Week 6 saw five of our teams in action, with a mix of results and plenty of drama across the divisions.
 
Team 1 – Premier Division
Penicuik I hosted North Merchiston I on Wednesday night and delivered a dominant performance, running out 10-0 winners. Colin Green, Peter Aird, and Ryan Docherty were in imperious form, each winning all three of their singles matches. The doubles pairing of Colin and Ryan also secured victory, ensuring a clean sweep for the home side. There were a couple of close encounters, Peter was pushed to five ends by Quentin Renau, and Colin dropped an end to both Artur Labecki and Quentin, but overall, the result was never in doubt. A statement win that keeps Team 1 firmly at the right end of the table.
 
Team 2 – Division 1
It was a tough night for Penicuik II as they travelled to face Edinburgh International II. The hosts proved too strong, inflicting a 9-1 defeat on the visitors. The only bright spot came in the final match of the night, with Greig McDonell managing to win a match to avoid a whitewash! There were also some close contests but in the end the home side’s strength in depth showed. A night to forget for Team 2.
 
Team 4 – Division 3
Friday night saw Penicuik IV make the long trip to Dunbar where they edged a thrilling encounter 6-4. Aidan Craig was the standout player on the night, notching up a superb hat-trick of singles wins, each one hard-earned. His opening match set the tone, after dropping the first end heavily to Lukasz Kabat, Aidan found his rhythm and reeled off three consecutive ends to take the match. Jay Jayalath also played a pivotal role, picking up two singles victories. Jay’s first win came in a five-end epic against Neil Paterson, showing great composure to close it out 11-7 in the fifth. Going into the doubles the East Lothian side had clawed back the scores to 3-3. Aidan & Jay were victorious to give the visitors the advantage again, but the East Lothian outfit then levelled the match again at 4-4 going into the final two matches of the night. Aidan secured a point for the team before Jay followed that up with a straight-sets win over Lukasz Kabat in the final match of the night, sealing the overall victory for the visitors. A fantastic away result that keeps Team 4’s momentum going in Division 3.
 
Team 5 – Division 4
Penicuik V faced Murrayfield XI at Ladywood and were unlucky as they fell to a 7-3 defeat. Rachel Petrie had a good night picking up two singles wins. Matches often turn on just a few points and that was the story again for Team 4 - Roscoe lost out in five ends in Match 4 and a five-end loss in the doubles with Rachel was the difference on the night. A disappointing result but Team 5 know they’re not far away from picking up a positive result.
 
Team 6 – Division 5
Team 6 travelled to Edinburgh International IV and came up just short, losing 6-4 in a competitive match. John Grant was the best performer on the night for the visitors, winning two singles matches and combining with Tony Walker for a doubles victory. Tony also picked up a singles win, but both he and John left Edinburgh with a degree of disappointment as they lost a couple of epic battles - John lost out in five to Chelsea Wong, and Tony was edged out in five by Mike Eggar. A narrow defeat, but plenty of positives to take from the performance.
 
Player of The Week
And so, to our Player of the Week Award for Week 6. All of Team 1 were undefeated in singles play and Ryan and Colin combined for a doubles win. A fantastic result for our first team and at the weekend all three players were in good form at the Scottish Veterans Assessment tournament. Ryan finished 4th in the Over 40s, Colin was 3rd in the Over 60’s and having reached the grand old age of 70, Peter secured a 2nd place finish in the Over 70s. Well done to all of them on a fantastic week. But the award, for the second time this season, has to go to a youngster who continues to impress in Division 3. In a fiercely contested away match at Dunbar, Aidan delivered a flawless hat-trick of singles wins and also played a crucial role in the doubles, partnering with Jay to secure a vital victory – his wins tipped the match in Penicuik’s favour and were instrumental in Team 4’s 6-4 victory. Most impressive of all is that Aidan has played 12 matches so far in Division 3 and has won all 12 of them. Keep it going young man - a thoroughly deserving recipient of the Player of the Week award.
 
