Week 23 of the Edinburgh & Lothians Table Tennis League and three of our teams were all in action at Ladywood last Thursday evening (17th March).
 
After having to postpone their match against Fife due to Ladywood’s “snow closure” last month, Team 1 faced a Fife side who, had the match been played on 24th February, would have only been able to field two players, one of whom would have been playing up! By the time of this rearranged match, Team 1 was without David Simpson but fortunately after Team 2’s game last week was postponed, they were able to call up Charlie Brindley to join Colin Green and David Melrose. When Charlie won the opening end of Match 1 against Peter Aird a huge surprise looked on the cards. But Peter must have been caught cold as the next three ends were won convincingly 11-2, 11-4, 11-5. David then faced Tales Yamamoto and whereas in the first half David had pushed Tales to five ends, this time round it was plain sailing as the Fife player won in straight sets. Colin started his evening against Peter Fabian who was playing up for Fife’s top team. He was no match for Colin losing in a very consistent manner 11-5, 11-5, 11-5. David lost to Peter Aird before Charlie defeated Peter Fabian and Colin played well to beat Tales in 4 ends making it 3-3 going into the doubles. When David and Colin lost that match they were in trouble. David won his last match of the night but Charlie, as expected, couldn’t match Tales. The match hinged on Colin v Peter Aird – Peter had been victorious in the reverse fixture but when he went 2-0 down it looked as if Colin had the upper hand. Peter fought back and won the next two ends 12-10, 12-10 and so it came down to the final end of the night – Colin was probably overdue a good performance after a few indifferent weeks, and he produced the goods when it mattered to secure a 5-5 draw for Team 1.
 
After Team 3’s previous match had seen them secure a point against Division 2 Leaders, West Lothian they were looking to repeat the feat against second placed Edinburgh International. Abby had work commitments and was again replaced by Greig McDonell who joined daughter Hannah and Team Captain James Wighton. They faced the very international sounding Christophe Bauer, Artur Labecki and Alastairio Hillio – well two out of the three live up to the Club name. When James and Hannah lost their opening matches to Artur (0-3) and Christophe (1-3) respectively, the home side knew they were in trouble. Greig got the team on the board against Alastair, but the next round of matches was no better for the Midlothian outfit, Greig again the only one to record a win. 4-2 down going into the doubles and it was a bit of Deja-vu for Hannah and James who played some excellent stuff (as they had done in their two previous outings) – a win in the first end, however, couldn’t be followed up and that loss secured at least a point for the visitors. Greig kept the home side in the match but Hannah and James both needed wins in their last matches.  Hannah’s match against Alastair saw the youngster play some super stuff in the first end to win it 11-6 but in ends 2 and 3 she fell to defeats – a reset before end 4 saw her find the right balance between her attacks and defence and she secured a 15-13 win to take the match to a decider. Meanwhile, James had taken a 2-0 lead against Christophe 11-9, 11-9. This pair have played twice already this season and both previous matches saw Christophe come out on top, the last following a recovery from 2-0 down. 9-11, 9-11 in ends three and four gave the score a very symmetrical look but the momentum was all with the visitor, and he pulled away for an 11-6 fifth end win. Hannah also got off to a shocker in her deciding end and could not recover – in the end a comfortable 7-3 on paper scoreline, however, Edinburgh International knew they had been in a tight match. Congratulations to them, as a result of their win, they have secured at least a 2nd place finish in the Division.

Team 4 were bolstered again by the inclusion of Ian Hislop. He joined Rachel Petrie and Craig Linton as they hosted West Lothian in Division 3.  Rachel got the home side off to a great start with an excellent 3-0 win v Martin Rumsey and that was followed by a rather nervy 5 end win for Ian v Bob Lander. Craig rounded off the first three singles with a win v Aditya Zaveri and for the first time this season Team 4 had taken a 3-0 lead. Ian and Rachel then made it 5-0 before Craig went the distance v Bob, narrowly losing out in five ends. The doubles produced another win for the hosts courtesy of Rachel and Craig. Further wins followed for Ian and Craig before Rachel ended the night with her match v Bob – she played well but fell in four ends – an 8-2 win for Penicuik, their best result of the season by far – if only we had a few more weeks left maybe Team 4 could have hauled themselves off the foot of the table – their last match of the season could still have a bearing on who finishes second bottom – West Lothian’s defeat to Penicuik means a win for Corstorphine v Penicuik would see them jump above the Bathgate side!
  
