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ELTTL - Week 22 Report

25/2/2020

Our Week 22 Report is shorter than normal as our roving reporter seems to have taken a holiday during the TT Season, he makes an issue about others who do so then has the nerve to abandon his duties just as the season is really heating up – Shocking!

With all five teams in action on the same evening, there was trouble for Team 1 with the absence of Carsten Giebeler for the second consecutive week. With no other players available to play up, Colin Green and David Melrose knew that they were going to be up against it as they hosted high flying Murrayfield 2 in the Premier Division. Although there were a number of close matches and the overall score is a little unfair to the home duo, only Colin recorded a win as they fell to a 9-1 defeat.

Team 2 were in confident mood as they travelled to Corstorphine in a Division 1 relegation battle – a win for the visitors and they would take a huge step towards safety whilst at the same time plunging their opponents into real danger – they were back to full strength with the return of Ian Hislop who joined forces with Charlie Brindley and Gary McDougal. After losses for Charlie and Gary in the first two matches of the night the visitors were up against it but two wins for Ian and 1 for Gary in the next 4 matches saw the scores tied at 3-3 going into the crucial doubles. Charlie and Gary have had some decent doubles performances, but this wasn’t one of them as they went down in straight sets. When the unbeaten Jeff Clark defeated Ian in match 8 the best that could be hoped for was a point. Charlie had a bit of a nightmare of a night and in match 9 he let a 2-1 lead slip as he fell in 5 ends. Despite Gary winning the last match this was a dreadful 6-4 defeat for the visitors which plunges them back into trouble towards the foot of the Division 1 table.

After Team 3’s nightmare loss at Corstorphine in Week 21, they were relieved to get a victory against Haddington 3 to get their promotion hopes back on track in Division 2. 3 wins for Iain Johnstone and 2 each for Krzysztof Laszkiewicz and James Wighton secured the victory and solidified their 2nd place in the Division.

Team 4 had given Division 2 leaders Fife a real scare in the first half of the season, falling to a narrow 6-4 victory – they couldn’t repeat the feat, however, as Julian and Sonny Taylor and Tony Brentnall went down to an 8-2 loss. It seems Team 4’s promotion chances have gone – an 8 point gap to Team 3 at the end of Week 22. Well done to Captain Julian, however, with 2 wins for the visitors.

Finally, Team 5 hosted West Lothian 5 at Ladywood. For only the second time this season, we saw the combination of Kristian Skotzen, Craig Linton and Rachel Petrie take to the table. Their first outing together had resulted in a 9-1 defeat at the hands of Ed Int 4. Maybe this will be the last time we see this combination as they again fell to a 9-1 defeat! Perhaps a little unfair given that they were hosting the runaway Division 3 leaders and in fairness they lost 3 very tight 5 enders. Kristian provided the one win for the hosts.

It’s a really tricky one this week to find a POTW – 4 defeats out of five matches played and only Iain Johnstone undefeated – but as we have said week after week he should be undefeated at this level. There were some decent twos this week and although in a losing team, the award goes to a man who had only got back into the country shortly before the match after another one of his 6-week holidays abroad! Well done to Ian Hislop – he did all he could in Team 2’s narrow loss.

Disappointingly we don’t have time for any controversy this week – too much sun for our Reporter has seemingly made him all happy and positive – well apart from the Heriot Watt saga which we don’t mention anymore – they recorded their first win in Division 1 last week against struggling West Lothian 4. A narrow 6-4 victory for the students, who in three of their wins pulled through in tight deciding ends (an 11-8, 11-7 and a 13-11). That must surely be more proof, if any were needed, that playing for double points is ridiculous – how can anyone say that a result like that would be replicated in a reverse fixture?! But there we have it – 4 points to HW and they’re suddenly only a win away from jumping out of the relegation zone – Crazy! But we’re not talking about it……

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ELTTL - Week 21 Report

17/2/2020

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Week 21 of the ELTTL was our quietest of the season as only two teams were in action, both playing against Corstorphine opposition.

