Penicuik Table Tennis Club
Contact us via:
  • Home
  • About
  • Coaching
  • News / Results
  • TEAMS
  • News Archives / Links
  • Contact
  • GALLERY

Week 10 Report

26/11/2017

1 Comment

 
Picture
Week 10 already! Six of our seven teams were in action in another disappointing week for the Club.
 
Let’s start with the good performances. Team 2 of Clive Liddiard, James Wighton and Charlie Brindley faced a home match against Corstorphine 2. The home trio started the match a point clear of their opponents in the Division 1 table and were looking to extend that advantage. When the first two matches of the night went the way of the home side, a positive outcome looked on the cards but the next three matches were all won by the visitors. Clive won a crucial 5-ender in Match 6 to level the scores before he combined with Charlie for an important doubles win. In a match which had swung one way then another Charlie secured at least a point with a tough 5 end win in match 8 before another twist as Clive fell to a 5-end loss in match 9. It was left to James to secure the win with an excellent 4 end win in Match 10 as the home side squeezed home 6-4. James and Charlie both won 2 whilst Clive won 1 and combined for the doubles win with Charlie.
 
In Division 4, Team 6 of Julian Taylor, Rachel Petrie and Sonny Taylor got back to winning ways in Week 9 with a thumping 9-1 win against Haddington 5. Week 10 saw them also face Corstorphine opposition at Ladywood as they took on Corstorphine 5. As with Team 2, the Penicuik side started the night just a point clear of their Edinburgh opposition and in the knowledge that a win would put them in to the top half of the table. When all 3 players won their first matches of the night another comfortable victory looked on the cards, however, back came the away side with victories in matches 4 and 5. The difference on the night proved to be Team Captain Julian who strode through his remaining two matches without losing an end and combined with Sonny for a crucial doubles win. With neither Rachel nor Sonny picking up another singles win, Julian’s contributions were crucial in the resultant 6-4 victory.
 
Unfortunately, the good news ends there! Team 1 of Greig McDonell, David Melrose and Abby Wighton faced former Champions Murrayfield 1 and the talk of the week was whether “Rocky’s” hand would have recovered from the previous week’s knockout right hook. Fears were allayed as Greig and Abby arrived to find David’s car parked at Murrayfield – hang on though – why’s he driving away – in an effort to win the award of “numpty of the week” for the second consecutive time, David had turned up to this match having left both his boxing gloves and trainers at home! A quick dash to a supermarket found him some £4.99 specials and according to Abby she’s never seen David move so well. After that excitement, we can probably gloss over the 10-0 result which followed. Not the closest of matches on paper – or in reality!
 
Meanwhile in Division 1, Team 3 were still without regular Chris Markey as Gary McDougal and Krzysztof Laszkiewicz called up Louis McLeod from Division 3 to face one of the top teams in the Division, Haddington 1. A worrying run of results for the visitors continued as they fell to a 9-1 defeat, with Krzysztof picking up the only victory for the Penicuik side. 7 defeats out of their last 8 matches has seen Team 3 fall in to the relegation zone. Chris is back next week for what is surely their biggest match of the season so far against Murrayfield 5 who sit just a point above them in the table.
 
A couple of weeks ago we took a screenshot of the Division 3 table to show Team 4 of Brian Bailey, John Bald and Louis McLeod sitting at the summit. Thank goodness we did. After a thumping 9-1 defeat in Week 9 at the hands of West Lothian, this week saw Team 4 fall to a heavy 8-2 reverse against top of the table Edinburgh International. We would like to say that this match was closer in reality than it was on the scorecard but that wouldn’t be fair to the Edinburgh side who had a player from Division 4 playing up for them (an eligible one this time!) John and Brian both won 1 for the visitors.
 
Finally in Week 10, Team 7 faced an away match in Division 4 against top of the table Haddington 3 without their number 1, Phil Daly. Even with Phil, this would have been a mountain to climb for Team 7 given Haddington’s record in the Division thus far. Only 5 individual games lost for the East Lothian side in 7 matches and one of those was a 6-4 victory against 2nd placed KLOS! Credit then to George Wilson, Kristian Skotzen and Hannah McDonell for putting up a creditable performance and to George for picking up 1 win in the resultant 9-1 defeat.