And so, to our player of the week award. After a few tough weeks it was good to see Colin back on form – his undefeated night in singles play secured the 5-5 draw for the team and a vital point in the Premier Division – well done to him.
  
And finally, our controversy of the week section. Thank goodness for James Wighton – voted in the past as our nicest Club member he has suddenly become our “most controversial member”!  He had the audacity at the end of the match v Ed Int to say that he was being led astray this year by El Presidente’s influence – he was once more in amongst the controversies! In the doubles, Umpire Greig called a fault on one of his serves which looked as if it had landed on the wrong side of the centre line – James was having none of it! He pleaded his case pointing out that the umpire needed glasses and was wrong – Umpire Greig (impartial to the hilt) told him his decision stood – James then turned his attention to his opponents and specifically the receiver who, in James’ view would have had the best view of whether it was a fault or not – you must have seen that it was in he says – no response from Edinburgh International – oh come on you must have seen it – the response this time was it didn’t matter because the umpire had made the decision – James pointed out that if all the players agreed the umpire was wrong then he could overturn the decision – Ed Int were having none of it and would not commit themselves to a view on whether the ball was in or out – grudgingly James played on incensed by what he saw as blatant “unsportsmanlike behaviour" from the opponents – either that or it’s James that needs glasses!
 
This match had a bit of niggle in it, from before a ball was even hit, as a result of Ed Int’s team captain indicating to both James and Greig that he thought it was very unfair that Greig was playing in the fixture. That could have a negative impact on their “fight for 2nd place” with Murrayfield. We think the argument was that it was unfair that Greig hadn’t played every match for Team 3 – this was only his 5th outing – in particular he hadn’t played in either match against Murrayfield 7 and that gave them an unfair advantage. We didn’t point out that what would definitely have given Murrayfield an advantage would have been had we refused to bring the match forward from its original scheduled date because Ed Int would not have been able to field a full side! It was pointed out that Greig only played if one of the others was unavailable – on this occasion Abby was working. We’re not sure what Ed Int wanted us to do – Greig not to play and give them a 3-0 start? As it was Greig playing had no impact on the result – we would have thought, however, the sensible thing to do would have been to wait until the match was over and then if they felt aggrieved because they lost they could have vented their frustration at that stage. Raising it before a ball was hit, was, in Team Captain James’ view, utterly pointless and soured the night a little.
 
Ah what fun – on we go to Week 24 – some of the ELTTL Teams have already completed their seasons – we still have a few matches left to report on, particularly Team 2 who somehow still have three games left and they probably need to win at least two of them to avoid relegation. Five consecutive losses for Team 2 has left them in a perilous position – but still mathematically possible that a miracle escape happens – Good luck to them.

Week 22 of the Edinburgh & Lothians Table Tennis League and all four of our teams were in action.
 
Team 1 faced a strong Murrayfield 2 side at Ladywood and when David M and Colin lost the first two matches of the night 3-0 the home side knew they were in trouble. David S played well in Match 3 to defeat Charlie Ellis in four ends and there were renewed hopes that Team 1 would make a fight of this as Colin took on Keith Dingwall, a player he has had the upper hand over in recent times. Keith still has nightmares of losing from an unlosable position against Colin in the Edinburgh Champs and he wasn’t going to let that happen again as he won in 4 ends. 3-1 became 5-1 as David S lost to the very impressive Danilo Celli (Murrayfield’s conveyer belt of finding new talent continues) and David M lost to Charlie. The doubles provided a bright moment for the home side – David S and Colin have combined well in recent weeks and they enjoyed a terrific 5 end victory to keep the match alive. Any hopes of a comeback were short-lived, however, as Colin lost to Charlie in Match 8. With Teams 1 and 3 sharing the “extra table” at Ladywood, David sat and watched the last two Team 3 matches get underway just after 9.40 and match 9 of his own match was also running late – David S came back from 2-0 down to run out a 3-2 winner over Keith but by then 10 pm had come and gone and David M was off! A 7-3 win for the visitors, an off night for Colin, but another good performance by David S.
  
