Week 16 of the Edinburgh League was a busy one for the Club with all six of our teams in action.

Murrayfield 2 v Penicuik 1 (Premier Division)

Monday 19th January saw Team 1 get into action for the first time in 2026 as they travelled to take on Murrayfield 2 in the Premier Division. Colin Green, Peter Aird and Andrew Nimmo made the journey to the Church to take on a Murrayfield side that are struggling towards the foot of the Division. The first match saw young Angus have a cracking 11-9 in the fifth win against Andrew, Peter lost match 2 before Colin got the team on the board with an 11-9 in the fifth win v Keith. Andrew and Colin then won in the second round of singles to make the score 3-3 with the doubles to play. A four-end win for Andrew and Colin gave the visitors the edge but the scores were tied again when Saravanan (playing up from Team 3) defeated Colin in five ends. A win for Andrew in Match 9 secured a point but Peter, who was unlucky on the night, couldn’t secure the win as he lost in five ends to Angus. A 5-5 draw was probably a fair result in the end.

West Lothian 4 v Penicuik 3 (Division 2)

Craig Linton, Charlie Brindley and Bob Porteous made the trip to West Lothian on Monday night looking to keep the momentum going after two wins in the first two weeks back after the festive break. Defeats for Charlie and Craig in the first two matches of the night had the team on the back foot but the ship was steadied as the next four singles matches all went the way of the Penicuik trio. When Charlie and Bob combined for a doubles victory a point was secured. Bob rounded off an excellent night for him in Match 8 as he won his third singles of the night and with the last two matches shared the visitors left over the moon with a 7-3 victory. Things can change very quickly – going into the festive break, Team 3 were struggling in the bottom half of the division – 3 wins on the bounce, however, and they are suddenly up to 5th place.

Murrayfield 12 v Penicuik 5 (Division 4)

A busy Monday night for the club was concluded with Team 5’s visit to the Gyle to play their Edinburgh hosts. Roscoe Cairney, Rachel Petrie and Mat Dyluk took to the table for the visitors looking to improve on a dreadful run of recent results. With two regulars not playing for the hosts this was a real chance for the Penicuik side to get points on the board. A five-end victory for Roscoe got the team off to a good start. The hosts best player turned out to be one of the players playing up from the Division below - Mat and Rachel both took an end of him and Roscoe went to a deciding fifth end but he was undefeated in singles play. Roscoe and Rachel both won two singles and the outcome was to be decided ultimately by the doubles. From 2-0 up the visitors lost the advantage and Mat looking on feared for the worst as a fifth end decider was forced by the hosts. But the Penicuik pair held their nerve to secure an 11-5 fifth end win and with it they secured a 5-5 draw. Still probably a bit of disappointment in the camp as they travelled back to Penicuik but a point to build on over the next few weeks.

Penicuik 2 v Haddington 1

The first of three home matches on Wednesday night at Ladywood saw Team 2 take on Haddington. 11 points separated the teams at the beginning of the night with the East Lothian outfit battling at the top end of the table.  Greig McDonell, James Wighton and Hannah McDonell were looking to pull off a miracle to try and salvage something from their season. When the first four matches of the night went the way of the visitors, it looked like the night was over for the hosts. To their credit, the underdogs fought back well. Greig won match 5, Hannah won the next and then the pair combined for an excellent doubles victory. 4-3 and with Greig winning th last match of the night, Hannah ahvoing lost to the funny rubber of Russel Frith, it looked like the hosts might pull off an amazing comeback as James came back from 2-0 down to force a decider. 9-7 up in the fifth he agonisingly lost out 12-10 and the home side fell to a 6-4 defeat.