And so to our Player of the Week Award for Week 10. Special mention this week to George who in truth should probably have won 2 against Haddington and to James for holding his nerve to secure the win for Team 2. But only one player was undefeated in singles play this week, Julian from Team 6, and his undefeated night in singles and crucial doubles win resulted in a terrific 6-4 win for his team. Surely, we can’t look any further than him for our player of the Week. Hang on, can we find a reason to have a Team 1 player win for the fourth week in a row?? David played in unfamiliar shoes and still won two ends? Abby has to put up with Greig’s attempts at humour every week? No? OK – Well done to Julian.
 
After Week 9’s controversial involvement of the League in respect of the Merchiston v University match, wasn’t it good to see that the students did not actually need a postponement after all – 3 of their registered 4 players were in fact available and indeed good enough to record a victory over the defending Premier League Champions. Good to see the Premier title being so open for a change.
 
There’s been a great exchange of emails going on this week about the Rules – some of the emails passing between members of the League clearly having more sarcasm than the 10 weeks of these Weekly Reports put together. The issue which gave rise to this plethora of “discussion” appears to be the rule about not changing bats during a match. It seems that this rule is contained in the ITTF Rules and is covered under a section relating to International Competitions – the argument appears to be that nowhere in our rules do we suggest what parts of the Rules apply to us and what parts don’t – the ITTF Handbook seemingly runs to 178 pages! Come on if the League can’t even enforce straightforward specific rules which we have on our own website relating to the ELTTL what chance of enforcing ITTF International Rules! Having said that we’ve always thought the “no bat change rule” did apply but it just shows you how an argument can be made when the rules are not specifically adopted or written into our League Rules! We just love a bit of controversy, particularly when it doesn’t involve us directly!
 
We were also told by the League this week that, in the ELTTL, timeouts are not allowed. Don’t think this has arisen this season as far as our Club is concerned but perhaps someone could point us in the direction of the Rule confirming that to be the case??
 
It is argued by one Club’s representative that: “Rules are important but fairness should always be the overarching consideration for the ELTTL committee in settling disputes” 
 
We disagree – if Rules are not to be followed what’s the point in having them – the key is having Rules which are fair and unambiguous and that are applied to all fairly.  If not why not just have a Rule that says anything goes and the Committee will decide whether it’s fair or not!
 
And finally, Phil from Team 7 raised an interesting point last week (there’s a first time for everything). In a recent match of his, he commented that his opponent was moving around like a jack in the box – side to side, backwards and forwards, up and down, while waiting to receive serve. Phil found this to be extremely off-putting. His question to us was whether this was permissible? Our answer? Who knows? Is this covered by the ruling about the conditions of play being disturbed in a way which could affect the outcome of the rally? We don’t know! Can anyone find it in the 178 page ITTF Handbook - Answers on a postcard please. 

1 Comment

Week 9 Report

19/11/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Week 9 of the League Season saw all 7 of the Club’s teams in action. A few talking points to get through from our own performances this week!
 
Team 1 of Greig McDonell, David Melrose and Abby Wighton faced a tough task against West Lothian 1 at Ladywood but went into the match in positive mood after two consecutive wins in the previous 2 weeks. There were two major talking points – one good and one, well, how can we describe it – not so good! The good news is that Abby has broken her duck and is now off and running in her first season in the Premier Division after a deserved win against West Lothian’s Steve Collins. We stand by what we have repeatedly said to the League – the choice to play Abby in the Premier in front of Clive and Charlie from Team 2 was and remains the right choice. Steve was playing up for WL 1 from Division 1 and guess who he’s already beaten this year in Division 1? Yip you guessed it - 3-0 wins against both Charlie and Clive! Anyway, back to the match – picture the scene – Team 1 are leading 3-2 as David takes on Brian Hunter. Team Captain Greig is starting to get excited that an upset could be on the cards if David could win this match – if not a win then a draw is a distinct possibility. Half way through the second end and in a moment of frustration David “Rocky” Melrose decides to take his frustration out by punching that big brown thing at the end of the hall – what’s that called again? The thing that runs all the way around the hall – Oh yeah, a Brick Wall! Would you believe it, punching a brick wall with some degree of force can actually hurt! After an injury time-out David manfully played on but couldn’t really grip the bat properly, couldn’t shake hands after he lost, couldn’t straighten out his hand and had to abandon the rest of the night! Fortunately for the rest of the season the hand’s not broken, just bruised and swollen. Unfortunately for the match Team 1 went on to suffer a 6-4 defeat. Greig won 2 whilst David and Abby both won 1.
 