We have been a little pessimistic in recent weeks about Team 2’s chances of surviving in Division 1. Week 22 saw them face runaway leaders Haddington 1 and not much was expected of them as they travelled to East Lothian. Having already pretty much secured the Division 1 title we were tempted to ask our East Lothian friends to roll over in this match – Pete Lugton demanded a very high price for that to happen and unfortunately we couldn’t afford it. No surprise then when Haddington strolled to a 9-1 win against Sonny Taylor, Gary McDougal and Julian Taylor. Gary picked up the one win on the night with a fighting 5 end win against our singing friend Matt Munro. Congratulations to Haddington – they’ve been really close to getting into the Premier on a couple of occasions in recent years and they’ve eventually made it – obviously helped greatly by the aforementioned Pete Lugton coming out of competitive retirement  and showing he still has it! Only 3 losses in 45 games played so far – mathematically with a couple of games still to play Haddington can’t be caught. At the other end of the table, Team 2 are still not gone but……
 
Team 3 faced the daunting task of taking on Division 2 Leaders West Lothian 1 at Ladywood looking to better a 9-1 defeat in the first half of the season. Regular Abby Wighton was unavailable so in stepped Greig McDonell to join daughter Hannah and Team Captain James Wighton. They faced Jamie Toner, Keith MacKay and Wojciech Wziatek who had won all 12 of their previous matches. And it is easy to see why – in Wojciech they probably have the best player in Division 2 (32 wins out of 33 played) and guess who is second in the individual averages – yip young Jamie has had a terrific season.  The first 3 matches were all decided by 3-0 score lines – losses for James and Hannah to Wojciech and Jamie and a win for Greig v Keith. Match 4 saw Hannah take on Wojciech and as Greig and James watched on in a little bit of amazement, Hannah played probably her best set of TT all season with terrific attacking play to take the first end 11-7 – could the upset of all upsets be on the cards? Wojciech is a clever player – he changed tactics a little and Hannah couldn’t maintain the high level of the first end as she fell in 4 ends. James brought the home side back into the match with a win v Keith and when Greig defeated Jamie the teams were level at 3-3 going into the doubles. As with their match v Haddington the previous week, Hannah and James had chances to win this crucial game but lost out in 4 tight ends. Match 8 saw Hannah take on Keith who was adamant that we should play two matches simultaneously – not on your nelly Keith were we going to let Hannah face this without support – at 2-1 down Hannah looked out of it but an 11-3 fourth end win brought her level and when she changed ends 5-3 up in the decider the match was hers for the taking – 4 points lost in a row and she was 7-5 down but her composure remained as she won 6 of the next 7 points for a crucial 3-2 win. Match score 4-4 as James took on Jamie and Greig took on Wojciech in the last two matches of the night. James was no match for Jamie losing in 3 ends and when Greig went 2-0 down in his match, Hannah’s win looked like it was going to count for nothing – Greig had to dig deep winning the next two and needing oxygen by the fifth end. A terrific game to round off the night and credit to Wojciech for some terrific play but it was Greig who sneaked over the line 11-9 in the fifth to give the hosts a deserved 5-5 draw.

After Team 4’s first win of the season in Week 21, they had a far more difficult task as they travelled to take on Haddington 3 who sat 2nd in the Division 3 table and a mammoth 17 points better off than Penicuik.  The visitors had a secret weapon, however, as Ian Hislop made his debut for Team 4, joining Craig Linton and Jim Jack. Ian was the only winner in the first round of singles and when Jim and Craig lost matches 4 and 5 the visitors were up against it. Ian scraped through in four ends against Roger Thomas to reduce the deficit to 4-2 and at 2-1 up in the doubles an unlikely recovery looked on the cards – unfortunately, Craig and Jim lost out in a close 5th set – a huge difference between 5-2 and 4-3. Craig kept the match alive with a good win in Match 8 but Jim found Roger too strong in Match 9 as the hosts secured both points. Ian didn’t quite make it a perfect debut as he lost out in 4 ends in the final match of the night as Team 4 suffered a 7-3 defeat. And with that loss we’re sad to report that Team 4’s fate in Division 3 is decided – even if they win their last two matches, they can’t catch second bottom Corstorphine. Who knows though, with a Division of only 9 teams this year, league re-organisation may allow us to make a pitch to keep a side in Division 3 for next season??
  
