker. The two ends he lost were to deuce but the three he won were comfortable and gave the visitors the perfect start. Krzysztof won matches 3 and 5 on the night, ESC getting on the board in match 4 as Keith defeated Bob. The second set of singles matches were rounded off by a win for Gary as the Penicuik trio stormed into a 5-1 lead. A win in the doubles secured the victory before two further wins (Bob and Gary) resulted in a final score of 8-2 for Penicuik.

On the same night Team 5 made the trip east to take on Haddington 6 in Division 4. The home fixture for Team 5 had seen the young Randall twins undefeated in a 7-3 win for the East Lothian outfit. If the boys had improved their play over half a season, Team 5 were going to be in real trouble. Jim Jack, Rachel Petrie and Chamika Diyunugalge were buoyant when they discovered that the boys weren’t playing! After losses in the first two matches for Jim and Rachel match 3 became hugely important. It looked like Chamika was in control at 2-1 up but an 11-7 fourth end defeat was followed by a tight 11-9 defeat in the fifth and the visitors were in real trouble. It got worse as the hosts extended their lead to 4-0 after Jim lost match 4, but wins for Chamika and Rachel, followed by the pair contributing to a win in the doubles brought the match close again – 4-3 down going into the final set of singles and a terrific comeback was on the cards. Unfortunately for the Penicuik trio it wasn’t to be and three wins out of three for the East Lothian outfit saw them over the line 7-3.
 
Week 15 was then rounded off at Ladywood on Thursday evening with two further matches against Haddington opposition. Team 4 called on the services of Patrick Shanks from Division 4 as he joined regulars Kristian Skotzen and Craig Linton in their fixture against Haddington 5 in Division 3. This match was over in a flash – the first 5 games all went the way of the hosts as they secured at least a point. A mini revival saw the visitors win match 6 v Patrick and a win in the doubles, but the final three games all went the way of the home side as they recorded a solid 8-2 victory.

Finally, Team 6 were in action against Haddington 7 in Division 5. Mat Dyluk, Ian Millar and Roscoe Cairney were hoping to improve upon their 9-1 loss from the first half of the season. In their first encounter, Roscoe v Brian Eyles had gone the distance, the Haddington player winning 11-7 in the fifth – would you believe it, talk about history repeating itself, on this occasion it was exactly the same, an 11-7 in the fifth win for Brian! And even more bizarre, Roscoe in both home and away matches scored 44 points! Roscoe also went to five in Match 5 of the night but lost out 11-8 in the fifth and that unfortunately was as good as it got for Team 6 as they fell to a 10-0 defeat.

And so, to our player of the week award. Three players this week had undefeated nights in singles play – Gary, Craig and Kristian – well done to all of them. Having had what the player himself accepts was a “sketchy” first half of the season, this week’s winner proved how he can play with a terrific performance – the only player in his team to be undefeated, well done to Gary.
 
And finally, our controversy of the week section. In the festive spirit of our Week 14 report, we decided not to discuss some of the matters which were raised at the latest ELTTL Committee meeting. One of those relates to inter-club fixtures. It was highlighted and suggested that the postponed fixture between West Lothian’s Teams 1 and 2 had not met the spirit of the rules. The issue was that the top side lost that match having played up two Division 2 players against the weaker WL 2 side. The match ought to have been played on 20th November. At that point WL 2 were heavily involved in a relegation battle, sitting on 4 points. A victory against fellow strugglers Haddington gave them some breathing space before their match against WL 1, a team who at the start of the season probably fancied their chances of challenging the top two in the Division. As it was, WL 1 had been on a poor run of results before they played their final game before Xmas. We do have to assume that had WL 1 been in the “title hunt” they would never have played with just one regular player. The result? The two players playing up didn’t get on the board and the “underdogs” ran out 8-2 winners. Although it was pointed out that no rule had actually been broken it was stated that the intention of the rules had always been to prevent the possibility of any club "fixing" (that’s the word used in the ELTTL Minutes) an intra club fixture so that a lower placed team could achieve a “surprise result”. The WL representatives at the meeting indicated that they had been unaware of the issue and that the relatively inexperienced WL I and WL II captains had been under the impression that the fixture had to be played within four weeks of the original date. As it seems is the case with virtually all our rules, they are subject to being “put to one side” in the event of some exceptional circumstance and it was pointed out that the Match Secretary would have allowed an extension to the four week rule had he been told of the player unavailability situation rather than the need for two Division 2 players playing up for the higher ranked side. We suppose it could have been an option for two of Team 2 to have played for Team 1 and the two division 2 players then to play for Team 2? It’s doubtful the playing up Team 2 players would have “thrown” their games for the good of their “real team”! In fairness to WL they offered to replay the match if that was required but, rather than that, it was suggested that they (and all other clubs we assume) should be more careful if such a situation arises.
 
We are fairly sure that it wasn’t actually being suggested by the League that this match was “rigged” but the problem is how it looks to other clubs in the League. We remember a few seasons ago getting an absolutely ridiculous and irate email from a certain Haddington player / official after one of our Team 5 players had played up for Team 4 against “his own Team”. The Team 5 player was, in reality, probably Team 5’s best player but with Team 4 being a player short what else were they meant to do – the problem which Haddington had was that our Team 4 and one of their teams were battling for promotion and from their perspective the situation looked like a way to ensure there was no slip up for Team 4 against their own Clubmates!
 
Let’s just hope that at the end of this season the youngsters of WL 2 are well clear of any relegation battle, and in fairness it looks like they will be after picking up another win in their last match before the festive break – but imagine if they aren’t!!
 
And so we’re off again – it will be April before we know it!!