That loss was the first of many in the worst week of the season so far for the Club. In Division 1, Team 2 of Clive Liddiard, James Wighton and Charlie Brindley faced an away match against Murrayfield 3. Both James and Charlie defeated young Jamie Sloan – pity neither of them could have done that when they played him in the 5-5 draw against Murrayfield 5 earlier in the season! Those were the only wins for the visitors who fell to an 8-2 defeat.
 
Meanwhile Team 3 were set to get back to full strength against an understrength West Lothian 3. When, by 6.45pm, Chris Markey still hadn’t shown up, Gary McDougal and Krzysztof Laszkiewicz started to panic – frantic attempts to contact Chris failed and with no time for a replacement to be found, Team 3 fell to a disappointing 6-4 defeat. Both players picked up 2 wins and this has to go down as an opportunity thrown away to climb into mid-table. The defeat results in the home side dropping in to the relegation zone.
 
It was a bit of a pre-season friendly reunion at Ladywood on Wednesday night – the 3rd West Lothian side to visit was their Team 6 who took on our Team 4 of Brian Bailey, John Bald and Louis McLeod in Division 3. Team 4 went into the match having hit the heights of the top of the table the previous week. The higher they are the harder they...... A chastening 9-1 defeat brought Team 4 back down to earth with a bump – Louis McLeod was the only winner for the home side.
 
Team 5 managed a draw last week and were looking to improve on that as they travelled to take on Murrayfield 8. A team of 4 and only 1 regular was available as Sean Lennon was joined by two Division 4 players, George Wilson and Lewis Baldock (playing his first match of the season). Sean and George both won 2 in a narrow 6-4 defeat for Team 5 – Team Captain Stuart was left feeling that any combination of their normal team would surely have managed at least a point!

Team 7 faced a home match in Division 4 against Edinburgh International 5 who started the night a point behind the Penicuik side. Phil Daly, Kristian Skotzen and Hannah McDonell were disappointed to end the night with a 7-3 defeat, Phil winning the 3 for the home side.
 
And so a whitewash of defeats was on the cards for the Club in what truly was a dreadful week! To the rescue came Team 6 as they travelled to Haddington on Thursday night. When Sonny Taylor lost Match 1 their run of bad form looked like it might continue, but from there the visitors didn’t look back – Sonny won 2 whilst both Rachel Petrie and Julian Taylor were undefeated in singles play – father and son also combined for a doubles win in the resultant 9-1 victory.

And so to our Player of the Week Award for Week 9. Special mention this week to Rachel who started playing in the League in the 2014/15 Season. According to the record books, Rachel has never had an undefeated night in singles play – until this week – an achievement well worthy of praise. Well done Rachel. The only other player undefeated player this week was Julian. Another player in the running though has to be George – playing up from Division 4, he seems to play his best table tennis against better opponents – two wins against Division 3 opponents is worthy of note. But this week’s winner, for the third week in a row, comes from Team 1. (We say again that the Committee is not biased)! Amongst all the controversy of playing supposedly out of order in the wrong team, Abby has shown throughout the season a desire to improve and most who watch her have commented on how much she has progressed as the season has gone on. More impressive is her ability to keep putting in the effort, to keep working hard at training and to not be down heartened after 7 matches without a win. For getting her first win in the Premier Division Abby is this week’s deserved winner – well done to her.
 
