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Week 21 Report

26/2/2017

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Week 21 of the Edinburgh & Lothians League was a fairly quiet one for the Club with only 3 of our 7 teams in action.   

After a disappointing draw in their last match, Team 2 faced an away match against bottom of the table West Lothian 4 in Division 1. Iain Johnstone, Clive Liddiard and Brian Bailey knew that a win would go a long way to securing their Division 1 presence for next season as they started the match five points clear of the relegation zone. In a fairly one sided contest, 8 of the 10 matches on the night were won by a 3-0 scoreline as the visitors recorded a convincing 8-2 win. Clive and Iain were both undefeated in singles play and combined for a win in the doubles whilst Brian added one singles win. 

In Division 4, Team 6 also faced a trip to Bathgate as they took on West Lothian 7 in a crucial clash in Division 4. The Bathgate side started the night 4 points behind the Penicuik trio of Millie Bennett, Craig Johnson and Sean Lennon but crucially had a game in hand over the visitors and a superior game difference. With Team 6 sitting in the second promotion place in the Division they knew that a win or draw would keep them in with a very strong chance of promotion. A win for Sean in Match 1 got the visitors off to the perfect start but the scores were then tied as Craig lost out to West Lothian's player of the match, Graham Honeyman. Match 3 was to prove crucial on the night - young Millie took on the vastly experienced Ralph Taylor and looked to be in control after an 11-3 victory in end 3 gave her a 2-1 advantage. Ralph's experience showed, however, as he came back to win the final two ends. With the next two matches also going against the visitors they found themselves in deep trouble at 4-1 down. A win for Craig cut the deficit prior to the important doubles fixture. Sean and Craig unfortunately were no match for their West Lothian opponents losing in straight sets meaning the they needed to win all 3 of the remaining singles for a point. Sean and Craig won their matches but Millie was always up against it in her match against the undefeated Graham and although she was the only player on the night to take an end from him, he provided the crucial win as West Lothian ran out 6-4 winners. Sean and Craig both won 2 singles on the night - the defeat means that the promotion race is likely to go down to the wire with three teams still in contention for second place in the division. 

Finally in Week 19, Team 7 hosted Haddington 4 at Ladywood. Rachel Petrie, Lewis Baldock and George Wilson were hopeful that they could close the gap on their opponents who started the night six points clear of them in the Division 4 table. The first match of the night was a tight affair as Lewis unluckily lost out in 5 tight ends. After 5 matches Rachel had been the only winner for the home side. Match six saw George come back from 2 sets down to take the game into a deciding fifth end but he too could not take advantage of the momentum gained as he lost out 11-7 in the fifth. When the doubles was lost, the home side knew that the match was gone. Against Haddington's number 1 Rachel had "an epic" second end just losing out 17-15. The only other win on the night for the home side came as George managed to win match 9 in the resultant 8-2 defeat. 

And so to our player of the week award for Week 21. In a quiet week only Iain and Clive were undefeated but this week we recognise someone who has battled on throughout the season with little reward. With confidence taking a battering match after match he is due credit for sticking at it (and putting up with some good hearted banter form his team mates and others). After numerous unsuccessful attempts to win a match (we're ignoring his two victories over Mr Walkover) our esteemed Club secretary, Mr Brian Bailey, picked up his first win of the season for Team 2 against West Lothian! We all knew it would happen at some point - well apart from Iain who lost a tenner on it!! On a serious note we all know what it's like to have a bad run and how it effects your play and confidence and Brian has continued to work hard in training and continued to show determination to contribute to the team - well done to him - a worthy winner of this week's reward. 

And finally our controversy of the week section. Quite a bit of controversy on the national and international front this week. We are told that yesterday in the top of the table British League match there was some controversy over umpiring when one of the Drum players, according to his opponent, was sprawled all over the table as he hit a winning shot - he  seemed fairly convinced it should have been his point. Separately, go to the ITTF Facebook page to see a video of a match winning edge - or was it a side?? Strong umpiring needed - a good link to a plug for the Umpiring course being coordinated at West Lothian. Then there is of course the withdrawal of funding for Table tennis and other sports who haven't achieved or bizarrely been able to show enough promise in terms of Olympic chances. On that basis we'd be dropping a few of our own teams from the league for next season!!

