Week 20 of the Edinburgh & Lothians Table Tennis League was scheduled to be a busy one for the Club with regular fixtures and rearranged matches planned.
 
Team 1 started the week on Monday at Edinburgh Sports Club without David Melrose (Happy 65th Birthday to him!!) – Colin Green and David Simpson called in Greig McDonell to make up the visiting trio. David got the Penicuik side off to the best possible star with a controlled 3-0 win v Scott McKenzie. Greig then took on young Faye Leggatt and after 5 winners in the first six points, Greig looked in inspired form – oh if only it could have continued – he fell to an 11-7, 11-9, 13-11 defeat. Colin then looked in complete control against former teammate, Martin McKay after an 11-3 first end win. He was also coasting in the second but suddenly hit a bad patch and Martin recovered for an 11-9 victory. When he followed that up with an 11-4 third end win it looked serious. 8-2 down in the fourth Colin did what Colin does – an amazing fight back to deuce – but on this occasion he couldn’t finish off the comeback falling 16-14. When that was followed by a straightforward 3-0 win for Faye v David, the visitors were in big trouble at 3-1 down. Colin steadied himself to win against Scott before Greig took on Martin. When Greig lost the first two ends 11-9 from winning positions the writing looked on the wall for him, but he battled back to take the next two 11-6, 11-7. At 9-7 up in the fifth a great turnaround was on the cards – oops – four points in the row lost as he fell 11-9 in the decider. 4-2 to ESC with the important doubles to come. David played some terrific stuff as he and Colin claimed a 4 set win to keep the visitors in with a chance of winning the match. Colin then faced Faye in an effort to level the match at 4-4 – At 2-1 up he looked to have the better of Faye – but Faye has some great battling qualities and forced a decider with an 11-8 fourth end win. Colin again looked in control in the 5th – he led 5-2 at the change of ends but back came Faye again winning 9 of the next 13 points for an 11-9 deciding end victory. 5-3 for ESC and a point secured. 2 points for the home side would have gone some way to relieving the pressure on them near the foot of the Premier Division, whilst at the same time keeping Penicuik in the “relegation mire”. David comfortably won match 9 on the night against Martin which left Greig to try and secure the draw in the last match against Scott – it was never in doubt according to Greig!! A four end win and a 5-5 draw resulted – a fair result in the end and a good point for both.
 
The next night saw Team 4 in action at Corstorphine 2 in Division 3. This would have been a daunting task with three players but due to player unavailability only Craig Linton and Rachel Petrie were able to make the trip to Napier University. Corstorphine are the League Leaders and at the beginning of the night sat 21 points ahead of bottom placed Penicuik. You could have got fantastic odds on a Penicuik win but anyone with sensible money would have run a mile from that bet! There were a few close ends and Rachel won the player of the night award courtesy of winning an end against Tommy Sutherland – but ultimately that was as good as it got for the visiting duo in a 10-0 defeat. It’s been a tough season for Team 4 in a strong Division 3. Mathematically they’re still in with a chance of surviving – 4 matches left and 6 points behind 2nd bottom – and Craig has got himself some new awkward rubbers!! Never give up….
 
Thursday night at Ladywood was due to see Team 1 in action again against Fife whilst Team 3 were lined up to play Edinburgh University. Ladywood, taking heed of the severe weather warning, took the decision to close for the day! Last minute postponements had to be sought – thanks to our opponents for their understanding – mind you Fife were over the moon not having to travel to Penicuik in the snow with only two players, one of whom was going to be playing up from a lower division! There’s a chance of a nailed on 2 points gone for Team 1! In the end, the snow wasn’t as bad as forecast, but we suppose safety first…..   
 