Controversies?
​Normally the Vets tournaments can prove that it’s not just youngsters who have issues with their bad tempers, but on this occasion, everything seemed to proceed smoothly and, in the main, quietly. Team 1 v North Merchiston often throws up some controversial moments but nothing there either! What is happening this season? The only issue reported this week comes from Teams 2 and 6 (James again) who played at Edinburgh International. They have an amazing air conditioning system in place at the School Gym Hall – one of the strongest systems we’ve ever come across. According to James it sometimes felt like he was playing on an outside table down by the sand in Portobello (maybe a slight exaggeration, James)! It’s something that even the home players complain about – we spoke to Ed Int Team 1’s Brian Wright at the weekend and he talked about it without any encouragement from us – he has one of the highest service throw ups in the league and felt that at times the ball was being blown off course by the “wind”. Not ideal conditions but we suppose it was the same for everyone.
 
On to Week 7 we roll. 

Handicap Cup Week in the ELTTL this week – we love the Handicap Cup and have a terrific record in the competition. Previous winners, most recently in 2022, and we always seem to get a good mix of teams and progress to the latter stages of the event. This season we entered 4 teams who took to the table in Round 1.   

First up, with a trip to Edinburgh Sports Club were Chamika (+3), Jay (+3) and Tony (+6). Chamika got the team off to a good start with a win in four ends, but a defeat followed for Tony against ex-Premier League player Keith Walker who was playing of a scratch handicap. Jay then lost out to Euan Rae and the visitors were in trouble. Keith v Chamika was next up, and a 3-point start for the Penicuik player was never enough as the hosts extended their lead to 3-1. Jay kept the team in the fixture with a win in match 5 before Euan restored the advantage with a straightforward win v Tony. 4-2 to the hosts and Jay v Keith to keep the match alive – Jay had a real go as the first four ends were shared – the decider was a nailbiter, but it was the experienced Keith who made the difference with a 14-12 win to secure the match for the hosts.  

The next night saw Colin (-13), Charlie (-1) and Craig (Scratch) take on West Lothian at home. Colin was straight on the phone after he lost his first match against Isaac Wong (+3) - 16 of a start to 24 and it was comfortable for Isaac – a three-end victory and in the last end the actual score was 10-8 to Colin – a 16 shot deficit was ridiculous according to the Aussie who pointed out that Isaac was much better than his handicap suggested. Criag levelled the match in a 0-0 contest v his opponent before Charlie was brushed aside by another high handicapper – a 7-0 start for the West Lothian player who won more points over the three ends than Charlie did (15-14). When a similar fate befell Craig against Isaac the hosts were in trouble. Colin kept the hosts in with a chance with a win in Match 5 but a defeat for Charlie meant the visitors only needed one more win for victory – that came when their +6 player did a similar job on Craig as he had done on Charlie – 5-2 to the Bathgate side and the Club's second defeat of the week. 

Not to worry, the big guns were out on Friday night as our remaining two teams travelled to take on Edinburgh University. First up, Roscoe (+5), Rachel (+5) and Ian M (+7). A point here and there makes all the difference, particularly in Handicap matches and Rachel was left kicking herself as she fell in Match 1 to an agonising five end defeat, losing out 14-12 in the decider. Ian then lost out in match 2. Roscoe got the side on the board with a win in match 3 and when Rachel won the next, the match was levelled. Roscoe then played a great game to give the visitors their first lead of the night, but the students then levelled the match with a win in game 6. 3-3 going into the last round of singles. Match 7 was to prove crucial to the overall result - Roscoe looked in control as he took the first two ends and looked headed for an undefeated night – a loss in the third seemed to dent his confidence and the Uni player stormed back to win in five. It was not to be for the visitors as Ian and Rachel both lost their final games as the Penicuik trio lost out 6-3. 