But on a more mundane level let's have a go at one of our own failings - our premises! Everyone knows about the dogs at Ladywood - OK they're noisy but really everyone should be able to block that out (unless you're losing!) Last season we had Zumba - definitely more difficult to block out - indeed virtually impossible even to hear yourself think let alone speak! But good news - they're gone this year - replaced by boxing. Jeez who would have thought a bunch of big, aggressive, rather intimidating folk could make so much noise whilst training!! We've suggested Brian should go and have a word with them to try and quieten it down a bit but so far he's refused to do so! But at least they're only there for part of the night. Badminton - surely they can't cause too much trouble - try convincing yourself of that when on a Wednesday night they seem to have a court booked in our half of the hall when we're trying to get set up and get a match started - how dare you encroach anywhere near them with barriers - God help you if the ball goes in to their court. We may just be sitting at the sidelines chatting at 6.58pm but we've got this court booked until 7 so NO we're not finished yet!! The joys of sharing premises with others who clearly don't realise how important WE ARE!!

​Craig seems to have gone very quiet on that life changing massive investment from his Japanese employers - or was that just a dream I had!!!

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Week 20 Report

19/2/2017

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Week 20 of the Edinburgh & Lothians Table Tennis League saw attention turn to the quarter finals of the Handicap Cup as Greig McDonell, Iain Johnstone and Abby Wighton travelled to Bathgate to take on West Lothian, a team to whom the same trio had lost in the semi-final of last year’s event. West Lothian were represented by Ros Beck, Graham Honeyman and Holly Stephen.

When Greig couldn't overturn a 16 point deficit against Graham in Match 1, losing in 5 tight ends, the visitors knew they were in for a long night. Iain was up next against Ros (0-14 to 21) and made light work of the deficit with a straightforward win to level the match scores. Abby then took on Holly - despite Abby giving away a 5 point head start in a match to 15, she was in confident mood having defeated Holly easily in the Edinburgh Championships in Dec 2016. There was surprise all round therefore as Holly comfortably won in 3 straight sets. Greig then came back from 16-0 down to defeat Ros but a further straight sets defeat for Abby against Graham put the visitors on the backfoot at 3-2 down. Two matches were then played simultaneously, Abby v Ros and Iain v Holly. One of those matches had to be won to keep the tie alive and as Iain was put to the sword by Holly the visitors knew that Abby’s match with Ros was the game that the visitors needed to win. Abby unfortunately just could not come to terms with the unusual style (and funny bat) of Ros as she rounded off a bad night with another 3 set defeat. The team left Bathgate bitterly disappointed, the first time in 4 seasons that the trio have not reached at least the semi-final.

With no scheduled League fixtures there was an opportunity to catch up on some outstanding matches in Week 20. In the Premier Division Team 1 of Greig McDonell, Colin Green and Stuart Gow hosted North Merchiston 2 at Ladywood Leisure Centre. Greig and Colin were both undefeated in singles play and combined for a win in the doubles whilst Stuart added 1 in a good 8-2 win for the home side.

In Division 2, Team 4 again had to again call on assistance from players registered in lower divisions as only one regular, Krzysztof Laszkiewicz was available for their fixture against Police. The resultant 8-2 defeat was no surprise in the circumstances, Krzysztof winning the 2 games for the visitors.  

The final rearranged fixture saw an intra-club match between Teams 6 & 7. Craig Johnson, Sean Lennon and Stuart Bennett were looking to maintain Team 6’s push for promotion against Team 7 of Mark MacKay, Rachel Petrie and Louis McLeod. Starting the match some 16 points clear of their club mates in the Division 4 table, there was no doubt that Team 6 started as firm favourites but with Team 7’s Louis McLeod in excellent form, the match was not as straight forward as anticipated. Matches 5 and 8, both involving Stuart, were crucial to the result. In the first of these he came back from a 2-0 deficit against Mark to take the match in to a deciding fifth end. Mark can count himself unlucky losing out 12-10 in the decider. Match 8 saw Rachel give Stuart a difficult time as that game also went to a deciding fifth end. Stuart looked in trouble but somehow rallied to win the decider 11-8 and with it secure the win for Team 6. All three players won 2 matches although the player of the match award went to the undefeated Louis as he recorded all of Team 7’s wins in their 7-3 loss. The result keeps Team 6 in 2nd place in the division facing a crucial match next week against third placed West Lothian 7. 

