With Christmas just around the corner, Team 4 caught up on their one outstanding fixture from the first half of the season as they hosted Edinburgh University 5 at Ladywood on Thursday 21st December in what was Week 14 of the Edinburgh League Season. The hosts were dealt a blow following the late withdrawal of Kristian Skotzen. Craig Linton and Aidan Craig were joined by Patrick Shanks playing up from Division 4. Aidan got the team off to a terrific start with a straightforward 3-0 win in Match 1. Craig was then involved in a mammoth tussle in Match 2 – he’s had some close games this season but 90% of the time has found a way to win – and this was no different as he squeezed home 15-13 in the decider. Patrick lost match 3 as the students got on the board but a win for Craig in match 4 gave the hosts a 3-1 advantage. Match 5 saw Aidan involved in a topsy turvy affair. After losing the first two ends 11-4, 11-4, Aidan seemed to work out his opponent’s style winning the next two 11-5, 11-4. The decider went the distance, but it was the University player who got over the line 11-9. Patrick then played some great stuff to extend the hosts lead with a four end win in Match 6. 4-2 going into the crucial doubles and Aidan and Craig quickly secured at least a point with a comfortable 11-3, 11-5, 11-2 win. Further wins for Patrick and Craig gave Penicuik a 7-3 victory, which perhaps flattered them a little. Had match 2 gone the other way that could have had a big impact on the game.
 
So, at the end of the first half of the season, Team 4 leap into second place in the Division 3 table with Craig sitting top of the individual averages with an excellent 88.8%. And we’re sure that there's more to come from the others in the team who will improve in the 2nd half. At this rate, promotion must be a realistic goal for Team 4.

Craig had another excellent night and credit to Patrick for playing a vital role in Team 4's win. But in a week where no other matches were played, our selection Committee have gone away from weekly awards and this week recognise our "Player of the 1st half of the Season". This player is rewarded not because of league performances, but because of terrific commitment and effort in relation to the running of the Club. Having qualified as a coach over the summer, this player’s contributions to our Saturday morning coaching sessions have been nothing short of amazing. Even putting to one side the hours and hours spent coming up with the ideas and then preparing for the sessions, the imaginative and unique nature of what is presented makes the sessions stand out. This player has organised and run a Club summer tournament as well as a summer tournament just for the juniors, has run Halloween Specials, TT based Quizzes, TT Beetle Drives, TT Snakes and Ladders and three weeks of Christmas themed sessions culminating with Junior and Senior Xmas Tournaments. None of this straightforward nonsense for this young lady – a massive well done to Hannah for her creativity and for the wonderful imagination which she brings to a Saturday morning at Ladywood. The kids (and adults) love her slant on "training" and her fellow coaches are genuinely in awe of the effort put in by her to make Saturday mornings that bit "different" and "special". Although sometimes that old moody fellow coach has questioned the amount of "TT training" that goes on with the juniors, each week the proof of the success of the sessions is shown in the smiling faces of the juniors who come back week after week to find out what the next inventive game will be. And the fact that other juniors have asked if they can plan a session shows what a great impact Hannah has had - well done to her. The next stage will be for coaches Greig and James simply to leave her to it – breakfast at Spoons on a Saturday morning sounds good to them apparently!

And finally, our controversy of the week section. Don’t be silly it’s Christmas in a few days and we've just finished on such a high that there's no room for controversy! 

We wish all our members and all our TT friends from around the league a very happy Christmas and we’ll be back in the New Year to cover the second half of the season.

​Week 13 of the Edinburgh League saw the second round of the Handicap Cup take place. Of our four entered teams, only one had made it over the first hurdle and that team was due to play Murrayfield on Wednesday 13th December. A last minute hiccup, however, as late in the day Murrayfield contacted us to say they were not able to secure their premises and given the short notice they conceded the fixture to us – not the way our team wanted to get through, but they progress, nevertheless.
 