Penicuik 4 v Murrayfield 9 (Division 3)

After a tricky couple of weeks, Team 4 were looking for a confidence boost as they hosted Murrayfield 9. Patrick Shanks, Ian Hislop and Jay Jayalath were the trio selected for this match. Despite their opponents sitting close to the bottom of the Division, the hosts had only managed a 6-4 victory in the first half of the season and so there were some nerves going into the game. Those nerves showed with only Ian winning in the first three singles matches. Comfortable wins, however, for Ian and Jay meant the home side took a 3-2 lead and it looked like 4-2 when Patrick was 2-1 up and 10-5 up in the fourth against young Jamie Blair. Somehow, Jamie won 7 points in a row and in the fifth end it was Jamie who prevailed – 3-3 with the doubles to play. Ian & Jay combined and perhaps a little surprisingly they never looked in any trouble as they secured a 3-0 win. The last 3 singles were all won by the hosts as they secued an excellent 7-3 win to keep them at the summit of the Division 3 table. Ian proved his worth to the team with another undefeated night of singles play.

Penicuik 6 v Edinburgh University 7 (Division 5)

Finally in Week 16, Team 6 hosted Edinburgh University and this match marked a debut in competitive table tennis for Arran Fitchett who joined forces with Stuart Bennett and Ian Millar. The first three matches of the night flew by with three 3-0 wins for the students. Match 4 saw Arran play some excellent TT as he took a 2-0 lead against his opponent. He was unluck not to get the match over the line as he fell 11-7 in the fifth – some really positive signs for young Arran though. He impressed enough to play the doubles with Stuart – 6-0 down the team needed a positive result and the home pair were over the moon to win in four ends. Arran was again unlucky losing out in four ends in his final match and deservedly won the home player of the match award as Team 6 fell to a 9-1 defeat

Player of the Week

We have to give a huge shout out to Arran – the only Team 6 player to win any ends in singles play on the night and a contribution towards the doubles victory – for a first outing in competitive table tennis he performed brilliantly. But this week it’s a straight fight between two undefeated players in singles play - Ian Hislop for Team 4 and Bob Porteous for Team 3. They both played in, and won, the doubles so how do we split them. If we use ends won and lost, including doubles, Ian won 12 without losing an end! That’s impressive. Bob won 12 and lost 2. What about the importance of their play towards the overall result – both teams won 7-3! The stats say Ian should win the award, but our selection committee disagree! They think Ian should be winning a lot of games in Div 3 – because of the higher standard of opposition, this week’s award goes to Bob. Well done to him!

Controversy of the Week
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Murrayfield are clearly the “big guns” of our league. Consistent Premier league champions, a conveyor belt of producing young talent and their strength in depth makes them a bit of a Juggernaut. With their wealth of riches in terms of “top end” players it’s probably difficult selecting who should be in which team. But by the time you reach the second half of the season it’s probably easy to re-evaluate the situation. We are of course talking about Team 1’s match v Murrayfield 2. Team Captain Colin and our Club President had spoken on Sunday evening about the fixture with it being suggested that it wouldn’t be a surprise to see someone from Murrayfield 3 playing up for the 2nd team and lo and behold they should have put a bet on it. Before the match Saravanan Veloumourougane sat 6th in the individual averages, miles ahead of all the regular team 2 players and he played up to join regulars Angus Halliday and Keith Dingwall. Murrayfield 3 are a mid-table team this season, primarily due to the play of Saravanan, whilst Murrayfield 2 are struggling towards the foot of the table. Saravanan sits with an 80% record in the Premier Division whereas the three regular Murrayfield 2 players have averages of 48, 36 and 26%. Is it fair for someone so far ahead of the regular three to be allowed to play up? In terms of ratings, Saravanan’s current rating is 1662 and whilst he is more than 100 rating points ahead of the others, he isn’t 200 points ahead and that is the new rule which prevents people playing up. So, nothing unlawful about what Murrayfield did, but……….
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Anyway, on we go to Week 16.

Week 15 of the League Season saw five of our six teams in action with our first team being the only side not yet to have played a match in the second half of the season.

​Penicuik VI v Edinburgh International V (Division 5)

First up on Monday of Week 15 were Team 6 who travelled to Edinburgh International to take on a new side to the League. John Grant, Stuart Bennett and Tony Walker took to the table for the visitors in what was an enjoyable night. Two out of the first three matches went the way of the Midlothian side with wins for Tony and John. Match 4 was to prove pivotal – Stuart looked comfortable at 2-0 up but his opponent came roaring back to force a decider. That decider went the distance, but Stuart held his nerve to get over the line 13-11. John lost match 5 but Tony restored the advantage with a win in Match 6. 4-2 up for the visitors became 4-3 after a doubles victory for the hosts. John secured a point for the Penicuik trio before Stuart was at it again as he once again battled through in fifth end decider, 11-8 on this occasion. Tony lost the last match of the night, but the job had been done – 2 wins each for the three players as they secured a 6-4 victory.
 
