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Week 6 Report

25/10/2015

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All 8 of the Club's Teams were in action in Week 6 of the Edinburgh & Lothians League.

With Colin Green injured, for the second week in a row Team 1 faced a match in the premier Division with only two players. Greig McDonell and Stuart Gow faced the daunting task against one of only two sides with an unbeaten record in the Premier Division, North Merchiston 1. Unlike their hosts, NM were able to call up a third player as Eddie Scott filled in to join with Scotland's Number 1 female player, Gillian Edwards and Kristina Petrauskaite. Just like the previous week, Team 1's chances were ended early on as Greig lost to Gillian before putting up a bit of a fight against Kristina, losing deuce in the fifth - 5-0 down and a miracle required! Stuart defeated Eddie in the only win for the home side as Team 1 fell to a heavy 9-1 defeat. Four matches played for NM 1 and only 3 individual games lost - that's impressive. 

Team 2 of James Wighton, Gary McDougal and Abby Wighton have found the going very tough in Division 1 so far this season following their step up from Division 2. It didn't look as if things would get any easier as they faced a strong West Lothian 3 side comprising Barrie and Lewis Hills and Calum Stephen. Despite some good matches, the home side were always under the cosh and before they knew it they were 5-0 down. A win for Gary against Calum in match 6 kept the game alive, but not for long as Calum and Lewis defeated James and Abby in the doubles to give the visitors an unassailable 6-1 lead. The only other victory of the night for Team 2 came in match 9 for Gary against Barrie to give a final score of 8-2 in favour of the visitors. This has been a worrying start to the season for Team 2 who look short on confidence after only picking up a solitary point from their first four matches. A win in their rearranged fixture with Edinburgh International 3 in Week 7 would do the Team a world of good and would lift them out of the bottom 2 in the Division. 

Also in Division 1, Team 3 faced an away tie against Corstorphine 1. Having only managed a draw with Corstorphine 2 in Week 4 the visitors knew they were in for a difficult night and their task was made much more difficult with the late withdrawal of Clive Liddiard as a result of illness. Chris Markey stepped up from Team 4 to join regulars Iain Johnstone and Brian Bailey. When Iain got the visitors off to a good start things looked positive but neither Chris nor Brian could find wins in the first six matches of the night and going into the doubles the visitors trailed 4-2. Iain and Brian lost that crucial match and only Chris managed a win in the final three singles of the night as Corstorphine ran out 7-3 winners. Iain won two and Chris won 1 for the visitors. Two wins, two draws and two defeats for Team 3 in the first six weeks of the season is perhaps not the start they would have hoped for but if Clive and Brian can start to find some consistency Team 3 look to be able to rely on the good play of Iain to keep them in the hunt in most of their matches, Iain having won 15 out of 18 games played so far. 

Team 4 were looking to continue their unbeaten start to the season as they travelled to take on Murrayfield 6 in Division 2. Tony Brentnall, Krzysztof Laszkiewicz and Gavin Hunter started the night as clear favourites against a team who propped up the Division 2 table. It looked like being a straightforward night for the Penicuik trio as they raced into a 3-0 lead. On closer examination of the scorecard however it is worth noting that all three of those matches were won in the deciding fifth end and two of them were won deuce in the fifth. It perhaps wasn't such a big surprise then when the Murrayfield trio then won 4 of the next five matches to bring the scores level at 4-4 going into the final two singles matches. Tony gave the advantage back to Penicuik with a straight sets win but the night was to end in disappointing fashion as Gavin lost match 10 to Graham Muir for a 5-5 draw. Gavin and Tony both won 2 whilst Kris (100% and lauded for his unbeaten run in last week's report) had his worst night of the season as he won 1. In fairness to Kris, the Team suggest that he was under the weather (man flu) and that had an impact on his performances. Hopefully Team 4 will not, later in the season, rue this slip up. Despite the disappointment, they remain undefeated and the point keeps them in joint 2nd place in the Division, only two points adrift of league leaders Edinburgh Sports Club who they face in a crucial match in Week 8.
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With not one win from Teams 1 to 4, Team 5 provided a much needed positive for the Club as they were victorious against Corstorphine 6.  John Bald, Gregory Leplatre and Phil Daly all won 2 singles whilst Gregory and John combined for a win in the doubles as the 5th Team ran out 7-3 winners against their Edinburgh based opponents. Gregory was unlucky not to win three, losing out to Corstorphoine's John Morton 13-11 in the fifth. The win puts Team 5 into 4th place in the Division although there is already a big gap (6 points) to leaders North Merchiston 3. 