Team 3 visited Napier University to take on the Edinburgh outfit’s 2nd Team in their Division 2 encounter. Krzysztof Laszkiewicz, Iain Johnstone and James Wighton made the journey to Edinburgh, fresh from steadying the ship last week after a miserable start to 2020, with an 8-2 victory over North Merchiston. They were looking to build on that victory against a side who started the night 4th bottom of the Division. When Krys lost a tight five ender in Match 1 and Iain then found himself in a deciding end in match 2, the visitors looked worried! Iain came through that match but when James lost match 3 they were behind after the first round of singles. Things got worse for the Penicuik trio as only Ian managed a win in the 2nd round of singles fixtures, leaving Team 3 in trouble at 4-2 down going into the doubles. From 1-0 down in the doubles, the hosts squeezed home 12-10 in the second and that proved to be the turning point as they secured a 4-end victory. 5-2 down with three singles matches left, only a point to play for – that point disappeared as James lost match 8 and although matches 9 and 10 went the way of the Midlothian side, the result was a bitterly disappointing 6-4 loss. Fortunately for Team 3, the teams below them have made a bit of a mess of the chase for second place in the Division – only 3 points from the last 8 on offer but they still hold a 6 point cushion over Penicuik 4 who are their closest rivals for the 2nd promotion spot. All thoughts of the title would seem to be well and truly gone.

Meanwhile, alongside Team 3, Team 5 were taking on Corstorphine 4 in Division 3. This match saw the first outing of the season of the “Girl Power” combination of Hannah McDonell and Rachel Petrie. They were joined by McDonell Senior (is he really allowed to play in this division)! As a result of great team captaincy, it wasn’t long before the visitors held a 3-0 lead. Although Rachel lost match 4, the McDonell duo then won matches 5 and 6 and a point was secured before the doubles was played. Rachel and Hannah lost the first end of that match 11-4 but after some words of wisdom at the change of ends the girl power pairing won the second by a similar 11-4 margin before winning two tight ends for a 3-1 victory – with that performance the win was secured. In the end a 7-3 victory for the visitors and they stretched their advantage over their opponents to 4 points in the division 3 table, in a comfortable 6th position.

There aren’t many to choose from for this week’s Player of the Week! Iain and Greig were undefeated but both of them are playing out of playing strength order and are therefore out of the running. It was a bit of a dismal week for Krys and James – only one win between the two of them so they too are out of contention. In Team 5 Rachel won 1 and Hannah won 2 and they combined for the doubles victory – Hannah won Player of the Match but there has been some late support for Rachel who got the team off on the road to victory with an important win in Match 1 – Girl Power it is as this week sees joint winners – well done to them.

And so, to our Controversy of the Week. Picking up on our topic of registration of new players halfway through the season, as we discussed last week, we note with interest that Than Htay Aung, was at it again in Division 1, as he had his second undefeated night, this time helping EI 3 to a 6-4 victory over Corstorphine 1. That really has put the cat amongst the pigeons in the battle to avoid relegation. Even North Merchiston 3 in 7th place don’t look safe as only 4 points cover 6 of the bottom 7 teams – add into that melting pot that the bottom team, Heriot Watt, are going to get double points for the rest of the season and they are only two wins away from safety!

Now, we can’t moan too much about players playing out of playing strength order given our two unbeaten players this week – both Iain and Greig, for different reasons, aren’t playing where their rating suggests they should – but that’s completely different from the circumstances surrounding new players registered halfway through the season – is it fair on other teams that players play out of playing strength? Surely people can’t really complain – it’s only an amateur sport that we play for fun isn’t it? If the League started to prevent people playing in teams with their mates, or family, surely the League would then run the risk of losing those players – can they really prevent someone playing at a lower level than they should?? We remember the days at our Club where a certain team played together for season after season after season just because that’s how it had always been and the team in question all socialised together. Is there anything wrong with that?? And anyway, just because a player is playing below their level doesn’t necessarily mean they are always going to win. We were reminded of that this week by Rachel – after El Presidente declared that the match was won so the “girls” could just relax in the doubles, it was pointed out we only had 5 wins on the board – “yes but I’ve still got one game to play” said Greig – that doesn’t mean you’re going to win it, you might have a heart attack before that point said the ever cheery Rachel! Don’t worry though, she adds, I’ve been trained in how to use a defibrillator! Great team spirit!!

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ELTTL - Week 20 Report

9/2/2020

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It was a busy week for all five of our teams in the ELTTL as Week 20 brought about some good performances.

Team 1 started the week off with their visit to struggling North Merchiston 2. Colin Green and David Melrose were without Carsten Giebeler (who had been in terrific form the previous week). They called on the services of Gary McDougal but knew that without Carsten this was going to be a tough match. The first match of the night was to set the tone as David took on Eddie Scott. David recovered from the loss of the first end to lead 2-1 but back came Eddie in the fourth to force a decider. Unfortunately for the visitors it was Eddie who triumphed 11-8 in the fifth to get the hosts off to the best possible start. Colin levelled the scores before Gary lost Match 3. The next round of singles also went the way of NM, Colin again being the only winner as the visitors fell to a 4-2 deficit. The doubles match was to be crucial as David and Colin took on Eddie and Neil Innes. The match went to a decider and at 4-1 up the Penicuik duo looked in control. From that point, however, they lost 10 of the next 11 points as the match lead increased to 5-2. With Gary unable to pick up a win in his last match, the game was over – Colin and David both won their final matches, but it was too little too late as Team 1 fell to a 6-4 defeat.