There were controversies a plenty this week – Rocky won the award for best right hook of the week, Team 3 won the award for not being able to communicate effectively and field a full team, Team 5 the award for “having the greatest number of unavailable players"! But the real controversies were discussed at last Monday’s League Committee Meeting. The Abby saga was discussed and the League have authorised Charlie or Clive to play up but only to replace David or Greig if they are unavailable – better than nothing we suppose but still a bit of a cop out!
 
Remarkably, despite support from two independent and influential sources, the Committee decided that the fielding of an ineligible player DID NOT result in such a team forfeiting the match. That’s what the rules say should happen – but hey rules are there to be breached and bent so long as there’s no malice involved – we think that’s the point?? It will be interesting to see how this decision is conveyed in written form to us!
 
And as yet another example of the rules being bent (for some) we hear from our source at North Merchiston that the Committee took it upon itself to interfere with one of the most straightforward rules which exist:
 
“A team may not postpone a match except with the prior confirmed consent of the other team”
 
University 1 sought a postponement from North Merchiston 1 of their match to be played this week. North Merchiston refused. University decided to raise it with the League. Remarkably, the Committee decided that there were “special circumstances” which merited them interfering with the Club’s decision to refuse the postponement – where on earth do they think they derive that authority from?? Putting that to one side, what were these special circumstances? Uni had some sort of Inter University match involving all their top players? It gets better. Although we understand the Committee were led to believe that this match was away from the Edinburgh area and would mean it was extremely difficult for the Uni players to get back for a 6.30 start against NM 1, it turns out that in fact the match is at home in the afternoon on Wednesday and will probably be finished by 5 / 5.30pm!! On discovering that piece of information, it appears that the Committee have now reversed their position and the match will take place after all!! Unreal on so many levels!! 


Week 10 to look forward to - surely it can't be any worse than Week 9!

0 Comments

Week 8 Report

12/11/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Week 8 of the League Season was another busy one for the Club with all 7 of our teams in action.
 
Team 1 of Greig McDonell, David Melrose and Abby Wighton travelled to North Merchiston 2 in a positive mood after their first win of the season in Week 7. A little bit of added spice to this match as David returned to take on his former team-mates! A crucial 5 set win for David against Geoff Hunter (11-8 in the fifth) gave the visitors a 4-1 lead in a match that was played slightly out of scorecard order. Eddie Scott pulled one back against Abby before David & Greig tried to repeat their victory of last week in the doubles – and failed miserably…. Merchi still in it at 4-3 down. When Abby was unable to come to terms with Geoff’s defensive style suddenly the scores were tied at 4-4 and the nerves were tingling. David v Eddie was match 9 on the night and when David won the first end 11-9 it looked like at least a draw was secured. David should have won the second and third ends as well but somehow managed to lose them 11-9, 16-14 – suddenly Greig was panicking that he would need a victory just to secure a point. David, however, showed some great determination as he won the 4th 11-9 before securing the fifth 11-8 – to say he was a happy chappy at the end of the match would be a bit of an understatement!! With the pressure off, Greig won comfortably in 3 ends against Neil Innes to give the visitors their second win on the trot – unbeaten nights for both Greig and David resulted in an excellent 6-4 victory. Maybe Team 1 can survive in the Premier after all?? Before they get too carried away though 3 of their next four fixtures are against Murrayfield 1, Merchiston 1 and West Lothian 1!!
 
In Division 1, Team 2 of Clive Liddiard, James Wighton and Charlie Brindley faced a home match against West Lothian 2 who were undefeated for the season and must be one of the favourites for promotion to the Premier. Charlie has been a great addition to the Club and has led the way for the Team thus far this season. Captain James has pointed out that the trio have never all played well on the same night and that lack of consistency came to the fore again as Charlie had “one of those nights”. That said at 3-3 going into the doubles, the home side were very much in the match. Clive & James then cruised into a 2-0 lead in the doubles before something peculiar seemed to happen - Halloween Week is well past, isn’t it? Not another end was won by the home side from that point on – 11 ends in a row to the visitors and Team 2 were left reeling from a 7-3 defeat. James picked up 2 and Clive 1 on the night.
 