In Division 4 Teams 6, 7 & 8 were all in action with the youngsters of Team 6 producing the best performance of the three as they faced a home tie against Fife 4, a team who started the match 5 places above them in the Division. Luke Hennessey and Louis McLeod both won 2 whilst Louis Myatt won 1 singles resulting in the doubles match being crucial. Luke and Louis McLeod combined for an excellent 4 end win against their far more experienced opponents to give the home side a terrific 6-4 win.  

Team 7 had the best start to the season of the 3 division 4 sides but the last couple of weeks have seen a dip in form and Stuart Bennett, Craig Johnson and Millie Bennett found the going difficult again in Week 6 as they fell to an 8-2 defeat at the hands of West Lothian 9. Stuart and Millie both won 1.

Finally, Team 8 faced a difficult home tie against table toppers Edinburgh University 4. Whilst 3 of the 10 matches on the night went to a fifth and deciding end, the home side of Sean Lennon, Kathryn McKenzie and Lewis Baldock never really troubled their opponents as they fell to their second whitewash defeat of the season which leaves them sitting 2nd bottom of the League. 

And so to Controversy of the week - none for the Club this week - well none that I'm aware of so looking outside the Club a mention, because Team 1 played against her, of Table Tennis Scotland's decision not to select Gillian Edwards to compete in the Senior 6 nations next month. Number 1 player in Scotland, just won the Perth Grand Prix, National Champion and instead in their wisdom TTS select Rebecca Plaistow and Alisa Khalid. Whilst there is no doubting the young girls talents and TTS want to give youth a chance, it does sound crazy that for a senior event you wouldn't take your top senior player! Makes the Club's team selections look "Einstein like"!

And finally, player of the week this week was a difficult one - not because there were so many great performances unfortunately - with only two teams avoiding defeat, their was a small pool of players to pick from! For another solid performance the award this week goes to 
Team 5's Gregory Leplatre for his two wins and a doubles win in the Team's 7-3 victory. Well done Gregory.



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Week 5 Report

18/10/2015

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We start away from League action as Week 5 began with a friendly match against Oberbruch Table Tennis Club from Germany. Our German visitors have had links with Midlothian since the early 1980s when they were twinned with Lasswade and they have continued to return to Scotland virtually every two years. After Lasswade folded, they maintained their connection by playing against MacTaggart Scott, the Club which took most of the Lasswade players. Greig and Colin remember with fondness a night when in the old MacTaggart Scott premises with concrete, slippy floors and room for two / three tables at push, a friendly was arranged - just a few Oberbruch players to compete, but the others who had come to Scotland would come along to watch we were told. Picture our faces when a busload of about 70 Germans turned up at the Club carrying crates and crates of beer - can't really remember much about the table tennis that night!! And so to this year  as the Club were delighted to again entertain our German opposition last Monday. A great night was had by all - slightly fewer numbers than in the old days, but with a travelling support of about 30, Ladywood was turned into a miniature Heinsberg for the night. As with previous visits, the Germans certainly know how to enjoy their table tennis and the beer was cracked open well before the final match of the night. Oberbruch have a great Club spirit/camaraderie which we can hopefully try to replicate. The table tennis was really secondary on the night to the forming of some new friendships and the renewal of some old ones.

And so to the League action. Whilst most of the Club were entertaining Oberbruch, the controversy of the week was Murrayfield 2's decision to refuse a postponement of Team 1's match. With Greig on holiday, Colin had to miss out on renewing his "European friendships" as he travelled with Stuart Gow to take on Keith Dingwall, Vitto Ferrari and James Forrest. Starting the match at 3-0 down, the match was virtually over within half an hour as first Colin lost in five ends to Vitto followed by the narrowest of defeats for Stuart, 12-10 in the deciding end to young James. Whilst Colin did well to win his two remaining singles matches, those were the only wins for the visitors as they fell to an 8-2 defeat. Worse news followed for the Team with confirmation that an injury for Colin looks set to keep him out of action for the next 3 to 4 weeks.

Meanwhile in Division 1, Penicuik’s 3rd Team faced a home tie against Edinburgh University 3. Clive Liddiard, Iain Johnstone and Brian Bailey have had a difficult start to their Division 1 campaign with one win, two draws and a defeat in their first four matches. For the first time this season all three played well on the same night as they stormed to a 10-0 victory over their student opponents. 