After picking up a good point against mid table Murrayfield 5, thanks in no small part to the play of Team 3’s Krzysztof Laszkiewicz, it was no surprise that his services were called upon again as Edinburgh International 3 visited Team 2 on Wednesday night. Edinburgh International started the night below their hosts who knew that anything other than a win would significantly dent their Division 1 survival hopes. First up was Charlie Brindley v Alastair Hill – at 2-1 up after an 11-4 third end win, Charlie looked in control, but Alastair fought back to win the fourth and it went the distance in the decider, Charlie just holding his nerve for an 11-9 win. Super-sub Krzysztof then took on Chandrasekaran Kaliaperumal and this was to prove another mammoth encounter which went to a deciding fifth end, Krys fighting back from 2-0 down to win the final three ends 11-6, 11-8, 11-8. Gary McDougal then faced a new EI player, Than Htay Aung. Gary went down in 5 astonishingly close ends – 11-13, 10-12, 15-13, 13-11, 12-14!! When the next two matches were shared, Gary’s 2nd match was crucial, and he fought his way, in yet another five setter, to a cracking win. 4-2 going into the doubles which Charlie and Gary won to secure a point. 2 of the last 3 matches also went the way of the hosts to give Penicuik a much needed 7-3 victory, all three players picking up two, all losing to the new EI player who’s first taste of the ELTTL brought him an undefeated night.

Teams 3 visited North Merchiston, looking to steady the ship after a difficult few weeks in Division 2. They were back to full strength as Krzysztof Laszkiewicz, Iain Johnstone and James Wighton made the journey to Edinburgh. When Krys lost a tight five ender in Match 1 and Iain then lost the first end of match 2, Team 3’s troubles looked like they may have continued! Fortunately, Iain regained his composure to win in 4 before what looked like an easy match on paper saw James take on Stephen Porter playing up from Division 3. Hold on a minute – the nerves started again after Stephen secured a 3-1 win to give the hosts a 2-1 advantage after the first round of singles matches. Perhaps the shock to the system had the desired effect as from that point on, Team 3 showed why they remain favourites for promotion this season – they dropped only 4 further ends on their way to an 8-2 victory. This was a much-needed win for the side – although it looks like the title has gone, they extended their gap over 3rd place Clubmates Team 4 to 7 points and, more importantly, to 9 points over Murrayfield 7, who at the turn of the year looked like they may have been promotion candidates – 3 losses in a row for them, however, seems to have scuppered their chances. Could Team 4 challenge for second spot???

Julian and Sonny Taylor were joined by Tony Brentnall as they sought to eat into Team 2’s advantage over them at the top end of the Division 2 table – Haddington 2 were the visitors to Ladywood. The same trio had, in the first half of the season, come away from East Lothian with an 8-2 win so confidence was high that they could repeat that win. Although Sonny lost the first match of the night, the home trio took the next four matches to lead 4-1 and they looked to be on their way to a comfortable win. When Tony lost match 6 and Julian & Sonny then lost the doubles, the match was again in the balance – a five end win for Julian in Match 8, however, secured at least a draw for the home side. Two chances to win it for Penicuik, but first Tony fell to a straight sets defeat before Sonny couldn’t get the team over the line, falling agonisingly short as he lost ends 4 and 5 of his match by 9-11 score-lines As Team Captain Julian put it - “We somehow managed to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory!” A disappointing dropped point but a point that brings them within 6 of second spot in the division.

Team 5 travelled to take on ESC 3 in Division 3. Team 5 have 6 (yes SIX) players registered and yet they struggled to get a team together for a match against a team only 1 point behind them in the table. Team Captain Kristian Skotzen was seemingly not allowed out by Mrs S; Rachel Petrie can’t do Monday nights; Hannah McDonell had some ridiculous Guiding thing on (Priorities young Hannah!!); George Wilson was maybe available, maybe not, maybe available, maybe not. The only confirmed player was Craig Linton – with just one player confirmed McDonell Senior said he would play to avoid a concession having to be given! Organisational chaos! As it was, George eventually was able to make it and the resulting 7-3 win was closer than the result suggests. Craig had a bit of an off night given his recent good form, picking up just one win. Match 4 between George and Euan Rae was to prove pivotal. 2-0 up and coasting, George somehow managed to lose the next two ends 9-11, 11-13. The final end went all the way and George just about held his nerve for a 12-10 victory. He certainly likes getting his money's worth - Including the doubles, George played 18 ends of table tennis. A good win for Team 5 sees them leap to their best league position of the season, a good mid table 6th place – it would be exactly the midway point of the table had a certain team not been promoted mid-season leaving only 11 in the division – but we’re not allowed to mention that topic anymore!