Could we rely on James, Kristian and Michael to get one team into Round 2? Before a ball was struck Kristian had to pull out last minute with an injury – our reserves were Handicap Cup selector, Hannah or Club President, Greig – the selector told old dad he had to play as she had better things to do on a Friday night! That turned out to be another shocking decision by the youngster! The match was played out fully and if we reverse the order of play, we were 2-0 up with wins for Greig v Fred and James v Ruyi. What a great comeback from the students as they cantered to a 5-2 (or 7-2 / 5-0) win. The star of the show was Siya – playing of –6, her movement, speed, ball placement and all out attacking game was a delight to watch (unless you were playing against her). Greig had 2 match points against her in the fourth end of his match, but two textbook forehand loops put paid to his chances and she secured a fifth end victory with some ease. She put away James in four ends, however, in fairness to James this was probably the best match of the night from a spectator's point of view – at 1-1 the third end was a classic – James, blocking like Greig used to in his prime, against the all-out attack from Siya – some brilliant and long rallies ensued and applause from those watching on – a 7-0 start for James and he was caught at 10-10 – but from there he went toe to toe with the student agonisingly losing out 22-20. The next end was a delight to watch as well – but very one sided as Siya never missed!  

And so there we are – 4 teams entered in the Handicap Cup and not one of them into the second round! Who de we blame? According to Ian M, it’s got to be Hannah’s responsibility for picking such shocking combinations!  

Never mind though the week could be salvaged by Team 5 who were in action at Ladywood on Wednesday, catching up on a rearranged league match against Murrayfield in Division 4. Roscoe Cairney, Rachel Petrie and Iain Caddell took the table for the hosts. Match 1 saw Iain lose out to the Murrayfield number 1, but the match was levelled when Roscoe had a straightforward win in Match 2, Rachel was then involved in a real tussle with the ultra-experienced Ian Robertson – it went to five ends and it was Rachel who held her nerve for an 11-9 win. The next three singles saw the reverse outcome, Rachel the only winner as the match was levelled at 3-3 going into the crucial doubles. Roscoe and Rachel fell in four ends to give the visitors the advantage but Roscoe’s second 3-0 win of the night brought the scores level again at 4-4. The last two matches could have gone either way – first Rachel played some excellent stuff to take the Murrayfield number 1 to five sets, his only lost sets of the night, but she fell just short in the decider. Iain then had the pressure of playing for a draw – at 2-1 up he looked to have the match within his grasp but a fourth end win for the visitor forced a decider and by the narrowest of margins, 11-9, Iain lost out. A bad finish for the hosts as they fell to a 6-4 defeat.  

Our Player of the Week Award for Week 5 is not a difficult one. There is really only one player in contention this week – four wins out of six – probably should have been five out of six and playing some great stuff in practice. On losing sides but his performances, even when losing, show positive signs – well done to Roscoe. 

And so, to our controversy of the week section. A couple of our newer players are definitely not fans of the handicapping system which they considered was not fair. One of the problems with the handicap system is that the maximum handicap a player can receive is +7. If we look at Friday night’s match at the University, we had Ian playing off +7 against an opponent who was +6. Their rating difference? 402 v 763 – a 361-point rating difference in favour of the Uni player and yet Ian was expected to compete with just a 1-point start. To put that into some perspective, if we put a 1000 rated player up against someone with a 361-point advantage they’d get a 7-point start. A 1200 rated player giving the same rating advantage would get a 10-point start. Whilst we understand that no system is perfect, there does seem to be a real difficulty with handicaps when the ratings are at the lower end of the scale. In the adjoining hall, Michael playing off +7 took on another +7 opponent despite Michael having roughly a 120-point inferior rating.  We don’t know what the answer is, but we think something needs done to address this type of issue.  ​

The other issue which arose was from the match against ESC. Our new player Tony was quick to point out that he felt there should be some recognition given to the divisions in which players were playing in the league. Obviously, a bit of that should be taken into account by the ratings of players but his example was his match v Euan Rae – Euan an experienced Division 3 player who has played up into Div 2 on a couple of occasions against a new league player playing in Division 5. One of the problems is with the fact that Tony is a new player and was therefore given an arbitrary 850 rating when he joined the league. After his first league match he dropped 224 points but because of beating three completely new league players who again would have no “Accurate Rating” he jumped up by 136 points. His handicap was then taken on that basis and didn’t take into account his next match where he dropped another 50 points in the week prior to Handicap Cup week. Now it wouldn’t have made any significant difference because Tony falls into the same category as we have discussed above – his +6 handicap could only have been extended by 1 point anyway. His primary complaint was that he only got a 2 point start against a player playing two divisions higher than him and the scores outlined the difference in standards with the ESC player only dropping 8 points over the course of three ends. He also had to play a Div 3 player who was playing off +7 and had the match been played out he would have had to give away a 1-point start! Tony doesn’t want to play Handicap Cup again!! 