And so to our player of the week award for Week 18. In the League, three players were undefeated in singles play, Greig and Colin for Team 1 and Louis for Team 7. Stuart was also in the running this week for two tight 5 end wins under the greatest of pressure for Team 6. But this week, being Handicap Cup Week, we should really look to the quarter final match of our "so called Handicap Cup experts". Given that Abby was left to walk home from Bathgate and neither Greig nor Iain were particularly impressive, for the first time this season our award goes to a non-club member. For what appears to be terrific (and rapid) progress and for an excellent attacking style of play, young Holly wins this week's award for putting both Abby and Iain to the sword in extra quick time - indeed in her match against Iain, although she had an 11 point start, in the first two ends combined, one hand would have been enough to count Iain’s points!!! Well done Holly. 

And finally to our controversy of the week. It really would be too much for us to harp on for the THIRD time this season about the fact that still missing from the list of Handicap Cup Winners are the successful 2013/14 Club - we’re sure the League will update the info when they update this year’s winners!! Staying with the handicap Cup, however, the rules on arranging fixtures came to the fore this week. 

The rules say: “….. the home team shall offer their opponents at least 2 dates within the allotted period, giving at least 4 days notice. Teams which are unable to offer more than one date in the scheduled week of the competition will be required to forfeit home advantage. If the other team has the same problem, the date and venue will be decided by the handicap cup secretary. The visiting team shall be deemed to have defaulted the match should they not accept one of the dates offered and the match shall be awarded to the home side.”

This is extremely disadvantageous to clubs who are restricted in terms of availability of premises. A couple of years ago a rule was introduced (although not officially it appears) whereby the away team would proceed on the basis that the match was taking place on their opponents home night as per the league fixture lists. That, in our view, simplified matters but no longer appears to be the direction given by the league. When we are also told in very strong terms that cup matches take priority over rearranged league fixtures - this causes real problems, when for most clubs, the only chance of fitting in rearranged matches is during the Handicap cup weeks! Whilst one of our quarter finalists have played their match, our other team have encountered some difficulties in arranging their match against our friends from West Lothian. The teams agreed to postpone to this coming week (not sure that’s actually catered for in the rules) however surely the League can’t grumble about it when for example we have another rule which says “"Handicaps will be notified to the club secretary as soon as possible. Ties shall not be arranged until handicaps are notified." Not sure how we can comply with this when the updated Handicaps were notified on Sunday the 12th of February, matches meant to be taking place, giving 4 days notice, week commencing 13th Feb!! Lets just ignore that one shall we?!
What about this one: "The Handicap Sub-committee shall issue handicaps for all players in the League prior to the start of the Handicap Cup. Handicaps shall be reviewed again after the 2nd round has been played…. Handicaps of all players shall then be reviewed based solely on their League performance..."
Where do we start on that one?? We had the handicaps changed after the first round (shouldn't have been in terms of the rules) and after the second round and no doubt after each round up to the final - the only basis for that may be rule 4 where the committee can revise handicaps when deemed necessary - how vague and open ended is that?? In addition we are now using ratings central so the review is not solely based on a player's league performances as per the rule.

Who really cares we hear you cry? Not us actually, we love the Handicap Cup which generally runs smoothly with the assistance of the teams involved - our point, as with previous controversies, is why have rules in place which don’t accurately reflect what actually happens!

Half a dozen weeks left of the regular season - how time flies!! 

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Week 19 Report

12/2/2017

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Week 19 of the Edinburgh & Lothians Table Tennis League saw all seven Penicuik Teams in action.