Team 1 were also in action catching up on a postponed fixture against North Merchiston 2 in the Premier Division. After playing the last two matches without his regular teammates, Colin Green welcomed back into the fold Greig McDonell (still struggling with a knee injury) and Peter Aird, returning from his travels to South America. Colin had agreed that to get the match played he would overlook the rule that states a player not registered at the time of the original fixture cannot play in a rearranged one. That allowed NM2 new recruit, Lewis Hills to play as he joined Geoff Hunter and Quentin Renau. The match started well for Greig against Lewis – an 11-3 first end win and the knee was fine – halfway through the second and he was hobbling around like he'd been shot in the kneecap – some magic spray from Colin helped a little but he never recovered and lost his three matches. That left the outcome in the hands of Peter and Colin. Peter had a terrific night, dropping only one end in his three singles. Colin won his first two matches and at the time of playing the doubles the hosts held a 4-2 lead. Greig was over the moon when Colin asked him to play the doubles – the basis of the decision was that Greig didn’t move in the doubles anyway so there’d be no risk to the knee! A 3-1 victory proved Colin right. The last match of the night saw Colin take on Lewis. There was some terrific play from both, but Colin got over the line 12-10 in the fourth. A 7-3 victory to round off the first half of the season for Team 1 – they suffered three losses in consecutive weeks, all when playing understrength. Put those matches to one side and it’s been a terrific season so far for Team 1 – they sit in third place in the Premier, their highest ever position in the topflight at the halfway point in a season. Peter and Colin both sit in the top 10 in the individual averages and if Peter can cut down on his travels in the New Year, who knows, maybe the second half can be just as fruitful.  
 
Finally in Week 13, Team 2 of David Melrose, Steve Collins and Ian Hislop took to the table looking to improve on their first half 5-5 draw against ESC, in a match brought forward from January. Ian lost match 1 but a comfortable win for David was followed by an equally comfortable victory for Steve against the experienced Chris Shaw to give the home side the advantage after the first round of singles matches. The second set of matches saw David and Ian lose, but a win in match 6 for Steve brought the match level at 3-3 going into the vital doubles. A win in the doubles for the hosts would have gone a long way to potentially securing a point at least and they had their chances. 7-11, 11-9, 3-11 and the momentum was with the visitors, however, a terrific fourth end went down to the wire and when Steve and David won that 15-13 it appeared the confidence and momentum had definitely gone in their favour. They looked in control in the decider. 9-7 up, they somehow managed to lose it 11-9 and with it the confidence seemed to disappear from the team. David then lost to Chris from 2-1 up and although close, Steve fell in straight sets to Alexander Asyunkin and the match was over as a contest. Perhaps if the match had been on the line there would have been more pressure on Stella Hughes in the last match of the night, but Ian remained winless as the hosts fell to a disappointing 7-3 defeat. It’s been a tough season so far for Team 2. After two draws in the first two matches of the season, they’ve only managed to pick up one further point in their next 8 matches and find themselves at the foot of the Division 1 table. Look on the bright side, however. The only way is up, isn’t it??

A quick mention of our Junior and Senior Xmas Tournaments at Ladywood on Saturday 16th December. Run on a handicapped basis, it was great to see some terrific play from the juniors. After a shocking start to the day, Oliver turned things round when the knockout stages were reached, defeating Murray in the quarter final, Cara in the semi-final and then in a brilliant final defeating Aidan 11-9 in the deciding fifth end. Hard luck to Aidan who had reached the final giving all of his opponents big starts and had pulled back from 2-0 down to force a decider. In the senior event, the handicaps worked well with lots of close matches but it was Greig and James who competed in the final, Greig running out the winner. A big well done to Hannah for organising and running the events - stressful when she didn't know who was going to turn up but well worth it in the end. 

And so, to our player of the week award. Peter and Colin were both undefeated this week and have been excellent throughout the first half of the season. How can we split them – we can’t! So, this week’s winner (perhaps a little controversially), has to be Greig! The game was in the balance when he was “ordered” by Team Captain Colin to play the doubles – struggling with a knee injury, his terrific ability to hardly move yet somehow move enough to allow Colin to slide past him (sometimes in front and sometimes behind) to play some unbelievable winners throughout the match was a sight to behold! As he often says, Colin may have played all the winning shots, but doubles is a team game and Colin needed Greig to refuse to hit high balls and to stoically block his opponents off the table, to enable Colin to look so good. And of course he won our Xmas tournament! Well done to him.
 