The week ended with Team 2’s trip to Edinburgh University – Team 2 have had a really tricky season – Gary has continually remained positive in the face of various losses telling us that they’re too good to be relegated and there’s worse teams than them in Division 1. Edinburgh Uni are definitely not one of those teams and they took control early against Charlie Brindley, Gary McDougal and Sonny Taylor winning the first three matches of the night by 3-0 scorelines. Gary showed some glimmers of his potential with an 11-1 victory in end 3 of match 4 but he lost the other 3, 11-7. The excellent Ji Haonan was never troubled throughout the night, and his 3-0 win against Charlie gave the hosts a 5-0 lead. Sonny got the visitors on the scoreboard with a five end victory in match 6 but when the doubles was lost, so was the match – 6-1 down going into the last round of singles – Charlie was the only winner for the Midlothian side in those last three matches as the students secured an 8-2 win. The Division 1 table doesn’t make for good reading for Team 2 – after they defeated Murrayfield 6 on the 20th of January they looked as if they had enough to pull away from the relegation dogfight and sat third from bottom. Fast forward a month and the two teams who had been below them, Corstorphine and Murrayfield, have both had some excellent results – 5 points out of the last 6 for Murrayfield and 4 points out of 6 for Corstorphine has resulted in Team 2 falling to the foot of the table. Both Murrayfield and Corstorphine have acquired new players who have significantly boosted their team's fortunes. The only good news for Team 2 is that they have games in hand over the teams above them and with 5 games left only 4 points separate 6th from 10th in the division.
 
And so, to our player of the week award. It’s been a poor week for the Club with no one being undefeated but in Team 1’s 5-5 draw there was a good performance from Greig holding his nerve to secure a point - that point was only possible as a result of David’s comfortable two wins and excellent play in the doubles in which he pulled Colin through to victory – for his 2 ½ points out of 5, David wins this week’s award – well done to him.
 
And finally, our controversy of the week section. The Handicap Cup no show by Murrayfield rumbles on. The Handicap Cup Secretary effectively put the ball into our court by indicating to Murrayfield that given our email setting up the fixture went to five quite senior people within Murrayfield, he was at a loss to understand why they did not turn up for their quarter-final at Ladywood. He did hold out an olive branch of sorts by indicating that if agreement on a date to play the match could be reached by 9pm this evening (28th Feb), then that would be fine. If he had stopped there we probably wouldn’t have had much to write about in this section. However, he went on to say that Penicuik had the prerogative to decline any rescheduling and if a date was not agreed, then the match would be awarded to Penicuik! Oh dear! How do other Club’s reach decisions like this? Does the Committee take control and make the decision? We decided to leave it up to the three players who have played the previous rounds and who were all put out by being stood up on a dreary night at Ladywood earlier in the month. A flurry of WhatsApp Messages back and forth – well actually it wasn’t that much of a flurry – a bit like the snow in Penicuik last week – a lot may have been anticipated but in the end very little need for protracted discussion – we’re a really friendly and easy going club who hates conflict – oh hang on the decision was what?? Unanimous as well. Ah well most of us at PTTC are helpful, amiable and accommodating – just not this trio who’s names remain anonymous in case of reprisal!! We’re sure we’ve not heard the end of this……

​On we go to the last month of the season.

​Week 19 of the Edinburgh & Lothians Table Tennis League was Handicap Cup Week at Ladywood with all three of our entered teams scheduled to be in action.
 
Team 1 were due to take on Murrayfield 2 at the Quarter final stage at Ladywood – no show from Murrayfield – more on that later.
 