Finally, a shout out to Fred from the University - he was quick to point out to us that he was looking forward to featuring in this week’s report – no issue with his play or conduct throughout the night – a thoroughly pleasant young man and his TT has certainly improved over his time at the University. However, we hold him responsible for the atrocious condition of one of the nets we had to put up with at St Leonards Land on Friday night and the obstacle course at the back of the court – if a ball got into the corners of the hall, you needed to clamber over all sorts of different equipment to retrieve it! In fairness he did come out with the line of the night when James was bemoaning the lack of chairs in the hall – the wooden bench wasn’t looking particularly attractive for James with his sore back. Fred pointed out that the one chair in the hall was specifically there for any OLD people that needed it!  

Two final awards this week. Firstly, our quote of the week comes from Tony who bemoaned the unfairness of the handicap system – supportive teammate John pointed out that life isn’t fair and used Bannockburn as an example! Tony’s response was that the handicap system should have seen him have “a few extra cannons and muskets rather than having his hands tied behind his back whilst giving his opponent an extra dagger to thrust into his heart” Classic! And finally, after Ryan won the most garish outfit of the week a couple of weeks ago, we’ve got a new contender pictured here! And playing TT how it should be played with a beer in hand! We may have had a bad week but still having fun! ​

Week 4 was a quiet one for the Club with four matches taking place.  ​

Wednesday 8th October saw Team 5 travel to Bathgate where they faced West Lothian 6 in Division 4. Roscoe Cairney and Rachel Petrie were joined by newbie to the league Iain Caddell as they faced an experienced West Lothian side. Rachel and Iain lost their first matches of the night before two mammoth five-enders in games 3 and 4. Roscoe lost out 11-9 in the fifth to his opponent before Rachel got the visitors on the board with a 12-10 in the fifth win. Roscoe was back in action in Match 5, and he once again went the distance before losing out 11-8 in the fifth. At 5-1 down the visitors needed a win in the doubles but Rachel and Roscoe fell to a four-end defeat. Match 8 saw Roscoe once again battle away – another fifth end and another 11-8 loss. In the end a 9-1 victory for the hosts but the Midlothian side were much closer than that score suggests. 

Team 6 were also in action on Wednesday night as they hosted West Lothian 9 in Division 5. Stuart Bennett, John Grant and Michael Daly faced a tricky match and when Stuart and Michael both lost their openers to a pair of talented youngsters there was trouble ahead for the hosts. John won his first ever league match to get the hosts on the board and when Stuart won Match 5 the deficit was cut to 3-2. John wasn’t able to halt young Leo Yuan’s attacking play and when the doubles was lost the hosts found themselves 5-2 down. Michael held his nerve brilliantly in Match 8 winning 12-10 in the fifth and when John then won his second match of the night it was suddenly 5-4 and a draw was a possibility. Stuart was last up and he had to play the best player on the night, young Yuan. The youngster had strolled through his previous matches and at least Stuart managed to push him to a 13-11 game in end 2, but ultimately, he was too strong as the Bathgate side pipped the hosts 6-4.  

Team 6 were back in action on Friday night as they visited Edinburgh University 7. On this occasion Ian Miller, Tony Walker and Michael Daly took to the table. You never know what you’re going to come up against with the students, such is the wide variation in player’s abilities – Team 6 found the trio they faced to be far too good – only one match went beyond three ends and that was the doubles where Ian & Michael managed to extend the game to five ends. That was as good as it got, however, as the visitors fell to their second defeat of the week. 