This week saw Colin, Iain and Julian undefeated in singles play (We're ignoring McDonell Snr for obvious reasons)! But for a second week in a row, Krzysztof is due a big pat on the back (but not the award) for two more vital wins for Team 2. Both Colin and Julian were in losing doubles partnerships which proved to be costly for their overall results and so this week, the award goes to Iain – Team 3 really needed to steady the ship after a tumultuous few weeks and his undefeated night gave them the platform to do so – well done to him.

And so, to our Controversy of the Week. After a committee discussion, it has been decided that we are to put in a formal complaint in relation to the use of illegal equipment, as referred to in our piece last week. Sour grapes from us?? Not really – it won’t affect the result but we will be interested to see what the League Committee do!

Separately, the registration of new players halfway through the season is a topic which we haven’t really covered much in the past – it was brought to our attention as a result of Team 2’s match v Edinburgh International. Than Htay Aung, presumably just registered before the 31st January deadline, seems to have been completely unknown to Ratings Central but after his evening at Ladywood has a rating which puts him higher than 5 of the 7 registered players for EI in their first two teams who play in the Premier Division and only 20 points or so below the sixth of those seven players. Now, no one is saying it is easy to “guesstimate” the playing strength of a new player and therefore fairly assess where they should be placed in a Club’s team structure – but EI have, dare we say it, a bit of a history for this type of thing – does anyone remember Jean Pierre?? Not to mention another couple of questionable player strength estimates over the last couple of seasons. In fairness, we won’t quite know how good he is until he’s played another few matches and given that the Penicuik trio all gave him a good game, maybe his rating will come tumbling down. A point worth noting, however, is that for players who are registered below their playing strength, for example Iain Johnstone, he is not allowed to play the doubles matches for his team because he is 100 points higher than clubmates in the team above. Ignoring the “starting rating” given in this case (he was more than 100 points above a Team 2 member), surely until the League can properly assess a player’s strength, that player should also not be allowed to play in the doubles?? That would seem to follow the rationale behind the rule – Rules?? Who cares about them!

Week 21 here we come…..

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ELTTL - Week 19 Report

2/2/2020

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Week 19 of the ELTTL was a quiet one for the Club with only three of our teams in action.

After three consecutive losses, Team 1 of Colin Green, Carsten Giebeler and David Melrose were hoping to get back to winning ways as they took on Edinburgh International 2 who sit at the bottom of the Premier League table. The loss of the first match of the night (David losing out to Andrew Mannion) wasn’t a great start but didn’t cause any particular concern. After Andrew defeated Colin in Match 4 and David lost another 5 setter to Babu in Match 5, however, the nerves were starting to jangle – 3-2 down and an upset looked on the cards. Carsten steadied the ship with a win in Match 6 but also seemed to injure himself which meant he had to sit out the crucial doubles. Fortunately for the home side, David and Colin played well together as they put the hosts 4-3 up with the final round of singles matches to play. Carsten recovered and in the match of the two undefeated players he comfortably secured a 3 set win. As David and Colin both won their final singles matches there was a sense of relief rather than achievement – the 7-3 scoreline a little unfair to the visitors. Carsten deservedly picked up player of the match for his 3 singles wins.

Following Team 2’s disastrous Division 1 loss to North Merchiston 3 in Week 18, they visited mid table Murrayfield 5, again without the services of Ian Hislop. Krzysztof Laszkiewicz played up from Division 2 as he joined regulars Charlie Brindley and Gary McDougal. The first three matches of the night summed up how close a battle this was going to be – First up Charlie v Stella Hughes – Charlie was 2-1 up but lost the last two ends 11-8, 11-9. First blood to the hosts. Gary v Stuart Wilson next – Gary was 2-1 up but lost the fourth 11-8, just as Charlie had done forcing a decider – an 11-9 scoreline followed but this time in favour of the visitors – 1-1. Finally, Krzysztof v John Yau – you guessed it – this one went to five as well, John recovering from 2-0 down and he looked to have the momentum in the deciding end – 12-10 in the fifth as Krzysztof dug in for the win. 8.30pm and only 3 matches played. The next three sped up the night a little and with only super-sub Krzysztof winning the scores were tied at 3-3 going into the doubles. Charlie and Gary were 2-1 up but had to go all the way, losing the fourth 13-11 but winning the decider 11-8. Stuart then tied the scores again with a win in match 8 before Charlie secured a point with a win in the 9th. Gary had the chance to win the match v Stella but fell to a 3-1 defeat as the honours were shared with a 5-5 draw. A good point for Team 2 who lost the first half match by a 6-4 scoreline - Krzysztof showed the two regulars how to do it with 2 wins whilst Gary and Charlie added one singles each and the crucial doubles.