Team 2 (Greig McDonell, Paul Tracey and Hannah McDonell) faced Corstorphine 4 who turned up with a +7 and a +5 player. That was always going to make it tough. Hannah playing of scratch (shows her improvement over the last couple of years) faced Aidan Clark, having to give him 5 of a start to 11. When she caught Aidan at 7-7 in the first set things looked rosy but Aidan, courtesy of some excellent serving, pulled away for an 11-8 win. Hannah bounced back in the second set winning it 13-11 but she had no answer in the third or fourth sets as Aidan gave Corstorphine the advantage. Paul then faced a fellow +7 player in a straight race to 11 and won in four ends to square the match. Team Captains Greig and Jeff Clark then faced off, Greig giving away a 7 point advantage – that wasn’t too much was it? Eh yes was the answer – every time Greig seemed to close to within 2 or 3 points, Jeff would fire off one of his fantastic flat forehands and Greig could just never get on top – a straightforward win for Jeff put Corstorphine back in front. That lead was extended when Aidan defeated Paul in four ends and when Jeff defeated Hannah also in four ends the writing was on the wall for the home side. Greig kept the match alive coming back from a 19-0 deficit to win three straight against Bill Batten but Jeff then showed his class recovering from a 12-0 deficit against Paul to win in three straight ends – the two +7 players showing that it can be difficult to win just 4 points. With that win Corstorphine secured a 5-2 victory. The scorecard doesn’t show that Greig played at the same time as Paul just in case time ran out and having given a bit of a hard time to both Hannah and Paul for not being able to deal with Aidan’s serves, he soon found out why they had found it difficult to overcome this +5 player!! He was never in the match and let’s just say it was a good job the score didn’t need to be put on the match card!! Terrific play from Aidan who was voted away player of the match with Hannah picking up that award for the home side.
 
Team 3 (James Wighton, Charlie Brindley and Craig Linton) took on West Lothian 1 in the final match of the night. This was a cracker. Charlie was first up against Keith Mackay – 3 of a start for Keith and a 3 straight win followed. Craig then pulled the match level with a comfortable win in four ends against Bob Lander with the help of a 5 point start. Although he lost game 3, 12-10 the three ends he won were extremely straightforward, 11-1, 11-6, 11-3. James then faced Wojciech Wziatek who’s handicap of -5 looks generous - we’ve seen him play in vets events this season and he has some cracking wins to his name including one against one of the best Premier players Dariusz Szymczak. A 4 point start for James wasn’t enough as he fell 3-0. Craig then levelled the scores again with another 4 end win, defeating Keith in similar fashion to his first match – a close loss 13-15 but the three ends won 14-7,14-6,14-5. Match 5 saw Charlie take on Wojciech – a one point start to Wojciech didn’t cause any problem to Charlie in the first two ends as his anti-spin nullified his opponents play. Wojciech is a clever player though and with a change in his tactics he absolutely strolled through the next three ends 12-4, 12-1, 12-6. WL led again but James then pulled the home side level with a 3-0 win v Bob. The two undefeated players then met, Craig v Wojciech. Craig had a 10-0 start in a race to 16. Surely this was the match to see Penicuik take the lead for the first time – Craig tried everything, but the consistency of his opponent was impressive – 15-17, 11-16, 16-18 and once again WL led and this time they were one win away from the match – 4-3 up with two to play. Match 8 pitted James against Keith – two division two players, Keith giving James a 2 point start in a race to 13. This was close – a 14-12 first end win for James was cancelled out by a 15-13 second end win for Keith. The third end was crucial and when James won it 13-10 this seemed to affect Keith’s confidence and James strolled to victory in the fourth 13-5. 4-4 and the decider saw Charlie take on Bob who had a 6-0 advantage in a race to 17. Six was never enough for Bob as Charlie comfortably used his experience to win the all important deciding match in three straight ends. A terrific match and an excellent 5-4 victory for Penicuik.
 
Away from the Handicap Cup, Team 2 caught up on an outstanding fixture against ESC. The home fixture in the first half of the season has probably been Team 2s best match of the season. That 6-4 victory wasn’t repeated, however, as ESC flexed their muscles at home with a 7-3 win. Team 2 are in big trouble in Division 1 – their 9-1 loss to fellow strugglers Corstorphine a couple of weeks ago still haunts them and may still prove to be the turning point in their season!
 
And so, to our player of the week award. Credit to Charlie for winning the deciding fixture in his handicap cup match but the win was set up by 2 wins each for James and Craig. It’s difficult to split them, but given James had to do more from his -2 starting point, well done to him – his win v Keith under pressure was the key to the overall match win.
 