Team 3 also travelled to Edinburgh University on Friday night to take on University 3 in Division 2. Charlie Brindley, Kristian Skotzen and Craig Linton took to the table looking to build on their victory from the previous week. Craig was first in action and came back from 2-0 down to force a deciding fifth end – the momentum may have been with him, but the student responded well in the fifth to claim the victory. Charlie got the visitors on the board in Match 2 but a defeat for Kristian gave the students the advantage. The next round of singles matches effectively finished the match off as a contest – all three University players victorious as they took a 5-1 lead. When the doubles was comfortably won the match was over – 6-1 down and only pride to play for – the last round of singles matches was an almost exact mirror of the first three. Craig came back from 2-0 down but fell in the fifth, Kristian fell to a 3-0 defeat and Charlie provided the only bright spot as the Penicuik side fell to an 8-2 defeat. 

And so, to our Player of the Week Award for Week 4. Hmm, not a great week for the Club and nobody had an undefeated week. Two players managed to get two wins on the board. In Div 2, Charlie led the way for Team 3 in their 8-2 loss whilst in Division 5, John recorded two wins in Team 6’s 6-4 defeat. How do we split them – they were very similar in terms of ends won and lost – Charlie won 7 whilst John won 6. But given the stage of their table tennis journeys, the award this week has to go to the newbie to league table tennis – well done to John – his first wins in the Edinburgh League.  

In addition to the ELTTL this weekend saw our National League Team travel to Dundee for the first round of fixtures. Division 4 of the SNL is quite some standard and it was a relief that the team came away with one victory and one loss. The morning match against Knightswood should probably have been at least a draw but instead the side fell to a 4-2 defeat. That was followed by a 4-2 win in the afternoon. Another round of fixtures next month with the final round in February. The target for the Club is to try and avoid relegation. As per our email to Members if anyone is interested in playing let the Committee know.  

Controversies? The Arena in Dundee was packed with top quality table tennis on Saturday and with that comes a lot of noise and disruption. 48 teams in action over 6 divisions across 24 tables. What was particularly noticeable was the noise levels coming from the “top teams” in tense matches – whilst across the board there was plenty of whooping and hollering, it did appear that the loudest noise and most frequent screams of delight (and dismay) came from Division 1. There was certainly one match which went to five ends where the screams were getting louder and louder, and it was difficult not to be “disrupted” by it. Nothing untoward we might add, just over exuberance coming from one side of the table – the contrast with the opponent was something to behold – whilst one player yelled at every shot he won, the opponent calmly went about his business not uttering a word nor showing any emotion. In a close fifth end it was the calmest man at the table who prevailed and whilst most of us would probably have given out an almighty scream or an aggressive fist pump (given how his opponent had been acting), he remained reserved, shook his opponent’s hand and walked off – classy to the end. It can probably be said that there is nothing wrong with exuberance and showing emotion – it's natural after all and it’s not snooker that we are playing. But let’s hope for the sake of the game that the youngsters look at the conduct of the “quiet man” on the table and try to follow in his footsteps (at least a little bit). As we’ve said many times, there’s nothing wrong with showing emotion when it’s merited but after every point goes just too far in our view. 

The only other controversial moment related to service – that old chestnut. One of our opponents played a very fast tempo game and hardly paused between points – this led to him grabbing the ball and effectively in one motion throwing it in the air without pausing. It had to be pointed out to him that a lack of movement is required in the service – Law 2.6.1 states: “Service shall start with the ball resting freely on the open palm of the server's stationary free hand...”  

The key to what was happening here was that the free hand was never stationary and when it’s not stationary it tends not to be “open palmed” either. In fairness to the player in question, he took on board the concerns raised, and you could the see him making a conscious effort to pause in a stationary position before the ball toss. And it didn’t affect his game – he was undefeated against us! 

Handicap Cup this week coming – always a good source for controversial moments – normally even before a ball is hit! 