In the Premier Division Penicuik 1 had been undefeated in 2017 but their Week 18 match against Edinburgh Sports Club had to be played with only two players after the late call-off by Stuart Gow. Greig McDonell and Colin Green therefore started the match 3-0 down and despite their best efforts they were unable to overturn the deficit as they fell to a narrow 6-4 defeat.

In Division 1 Penicuik 2 faced an away match against Murrayfield 5. Iain Johnstone, Clive Liddiard and Brian Bailey were hopeful of putting some distance between themselves and their opponents who started the match a point behind the Midlothian trio. After five matches Murrayfield held a commanding 4-1 lead but with a disappointing defeat looming the team battled back and were relieved to win four of the final five matches to secure a point. Iain was, not for the first time this season, the player of the night winning all three of his singles and combine no with Clive for a doubles victory. Clive added the important fifth win.

Penicuik 3 of James Wighton, Gary Mcdougal and Abby Wighton have had an excellent Division 2 campaign and went into Week 19 undefeated throughout the season. However, their opponents in Week 19, Haddington 1 have also been undefeated and sat top of the Division on game difference. The teams battled out a 5-5 draw in the first half of the season and although half a dozen fixtures remain before the end of the season this match at Ladywood had all the hallmarks of a title decider. When the first set of singles matches all went the way of the East Lothian outfit it looked as if Haddington were going to run away with the match. Wins for James and Abby brought the score back to 3-2 before Gary took on Haddington's number 1. In a match which was to prove crucial, Gary was unlucky as he lost in 5 ends. A loss in the doubles followed and at 5-2 down a miracle was needed to secure a point. Deserving of a match of this calibre however, the Midlothian side fought to the end and wins in games 8 and 9 kept the match alive. James had the task of playing match 10 and couldn't quite get the better of his opponent as Haddington secured a narrow 6-4 victory. The title has probably now been decided but the good news for James, Gary and Abby is that they remain 8 points clear of third placed Fife and another couple of wins should secure the team promotion to Division 1.

Team 4's difficult season in Division 2 continued as only one regular player, Krzysztof Laszkiewicz was available for their visit to Edinburgh University. Vikas Singla and Marcin Mroz stepped up to provide cover and the visitors were unfortunate not to secure st least a point as they fell to a narrow 6-4 defeat. Krzysztof and Vikas both won 2 singles.

In Division 3 Vikas was in terrific form as he won all 3 of his singles matches for team 5. Unfortunately neither John Bald nor Louis Myatt could record a singles victory against their Edinburgh University opponents as the Ladywood side fell to a 7-3 defeat.

With two terrific 6-4 victories behind them in Week 18, Team 6 travelled to Fife full of confidence. Starting 2 points ahead of their opponents in the race for promotion, Stuart Bennett, Craig Johnson and Sean Lennon knew that a win would consolidate second place in the Division. In an extremely tight affair six of the ten matches on the night were won in deciding fifth ends. Crucially for the visitors Craig secured two important comeback wins and with Sean winning two and Stuart adding one singles victory the doubles fixture was to determine the outcome. Although the doubles was won in three straight ends the scores were as tight as the rest of the match - 14-12, 13-11 and 11-9 all in favour of Sean and Craig gave Team 6 their fourth consecutive 6-4 win.

Finally in Week 19, Penicuik 7 hosted West Lothian 7 at Ladywood. Rachel Petrie, Louis McLeod and George Wilson found the awkward styles of their opponents difficult to overcome - Louis and George both won 1 singles in the resultant 8-2 defeat.

And so to our player of the week award for Week 19. Only Iain and Vikas were both undefeated this week for Teams 2 and 5 respectively but they've both won the award in recent times and neither of them were in winning sides! If we're looking at winning team performances our options are somewhat limited!! Attention turns to Team 6 again - Craig is again in the running after his two terrific five end wins but for two straightforward 3 end singles wins, a 3-0 doubles victory and an unlucky five end loss this week's award goes to Sean - well done.