And finally, our controversy of the week section. Our Handicap Cup Team 1 turned up last Thursday to face Murrayfield in this season’s Quarter Final. All three of our handicap cup teams were present for a busy night of cup action. By 7pm two games had started but there was still no sign of Team 1’s opponents. By 7.15 the team were getting impatient. By 7.30 it seemed clear no one was turning up. Phone calls were made to Murrayfield – no idea what was happening. By 8pm the three home players left Ladywood, Gary particularly annoyed having spent an hour on buses getting to the match. The previous week in response to the handicap cup Secretary’s email reminder about matches being played in the handicap cup week we had emailed the circulation list which includes “senior / Committee” members from all clubs involved, indicating that the 2 second round matches and the quarter final v Murrayfield would all be played on Thursday 17th Feb – 6.30pm for 6.45 start. Corstorphine and WL obviously had no difficulty in communicating that to their relevant teams, but it appears Murrayfield did not. Of course, the difficulty with handicap cup is that generally teams are mixed. Our Team 1 does not contain any League Team 1 players. The same applied to our teams 2 and 3 so we have to rely on clubs’ senior figures passing on the relevant info. Our three team 1 players, (identities to remain anonymous), were quickly telling our committee to claim the match! We await an explanation but assume it will simply be that the Murrayfield Team didn’t know they should have been at Ladywood. One would have thought though that even if the info hadn’t been passed on, whoever was in that team would at least be wondering and querying what was happening in Handicap Cup Week! Ah don’t we just love a little bit of controversy! 

Week 18 of the Edinburgh & Lothians Table Tennis League saw three of our four Teams in action. 

In the Premier division Colin Green, David Melrose and David Simpson hosted West Lothian 1 at Ladywood. There was drama in this one even before a ball had been struck by the visitors as Brian Hunter in attempting to stretch over from his seat to recover a ball which had come his way somehow managed to injure himself badly, causing cruciate ligament damage. The home side therefore started the match 3-0 up and they took full advantage as they secured an 8-2 win, Dariusz Szymczak providing the two wins for the visitors with victories over the two David’s. 

On the same night Team 3 faced Murrayfield 7 and true to form, despite voting Greig as player of the week in Week 17, Team Captain James Wighton dropped him as he was joined by Abby Wighton and Hannah McDonell. The Murrayfield side were unchanged from the first half outing where they had convincingly defeated the Penicuik side 9-1. This match was a lot closer – a full report can be found on Murrayfield’s FB and Twitter pages. Although a 7-3 defeat, the hosts lost two five enders at deuce in the fifth – if those matches had gone the other way…... 

Finally in Division 3, Team 4 travelled to Edinburgh Sports Club. Craig Linton hit some good form, winning his three matches and for the first time this season, Team 4 were in the running for a victory. This match also contained two epically close games. Jim Jack and Rachel Petrie thought they had the upper hand against Elena Genova but to her credit she came back to win both matches in five ends. The doubles kept the visitors in the match as Craig and Rachel combined for a good 4 end win. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, Team 4 fell just short of the win as ESC secured a 6-4 victory. 

And so, to our player of the week award. Colin was undefeated for Team 1 but one of those wins was a walkover so he’s out the running. For the first time this season the award goes to a Team 4 player – undefeated in singles play and a doubles win – well done to Craig for his excellent effort.

And finally, our controversy of the week section. A friendly (or was it unfriendly) exchange took place in Team 3’s match with Murrayfield. James v Lynn taking place. James struggling a little with Lynn’s long pimples, NPC Greig from the sidelines gave some guidance and advice to James. Suddenly Anna showed her feisty side by telling Greig to stop doing what he was doing. At the change of ends Anna pointed out that the rules only allowed coaching / advice to be given at the change of ends. Greig said that rule had changed a while ago and advice could now be given during games. The rule from the ITTF Rules of Table Tennis is in the following terms:

“Players may receive advice at any time except during rallies provided play is not thereby delayed”

But does that apply in the ELTTL? Murrayfield were on their phones and looking out their handbooks. The handbook rules do say that coaching can only be given at change of ends – Greig almost apologised for getting it wrong – just as Anna almost apologised because she now understood that the rule had been changed but the handbook not updated (according to teammate Graham). In the end both antagonists smiled and neither of them had to admit they were wrong! But what is the actual position in the ELTTL? Do we ignore this rule – we ignore others – for example there are no timeouts allowed in the league whereas in tournaments and national league they are allowed. Maybe we shouldn’t have any different rules in the League. Why, for example, aren’t timeouts allowed? Answers on a postcard please……