Meanwhile Team 3 continued without regular Chris Markey as they visited another team at the top of the Division 1 table, Edinburgh International 2. Gary McDougal and Krzysztof Laszkiewicz were joined by Brian Bailey from Division 3. Two five end matches were the difference on the night – Gary came back from 2-0 down to level the scores against the Edinburgh side’s number 1 only to lose out in the fifth whilst Krzysztof from 2-1 up lost 14-12 in the fourth before a fifth end defeat to Jim Grahame. Had those two matches gone the other way a draw would have resulted. As it was, however, Gary won 2 and combined with Krzysztof for a doubles victory as the visitors fell to a 7-3 defeat – Brian meanwhile was looking forward to getting back to Division 3.
 
And so to Division 3 we go - Brian, John Bald and Louis McLeod went into their away match against ESC having won their last 4 matches on the bounce. When Louis lost Match 1 on the night 12-10 in the fifth, that winning run looked like it might be in danger but the visitors didn’t lose another singles as they stormed to an 8-2 victory. In fairness to the hosts, 3 of those singles wins came in 5th end deciders with all 3 Penicuik players coming out on top. The only other loss on the night came in the doubles as John & Brian fell to a 4-end defeat. The doubles is clearly a source of concern for Team 4 – 6 doubles played, 6 doubles lost – 3 losses for the Brian/Louis combination, 3 losses for the Brian/John combination! It’s not for us to interfere in team matters but is it not about time that the John/Louis combination was given a go???? What a great run for Team 4, however, and for at least two days their 5th consecutive win put them top of the Division 3 table – don’t worry a screenshot has been taken!
 
In their Division 3 campaign, Team 5 have not fared quite so well in recent weeks but they saw their match against West Lothian 7 as an opportunity to get back to winning ways. Starting two points ahead of their opponents Sean Lennon, Craig Johnson and Stuart Bennett were desperate to extend that gap to four points. When Stuart and Sean both lost their opening fixtures, however, it looked like being a long night for the home side but 3 wins out of the next 4 singles matches saw the scores levelled at 3-3 going into the crucial doubles fixture. Stuart and Sean took care of the West Lothian duo in 4 ends before Sean secured at least a point by winning Match 8. When Craig failed to secure victory, it was left to Stuart to try and do so against the undefeated on the night Ros Beck and her “funny bat”. Stuart lost the first end before winning the second – he’d come to terms with the style of Ros – maybe not – he lost the third 9-11 before comfortably winning the 4th 11-6. A fifth end decider for the match win – the only thing that could make this match more edgy was if the fifth went close – oh no…. a 12-10 defeat for Stuart as Ros secured a point for the West Lothian outfit – a point lost rather than one gained as far as the home side was concerned. 2 singles wins for Sean and 1 each for Craig and the unlucky Stuart.
 
In Division 4, Team 6 were without the services of Rachel Petrie as they faced a home match against George’s tip for the Division 4 title, KLOS 2. (there seems to be a wager on this one between George and El Presidente (his tip is Haddington) with our esteemed Club Secretary holding the cash until the end of the season – remember not to spend it Brian!). Julian & Sonny Taylor were joined by Phil Daly from Team 7. 3 wins out of their first 4 matches for Team 6 has now unfortunately been equalled by 3 losses out of their last 4 matches as the team go through a slightly sticky patch. Julian and Phil won 1 singles each in the resultant 8-2 defeat. According to Team Captain Julian, the losing is becoming a real irritation (good to hear) and resulted in the father and son duo turning up at Ladywood on Saturday for more practise (even better to see)! We’re sure this “little blip” in the season will be put right with all four of their matches remaining this half looking winnable – oh that could be controversial given one of those matches is against Team 7!! 