And finally, our controversy of the week section. Normally each year we don’t have anything controversial in the week before Christmas – but we have a match in Week 14, so we’ll just do a little bit of a controversy this week. Team 2’s match this week only took place as a result of that lovely Team Captain, James Wighton feeling generous (perhaps overly so) and agreeing to bring forward a match from the second half of the season so their opponents (ESC) could have a full side out. ESC would have had to play understrength if the match had gone ahead in January as scheduled, Chris Shaw being unavailable for that one. Team 2 are struggling. Points are like gold dust! They’re probably lacking a bit in confidence. There is, as we know, no requirement on any team to accept a request for a match to be rescheduled. This then was surely the perfect opportunity to “take advantage” of the fact that a team was struggling to get a full side out – a team who they had drawn with in the first half of the season. Would this have been their chance in the first match in January to get a win under their belts? Maybe it would have been but that would have been controversial and perhaps not in the spirit of the game. Good on all of Team 2 (who were consulted about bringing the match forward and unanimously agreed to do it). They don’t want to win against weakened teams – they want to win fair and square. Let’s just hope that if James needs a postponement in the second half, whoever their opponents are, take a similar view to Team 2! In the end nothing controversial at all about Team 2’s decision – well unless it costs them at the end of the season!!
 
One match left before Xmas (Team 4 in action on Thursday night) – a quick report on Week 14 will follow at the end of the week.

Week 12 of the Edinburgh League saw four of our six teams in action as the halfway point of the season was neared.
 
First up were Team 4 with a visit to Haddington in Division 3 on Tuesday 5th December. After Richard Miller was struck by the train strikes, a late SOS call was answered by last week’s player of the Week, Kristian Skotzen, as he joined Aidan Craig and Team Captain Craig Linton. After a good win in Week 11, Team 4 went into their penultimate match of the first half in confident mood. That confidence was dealt two early blows as first Aidan fell to the very experienced Roger Thomas and then Kristian lost an epic which went the distance against Craig Morrison – 2-1 up he lost the fourth end 11-9 before losing the fifth 13-11. 2-0 down and Team 4 were in trouble. Craig got the visitors on the board with a comfortable win in match 3 and when Aidan defeated Kristian’s conqueror the match was tied at 2-2. With further wins for Craig and Kristian to follow, suddenly Team 4 had turned the match around and were 4-2 up going into the doubles. In a change to the “normal” selection, Kristian teamed up with Aidan – and that turned out to be a good decision as they secured a straightforward 3-0 win and with that a point was secured. The final set of singles matches all went the way of the visitors as they turned around a 2-0 deficit to win the match 8-2. One match left before Xmas for Team 4 who currently enjoy third place in the Division 3 table.
 
The week was then rounded off at Ladywood on Thursday 7th December with Teams 1, 3 and 5 all in action. Team 1 had required to call upon two reserves the previous week against Murrayfield 1 and there was no difference in Week 12 with Greig McDonell still out with a knee injury and Peter Aird out of the country. It would be fine though – it was only North Merchiston 1 visiting Ladywood! Colin Green was joined by James Wighton and Steve Collins from Team 2. The best that can be said about this match was how happy the Ladywood staff were – no hanging about after 10 pm waiting on Team 1 finishing up – match over with about an hour to spare! Colin, as expected, was the only home player to cause any trouble to his opponents – he took an end of both Gavin Yuan and Willie Mabon in his first two matches and came back from 2-1 down in his final match to win the only match of the night for the home side with a victory against Graeme Sutherland. A 9-1 defeat for the home side. We’ll ignore the doubles match – apparently one side won about 17 points in a row! And it wasn’t us! NM took great delight in mentioning that in their Facebook post!
 
It was an all “Penicuik v Merchiston” night at Ladywood. Team 3 faced NM 5 in Division 2 and after their dropped point in Week 11 they were looking to get back to winning ways as they concluded their first half fixtures. Bob Porteous was first up for the hosts, and he cruised to a 3-0 victory in match 1. The scores were quickly levelled, however, when Gary McDougal lost in 3 to NM’s Matthew Jarvis. Krzysztof Laszkiewicz restored the lead against Slawomir Bess, who was playing up for NM. When the next three matches all went the way of the hosts, they held a 5-1 lead going into the doubles. Gary and Krzysztof went to five, but a deciding end win was good enough to secure another win for Team 3. The last set of singles matches saw Matthew defeat Bob but with the other two home players winning, Team 3 ran out comfortable 8-2 victors. It has probably been a tougher first half of the season for Team 3 than they were expecting. The absence of Charlie Brindley has certainly played a big part in that. Hopefully he will be back and available in the second half of the season. Team Captain Krzysztof, however, has shown his strength with an excellent 31 wins out of 33 games played - and a good finish to 2023 (9 points out of a possible 10 in their last five matches) has seen the team jump into 2nd place on game difference. It looks, however, like this promotion race is likely to go down to the wire in 2024 with a number of teams in contention.