Week 17 of the Edinburgh & Lothians Table Tennis League was a very quiet one for the Club with only Team 2 in action in Division 1 as they took on fellow strugglers Corstorphine. After an excellent 6-4 victory in Week 16 against Murrayfield 6, Team 2 were in confident mood. Julian Taylor, Gary McDougal and Sonny Taylor turned out at Ladywood. The Corstorphine outfit seem to have found a new player as Yantao Zhao made his debut – and what a debut it was. He started with a 3-0 win against Sonny (10-12, 5-11, 10-12) and in Game 4 defeated Gary in three straight sets (10-12, 13-15, 5-11). Close ends but he converted the big points better than his opponents. Gary lost out in 4 against Jeff Clark and the only success in the first four matches came from Julian with a 3-1 win over Dave Grant.
 
3-1 down but there remained a degree of positivity that the match could be turned around. Game 5 was a turning point – having seen dad Julian defeat Dave, Sonny was full of confidence that he would do likewise – that confidence ebbed away slightly in the first set as Sonny lost out 9-11. Still reeling from that loss, the second end was a complete write off for the home player (2-11). Not to worry though, this match could still be turned around, or so Team 2 hoped. Credit to Dave, he stuck with his gameplan, and Sonny just had no answers as frustration got the better of him in a 3-0 loss. Suddenly 4-1 and the pressure was really on and when Julian then lost to Jeff, the best the home side could hope for was a draw. The doubles saw Gary and Sonny team up but by that stage the team looked dejected, and it was no surprise when they lost in straight sets. The final 3 matches were all about trying to take something positive from the night – nothing positive came to fruition, however, as all three were lost – a resounding 9-1 defeat and Team 2 are now very much back in the relegation dogfight with Corstorphine and Murrayfield 6. They started the match 2 points ahead of their opponents but within 5 days they find themselves 2 points behind after another Corstorphine win in early Week 18 action!
 
Fortunately, in such a quiet week we have the final round of National League matches to report on. Penicuik entered a team for the first time this season. The squad was made up of Greig McDonell, James WIghton, Hannah McDonell, Gary McDougal and David Melrose. 6 Divisions of 8 teams make up the national League, ties all played at one central venue (Bells Sports Centre, Perth). 48 teams from all over the country, from Inverness in the North to Dumfries in the south competed and it was quite a sight to see on average between 150 and 200 people in the hall. The atmosphere was great throughout the three weekends in October, November and February.  
 
For our first season we were entered in Division 5. After the first round of matches in October we were thinking maybe Division 6 would have been better – a 5-1 loss to Knigtswood was followed by a 3-3 draw against North Ayrshire. 1 point from a possible 4 and we were struggling. The November weekend was far more positive, a draw against league leaders Edinburgh University was followed by two wins – 5 points out of 6 put us into third place in the table – this was a tight division with all teams, it appeared capable of beating each other. Last weekend saw Greig, David, James and Hannah in action, resplendent in their snazzy new Club shirts (still to be branded)! Greig and Hannah had worked out 35 different possible scenarios the night before and had come to the view that if other results went their way 3 points out of four on the final day would probably be enough to secure second place and promotion. The day started against fellow Edinburgh League rivals, Edinburgh International who sat 1 point behind Team Penicuik – David and Greig did the business in this match with two wins each in a 4-2 victory – that result put Edinburgh International out of the running – they couldn’t catch us. In the other matches, Edinburgh Uni defeated Haddington which we needed and North Merchiston did us a big favour by drawing with Knightswood. Joe Wilson TTC from Motherwell had a resounding 6-0 win over North Ayrshire and they were our final opponents. Those results meant that a point for us in our last match would be enough for second place (as expertly predicted) – a win for Joe Wilson, however, and they would leapfrog us potentially into second place on game difference – the match was a tense one. There was a crucial 5 end win for James in match 3 to give us a 2-1 advantage and then when Greig came back from 2-0 down in Match 4 to win in five, the point and promotion was secured. The pressure was off, and David won the final match of the day to secure Penicuik’s second 4-2 victory of the day. With 10 points from a possible 14 we ended two points behind League winners, Edinburgh University and two clear of third placed Knightswood. We said anything was possible and who would have believed that Haddington, who started the day with promotion firmly in their minds, and ahead of us in 2nd place, would end up relegated after two losses on the final day. A massive point for Edinburgh International against League winners Edinburgh Uni saw them survive on game difference (-2 compared to Haddington’s -4). That’s got to hurt!!!
 