And finally, to Team 7 who travelled to North Merchiston 6 to round off the Week 8 fixtures for the Club. Phil Daly, Kristian Skotzen and George Wilson were looking to build on their controversial 5-5 result against Fife from the previous week. The difference on the night proved to be the home side’s Jose Ramos who won his three singles and combined for a doubles victory in the resultant 7-3 defeat for Team 7. Phil won 2 and George added 1 in a disappointing defeat for the visitors although our Press Officer was given a number of reasons by Team Captain George as to why he didn’t play to his best – the most dubious one of them all being the fact that his wife had been keeping him up all week - yeah in your dreams Mr W!

And so to our Player of the Week Award for Week 8. For the second week in a row El Presidente showed his class as he didn’t lose an end in singles play – just give him the award now we hear you cry. Also in the running are David, John and Brian who were the only other players undefeated in singles play this week. None of the four managed to add a doubles win and for repeatedly trying and failing, Brian and John are out the running!! So a straight fight between Greig and David – it’s a foregone conclusion, isn’t it? Hold on a minute – who did Merchiston vote for player of the match? David! Really? For making his previous teammates rue the day they fell out with him and for his first 3 in about 15 years, this week’s deserved winner is David – Well done to him.
 
Eight weeks in and we’re still waiting on a week without any controversy! Oh, how our Press Officer wishes he could be a fly on the wall at this week’s League Committee meeting – looks like it might be a busy one. Rumbling on is the Edinburgh International Ineligible player controversy, Fife were to be making some comment about having to forfeit the two final games against Penicuik 7, the ridiculous no playing up for Clive or Charlie rule is also rumbling on. And just when we thought that was it, in response to a supportive email from a couple of well-known and well-respected gents regarding the ineligible player issue, it was pointed out that another rule that seems to be overlooked is the “4-week rule”! The rule is clear:
 
“A postponement MUST be played within 4 playing weeks of the scheduled date.” 
 
Have a look at the Interactive site – a number of Clubs are breaching this rule it appears. We’re sure it used to be specifically an issue for intra-club fixtures but the rule now seems to apply to all fixtures. North Merchiston 1 v 2 was scheduled for 18 Sep! We say they should both be docked at least 6 points (that might keep Team 1 safe)! What about all the University matches – do they get special dispensation? Haddington 3 v 4 in Division 4 – what shenanigans are going on there? Team 4’s game in hand against Fife was postponed at Fife’s request – just claim it guys – Fife have fallen out with us anyway! Corstorphine, West Lothian, Murrayfield and ESC are also all in breach. Edinburgh Int also have a postponed match with no rescheduled date yet – the 4 weeks aren’t up so maybe they won’t be in breach. The only Club in the League not affected by this Rule – KLOS. Any guesses as to who brought this one up??
 
Of course, the truth is this is a crazy rule. Team 1 postponed their match with Fife 1 and the only date available to replay it is during week commencing 11th December. Our only match night is a Wednesday – Fife play at home on the week Team 1 is away – their match night – a Wednesday! If there are no gaps in the season then for Club’s with limited access to facilities it is nigh on impossible to comply with this rule. But hey, we are strong proponents for the philosophy that Rules are there to be enforced. Obviously that only applies when it doesn’t negatively impact on us though! Our infringement is malice free – just dock us two points and the rest of the League 6!
 
No doubt the Minutes of the League Committee meeting will be made available to all in due course – here’s hoping the minute taker can truly capture not only the content of the discussion but the manner in which it is fought out – we mean discussed!!
 
Roll on Week 9.



0 Comments

Week 7 Report

5/11/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Week 7 of the League Season was a busy one for the Club with all 7 of our teams in action.
 