The surprise package of the season so far for the Club has been the form of the 4th Team in their first season in Division 2. Undefeated through the first four weeks of the season, the home side had to call up Gregory Leplatre from Division 3 to support regulars Tony Brentnall and Krzysztof Laszkiewicz as they hosted West Lothian 7. Gregory did not let the team down as he won 2 of his 3 singles matches whilst Tony and Krzysztof were each undefeated and combined for a doubles win as the home side ran out 9-1 winners and continued their great start to the season.

In Division 3, Team 5 faced an away match against Edinburgh University 3.  Unlike Team 4, the 5th Team have struggled for consistency in their first four matches of the season and after a good win in Week 4 their inconsistency returned as John Bald won 2, Gregory, who had played so well for Team 4 the previous night only managed 1 win and Phil Daly, player of the night in week 4 didn't trouble the scorers as they fell to a disappointing 7-3 defeat. 

In Division 4, Team 6 also faced Edinburgh University opponents. Luke Hennessey, Louis Myatt and Louis McLeod were looking to follow up their first victory of the season against Haddington with another win. The first three matches of the night turned out to be crucial. In match 1, Luke lost out to Joe Markey 12-10 in the fifth and deciding end before Louis McLeod lost in four ends. At 2-0 down, Louis Myatt knew that the pressure was on and he just fell short, losing the 4th end 11-9 and the fifth and deciding end of his first match 11-7. Although Luke and Louis Myatt rallied to win their remaining singles matches Louis McLeod was off form they knew that the doubles was vital - once again the visitors lost out in five tight ends and with that they fell to a frustrating 6-4 defeat. 

And so to player of the Week - this week sees Brian Bailey in the running again - when was the last time he won 3 out of 3 singles matches (sorry Brian!) but he misses out on the basis that this week's award goes to the most consistent player over the first 5 weeks of the season for the Club - none other than Mr Scrabble name himself, Krzysztof Laszkiewicz. Kris has only played 3 out of the first five matches for Team 4 but perhaps it's no coincidence that the two matches he hasn't played have resulted in 5-5 draws - he once again won his 3 this week and played in the winning doubles match - that keeps him undefeated this season with 9 singles wins out of 9 in a division higher than he was playing last season. If we take last year into account, he's actually on an even better roll having gone undefeated for the last 4 matches he played last season - 21 wins out of his last 21 singles matches played - that's impressive - well done Kris!

And finally, controversy of the week - enough said already I think - it was refreshing to see how TT should be played in our match with Oberbruch - lots of fun, matches all played in a spirit of friendship and beers consumed both during the match and afterwards!
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Week 4 Report

17/10/2015

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All of the Club’s eight teams were in action in a busy Week 4 of the Edinburgh & Lothians League. One of the downsides of getting bigger is that we're running out of room at the Club and it was a tight squeeze on Wednesday last week with 4 teams all in action. It was, however, great to see so many youngsters playing and there was a real buzz at Ladywood with  matches from the Premier, Division 2 and Division 4 all taking place - I could hardly hear the dogs because of the noise!

The 1st Team were forced into a change as they faced a home tie against Murrayfield 3. Greig McDonell and Stuart Gow were joined by Iain Johnstone who deputised for the absent Aussie, Colin Green. When Iain lost match 1 of the night, the home side were under pressure but Greig won match 2 before Iain, playing out of order, won a vital match 3 beating Colin Clark in straight sets. That took the pressure of the home side and by the time of the doubles the home side held an unassailable 5-1 lead. After their first doubles outing was lost, both Greig and Stuart won their final games as Team 1 triumphed by 7 games to 3. Greig and Stuart both won 3 whilst Iain added 1. Given that there are many difficult matches to come, you have to take the good news when it's available so with that in mind it's great to see the 1st Team sitting proudly in 3rd place in the Premier Division.

Life in Division 1 is proving difficult for our Division 2 winners from last year and having lost in Week 3 to Corstophine 2, matters weren't going to get any easier as James Wighton, Gary Mcdougal and Abby Wighton faced a home tie against Corstorphine 1. The 8-2 defeat doesn't really tell the whole story of how close the match actually was. James lost the first match in 5 ends before Abby lost in 4 tight ends (deuce in each end) to Dave Grant. Abby lost her 2nd match of the night deuce in the fifth to Thomas Grant before dad James lost in five ends to Dave Hall - you get the picture - on the night 5 of the first 7 matches went to five ends and Penicuik only won 1 of them. Gary was the only home player to get on the scorecard with wins against Dave and Thomas Grant. With only 1 point from 3 matches Team 2 are in need of a confidence boosting win soon. 