We thoroughly enjoyed our National League experience and can’t believe we’ve never entered in previous seasons. Division 4 here we come - if any spaces become available let’s get another team in for next season!
 
Our player of the week award this week could be shared amongst all our National League squad – they all contributed important wins which resulted in valuable points – one of the highlights was Hannah’s win in the first round of matches against an experienced Veteran TT player who plays for North Ayrshire – her win secured a draw but more entertainingly, the loss to a “little girl” caused the opponent to break his bat in two in utter disgust! Not a very good example to set. But the award this week is going to someone who, let’s face it, isn’t going to win in any other week for playing with daughter Hannah in Division 2 of the Edinburgh League – Team Captain Greig won 13 out of 14 matches played over the 3 weekends of National League and James was adamant that he had to get recognition for that – despite that, James also broke the news to Greig that he was dropping him for this week’s Edinburgh League match – yeah thanks James! Well done to all our squad though on a terrific first season.
 
And finally, our controversy of the week section. Oh my goodness – umpiring again! In our crucial deciding fixture against Joe Wilson TTC on Sunday, tensions rose during David’s match against Joe Wilson’s number 1. David won the first end 11-8 but was warned by the umpire (an opponent) about his service – apparently, David was not throwing the ball up vertically enough! The rule is in the following terms:
 
“Service shall start with the ball resting freely on the open palm of the server's stationary free hand. The server shall then project the ball near vertically upwards, without imparting spin, so that it rises at least 16cm after leaving the palm of the free hand and then falls without touching anything before being struck.”
 
David was already mumbling and affected at the changeover and picture the scene when early in the second end the Umpire called fault on 3 separate occasions – David’s head was gone! The game was gone 11-4. At the change of ends further words were exchanged and Team Captain Greig tried to get David to forget about it and try and use a different serve. David did not accept that he wasn’t throwing the ball “near vertically upwards” – this must be one of the hardest rules to adjudicate on – what does “near vertically upwards” mean – without a protractor how do you judge it! Somehow, David managed to win the third end but when another fault was called on him in end 4 the writing was on the wall – despite his best efforts he lost in five and in David’s view this was all down to the umpiring decisions – interestingly, we didn’t see much change in David’s service style in the fifth but not one fault was given – maybe by that stage the umpire didn’t have the heart to call any more faults and in any event, the opponent had the upper hand! The match had become a bit toxic as David left the hall to calm himself down! Next match up saw James take on his opposite number. Penicuik to umpire. Hmmmm – this is interesting – the Joe Wilson player started every service with is hand and arm resting on the table and he threw the ball up from above the table and on the table side of the end line. Given that we are applying the rules strictly, says Umpire Greig, I’m going to warn you that your service is illegal and unless you rectify it I’m going to call a fault – what’s good for the goose……
 
A number of faults followed much to the irritation of the JW player – in fairness to their Team Captain who had umpired the previous game when his player tried to plead his case to him, he was told that the Umpire was right and he needed to keep the ball behind the white line – the relevant rule is:
 
“From the start of service until it is struck, the ball shall be above the level of the playing surface and behind the server's end line, and it shall not be hidden from the receiver by the server or his or her doubles partner or by anything they wear or carry.”
 
