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Week 14 Report

20/12/2015

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With no League fixtures, the only outstanding matter to deal with prior to the festive break was the re-scheduled Handicap Cup 2nd Round Match between Team 1 (Clive Liddiard, Brian Bailey and Sean Lennon) and Defending Champions Murrayfield 1 (Charlie Ellis, Callum Morrison and Keith Dingwall).

Match 1 saw Brian (-1) take on Callum (-19) 18-0 start in a race to 29 points. after a strong start by Brian in the 1st end, Callum was just too consistent and won in 4. Next up was Clive (-4) against Keith (-12) in a topsy turvy match which Clive won deuce in the fifth 19-17. Sean (+7) then faced Charlie (-14) who had to claw back a 21 point deficit in a race to 25 - impossible?? Nearly managed it in the first end, Sean sneaking home 25-23 but that gave Sean confidence as he won the next 2 ends comfortably. It looked like being an excellent night for the home side when Clive produced a terrific performance to win deuce in the fifth against Callum to give the home side a 3-1 advantage but back came Murrayfield as Charlie won 26-24 in the fifth against Brian before Sean got the 2 game advantage back in a mammoth struggle against Keith, another deuce in the fifth win for the home side who were one match away from victory. 

6 matches played and four of them had been decided deuce in the fifth - who says the Ratings Central system and handicapping isn't accurate??!! Matches 7 and 8 would surely see the best chances for the home side to put the match away - first Clive tried and at 2 ends to nil down to Charlie he looked in trouble but back he came to win ends 3 and 4 21-19, 22-20 - another 5 ender and lo and behold this one went way past the 21 points needed to win as Charlie got over the line 26-24!! Calum then had to come back from 26-0 down in a race to 30 to keep the match alive - surely he couldn't, could he?? If the pattern of the night wasn't clear enough yet, this match threw up more drama as Calum's consistent attacking play proved just too strong as he defeated Sean 31-29 in the deciding end.

A dramatic and amazingly tight match and it was only fitting that it should be decided by a final match shoot out between Brian and Keith.......... Well it would have been fitting had it not been for the fact that despite playing on two tables the time was now almost 10.30pm. Unlike our opponents who could have played on at their venue into the wee small hours, we, like many other clubs, are not so fortunate and are constrained to a closing time of 10pm!! The order came to "Get Oot!!" and with it the chances of seeing Brian redeem himself for agreeing to a postponement of the match in the first place. I wasn't going to do a controversy of the week piece this week given the festive cheer which we should all be feeling but the whole report this week is controversial!

The rules are the rules and a concession has been given to Murrayfield. Sporting of our opponents?? No. The sporting thing to do would surely have been to agree to hold over the one outstanding match to another time to decide the outcome of such an excellent and dramatic night of TT. Would we have taken the concession if the shoe had been on the other foot...... In the early part of this season probably a definite yes, but Brian is a changed character as exhibited by his friendliness to opponents over the last few weeks - he's giving James a run for his money in the Club's season ending "Mr Nice Guy" award!

What a way to lose a knock-out match! Leaves a bitter taste in the mouth at this time of year - good tidings to all and all that! Made all the worse because of how competitive the match had been and how accommodating Brian had been by agreeing to postponing the match the previous week!

We can't end the first half of the season on such a depressing note. The Club continues to go from strength to strength and it's great to see such a great family atmosphere at the Club on both match nights and practice nights - Thursday past saw 8 tables on the go and players having to wait on the sidelines for games. Our Website Homepage describes us as a "friendly, family orientated Club" and I think that has been shown to be the case throughout 2015. Not only have we grown in terms of the number of League teams, but our Social membership continues to rise and that adds to the great Club atmosphere.

​To add to that, the Club are delighted to announce that we have secured new sponsorship with Saltire Roofing & Building Limited, not only for this season, but for seasons 2016/17 and 2017/18 as well. The future looks good for the Club and who knows, maybe one day we'll have premises where we can play until the wee small hours ourselves!!

El Presidente wishes all our members and all our other table tennis friends (Murrayfield included!) a very Merry Christmas with best wishes for 2016.

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Week 13 Report

13/12/2015

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Week 13 of the season saw attention turn to the 2nd Round of the Handicap Cup. Penicuik 1's match against Murrayfield 1 was postponed (more on that shocking news to follow!) which left Penicuik 3 to take centre stage as they faced a home tie against Edinburgh University. Greig McDonell (-12), Iain Johnstone (-7) and Abby Wighton (-1) took on John Kwok (+6), Arunn Sathasivum (Scr) and Ben Wong (-2). 