Team 3 travelled to face Corstorphine 2 who, as mentioned previously, had been victorious against Team 2 the previous week. Clive Liddiard, Iain Johnstone and Brian Bailey went one better than their clubmates but were still disappointed at the end of the night as they recorded their second draw of the season. The star of the show was Iain Johnstone who won all three of his singles matches and combined with Clive for a win in the doubles. Unfortunately for Team 2, Iain didn't have much support on the night as Clive recorded the only other win for the visitors. Remarkably, despite only picking up one win in the first four weeks, the Division 1 table shows Team 3 in 4th place at this early stage in the season.

With two draws and a win in the first three weeks of the season, Penicuik's only undefeated side going into week 4 was Team 4 and they were looking to maintain their unbeaten Division 2 record as they travelled to Bathgate to take on West Lothian 6. Chris Markey, Gavin Hunter and Krysztof Laszkiewicz were never in trouble as they recorded an emphatic 9-1 victory. Chris and Krysztof both won 3 and combined for a win in the doubles whilst Gavin won 2.

In Division 3 Team 5 also faced Bathgate based opposition as they took on West Lothian's 8th Team at Ladywood. The player of the night was the visitors' Nathan Lander who won all his three singles matches and combined with Tommy Hammill for a win in the doubles. He had no support however as Gregory Leplatre, John Bald and Phil Daly each won two to record an important 6-4 win. 

All three of Penicuik’s Division 4 teams were in action in Week 4. Having lost their first two matches Team 6 took on Haddington 2 and recorded their first victory of the season. Luke Hennessey won 3 whilst Louis Myatt and Louis McLeod both won 2 and combined for a win in the doubles in the resultant 8-2 victory. 

Elsewhere in Division 4 results weren't so positive. After their 10-0 win last week, Team 7 of Craig Johnson, Stuart Bennett and Millie Bennett were brought back down to earth with a bump as they lost out 8-2 to Edinburgh University. Stuart and Millie both won 1.

In another busy week for the Club, Team 8 fell to a heavy 9-1 defeat at the hands of North Merchiston 5. Neither Sean Lennon nor Lewis Baldock troubled the scorers, Penicuik’s only win on the night being provided by Rachel Petrie.

So to player of the Week this week - a few in the running - Iain Johnstone for a maximum for Team 3 not to mention an important win when playing up for Team 1; Phil for winning the player of the night award - a bit like Brian Bailey last week - doesn't happen very often; Stuart and Greig for holding the fort for Team 1 whilst Colin couldn't be bothered turning up and young Luke for winning 3 in Team 6's first win of the season - but this week and for one week only the prize goes to a non-Penicuik player - Edinburgh University's Tom Bell who ended a remarkable run of victories in the Premier Division for Murrayfield's Calum Morrison - 57 wins out of 57 in the 2014-15 season and an undefeated first 3 weeks of this season was brought to an end on a Friday night at the Pleasance - well done Tom. 

And finally (and worryingly) our "controversy of the week award" seems to be becoming a regular piece in these weekly round-ups! Having convinced our own Team 8 to grant a postponement to Team 7 as they had nobody available to play next week, El Presidente sought a postponement from Murrayfield 2 of next weeks' Premier League match - no chance was the response (or words to that effect) - and who can blame them after our Team 8 refused Murrayfield 8 a postponement in Week 3! Team 1 therefore holds Rachel responsible if they end up on the losing end of the result next week!! (only joking Rachel!) Sporting? No. Fair? Probably not. Would we have done the same? ....... You reap what you sow!

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Week 3 Report

5/10/2015

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Week 3 of the League saw seven of the Club’s eight teams in action. 

The 1st Team were looking to bounce back following their defeat in Week 2 as they faced an away fixture against Edinburgh University who once again had former Penicuik Team 1 member Ian Johnston in their ranks. The first 3 matches of the night turned out to be crucial as first Colin won in 5 tight ends against Ian (and his infamous hard bat), then Stuart came back from 2-1 down to beat the much improved Bach Tran before Greig saw off Tom Bell in 4 tight ends. Those three wins took the pressure of the visitors who marched on to finish the night 9-1 winners - Colin and Stuart both won 3 whilst Greig won 2, losing out to Bach in four ends. Ian is left still looking for his first win against his former teammates since making that ridiculous decision to join a team with people his own age in the Premier!! 