Penicuik II v Murrayfield IV (Division 1)

Team 2 faced another tough fixture as they travelled to take on league leaders Murrayfield 4 on Wednesday night. Krzysztof Laszkiewicz, James Wighton and Hannah McDonell made the trip to the Church of the Good Shepherd, and they were looking for some divine intervention to try and resurrect their season. Hannah was a little worried when she walked in to find a one table set-up was in place – she had a long drive back to the Borders to think about.  She needn’t have worried though – the matches went by in a flash! At 9-0 down, Krys decided to play his best TT of the night as he claimed the last match to avoid a whitewash for the visitors. A 9-1 defeat was disappointing, but the teenager at least got home by 11pm!

Penicuik III v Murrayfield VII (Division 2)

Craig Linton, Kristian Skotzen and Charlie Brindley also hosted Murrayfield opposition as the Edinburgh outfit’s 7th team made the trip to Ladywood.   Two of the first three matches went the way of the hosts and when the same pattern happened in the next set of three, the hosts held a 4-2 lead going into the doubles. Charlie and Craig comfortably secured a point with a 3-0 victory before Kristian made it 2 points by winning a tight game 8 14-12 in the fifth. The two best players on the night then met in match 9 as Graham Muir for the Edinburgh team took on Craig. Now talk about a game with awkward styles! Graham proved to be the more awkward with a five-end victory. Charlie rounded off a good night for Team 3 as he secured the final match of the night to give the hosts a 7-3 victory, all three players picking up two singles wins

Penicuik V v Heriot Watt III (Division 4)

Team 5’s season has been difficult to say the least – their loss in Week 14 was a hammer blow and on Wednesday night at Ladywood they faced a side they had lost to 9-1 in the first half of the season, League leaders Heriot Watt 3. Roscoe Cairney, Rachel Petrie and Mat Dyluk just couldn’t cope with the students’ strong play – it was worse than the first half as the Penicuik side fell to a 10-0 whitewash defeat. Only four ends were won by the Penicuik side – two of those four ends were won by Mat which was good enough for him to get the Player of the Match Award. 6 points from safety – Team 5 need to start winning quickly!
 
Edinburgh University V v Penicuik IV (Division 3)

The week was rounded off with Team 5’s trip to St Leonards Land to face the students of Edinburgh University. Team 4 welcomed back Jay Jayalath from his extended trip away as he joined forces with Aidan Craig and Ian Hislop. In the first half of the season the same trio had recorded an 8-2 win and so the visitors went into the match with confidence high. That confidence didn’t last long, however, as the first three matches played on the night went the way of the students. 3-0 down and those in the team not playing were stunned by the WhatsApp update! The next three singles, however, were all won by the visitors and when the doubles was also secured by Aidan & Jay it looked like a remarkable comeback win was on the cards. The two undefeated players Jay and Michael Zhang played Match 8 – it went the distance but unfortunately for the Penicuik side Jay lost out 11-8 in the fifth. By his standards Aidan had experienced a poor night but he secured a point with a win in Match 9. Ian Hislop had the chance to repeat his heroics of the previous week in the last match of the night, but this week it wasn’t to be as the University side secured a point with a 5-5 draw. On the night this was probably a point gained rather than lost given the 3-0 deficit - two wins for Jay, one each for Aidan and Ian and a crucial doubles win salvaged a point