With Teams 3 and 4 both having free weeks, Team 5 were the only other team in action as they hosted Edinburgh International 4. After two wins on the trot out dropped Hannah McDonell and her dad lookalike to be replaced by Kristian Skotzen and Rachel Petrie, both making their second half debuts as they joined Craig Linton. This was always going to be a difficult match – the reverse fixture had seen a 7-3 victory for EI and that result had included two wins for George Wilson – has anyone seen George??? Craig deservedly was the home player of the match as he defeated Ken Benjamin and took Stuart Macdonald to 5 ends and Anand Sundaram to 4 – he was also involved with Rachel in a 5 end doubles thriller just losing out 11-9 in the fifth. Other than that, though, Team 5 struggled, only one other end being picked up during the night as they fell to a 9-1 loss. Never mind though they’re still the team who provides most of our controversies – more on that later…..

Only Carsten was undefeated in singles play this week so he must be favourite for this week’s Player of the Week award – favourites don’t always win though (just look at Heriot Watt v Edinburgh Uni – oops we were never going to mention that again!). Securing the award this week is a man who has a style all of his own – but that style worked a treat whilst he played up in Division 1 – without him Team 2 would have fallen to a heavy defeat and for bettering the results of his two more senior Club mates well done this week to super-sub Krzysztof.

And so to our Controversy of the Week.

Those who follow us on Facebook will have seen pictures of the bat used by an opponent in Team 5’s match at Ladywood last Wednesday – this followed the first half of the season where the blue bat (which can be found at the “Gyle’s Pop in and Play” Facility) was used in the reverse fixture. By the time Team 5’s text query on the bat had been picked up by those in the know, the match was over – it seems clear to us, however, that the bat was not “legal” in terms of the Laws of Table Tennis. Have a look for yourself on our FB page or here https://t.co/ksCY8TCKqU

Now, we know we play an amateur sport, some say just for social fun, but that’s not the point. Rules are made to be followed. Whether our players failed to object in advance or not is irrelevant. They clearly had concerns and had sought guidance from other members in the Club by text message. Whatever level we are playing at is also irrelevant. Whether the bat provided an advantage to the opponent or not is also irrelevant. It has been suggested by others that we need to lodge a formal appeal – and the fact that even if the opponent’s matches were declared void the result wouldn’t change is also irrelevant. As a wise old head from Ayr put it when commenting on the pictures on our FB page

“Frankly, if you don’t enforce the rules, these people will never conform. And by facilitating their behaviour, you start to **** people off. That’s when they quit the sport and the only people left are those who play not within the rules”

And that’s the point isn’t it? If we allow rule breaches to carry on, then we are just as guilty as those breaching the rules in the first place. What sort of example does that set to others? So, an appeal then? Over to our Committee.

In the same match our second favourite topic once again came under the limelight – serving! We were sent a video of the complained about opponent’s last match and we have to say that the serve was so far from being legal that it was a joke – we won’t post the video here but instead will have a go, not for the first time, at our own shortcomings! Just like the failure to challenge the equipment issue raised above, how on earth no one mentioned this service technique is beyond us – the team knew it was an issue as they had specifically taken a video to show us the "problem”. But it seems they were too nice to raise it as an issue – a team with Rachel and Kristian in it – too nice??? Anyway, people need to speak up as things occur rather than after the event – however unpopular that may make them seem. In addition, what were the umpires doing in not raising it? Furthermore, given that one of the opponent’s team is a very experienced player, surely, he must know having watched this serve every week, that the player needs to be reminded of the rules. We would be amazed if nobody has raised it up to this point in the season. If only we could have called on Haddington's Roger Thomas to have umpired the match – Team 5 would have breezed to at least a 6-4 winning margin!

On we march to Week 20 – every point gained will prove more and more vital as the season enters its final third.

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ELTTL - Week 22 Report

ELTTL - Week 21 Report

ELTTL - Week 20 Report

ELTTL - Week 19 Report

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