Finally at home on Thursday night were Team 5 who hosted NM 7. Following a number of difficult results, Team 5 found themselves struggling at the wrong end of the Division 4 table. As we reported last week, this match was a “must win” against the side who sat bottom of the table. Jim Jack, Rachel Petrie and Chamika Diyunugalge faced the youngsters from NM and they got off to the perfect start with the first round of singles all going comfortably to the hosts by 3-0 scorelines. That took some pressure off the Penicuik trio and by the end of the next set of singles matches, the win was secured. A 3-1 win in the doubles for Rachel and Chamika made the overall score 7-0 and the youngsters had no answer as the final three matches were also picked up by the hosts. A must win match and win they certainly did. The 10-0 victory saw Team 5 leap up three places in the Division, but they are still not out of the woods yet. They are three points clear of the second relegation spot and know that they will need to at least repeat their first half set of results in 2024 to stay out of trouble.

And so, to our player of the week award. Five players this week had undefeated nights in singles play – all of Team 5, Craig from Team 4 and Krzysztof from Team 3. This week's award is given, not only for the three wins, but for his organisational ability in keeping Team 5 happy with rotation of his team of four - well done to Jim - anyone who manages to get a seal of approval from Rachel is doing something right...

And finally, our controversy of the week section.
 
In Team 5’s match, serving was again a topic of discussion. In one of Rachel’s matches, she pointed out that her opponent was not serving legally. We think there is absolutely no doubt that the serves were not legal – the player was effectively holding the ball wedged between thumb and fingers and nowhere near resting on the palm of their hand. When this was pointed out to the Umpire, it was suggested, in not these exact words, “pot kettle black”. Apparently Rachel can occasionally not throw the ball up. Nobody was warned about the serves and the match carried on. Now in fairness the NM opponents are all youngsters, and it seems to us they are playing in a division too high for them. They’ve only won 5 “individual / doubles matches” out of a possible 90 played. Rachel was well in control of the match. Warning someone about their serves was never really going to change the way this match was progressing. But maybe that’s not the point. The rules apply to everyone and whether you serve illegally in the Premier Division or Division 4 shouldn’t matter. Rachel still remembers one of her matches in the then bottom division away at Haddington when one of our opponents this week, Roger Thomas (official umpire and all that), just called a fault against her for an illegal serve. The rules are the rules was the position taken despite the fact that on that occasion, Rachel was being soundly beaten and the “illegal serve” wasn’t affecting the outcome. In this match, if the umpire felt Rachel’s serves were also questionable, the right thing to have done, according to the rules, would have been to call both players up. But we can see the umpire’s reasoning – why bother causing unnecessary difficulties! Let’s hope the umpire in question doesn’t go on one of Mr Thomas’ Umpiring courses! Or maybe we should hope he does!

Team 1, as they had been against Murrayfield 1 last week, were again understrength against second top NM1. We reported last week on the fact that Murrayfield didn’t give their player of the match award to Colin. Now in fairness it had been a 10-0 defeat for Penicuik, and nobody therefore won any matches, although statistically Colin had clearly been the only player to win any ends of TT. Fast forward to this week and NM were at it as well! Colin won a match and took ends off the other two players he played. Not enough for the POTM award! That went to James - winner of our “nicest PTTC player” award for four years in a row – although that crown has been lost in recent years! On this occasion James scored even less points than Ian Hislop had last week to win the award - an average of 4 an end! Now we’ve covered this before – these awards are NOT based on who is necessarily the best player. It’s worth more coverage in this section though as it certainly provides us with a good laugh at the end of matches. You can imagine the fun a certain member of the team has had with his “mate” pointing out that in two weeks where he’s battled away valiantly against the top two teams in the Premier League, winning ends in almost all the matches played, he’s lost out to Ian Hislop and James Wighton in the popularity contest that this award seems to have become! His response when asked what he’d done to “rub his opponents up the wrong way”? Apparently it’s through association! It’s because he’s our Club President’s pal! Ah the fun we have!
 
As if we’ve not covered this subject enough, Rachel also pointed out that she should have had the POTM award for Team 5 during the week. Whilst everyone won 3, she never dropped an end in singles play whereas her teammates did! Ah but you’re playing with Chamika, Rachel and he’s taken over the "nicest player" crown from James over the last couple of seasons!

So, Teams 3, 5 and 6 are all finished for the first half of the season – Week 13 is Handicap Cup Week but also sees Teams 1 and 2 in action at Ladywood, Team 2 bringing forward a match from the New Year so their opponents, ESC can have a full team! OMG – James is trying to get that award back from you Chamika – watch out!