Week 3 was our busiest week of the season so far and started on Monday 29th September with Team 4’s trip to the Gyle to take on Murrayfield 9 in Division 3. Aidan Craig and Ian Hislop kept their places from Week 2’s win and were joined by Chamika Diyunugalge who made his first appearance of the season. Aidan got the team off to a terrific start with a 3-0 win in Match 1 and it looked like Ian was in control in Match 2 before his young opponent worked out his style to force the match into a fifth end – the Murrayfield player held his nerve in an 13-11 victory. When Chamika lost his first match of the season, the visitors found themselves 2-1 down. With Ian losing his second match of the night, Aidan’s and Chamika’s second matches were crucial. They both went the distance – Aidan did brilliantly from 2-1 down to win the 4th and fifth ends 13-11 and that was followed by Chamika securing an 11-8 fifth end win. 3-3 going into the doubles. Aidan and Chamika combined but fell to a four-end defeat and the Penicuik side were on the verge of dropping their first points of the season. Another five-end victory for Chamika kept them in the match and when Aidan won in 4 ends, they took a 5-4 advantage going into the last match of the night. Ian, who by his standards, had had a poor night came good when it mattered to win in 4 and to give Penicuik an excellent 6-4 comeback victory.  3 wins out of 3 for Team 4 but Division 3 looks tough – after three weeks of the season five teams remain undefeated!  
 
Into October and we had three teams playing at home on Wednesday. Team 1 played their first match of the season as they took on Murrayfield 2. Colin Green, Peter Aird and Ryan Docherty were looking to start this season the way they ended last year, and they got off to a great start when Colin showed his fighting spirit coming back from 2-0 down to defeat Jacob Munro in five ends. Peter lost out to young Angus Halliday before Ryan secured a 4-end victory against Keith Dingwall. Match 4 was pivotal and an 11-9 fifth end win for Peter against Jacob gave the hosts a buffer. That buffer was extended when both Colin and Ryan won their second matches in four ends against Keith and Angus respectively. 5-1 going into the doubles and victory was within Team 1’s grasp. The 2 points were secured when Ryan and Colin combined to win the doubles and the score line was made to look even better when both Ryan and Colin won their final matches of the night in five ends, Ryan’s 13-11 in the fifth win v Jacob being the highlight. An 8-2 win for the hosts was an excellent result.
 
Team 2 also entered the fray on Wednesday night as they faced Murrayfield 4 in Division 1. Team 2 this season comprise James Wighton, Hannah McDonell and Krzysztof Laszkiewicz and they can call on assistance from the injury prone Greig McDonell if they really really need to! With Hannah unavailable and this match having already been rearranged from Week 2, Greig was called into action, still recovering from damaging his ligaments over the summer. He won Match 1 on the night but another win did not follow until Krzysztof won Match 6. 4-2 down and the doubles to play – Team Captain James then made the worst decision of the season so far as he picked Greig and Krzysztof to play – it would be hard to find two more immobile players in the Division – 5-2! The remaining three singles also went the way of the Murrayfield unit as Team 2 fell to an 8-2 defeat.
 
Finally on Wednesday Team 3 hosted West Lothian 4 in Division 2. Bob Porteous, Kristian Skotzen and Craig Linton took to the table and after the first round of singles matches they led 2-1, wins for Bob and Craig. Match 4 was a really tight affair – Kristian crucially held his nerve for a 15-13 fifth end win but a defeat for Bob kept the visitors in with a fighting chance. Craig won match 6 to give the hosts a 4-2 advantage. The doubles involving Bob and Craig was bizarre – in the first four ends the losing team only scored a total of 18 points over the four ends – the fifth end went to five deuces before the hosts secured a 16-14 victory! The visitors kept alive with a win in match 8 but victories for Bob and Craig gave the hosts a deserved 7-3 win.
 