And finally our controversy of the week section. It's been a while since we had a go at "rules enforcement" or lack of it. This last week has seen us (and others we assume) get a bit of a telling off about postponements and a firm reminder about getting them played. The rule is in the following terms:

....A postponement MUST be played within 4 playing weeks of the scheduled date. The home team will be responsible in offering alternative date(s) to the away team, irrespective of who requests the postponement. In the event of the away team requesting a postponement, the home team should offer at least one date as an alternative to the original date. In the event of the home team requesting a postponement, the home team should offer as many dates as is necessary to the away team. Failure to do so will result in the requesting team forfeiting the match. In the event of the revised date not having been agreed upon, the match will be awarded against the team requesting the postponement....

PTTC have outstanding fixtures v NM and Police and also an intra club postponement. Our newly appointed match secretary seemed to make some distinction between intra club fixtures and inter club fixtures by indicating "We are supposed to have a four-week limit of postponements, especially for intra-club matches. Such a distinction is ill founded - whilst intra club fixtures used to have a special rule all to themselves that does not exist anymore. The 4 week rule is an extremely difficult one to comply with, especially for clubs with limited availability of premises. Add to that that we're told in fairly strong terms that in the few weeks where there is scope for rearranged fixtures (namely handicap Cup weeks) we have to prioritise the Cup games then one can easily see how rearranged fixtures can drag on. Looking at the rule in more detail maybe we should have just offered one date to our North Merchiston opponents (they being the away team and having requested the postponement) and if not suitable then we just claim the game. Can that really be fair? We asked for a postponement against Police who were the home team - to the writer's knowledge we've not heard a word from them about a possible alternative date - having not offered an alternative date do they forfeit the match? That seems to be our reading of the rule. Four weeks having well and truly passed can the team who didn't request the postponement simply take advantage of the rule and now refuse to play it and let the committee deal with any complaint / appeal? Who knows?

As we have said for a long time it does appear that the league try to enforce some rules whilst ignoring others. Looking for an example of that?? - just read the very next rule which relates to concessions. Any team with 3 concessions shall be suspended from the league. Haddington in Division 4 have conceded 4 matches. We should of course add that we're not for one moment seeking the suspension of Haddington - we love them - but it's just yet another example of the inconsistent approach taken.

Never mind Handicap Cup this week and the rules about that are so straightforward what could anyone possibly argue about........



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Week 18 Report

5/2/2017

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Week 18 of the Edinburgh & Lothians League proved to be a good one for the Club with some excellent victories.

In the Premier Division Team 1 of Greig McDonell, Colin Green and Stuart Gow had recorded their 3rd consecutive win of 2017 in Week 17 and they were looking to maintain their excellent start to the New Year as they hosted Edinburgh International 1 at Ladywood. After 6 matches the scores were tied at 3-3 going into the crucial doubles fixture. Greig and Colin have an excellent record in doubles and although they dropped a set to their opponents they triumphed to give the side a 4-3 advantage. The scores were levelled again before Greig secured at least a point with victory in match 9. The match looked like it would end in a draw as Colin quickly found himself 2-0 down in Match 10 but some excellent play turned the game around as he won the last 3 ends of the night to give Team 1 their 4th win on the bounce. (Greig's struggling to remember the last time that happened!!) On the night, Greig won all 3 of his singles whilst Colin won 2 and the pair combined for the vital doubles win.

Team 3 of James Wighton, Gary Mcdougal and Abby Wighton went into their Week 18 match against Murrayfield 6 still undefeated for the season in Division 2. After James lost the first match of the night, the Penicuik trio never looked back as they won all of the remaining singles, their only other blip coming with a loss in the doubles match. Both Gary and Abby won 3 and James added 2 in a terrific 8-2 victory. Team 3 remain undefeated and continue to put pressure on Haddington at the top of the Division 2 table, level on points although the East Lothian side have a game in hand.