This was a much simpler rule to enforce – it was blatantly obvious when it was done. And it just goes to show that when you are used to doing something so much it’s difficult to change the habit. The player made a real effort to change – it can’t be that difficult surely – before you throw the ball up make sure your hand is behind the white line! In the fifth and deciding end and with the scores fairly tight, the player forgot about what he needed to do – as he threw the ball up he realised what he’d done and actually caught the ball in mid-air just as the word fault was about to leave the umpire’s mouth! And with that his concentration went and James proceeded to win the match. Like David, he too felt aggrieved by the umpiring decisions as his bat made it’s way swiftly onto the floor after the loss!
 
We like the guys from JWTTC – the match, however, had turned a little sour which wasn’t what anyone wanted – although it was not our turn to umpire, it was suggested that Hannah umpire the next match to take the heat out of the situation – she would let anything go – and so things were calmed down again by the youngest player in the match and her “I don’t know the rules and let the match flow attitude”!! And by the end, fist pumps were given, and all was forgiven – well by us anyway because we had secured promotion!! 

tWeek 16 of the Edinburgh & Lothians Table Tennis League saw all four of our Teams in action.
 
In the Premier division Colin Green, David Melrose and David Simpson hosted runaway league leaders Murrayfield 1. After an 8-2 loss the previous week to Murrayfield 3, the home trio feared the worst. The first two matches were played simultaneously – David M took on the ever improving Charlie McGowan whilst David S faced the Premier League’s number 1 in terms of averages, Krzysztof Borkowicz (32 wins out of 33 matches played). We remember young Charlie playing in the lower divisions (seems like yesterday) and he always showed promise – but wow how he has improved – a straight sets victory over David M continued his impressive first season in the top division. When David S went 2-0 down it looked like this was going to be a quick night for Team 1. He, however, dug in deep and took the next two ends 13-11. 11-6. In the decider he had a match point at 11-10 up – he won’t like us for reminding him (he’s had nightmares about it) – he had Krzysztof on the defensive and a high ball to smash away for the win – so close and yet so far – a 13-11 loss ensued. Colin was blown away in match 3 by Gordon Muir (how does he seem to have so much more time than anyone else to play the ball!) and suddenly the home side was 3-0 down. David S went the distance again in his second match, this time just coming out on top 11-9 in the fifth against Charlie but Colin fell in 4 and David M in 3 to make the match score 5-1 going into the doubles. Another five ender ensued and after taking a 2-1 advantage with an 11-2 win in end 3, the home pairing of Colin and David S ought to have been in control – they lost the fourth 14-12 and with it the momentum swung. The final three matches saw a win for Colin but losses for the two David’s. Another 8-2 defeat for Team 1 but there were real positives in this match and a few matches could easily have gone the other way – the 8-2 scoreline flattered the League leaders a little and that’s good news for the rest of the season for Team 1
 
Team 2 faced a huge match against Murrayfield 6, both teams struggling towards the foot of the Division 1 table. Charlie Brindley was first up for the home side but he lost out to Ian Moran in 4 ends. Gary McDougal found himself 2-0 down against Masoud Nowbaveh but battled back to 2-2 before losing out 11-7 in the fifth. 2-0 down and the pressure was really on the hosts – Sonny Taylor got the first win on the board as he defeated Artur Chodacki before Gary levelled the match with a straight sets victory over Ian. Charlie hasn’t played much this year and isn’t quite at the top of his game – he was relieved to win in five over Artur and when Sonny the n defeated Masoud, the home side had turned a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 advantage going into the doubles. Charlie and Sonny were perhaps the surprise pairing selected but team captain Charlie’s decision was proved right as they won in four ends to secure at least a point for the hosts. Match 8 saw that 1 point turned into 2 as Gary won his second match of the night. It was a relief that match 8 did go Gary’s way as both Sonny and Charlie lost their last matches (Charlie particularly unlucky losing out 13-11 in the fifth) – Team 2 had done enough though and a vital 2 points was secured with a 6-4 victory.
 