When Abby lost the first match of the night in 3 straight ends to John who had good serves and a terrific forehand the home trio were left muttering about who on earth had come up with a +6 handicap for him!! A win for Iain against Arunn followed by a win for Greig against Ben (both in 4 ends), gave the home side a 2-1 advantage. Match 4 was without doubt the turning point as Iain took on John giving away a 13 point advantage in a race to 18. Iain lost the first two ends 6-18, 14-18 and the writing looked to be on the wall. Team Captain Greig (the master of boring handicap cup table tennis) then explained to Iain that he had to play more like him and lo and behold Iain pushed his way to the next two ends 18-16, 18-16. The decider saw Iain catch John at 14-14 before he forgot that he was meant to be boring and lost the next two points to go 16-14 down - sanity returned however and the next four points went Iain's way to win the match 18-16 in the decider - maybe in fact the handicapping was alright after all!! Abby then won match 5 in four ends against Ben before Greig finished the match off with a win against Arunn 23-21, 23-21, 23-20 - a match which according to Abby included at least 2 winners from El Presidente in the 69 points he won!! So a 5-1 victory sees the 2014 Champions progress into Round 3.
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Back to League Action and there was an opportunity for the Club to catch up with some outstanding fixtures. In Division 1, Team 3 of Clive Liddiard, Brian Bailey and Iain Johnstone were looking to finish the first half of the season with an important win as they took on the team who sat just a point below them in the League, West Lothian 4. The Penicuik trio recorded their fourth win of the season as they ran out 9-1 winners on the night with both Clive and Iain winning 3 and Brian 2. Clive and Iain also combined for a win in the doubles. The victory sees Team 3 go into the festive break secure in a mid table position and importantly 7 points clear of the relegation zone. 

In Division 3, Team 5 finished the first half of their season in dominant form as they faced Haddington at Ladywood Leisure Centre. Gregory Leplatre, John Bald and Phil Daly were all on top form as they whitewashed their East Lothian based opponents 10-0, a result which sees Team 5 go into the New Year in sixth place in the Division 3 table but only 2 points out of third place.
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Finally, there was another intra-club fixture in Division 4 as Teams 7 and 8 met. Team 7 of Stuart Bennett, Craig Johnson and Millie Bennett started the night two points clear of their Clubmates, Rachel Petrie, Lewis Baldock and Kathryn McKenzie. After the first 5 matches of the night, the match was evenly poised with Team 7 holding a slender 3-2 advantage but 4 of the next 5 matches went the way of Team 7 as they ran out 7-3 winners. The difference on the night was the play of 14 year old Millie who was undefeated in singles play and combined with dad Stuart for a win in the doubles. Stuart added two singles wins and Craig added 1. For Team 8, Lewis won 2 while Rachel won 1. The victory sees Team 7 move 4 points clear of Team 8 in the Division 4 table but both Teams are well behind the young guns of Team 6 who have bragging rights at Xmas as they sit in joint 3rd place in the division. 

Player of the Week this week? Iain had a great week - undefeated in the League match and then contributing hugely to the Handicap Cup win. For the second week in a row, Sean was in the running having not actually played a match - he pointed out that at the Club on Thursday night he defeated all of Team 7 which means of course that had he played in the League fixture, Team 8 would have won 6-4 - good try Sean but I'm afraid not!! Player of the week has to be Millie - her first season in the League, an important and tension filled intra-club fixture and she contributes 4 matches on the night - Well done Millie.

And finally controversy of the Week - it's not really a controversy as such - more of a shock - for the second time this season, Brian has turned into Mr Nice! Maybe his reputation as a complete and utter ..... (don't think I can publish that) is unfair after all. Faced with a late call from Murrayfield 1, unable to field a team for the Handicap Cup fixture, he agrees to postpone the game until this coming week - what has come over him?? He has of course clearly forgotten our Club Directive to never grant Murrayfield a postponement after they refused us earlier in the season (only joking Murrayfield) but putting that to one side he seems to now be one of the more approachable captains in the Club. Really? Brain Bailey? The controversy of course is back to that discussed in our Week 7 Report about when fixtures are meant to be played - we think last season's rule is much better, namely that the game is played on the normal playing night of the home team in the week identified for the Handicap Cup - it avoids any confusion and also avoids the need for the home team to offer two nights in the relevant week when some clubs simply don't have the capacity to offer that. Even more controversial is that the past winners list on the ELTTL Website has every winning Club listed from 1980 onwards save for one season - http://www.edinburghtabletennis.com/past-winners.html - does anyone know who won in 2013/14!!??

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Week 12 Report

6/12/2015

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Week 12 was a busy one for the Club with seven of our 8 Teams in action but this Report is a going to have to be a short one because our Press Officer is tired!!

In the Premier Division, Team 1 were again without Colin Green and called upon the services of Iain Johnstone to combine with Greig McDonell and Stuart Gow in their away match against North Merchiston 2. Putting aside David Melrose losing his head / the plot in his match with Greig (surely not) Team 1 just fell short as both Greig and Stuart won two singles (Greig losing to Eddie Scott and Stuart losing to Geoff Hunter). Iain was really unlucky in the last match of the night against David which went the distance but he couldn't convert some excellent play into a win as the home side recorded a narrow 6-4 victory. 