Week 11 of the Edinburgh League saw of five of our six teams in action.
 
First up were Team 1 with a visit on Monday 27th November to the undefeated and defending Premier League Champions Murrayfield 1. This was always going to be a difficult match, but with Peter Aird still on his travels with work and Greig McDonell still injured following his match with Murrayfield 2 in Week 10, the task was pretty much an impossible one. Colin Green was the only regular as Ian Hislop was called up from Division 1 and Kristian Skotzen made his debut against the “big boys” playing up from Division 3. Colin took an end of his opponent in the first round of singles matches but that was as good as it got as the home side got off to the perfect start. The next three singles matches were even quicker – three 3-0 wins and the match was over as a contest. A couple of decent games in the doubles as Colin and Kristian got 8 and 7 points in ends 1 and 3 but that loss made it 7-0. The inevitable was on the cards, although Colin fought hard in his final match, losing out in five ends. A good experience for Kristian and Ian playing at the highest level possible.
 
Tuesday night saw Team 3 travel to take on Corstorphine 2 at Napier University. Krzysztof Laszkiewicz, Gary McDougal and Bob Porteous had had a walkover win the previous week and that had put them on the same points as their opponents in equal third in the Division 2 table – a massive match then for both sides. The first two matches played simultaneously saw Bob take on Tommy Sutherland whilst Krzysztof faced James Grant. Both matches went the distance and could have gone either way. Bob fought back from 2-1 down and after three deuces in the decider he squeezed over the line 14-12. Krzysztof also found himself 2-1 down and the match could have been over in the fourth but after five deuces he forced a decider with a 16-14 win. Maybe that took too much out of him as he fell 11-7 in the fifth. Gary won his first match of the night in four ends to give the visitors a 2-1 lead. The second round of singles were equally as close. Bob went to five again, this time v James but this time he fell 11-9 in the fifth. Having lost a deuce in the fifth in his first match, Tommy this time came out on top with a 13-11 win v Gary. Krzysztof levelled the scores on the night with a win against Dave Hall. 3-3 with the crucial doubles to come. Krzysztof and Gary combined for a four-end win to give the visitors the advantage going into the last round of singles. Matches 8 and 9 followed a similar pattern to earlier games – two more tight and tense five-enders – James proved that he’s an expert under pressure as he triumphed 13-11 in the fifth against Gary. Dave had been winless on the night, but his game v Bob secured a point for the hosts – despite an 11-0 third end win for Bob, Dave bounced back to win the decider 11-8. It was left to Krzysztof to try and claim a draw for the visitors and he held his nerve with a three-end win v Tommy. 5-5 was probably a fair result in the end although the outcome could have been so different - Corstorphine’s five wins were all five enders! What a match – 44 ends of table tennis played. The hosts were probably happier than the visitors with a point.
 
Thursday night saw our remaining three teams in action. Team 4 of Craig Linton, Kristian Skotzen and Aidan Craig were in action against North Merchiston 6 in Division 3. On paper the hosts were the favourites starting some five places above their Edinburgh opponents. Aidan got the team off to a good start with a four end win before Kristian lost out in a tight three end match. Craig restored the lead with a comfortable win in Match 3. Kristian gave the hosts a two game advantage with a win in match 4 and when Aidan did well to win a fifth end decider in match 5 and that was followed by Criag maintaining his good run of form in Match 6 it looked like plain sailing for the hosts, 5-1 up and a point secured. The doubles kept the Edinburgh side alive, and the night was to turn on the next two matches which took place simultaneously and both of which went the distance. Craig started as a big favourite against young Alfie Primrose, who was winless going into his final match of the night. At 2-1 up, Craig was embroiled in a mammoth fourth end which could have gone either way – after SEVEN deuces, Alfie got over the line with an 18-16 win and he then sneaked the win, 11-9 in the fifth. Kristian meantime lost the first two ends of his match against James Crosland, 11-7, 11-7. He was in big trouble but somehow managed to force a decider – he held his nerve with a 13-11 win to secure that important sixth win on the night. With Aidan losing in four ends in his final match, a match that looked to be going only one way was only just won by a 6-4 scoreline. A good team performance though with all three players picking up two wins.
 