Meanwhile in Division 2, Team Captain James Wighton couldn’t even make it out of his bed to support the team – he still has all the symptoms of Covid-19 but without a positive test! He was replaced by Greig McDonell who joined forces with Abby Wighton and Hannah McDonell as they faced Heriot Watt.  The students only had one player from the team who played in the first half of the season and they were missing their number 1, Dan Potter who sits 2nd in the individual averages. The first round of singles matches all went the way of the hosts in three straight ends. Match 4 saw Abby take on Dominic Perry, a vastly improved player compared to the first half of the season – he showed that improvement as he fought back from 2-0 down to force a decider. Abby got off to a good start and was never caught as she secured an 11-6 fifth end win. Hannah lost the first end of her 2nd match of the evening but came back strongly in the next 3 ends (11-3, 11-3, 11-6) and with a win from Greig the match was over – 6-0 going into the doubles. After losing the first end 11-9, Abby & Hannah looked to have the match under control as they won the next two 11-4, 11-5. The students fought back, however, to force a decider and at 5-2 down at the change of ends it looked as if they had let the match slip away from them – credit to the girl power team though as they fought back to take 9 of the next 11 points for an 11-7 win. The match was rounded off in style with another 3 singles wins as Team 2 recorded a resounding 10-0 win.
 
Team 4 are looking stranded at the foot of the Division 3 table – they were looking to bounce back from a 10-0 loss the previous week as they travelled to take on Murrayfield 8. The first half match had resulted in an 8-2 loss but Murrayfield were strengthened by the re-registration of Mike Gannon (down from Division 1 to Division 3 for the second half of the season). In fairness, maybe they haven’t been strengthened – the only player to lose an end all night was Mike. 32 ends of table tennis were played and 30 of them were won by the Edinburgh outfit – Ouch – that’s a good old fashioned hammering. Craig Linton, Rachel Petrie and Jim Jack were never at the races in this one – service and service return is still the major issue for this trio – the serving masterclass which had been promised will have to wait – the prospect of Greig trying to explain things resulted in both Craig and Jim finding more interesting things to do last Saturday – shocking!
 
And so, to our player of the week award. Let’s not beat around the bush, we gave a joint award last week and we’re doing the same again this week – Gary and Sonny deserve a mention – they both recorded two wins out of three in their vital Division 1 win but both Abby and Hannah were undefeated in singles play last week – they both played 11 ends and won 9 – they also combined for a doubles win so we cannot split them – well done to them!
 
And finally, our controversy of the week section. Ratings Central has come under fire a bit in the past from us – it used to be the case that you would judge a player by their averages in the League, or by performances at tournaments etc. Nowadays, we use this bizarre algorithm based system to determine a player’s playing strength. And we suppose it works to an extent. Where it becomes difficult is when rules are applied on the basis of the ratings score. One of the most bizarre situations that we have come across arose as a result of one of Murrayfield’s players being “out of strength order” in terms of his rating – he was registered in Division 1 but was more than 200 points below all four of the players who were registered below him in Division 2. Imagine the large intake of breath by Murrayfield when it was pointed out that for the second half of the season what this meant was that none of the four Division 2 registered players could play doubles! Now that is bizarre! A 1-0 start for all of Murrayfield’s opponents because they are unable to field a doubles team – unless of course they play two players up from teams below and only one regular takes to the table each week! A similar situation arose in Murrayfield’s division 4 team – two players not allowed to play doubles – so if they played a match together does that mean they would also have to concede – apparently slightly different  - one of them could play along with the third member of the team (really – where are these rules written down??). Murrayfield have, however, sorted the major issue – the player who was registered above the Division 2 team has now been re-registered below them – and we take it that’s what our Match Secretary wanted to happen.  It appears that gone are the days where people could just play together because they were pals and got on well together – for years we remember Brian Bailey, Ian Woodyer and Clive Liddiard playing together – they had “always” played together; they socialised together;  they went to the pub together; they were a team and that was how it was. We have also had numerous seasons where team selection has been based to a certain extent on players personalities – so and so doesn’t get on with Mr X we can’t put them together – Mr Y hates Mr Z’s guts, we need to keep them apart etc. – have those days also gone? In fairness, at PTTC we all love each other and get on famously so that last issue doesn’t really trouble us anymore – well mostly……