And so, to our player of the week award. Ok – so he should never be playing in Division 2 and we know we said he was never going to win this award for league play – but he was the only undefeated player for the Club this week and in fairness Wojciech should never be playing at this level either! Add to that that both Wojciech and Jamie are rated above 1000 and we were persuaded, by Hannah and James, that he deserves some recognition this week for securing the 5-5 draw when both his teammates had given up on his chances and were getting an ambulance ready on speed dial – well done to Greig.
 
Away from the League, a special mention to one of our juniors, Aidan Craig – Aidan took part in a friendly tournament run by our friends in Haddington which saw Juniors competing from Murrayfield, North Merchiston and Haddington obviously. Aidan was undefeated in the group stages and narrowly missed out in the final to a Murrayfield youngster, who very annoyingly he had beaten in the group – a terrific day nonetheless in what was only Aidan’s second tournament – well done to him.
 
And finally, our controversy of the week section. Let’s start at the friendly, family run, tournament at Haddington – the basis of the tournament was to give youngsters a taste of competitive play. In the final, the young Murrayfield player (who has already managed to pick up the word “Cho” – no doubt from watching some seniors play) was supported / coached from the side-lines by a young lady from Murrayfield who plays in the Premier Division. Now we have no problem with coaches or friends and family / supporters encouraging players and applauding good play but oh my goodness – applauding every point won by the young man whether a good shot by him or a mistake from his opponent was a complete joke! Oh look the opponent has pushed a shot in the net – that deserves a round of applause – oh he’s foul served – let’s clap again – for a tournament that was, for many, a first taste of competitive play this type of behaviour is just not on! Just a good job James wasn’t in attendance or we would have had another controversy involving him getting into an argument!
 
Oh wait a minute – Team 3’s match at Ladywood did in fact see the re-emergence of irritable James! He was at it again, as this time a West Lothian umpire, called a let when James thought he had already won the point. The umpire wouldn’t change his mind and James wasn’t happy – his opponent, Keith MacKay, however, was extremely sporting and when the point was replayed he deliberately returned James’ serve into the net. The umpire in question stayed in the chair to umpire the next match – perhaps wanting to have a close up view of Greig’s game as he took on Jamie – he probably wishes he hadn’t bothered! Umpiring, as we have said on numerous occasions can be tough. When Jamie saw a let that no one else did, Greig wasn’t happy when the umpire called a let after the point was over. Fair enough – move on. When next a ball from another court ran right in front of Greig who stopped playing for the let and no let came, he was even more annoyed! In fairness Greig can’t have it both ways – if you want the umpire to call the lets you better play on until he does! This was so blatantly a let, however, that it beggared belief when the umpire said it would be up to Jamie whether he agreed with a let! Jings! Perhaps Greig was a little out of order when, after fist pumping Jamie at the end of the match and congratulating him on some terrific play (he has improved immensely) he thanked the umpire by commenting that it was one of the worst umpiring performances he’d ever seen!! James found it amusing – the umpire didn’t! 

Week 21 of the Edinburgh & Lothians Table Tennis League saw Teams 2, 3 & 4 all in action on Thursday 3rd March and all three games went down to the wire.
  