Team 2 then rounded the week off on Thursday night with a trip to Haddington. Hannah McDonell came in to the team to join James and Krzysztof and despite the final score, this match could have gone either way. James and Krzysztof lost their opening matches, but the visitors got on the board with Hannah’s win in Match 3. Krzysztof won match 6 after another two losses for the visitors and so it was 4-2 entering the doubles. Young McDonell joined up with Krzysztof and showed what can happen if at least one of the doubles players can move as they combined for a 3-1 win. 4-3 and there was a glimmer of hope for Team 2. Match 8 was the game of the night – Hannah v Craig Stenton – Craig played some unbelievable forehands (as he had been doing all night) and took a 2-0 lead but Hannah battled back to force a decider. She was in trouble at the change of ends but again showed her battling qualities to recover to 8-8. A winner from Craig was then followed by a net dribbler winner to go to match point and two nets in the final rally to give him the match! On such fine margins matches can change! James meanwhile looked like he could have defeated his opponent but lost out in four ends and it was left to Krzysztof to play the last match of the night against Russell Frith – no disrespect to that pair but when the match started at about 9.30 it had five ends written all over it and five long ends at that. The Leisure Centre manager came in on a handful of occasions to tell the players they needed to finish and bizarrely it was Krzysztof who decided to try and speed up some of the rallies to get the match finished – to his detriment as he lost out 11-7 in the decider. A 7-3 defeat for Team 2 but the performances were a step up from the previous night.
 
And so, to our Player of the Week Award for Week 3. There were great nights for Colin and Ryan for Team 1 – undefeated in singles play and they combined for a doubles victory as Team 1 got off to a terrific start to the season. Craig was undefeated for Team 3 in his first match of the season and was involved in the longest match of the week winning the doubles 16-14 in the fifth. Three excellent performances but they all miss out this week – one player has started the season brilliantly and has been in the running each week for this award – this week he again showed some real nerve as he was once again undefeated in singles play, this time in a tight 6-4 win for his side. 9 singles played over the first three weeks, and 9 matches won – what a terrific start and a well-deserved Player of the Week Award goes to Aidan.
 
Turning to our controversy of the week section, James and Colin were in action this week so surely there will be something to report on?  What? They were both on their best behaviour! What’s going on? Indirectly, James was involved in the match with some controversial moments at Haddington on Thursday evening. Firstly, the issue of apologising for nets and edges came under the spotlight – now in fairness a “sorry” when you win a lucky point is probably, for most of us, not meant anyway so why bother saying it! Certainly, that seemed to be the view of one of the Haddington players - a lack of an apology (whether sincere or not) does cause a little bit of irritation to the opponent though and isn’t it just polite to at least acknowledge a lucky shot?
 
Secondly, the number of nets at Haddington on Thursday was horrendous - clearly there was something wrong with the nets being used. The loveliest man in the League, Peter Lugton, was watching on and seemed to agree that the equipment was shocking – he didn’t miss a beat however in pointing out that he wasn’t responsible for the state of the equipment as he pointed out the individual who we should raise the issue with! Apparently, he’s known in the Club as “pass the buck” Lugton.
 
Finally, staying at Haddington, it became clear that they run into the same time constraints as we do. Last match of the night was always going to be a “push-a-thon” between Russell and Krys. The “lady in charge” came into the hall about 9.40 to remind everyone of closing time and ten minutes later returned to point out that the lights were being turned off and doors locked at 10! Typical that the match went to five ends. When Krys levelled the encounter at 9.55 we thought a concession was about to arrive – the mistake Krys made was that he won the end too quickly – 11-4 and that still left 5 minutes – he was too nice and didn’t follow that evil James’ advice to loosen his shoelaces at the changeover, towel down every six points and generally slow the match down! Instead, it was Krys who decided to speed up and tried to win points quicker by attacking – and that played into Russell’s hands – 11-7 in the fifth! There were definitely ends which lasted more than ten minutes and maybe someone should have suggested the expedite system being brought into use. Has that ever been used in recent times in the League? We’re not aware of any matches which have resulted in that outcome. Maybe a bit like yellow and red cards – people know they can be used but they hardly ever are! Anyway, Russell was happy that Krys decided to speed up, the staff were happy that they got out just after 10pm and Penicuik 2 were happy that they didn’t have to spend the night locked in the Aubigny Centre!
 
No time for a quote of the week this week – instead it’s an award for “garish outfit of the week” – there can only be one winner – he played brilliantly but we wonder whether his luminous green outfit also contributed to his undefeated night – his opponents being somewhat blinded every time he moved! Well done to Ryan – pictured here in the offending items!
 
Until next week….