In Division 1, the 2nd Team faced an away tie against Corstorphine 2. On paper James Wighton, Gary Mcdougal and Abby Wighton looked firm favourites to take the victory but when James lost the first match in 5 tight ends, the visitors knew they were in for a tough night. A win for Gary followed by a loss from Abby meant the home side had the advantage going into the 2nd round of singles matches. James had a bad night as he lost match 4 but Abby then pulled one back before Gary lost out deuce in the fifth to Jeff Clark and suddenly Team 2 were in trouble at 4-2 down, but a win in the doubles followed by a win for Abby brought the match level at 4-4. Neither James nor Gary however were able to win their final singles match, Gary again missing out deuce in the fifth in the final match of the night which handed Corstorphine a surprise 6-4 victory. Abby was player of the night for the visitors with 2 singles wins and a doubles victory with Gary but her only support on a disappointing night was 1 singles win for Gary. 

Penicuik 3 caught up on their postponed match against Edinburgh International 4 in a match which was sportingly played 2 v 2 with Jack Oughton missing out for the home side (recovering from injury) and Brian Bailey missing for Penicuik (he preferred to socialise elsewhere it appears!) Neither Clive Liddiard nor Iain Johnstone were troubled as they recorded a 6-3 victory. Two nights later the 3rd Team welcomed Brian back into the fold as they faced a home tie against Edinburgh Sports Club 2. With two players with Premier League experience (Alan Nisbet and Chris Shaw) and the ever improving Faye Leggett, ESC must be regarded as one of the favourites for the Division 1 title and they proved far too strong for the Penicuik trio as they ran out 8-2 winners. Iain and Brian both defeated Chris. On a further positive note for Brian, however, he was awarded player of the match for the home side - the first time that's happened in his last 3 seasons of table tennis!!

In Division 2, Penicuik 4 of Chris Markey, Tony Brentnall and Gavin Hunter were looking to extend their undefeated start to the season as they took on Murrayfield 5 at Ladywood.  The star of the night was Murrayfield’s young Jake Somerville who, despite giving away many many many years of experience, was undefeated against all three of home team's players. The home trio rallied, however, and 2 five end wins in matches 8 and 9 of the night for Chris then Tony secured their second consecutive 5-5 draw. Chris and Tony both won 2 and Gavin won 1.

In Division 3 Team 5 faced an away match against North Merchiston 3 and the match marked the debut for Penicuik’s Martyn Levy who joined Gregory Leplatre and John Bald for the visitors. It wasn’t, however, the debut that Martyn had hoped for as neither he nor John troubled the scorers. Gregory won two and combined with John in the doubles for a victory in the resulting 7-3 defeat. Two defeats in three weeks for Team 5 and they will be looking to bounce back in Week 4 when they face West Lothian 8 who sit a point below them in the table.

In Division 4 Team 7 started the season with a defeat, followed that up with a draw in Week 2 and went one better in Week 3 as they recorded their first win of the season against Haddington 2. Craig Johnson, Stuart Bennett and Millie Bennett were all on fine form for the Penicuik side as they all won their 3 singles matches and Craig and Millie added the doubles in their emphatic 10-0 win. Bragging rights so far in the battle of our three Division 4 teams certainly belong to Team 7.

After the low of a 10-0 defeat in their only match of the season so far, Team 8 win the award for controversy of the week as they received a concession from Murrayfield 8 who were unable to field a team to fulfil the fixture. In fairness to Team 8, Murrayfield do indicate on their Club page that they are unlikely to be able to accommodate requests for postponements - it seems they are able to request them however! Anyway the resulting 10-0 concession was certainly not the way the Team would have wanted to get their first points of the season but it's a welcome victory nonetheless! The question that is now being asked is will Team 8 accede to Team7's request for a postponement of their match in Week 5?? Who knows??!!

Finally, the player of the week award this week is a difficult one - Brian was in the running just because of the momentous occasion of receiving a player of the night nomination from his opponents - he was ruled out though when it came to light that money may have changed hands! Stuart's undefeated night for the first Team put him in contention but in the end the award goes to Abby - even though playing in a losing side, two singles wins and a doubles victory in a 6-4 defeat showed she's certainly not out of her depth in Division 1.

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