After a run of 4 consecutive defeats and with confidence low, Team 1 of Greig McDonell, David Melrose and Abby Wighton entertained fellow strugglers, Corstorphine 1 at Ladywood in the Premier Division. Perhaps just adding to the tension, it was pointed out that a defeat for Team 1 in this match would probably increase tenfold the possibility of relegation!! When David, who had won his first match deuce in the 5th, lost his second match in 5 ends against Russell Swan, the scores were level at 3-3. The Doubles became even more crucial - Team 1's doubles record has been shocking thus far, 4 doubles played, different combinations tried – not a single victory to the home team’s name! Fortunately, in this crucial one, David realised that Greig doesn’t move much and adjusted his game as the home duo won in 3 straight sets. 2 wins out of the last 3 singles matches gave the home side a much needed 6-4 victory – Greig was undefeated on the night whilst David won 2. The all-important doubles win proved decisive.
 
In Division 1, Team 2 of Clive Liddiard, James Wighton and Charlie Brindley faced an away match against Edinburgh International 3. The visitors came into the match with confidence against a side rooted to the foot of the Division 1 table – and that’s where they stayed after a good 8-2 victory for the Midlothian side. Clive was undefeated, whilst both Charlie and James won 2. Clive and Charlie combined for the doubles win. The result catapults Team 2 up in to the top half of the Division 1 table.
 
Meanwhile Team 3 were still without regular Chris Markey as they entertained Edinburgh University 2 at Ladywood in their Division 1 match. Gary McDougal and Krzysztof Laszkiewicz were joined by Sean Lennon from Division 3 and it looked like being an easy night with only two University players in attendance – but hold on – about 8.30pm and in comes Uni number 3!! Fortunately, the outcome was not altered as Gary won 3, Krzysztof won 2 and the pair combined for a doubles victory as they recorded a narrow 6-4 win.
 
In Division 3, after a loss in their opening match of the season things have improved for Team 4 of Brian Bailey, John Bald and Louis McLeod. They have won their last 3 matches and were looking to keep their good run going against Corstorphine 4. The Edinburgh based side started the night 3 points ahead of the Penicuik trio although they’ve played a game more. When Louis lost his first match of the night deuce in the fifth the home side fell 2-1 behind. Good wins for Brian and Louis in the run up to the doubles, however, levelled the scores at 3-3. After 3 defeats for the Brian and Louis combination, Brian has joined forces with John and having lost out last week, they also lost this crucial match – both of their defeats being deuce in the 5th losses! 4-3 down and the winning run looked like it was coming to end but with time running out, the match switched to two tables and the home trio all won their last singles to give Team 4 an excellent 6-4 victory. A win in their game in hand would remarkably see the Penicuik side leapfrog to the top of the Division 3 table – quick get it played…….
 
In their Division 3 campaign, Team 5 faced an away match against North Merchiston 5, the same team who inflicted defeat upon Team 4 in week 1 of the season. Sean Lennon, Craig Johnson and Millie Bennett have found the going tough in recent weeks and against one of the teams at the top end of the table, they were never really in the match. Sean was the Penicuik player of the night, winning the solitary match for the visitors and being unlucky to lose out in 5 ends in another of his singles. A 9-1 defeat leaves Team 5 in the bottom half of the table with two wins out of their 6 matches played.
 
In Division 4, Team 6 of Julian Taylor, Rachel Petrie & Sonny Taylor faced an away match against Haddington 4. The good news following last week’s exploits was that Rachel knew this was an away match and turned up with plenty of time to spare. The bad news was that the result was an exact replica of the team’s trip to Fife last week -  Julian again won 2 singles whilst Sonny won 1. Rachel was unlucky not to get on the board after a deuce in the fifth loss, but for the 2nd week in a row the visitors fell to a 7-3 defeat.
 
Team 7 welcomed back Phil Daly as they took on Fife in their Division 4 match at Ladywood. He was joined by Kristian Skotzen and George Wilson. Fife had defeated Team 6 7-3 last week so Team 7 knew they were in for a tough match. Kristian started the match off and played some excellent TT to hold his nerve and come back from 2-1 down to win in 5 tight ends – his three ends being won 13-11, 14-12 and 11-9 – great play under pressure! After such a bright start, however, only Phil recorded a victory before the doubles as the home side fell behind 4-2 on the scorecard. George and Phil then took to the table and won a crucial doubles fixture 14-12 in the fifth! With time fast running out to get the match completed, that win was to prove crucial – George lost match 8 to give the visitors a 5-3 advantage before time was called by the Centre Manager – Fife having turned up almost an hour late forfeited the last two games to give the home side an unlikely 5-5 draw.