Player of the Week

It’s a difficult one this week! No player had a perfect night this week. A number of players won 2 out of 3 singles matches played – John, Tony, Stuart, Jay, Charlie, Craig and Kristian. But this week we’re going to look away from the League for our player of the week. A number of our players took part in the 2nd Scottish Veterans Assessment tournament on Sunday at Bathgate and whilst we may struggle to produce numerous junior talents, our vets players make up for that.  Huge congratulations to Ian Hislop who won the over 75s event (surely, he’s not old enough to play in that category we hear you cry), Peter Aird who won the Over 70s, Colin Green who finished 2nd in the over 60s Event (no one is questioning his ability to play at that age group!) and Ryan Docherty who was involved in probably the best rallies of the day as he finished 3rd in the Over 40s. There were also good days for Greig McDonell, James Wighton and Rachel Petrie, all of whom recorded good wins. So how do we split them – all of our members ratings went up as a result of their excellent play – Colin +9, Ryan +9, Peter +10, Rachel +30, Greig +34, James +37 and Ian +45. But sorry Ian – you can’t win the award two weeks in a row, despite being undefeated throughout the day! This week’s award goes to a player who puts in the hard graft and his win on Sunday puts him into the top spot overall halfway through the Vets Assessment tournaments - and he doesn't look a day over 69 - well done to Peter.

Controversy of the Week
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Nothing of any significance in the Edinburgh League in Week 15. But plenty of action from the oldies at the Vets Tournament. Our player of the week got the nod, not only for her performance at the weekend but also for keeping calm in her umpiring duties when she had the pleasure of officiating between Greig and Dariusz Szymczak. In the fifth end there was some controversy when Greig pushed a ball high into his opponents backhand – a bit disgusted by it, he stood upright (not much difference from his crouched stance in fairness) and according to his opponent seemed to look away from the table. Dariusz returned the ball although there was a pause by him, Greig played another shot, Dariusz got that one back, before Greig played another shot and Dariusz pushed one in the net. Point to Greig? His opponent said he thought Greig was distracted and thought that a let was going to be called. The controversy is what happened next. Greig offered to replay the point! What? Are you kidding? What’s happened to him. In a fifth end against the player that went on to win the Event.  Of course, he wasn’t that happy when he lost the replayed point – and the final score in the fifth end – yip you guessed it 11-9 to Dariusz! Despite him agreeing to the let, that didn’t stop him from moaning at the umpire about it!! Wonders will never cease – Greig avoiding controversy – he must have been in a fantastic mood - he played Keith Dingwall later in the day and that match ended without a cross word either!

On we go to Week 16.

The second half of the season got underway with five of our six teams in action. 

Penicuik II v Edinburgh University II (Division 1)

Penicuik II faced a challenging fixture against Edinburgh University II at Ladywood on Wednesday night. Krzysztof Laszkiewicz, James Wighton and Hannah McDonell took to the table for their first match in 2026 against three young all-out attacking students. Krzysztof was the standout player for the hosts claiming two singles victories. He and Hannah also produced an excellent doubles performance, and they will rue not taking their chances as they just fell short of the victory.  Hannah picked up one singles victory whilst James was particularly unlucky losing a marathon five end match 13-11 in the fifth. In the end a 7-3 victory for the students probably flatters them a little.

Edinburgh University IV v Penicuik III (Division 2)

Craig Linton, Kristian Skotzen and Bob Porteous travelled to St Leonards Land on Friday night looking to do better than Team 2 had earlier in the week. After the first round of singles the Penicuik trio looked in complete control with a clean sweep of the three matches. It got even better when Bob won match 4. Things then got tight. Craig lost 11-9 in the fifth before Kristian suffered a 4-end defeat. When two of the remaining 3 singles matches went the way of the students it was 5-4 and the doubles would determine the outcome. Kristian and Craig somehow held their nerve in a five-end battle coming out 11-8 winners in the decider to give Team 3 a much needed 6-4 victory.

Penicuik IV v Corstorphine II (Division 3)

Penicuik IV welcomed back Aidan Craig to the fold as he combined with Patrick Shanks and Ian Hislop to face Corstorphine II who the team are due to play twice in this half of the season. At 3-0 up this looked like being a straightforward night for the League leaders but from there the Edinburgh based opponents caused problems for the hosts. Aidan’s 100% record went in match 4 and when Patrick lost match 6 and the doubles went the way of the visitors it was suddenly 4-3 and the match was in the balance. As Patrick was losing his final match of the night, Aidan lost his second end of his final match 18-16 and it wasn’t looking good for the hosts. Aidan turned his match around to secure at least a point, and it was left to Ian Hislop to try and secure the win in the final match of the night. At 2-1 down Ian was in trouble but he dug in with some excellent defence against his attacking opponent to run away with the final two ends – a terrific 6-4 victory, Ian winning all three of his singles, Aidan contributing two wins, and Patrick adding the crucial sixth victory.