In Division 1, Team 2 of James Wighton, Gary McDougal and Abby Wighton faced an away match against West Lothian 4. With only Gary getting on the scoresheet in the first 6 singles and after a narrow defeat in the doubles the Penicuik trio trailed 5-2 going into the final round of singles matches and another defeat looked on the cards. In match 8 James came back from 2 ends to nil down to win and then that feat was repeated by Abby, leaving Gary to play for a draw in the final Mach of the night. Gary, who was undefeated on the night, took the last match to stun the Bathgate based trio and secure an unexpected point for the visitors. 

Team 3 also faced Bathgate based opposition with a home match against favourites for the Division, West Lothian 2. A chance on the night as only two regulars available for West Lothian but with Stan Stoodley undefeated, only Iain Johnstone could take out the opposition number 2 as he picked up 2 wins whilst Clive Liddiard and Brian Bailey both won 1. The doubles proved crucial as Clive and Iain lost out by the narrowest of margins in the deciding end resulting in a 6-4 defeat for the home side. 

The Club's most consistent team in the first 12 weeks of the season has been Team 4 who went into their last fixture before the Christmas break still undefeated and a point clear at the top of Division 2. Chris Markey, Krzysztof Laszkiewicz and Gavin Hunter travelled to face West Lothian 5. Chris, who arguably has been the team's most consistent player had a bit of an off night by his standard with only one win but the sign of a good side is that when one player unexpectedly falls short of their normal standard, the others can step up and that's what happened as Gavin won 2 and Krzysztof won 3 which combined with a win with Chris in the doubles resulted in an excellent 7-3 win ensuring that Team 4 end the first half of the season sitting proudly at the top of the division. Well done guys.

The performance of the week came in an intra-club fixture in Division 4 where the young guns of Louis Myatt, Luke Hennessey and Louis McLeod took on Team 8 of Rachel Petrie, Sean Lennon and Kathryn McKenzie. Whilst the youngsters of Team 6 started as favourites, no one expected the one sided contest which resulted. With only a single end won by Team 8 in the first 6 matches of the night, the match was over as a contest before the doubles fixture. Team 6 showed no mercy as they also won the last four matches of the night to inflict a heavy 10-0 defeat on their Clubmates. 

Finally in Week 12, Penicuik 7 hosted Fife 4 in Division 4. On a disappointing night for regulars Craig Johnson and Millie Bennett only Lewis Baldock who stepped up to deputise from Team 8 managed a win as the home side fell to a 9-1 defeat.

Did I say this was going to be a short report??!

A quick report of the performances in the Edinburgh Championships for Club players - not as many of our members participating as previous years - well the League did move the Tournament away from Ladywood - we're not bitter! In fairness the lack of Penicuik players probably had more to do with the Xmas night out on Saturday night and a few sore heads this morning (not mentioning any names but did Iain J actually make it home in one piece?) Anyway there was some success for those who did attend. Greig couldn't make it for the morning session (it was the curry not the alcohol!) but turned up in the afternoon to defend his Vets Title - and he made it to the Final where he lost out to Darius from West Lothian. In the Band 3 singles, James who had been sensible and went home by 11 pm last night just missed out as he also finished with a runners-up medal. In the ladies singles, Abby (who only went home at 11pm because Dad forced her to) was the Club's 3rd runner-up of the day. And our fourth runners up medal came for Luke Hennessey in the Band 5 event. Surely we could find a winners medal somewhere - attention turned to the minors event where Louis Myatt took out teammate Luke Hennessey before winning the final deuce in the fifth against North Merchiston's Amelia Norbury. Eight Penicuik players participated and 5 medals - that's a good ratio after all!! (Some photos on our FB page and the Website)

And so to our Player of the Week Award - a number of contenders this week. Gary thought he was a certainty for the award on Monday night as he was undefeated in singles play in Team 2's 5-5 comeback draw. But then up popped Krzysztof with 3 wins and a doubles win for Team 4 to keep them top of the division. And then just when he thought he was a shoo-in along came Sean from Team 8, who despite not winning a match this week, gave El Presidente a lift home following the night out on the condition that he won the award - bribery doesn't work, Sean - unless money is involved! But the winner this week has to be a young lad who in the League won his 3 singles (including an easy win against his mum), combined to win the doubles and then became Penicuik's only Edinburgh Champion this season - Well done Louis Myatt. 

Controversy of the week?? I'm in a festive good mood and said this would be short so I'll save that up for next week although I still can't believe they think quality tables, good lighting and a bigger venue merits moving the Tournament away from Penicuik - what about our great friendly welcome, snow (normally) and the food and drink we provide?? So what if this year's tournament resulted in the biggest ever entry - Shocking decision.....



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