And so to our Player of the Week Award for Week 7. In a good week for the Club there were a number of players undefeated in singles play – Greig for Team 1, Clive for Team 2, Gary for Team 3 and Brian for Team 4. Brian lost his doubles match so he’s out the running. Clive’s match would have been won even without his 3 ½ wins so that leaves it as a straight fight between Gary and Greig. The Committee who make these decisions thought long and hard and in the end because of the importance of the win to the team’s overall morale (their first win of what might be a long season), this week’s winner is Greig - it’s not rigged Gary – honest!!
 
And finally, our controversy of the week section. The wonderful rule about late arrivals and curtailment of matches.
 
On Wednesday at Ladywood, University turned up with 2 players for their Division 1 match against Team 3. Their third player was seemingly running late – they bizarrely then put the missing player down second on the scorecard! After all 6 of the possible singles were played, in saunters Uni number 3 player at about 8.30pm. In a discussion in the Pub afterwards, our esteemed Club secretary was still trying to argue that there is a 30-minute rule in existence – if you’re not ready to play within 30 minutes of the match start time you forfeit your games – not of course the case any longer. That rule was changed to the ridiculous situation whereby anyone can turn up at any time they please and so long as the match has not finished they can then play their games. The result on this occasion was that the Uni 3rd player played his 3 matches in succession winning 1 and losing 2. Is that fair?? Although the outcome of the match wasn’t affected it could be easily argued that a player in that scenario has a clear advantage of being in the zone and taking on players who have been sitting out cold for some considerable time! But hey that’s the rules – for a Club like Murrayfield, we suppose a third player could show up just after 10pm (if his teammates can keep the match going that long) and play his three – we might try that against Keith Dingwall’s team!! Surely this rule needs looked at.
 
The late arrivals controversy doesn’t end there though! Team 7 entertained Fife on Wednesday night. Fife were running late and gave some advance notice of this. 50 minutes after start time they arrived – match started about an hour late. Fife were 5-3 up when Ladywood manager rang the bell – time’s up he says! The rule at least is fairly clear – in that scenario any matches not played are forfeited by the late team - a 5-5 result ensued. Fife’s gripe seems to be that tucked away in the bottom corner of the hall was a fifth table – put up amongst the barrier holding contraption, the other tables that have been brought out and incapable of being used, the football goalposts and net, badminton surrounds, the box of TT bats, nets, scoreboards, the covers for the tables, chairs, bags, kitchen utensils, soft furnishings etc. etc. etc. It’s also the only way in and out of the playing area. Fife were told that the table couldn’t be used for match play to enable time to be caught up - even if we ignored the health and safety nightmares, the playing area isn’t big enough. With 4 matches on at Ladywood on a Wednesday night, we already have complaints (from our own members) that that is too much in the half hall which we have available.  When Team 3’s Division 1 match finished about 9.30pm, Team 4 wasted not one minute in jumping on to that table to get their Division 3 encounter with Corstorphine completed in time! Even when teams turn up on time, it can be very difficult (especially if there are a number of five-enders) to get finished. An unhappy Fife team left Ladywood feeling hard done by. Maybe they shouldn’t have bothered mentioning that they didn’t actually leave Fife until just after 5.45pm. Even without traffic chaos they would have struggled to get to Ladywood by the scheduled start time. Not a positive way for a match to end but until we can all have our own venues this type of thing is going to continue to happen - we still remember last season playing on two tables at Edinburgh Uni and having to forfeit match 10 - and who can forget that Handicap Cup game where at 4-4 the deciding 9th match had to be conceded by us!!
 
Oh, what we would give for a quiet week with no controversies…………….
 
Not really – we love it don’t we!!!

0 Comments

    Penicuik TTC

    Midlothian's only ELTTL representatives.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.