Corstorphine IV v Penicuik V (Division 4)

Penicuik V made the visit to Napier Uni on Tuesday night to face Corstorphine IV in the knowledge that this was a crucial match in their fight against relegation. A win for the visitors would have cut the deficit to their opponents to only 2 points. Roscoe Cairney, Rachel Petrie and Iain Caddell started well as Rachel came back from 2-0 down to win match 1 and that was followed by a 3-0 win for Roscoe. Three consecutive wins for the hosts, however, put the pressure back on the Penicuik side. Roscoe levelled the scores and he and Rachel were then involved in a cracker of a doubles match. On such small margins matches change and a 14-12 loss in the fifth seemed to knock the stuffing out of the visitors. Iain and Rachel lost matches 8 and 9 and the contest was over. Captain Roscoe did all he could on the night and a 5-set win in the final match of the night made the final score 4-6. A terrific unbeaten night for Roscoe but a disappointing night overall for the team.

Penicuik VI v Murrayfield XIII (Division 5)

Penicuik VI endured a tough evening against a dominant Murrayfield XIII side. The Edinburgh outfit fielded players with ratings far superior to the Penicuik trio and positives can be taken despite the 9-1 defeat for the side. John Grant provided the sole win for Penicuik and pushed the highest rated player on the night to five ends, a player rated 200 points ahead. Stuart Bennett and Ian Millar also played some good table tennis, Stuart particularly unlucky losing out 9-11 in the fifth in his last match of the night.

Player of the Week

Only two players were undefeated in singles play this week, Ian Hislop and Roscoe Cairney. Ian’s unbeaten night ended in a 6-4 victory for his team whilst Roscoe’s resulted in a 4-6 loss. So, on importance to the team Ian wins. But on the other hand, compared to his teammates, Rosoce’s undefeated night was better! How do we split them? What about their doubles performances? That’s not going to help – they both lost! Ends won and lost – Ian won 9 lost 3 whilst Roscoe won 9 and lost 2! So surely Roscoe is this week’s winner? Let’s face it, whoever misses out is going to be annoyed this week! Ultimately, we can’t overlook that both players won the final match of the night by a 3-2 scoreline but Ian’s win was under the greatest of pressure, and he came back from 2-1 down to win the match for his team and to maintain their position at the top of the Division 3 table. Sorry Roscoe – great effort but this week’s award goes to Ian. Well done to him.

Controversy of the Week

It was a fairly quiet start to 2026 – most people still full of festive cheer and not wanting to offend their opponents. Even James was on his best behaviour and managed not to fall out with either his teammates or his opponents. There were only a couple of incidents from Wednesday night at Ladywood worthy of note. In Team 6’s match v Murrayfield, controversy arose in one of Ian Millar’s matches. At two separate points in the match Ian challenged the “home umpire” re wrong scoring of his game. The second of those was a classic where Ian’s opponent hit a shot which caught the net landed at about the halfway point on the table before travelling past the endline and past Ian. A bit lucky from the Murrayfield player but when Ian retrieved the ball and claimed the point was his, the opponent, the umpire and the onlookers were a little stunned. He was only joking right? No. He claimed the ball hadn’t hit the table and needed quite some convincing from all concerned! In fairness, this wasn’t really controversial – there was no malice in what Ian was doing, there was just real evidence that Ian needs to go to Specsavers.

Meanwhile, in Team 4’s match, Patrick’s serve came under scrutiny from his opponents. The claim made was that he was throwing the ball up from under the height of the table. We haven’t ever noticed that before, but it appears that this isn’t the first time that an opponent has suggested he does so. We’ll look out for it at our next training session. The controversial point is not the serve itself but the fact that the issue wasn’t raised until Patrick’s last match of the night, an important match which could have ultimately had a bearing on the result. 

On we move to Week 15, festive spirit will well and truly be gone by then.

Our Mid Season report can be accessed​