Also at home on Thursday night were Team 6 who hosted Corstorphine 6 in Division 5. Ian Millar, fresh from a trip to the Caribbean to get away from our awful weather, was back to join Mat Dyluk and Roscoe Cairney. Team Captain Roscoe has played six matches this season and has picked up one win in each of those six matches – a consistency that he would like to improve upon, but consistent, nonetheless. It looked like he was going to get the team off to a flying start in Week 11 when he came back from a 2-1 deficit with an 11-2 fourth end win in match 1. A terrible start, however, to the decider and he lost out in five ends. That was as close as he got against Corstorphine. Ian Millar meantime had returned from his "hot weather training" with an injury (apparently not alcohol induced but we're not convinced). He struggled somewhat as a result. When the doubles was also lost Team 6 were facing their first whitewash defeat of the season. Mat had lost his first two matches, picking up an end in Match 3 and as he faced his last match of the night the team were facing a 10-0 defeat – well done to him for an excellent 11-9, 11-9, 11-7 victory. A 9-1 loss in the end. One match left for Team 6 before the Xmas break.
 
Away from home on Thursday, Team 5 made the trip along the M8 to Bathgate to take on league leaders West Lothian 5 in Division 4. Jim Jack, Patrick Shanks and Chamika Diyunugalge had the unenviable task of trying to bounce back from a poor few weeks which has seen them slip down the Division 4 table – hopefully they could try to ignore the fact that they had lost 10-0 to the “apparently weaker” other West Lothian side in this Division in Week 9! Was the writing on the wall for the visitors? The best that the first three singles threw up was a solitary end for Patrick. The next set of three singles went exactly the same way. 6-0 to the hosts. Patrick and Chamika picked up an end in the doubles but a loss there made it 7-0. Could any of the visitors do a “Mat” and pick up a win to avoid a whitewash – unfortunately not! Team 5 has now played West Lothian 5 and 6 in the space of 14 days and their aggregate result was 20-0 – in fairness the West Lothian sides sit in 1st and 2nd place in the division so there will be easier matches to come hopefully. Their recent poor run of form has seen them slip to third bottom – no pressure but their Week 12 match against bottom of the table North Merchiston is beginning to look like a “must win”.
 
And so, to our player of the week award. Nobody from the Club had an unbeaten night in singles play – there were 2’s for Krzysztof, Kristian, Aidan and Craig. Special mention also to Mat, who secured the only win for Team 6, a comfortable straight sets win as well! Although he probably didn’t realise it at the time (and maybe a good job that he didn’t), the award this week goes to the player who came back from 2-0 down, and held his nerve for a terrific 13-11 in the fifth comeback win, and with it he secured the overall match win for Team 4 – well done to Kristian.
 
And finally, our controversy of the week section. A short one this week because we're full of Christmas cheer having had a Hannah Xmas special training session on Saturday followed by our "controversy free" PTTC Xmas night out on Saturday night. 
 
Team 1’s trip to top of the table Murrayfield was ruined somewhat by the absence of two out of three regulars. Given that Colin didn’t win any, the result would, in all likelihood have been no different – just maybe a bit of a longer night. Maybe irritated a little by that, there was a bit of unnecessary, in Colin’s eyes, conflict when in his warm-up for his last match of the night he noticed the table move a little when he touched it. He looked down at the table to see that there was only one brake actually on. Colin, being the helpful chap that we all know he is, upon noticing that went round the table in an effort to put the other brakes on. He probably wasn’t expecting a reprimand for doing so – what do you think you’re doing, he was asked! We wouldn’t come and interfere with your equipment at Penicuik! Oh dear – a little touchy about something it appears. For the rematch, Colin wants to set up the tables as squint as possible and see if any of the opponents try to straighten them! We know what his comment is going to be if they try!
 
Probably as a result of that irritation, Murrayfield gave its player of the match award to Ian Hislop. He scored 45 points in 9 ends of table tennis, an average of 5 an end. He lost all the ends he played. Colin took Bouri Chen to 4 ends and Charlie McGowan to 5 ends. Remember a few weeks ago a Murrayfield player complaining about not getting the Player of the Match award despite being “statistically” the best player on the night! There’s no way that Colin wasn’t the best player on the night for us but hey, we recognise that these awards are based on other factors. Likeability? He had obviously annoyed the Murrayfield Team or their Team Captain with his behaviour. We’ve got no problem with that but the real controversy is if they decided it on likeability grounds they then gave it to Ian!! How must that make Kristian feel if Ian was more likeable than him! Only joking Ian – just like all the other Edinburgh teams we love you as well.
 
Week 12 believe it or not is scheduled to be the last week of regular League TT before the Christmas break. Roll on Xmas!