Team 2 went into Week 21 in the knowledge that their season has taken a marked turn for the worse over the last few weeks. As we reported last week, great runs for Corstorphine and Murrayfield 6 has resulted in Team 2 falling to the foot of the Division 1 table. Ever the optimists, it was pointed out that Team 2 still have games in hand over the teams immediately above them. While that is true, their Week 21 fixture v Murrayfield 5 (who themselves had been dragged down into potential relegation difficulties) was a “must win” or at least a “must not lose” fixture. Julian Taylor, Gary McDougal and Sonny Taylor took to the table at Ladywood against Daniel Najdrowski, John Yau and Haydn Jackson. Sonny got the hosts off to a great start with a 3-1 victory over Dan. Dad, Julian, then faced John and after winning the fourth end to square the game at 2-2 by a thumping 11-4 scoreline, he looked to have all the momentum on his side - John dug in though and won the decider by the same score, 11-4! Gary then faced Haydn, hoping that his awkward rubbers would be too much for his young opponent – if only!! A 3-0 win for Haydn put Murrayfield ahead for the first time on the night. When Julian then lost match 4 and Sonny fell to Haydn, the home side were in big trouble, 4-1 down. Gary steadied the ship with a straightforward win against John and a tight five end win in the doubles for Sonny and Gary brought the home side back to within striking distance at 3-4 going into the final set of singles. The home side knew that they needed at least two of those singles to go their way and perhaps the pressure played its part in matches 8 and 9 – both games went to five ends – Julian has had a poor run of five end defeats and this was another as he narrowly lost out to Haydn, 11-8 in the fifth. Gary v Dan was a mammoth encounter – 2-2 and the decider swung one way and then the other – both players had chances to win it and with six deuces, it was by far the longest game of the night. On such small margins, matches are lost – 17-15 to Dan gave the visitors the 2 points and a win for Sonny in the last match of the night did nothing to improve the mood of Team 2 – a win would have brought them level with the two teams above them and only a point behind Murrayfield 5 – a loss however sees them stay bottom of the division and whilst they still have games in hand, their four matches left include games against the top 2 in the Division! Without wanting to be pessimistic, – we won’t finish that sentence. The large lady hasn’t started singing yet….
 
Team 3 travelled to take on Haddington 2 in Division 2 – James Wighton, Hannah McDonell and Abby Wighton (recovering from a drinking weekend away) took on Graeme McKinnie, Russell Swan and Rolandas Skultinas – a strong looking side who should be higher in the Division than they are. First up was Hannah v Graeme – perhaps a little cold, Hannah never quite got to grips with Graeme’s controlled topspin as she fell to an 11-7, 11-6, 11-9 defeat. At the same time (the match was played on two tables throughout) Abby found herself in trouble against Rolandas – after a good first end for Abby she lost the next three 11-9, 11-3, 11-3. James then faced Russell and his pimpled bat (the first two ends were easy for James (11-6, 11-4) – apparently he then realised Russell had some dodgy rubbers – pity he didn’t remain oblivious as he then lost the next two ends 11-4, 11-8. The decider could have gone either way but James held his nerve with an 11-9 fifth end win to get the visitors on the board. That was followed by a terrific performance from Hannah as she defeated Roland in 3 straight ends to bring the overall match score to 2-2. The next two matches were shared – Abby couldn’t work out Russell’s bat as she fell in four ends but James kept the score level, getting his moneys worth again with a 5 end victory over Graeme. We always say the doubles is crucial and this one was no different – at 1-1 Hannah & James had chances to take a 2-1 lead in a game that brought back memories of the old days when we played up to 21! It wasn’t to be as they fell to a 19-17 loss and it was no surprise when they lost the fourth end. 4-3 to Haddington with three singles left. The doubles pairing of Hannah and James then faced Russell and Rolandas respectively – they needed one of those matches to keep them in the hunt for at least a draw. As Hannah lost the first two ends in very quick time, 11-2, 11-5 it looked like James had worked out Rolandas as he won his second end to level at 1-1. Hannah then suddenly realised that if she slowed things down a bit she could actually play against Russell’s dodgy rubber – two fantastic ends followed as she levelled the scores with 11-9, 11-7 winning ends. James, meanwhile, was finding Rolandas in all out aggressive mode – there were some great rallies but James couldn’t pull off the victory as he fell in 4 ends. That left Hannah needing a fifth end win to keep the match alive – perhaps as a result of knowing that, she couldn’t repeat the play of the previous two ends as she fell to a five end defeat. Match over as a contest and this was fortunate for Haddington – as the time approached 10pm, Graeme was 2-1 up on Abby, but time was called resulting in a concession from Haddington – a 6-4 win for the hosts and oh what might have been for the visitors.
 