Despite an excellent start to their Division 2 campaign, Penicuik 4 have struggled to match Team 3’s success this season, primarily as a result of an inability to field a full side consistently. That inability came to the fore again in Week 18 as only one regular player, Krzysztof Laszkiewicz was available. Although Louis McLeod stepped in for the injured Tony Brentnall, Team Captain Krzysztof was left extremely dejected by the fact that only two players were in attnedance for their home fixture against West Lothian 5. The resultant 7-3 defeat was no surprise in the circumstances. Krzysztof won 2 singles and combined with Louis for a win in the doubles fixture. Team 4 now find themselves somewhat unbelievably dragged into a relegation battle, only a point above the bottom 3 places in the Division. After Tony Brentnall declared himself out for the rest of the season it appears that reinforcements are desperately needed.

Following their narrow 6-4 victory in Week 17, Team 6 were looking to build some momentum for their Division 4 title challenge as they faced two home matches in two days. First up for Sean Lennon, Craig Johnson and Millie Bennett was North Merchiston 6. As with Team 1’s victory, after 9 matches of the night the home side led 5-4 and a point was secure. It looked like that was all the Midlothian trio were going to get as Craig went 2-0 down in Match 10 of the night. In the next end, Craig saved 3 match points before going on to win the final two ends 11-8, 11-7 resulting in another excellent 6-4 win. Craig won 3, Sean 2 and Millie 1.

The next night, the same trio took on top of the table Edinburgh University. Although somewhat fortunate that their opponents were unable to field a full side, Sean, Craig and Millie took advantage as they recorded another narrow 6-4 victory, their third in their last three matches. Two wins in two days has put Team 6 firmly back in the promotion race as they have leapfrogged into second in the table, three points behind University who lead the way but more importantly 2 points clear of third placed West Lothian.

Finally in Week 18, Penicuik 7 travelled to take on Edinburgh International 5 in Division 4. Mark MacKay (Snr), George Wilson and Mark MacKay (Jnr) were playing for the first time together and after Mark (Snr) won the first match of the night a surprise win looked a possibility but only one further win in the next five matches saw them trail their Edinburgh opponents 4-2 as they played the important doubles fixture. A first outing for Mark and George and they were unlucky to lose in 4 tight ends. Whilst George added a win in the final match of the night the points had already been lost by then. George won 2 and Mark added 1 in the 7-3 loss.  

And so to our player of the week award for Week 18. Three players were undefeated in singles play this week: Greig for Team 1 and Abby and Gary for Team 3. Greig however also contributed a doubles victory in their narrow 6-4 win. But to prove the impartiality of our voting panel, this week's award goes to none of the above! For winning 5 out of 6 singles and in particular for saving 3 match points and turning round the final match of the night to gain a vital two points for his team, this week's deserved winner is Craig - well done to him.

And finally our controversy of the week section. Good old playing conditions back under the limelight. Now we can't really have too much of a go at anyone here given some of the issues at Ladywood. Indeed this week against Edinburgh International it was commented upon again about the noise levels in the hall - just as match 2 got underway the very disobedient dogs from the dog obedience class joined in the fun. If we didn't know any better you could be easily fooled into thinking there was a criminal underground dog fighting event going on in the other half of the hall. Add to that the fact that the Centre manager seems to like keeping the lights turned down a bit to save on the leccy and we can't really describe our conditions as ideal. Our opponents, however, have temporarily been decanted in to what must be the smallest school canteen in Edinburgh. Surrounded by lovely full length glass windows in which you can see your reflection, especially when the motion sensor switches the lights off in one half of the canteen isn't the best - add to that that one of the tables looks like something that you might find covered in cobwebs having never seen the light of day for 30 years and you know you might be in for a long night. Our Team 7 played there this week and whilst admittedly even playing in an Olympic stadium wouldn't have changed the result, they did feel that the venue was not particularly conducive to playing good TT. As one of our players put it, at various points in the match, with space at a premium, his derrière was virtually in the spectators faces - now that's not a pretty image especially if you know who our player was!! Brings back memories of the good old days of playing in carpeted canteens and small cupboards - our Press Officer remembers with fondness turning up to play against the Pakistan Association to a venue which looked like someone's house - in fact it was - they played in the garage with a sofa at one side of the table and bikes parked at the other - ah those were the days............

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