The final match of the week saw Team 4 in action against Fife 2 in Division 3. We reported last week that mathematically Team 4 were still in with a chance of surviving – unfortunately, West Lothian picked up a win against fellow strugglers Corstorphine resulting in both of those teams moving 8 points clear of Penicuik. 4 matches to play – 4 wins needed! It’s got to start somewhere and when Fife turned up with two players at Ladywood, the chance was there for Craig Linton, Paul Tracey and Rachel Petrie to win their first match of the season. Effectively 3-0 up but when Craig and Paul lost the first two matches played the pressure was on. Match 6 saw Rachel take on Davy Duffy – a player she had beaten in the first half of the season. This one went the distance but it was the visitor who pulled through 11-8 in the fifth to level the scores at 3-3. The doubles saw Rachel and Craig combine brilliantly for a 4 end win but with Paul losing the two matches he played the score was tied at 4-4 going into the last two matches of the night – Rachel v Marc (who had defeated Craig) and Craig v Davy (who had defeated Rachel) – it’s all about styles as they say – two epic close matches both going to five ends and both won by the home side to give Team 4 their first win of the season – well done to them. 6 points behind again with 3 matches left – what a pity they’ve still got 2nd place Haddington to play next – still in it though – just a bit of a miracle needed next week.
  
And so, to our player of the week award. Four players recorded two wins this week – Sonny, James, Rachel and Craig, although in fairness, the latter two both recorded their second win against a guy called Walkover! Sonny contributed a doubles win – but his side lost 6-4. Rachel and Craig combined for a crucial doubles win without which Team 4 would have drawn rather than won – for the nature of their last ditch fifth end wins, both under pressure, we can’t split them – a joint award this week to Rachel and Craig – well done to them.

And finally, our controversy of the week section. Team 3’s match had some controversial moments and nothing to do with our Club President Greig! Obviously time constraints became an issue for Haddington, having to concede the last match of the night – no messing around from the Sports Centre staff – 9.55pm in they came and effectively told the players time was up – end of story! Fortunately for Haddington this didn’t affect the result but one can see how it might have if Hannah or James had managed to win one of their last matches. The match was played on two tables from the outset – there were a number of five enders though and it goes to show that if matches go long it’s a real struggle to get finished on time – we have the same issues at Ladywood even with a 6.45 start time. We remember West Lothian making an issue about start times being before 7pm and how that made it very difficult for their players to get to matches etc. But three hours does seem tight if matches drag on – do away with the doubles? A quicker finish for all concerned?
 
In James’ final match against Rolandas, tempers flared a little – Umpire Abby called a let just a millisecond before Rolandas struck the ball and missed the table. It was at a fairly crucial stage in the game. James felt that the point was over – even if the call had come slightly before the shot, the sporting thing to do would have been not to take the let and recognise that there was no way the opponent was going to have won the point. The Haddington player was having none of it. We’ve never really seen James get annoyed at an opponent but on this occasion he almost had to be held back! Words were exchanged and Rolandas took full advantage of it as James lost his concentration as he lost the end. He was still seething at the change of ends and we’re not sure if he really ever recovered – part of the reason for the upset was probably also due to the behaviour of the Haddington player throughout the game – a missed shot was greeted with yelps of despair and anger – at various points the player used foul language – all in the presence of two young female opponents and a club night going on at Haddington – unacceptable on any view of it. At higher levels and in a match which would have been umpired by a “qualified” umpire this would have resulted in a yellow card no doubt. Do we have that capability in the ELTTL? The ITTF Regulations have a huge section on behaviour and conduct, for example:
 
“Players and coaches or other advisers shall refrain from behaviour that may unfairly affect an opponent, offend spectators or bring the sport into disrepute, such as abusive language, deliberately breaking the ball or hitting it out of the playing area, kicking the table or surrounds and disrespect of match officials. If at any time a player, a coach or another adviser commits a serious offence the umpire shall suspend play and report immediately to the referee; for less serious offences the umpire may, on the first occasion, hold up a yellow card and warn the offender that any further offence is liable to incur penalties” (Martin at ESC would never win another game!!). Whilst we can all get frustrated on the table, it really is unacceptable to behave in such an abusive way.
 
Finally, on a slightly lighter note, but nonetheless controversial, our joint players of the week combined for the doubles win and each won a crucial singles game to give Team 4 their first win of the season – how would Fife be able to split them for the Player of the Match Award – eh – they gave it to Paul for his win against Mr Walkover! Paul of course is a really nice guy - but really Fife????