Week 12 of the League was another busy one for the Club with some of our teams playing their final fixtures in the first half of the season.
Premier Division
Team 1 v Heriot-Watt University I (Away)
This was always going to be a tough night for Colin Green, Peter Aird, and Krzysztof Laszkiewicz (playing up) as they travelled to Heriot-Watt to take on a formidable looking trio of opponents. Colin picked up Penicuik’s only win, defeating Harry Blackhall in a five-set battle. Peter and Krzysztof both fought hard but couldn’t add to the score. Krzysztof was over the moon though to pick up an end in his match against Yubo Zhou Rasmussen. Nathan Hogg was the standout player of the night untroubled in his three 3-0 wins. It’s been a tough run for Team 1 with player availability issues over the last few weeks – they have one match left in the first half of the season and will be looking to finish on a high.
Division 1
Team 2 v Murrayfield V (Home)
After picking up their first point of the season in Week 10, this match looked like being a close contest for James Wighton, Hannah McDonell, and Greig McDonell. Greig picked up two singles wins and Hannah an excellent win v Jonas Falter in the first six singles to draw the match level at 3-3 going into the crucial doubles fixture. Greig and Hannah combined to win in five sets, and the hosts held their first lead of the night. 4-3 up going into the last round of singles fixtures, surely another point (or even a win) was on the cards. Hannah was 2-0 up against Julio Lopez and coasting until she glanced across to see Dad struggling against the excellent young Cayden Fleury – she suddenly realised that she needed to win and that pressure let Julio back into it. Julio was a major factor on the night coming back from losing positions against both James and Hannah to win 5 set battles. The last match saw James take on Jonas and it just wasn’t to be -a devastating 6-4 loss for Team 2 ended their first half on a real downer.
Division 2
Team 3 v ESC 2 (Away)
This proved to be a difficult away fixture for Craig Linton, Bob Porteous, and Chamika Diyunugalge (playing up). When the first five matches flew by with only three ends being picked up by the visitors a 10-0 rout looked on the cards. Bob managed an excellent 3-2 win in match 6 to get the Penicuik side on the board and when he combined with Craig for a doubles victory and that was followed by Craig winning match 8 a remarkable recovery remained a possibility. A 5-0 deficit turned into a 5-5 draw would have been great to write about, but alas the last two matches went the way of the hosts as they secured a 7-3 victory!
Division 3
Team 4 v Edinburgh International III (Home)
In a season where most of our teams have struggled for consistency, thank goodness for Team 4! It was another strong performance from Aidan Craig, Chamika Diyunugalge, and Ian Hislop as they faced Edinburgh International. Aidan was unbeaten in singles, whilst Chamika and Ian picked up two wins each, Ian winning two five-setters. The doubles pairing of Chamika and Aidan lost in straight sets but overall the team maintained their position at the top of the division with an excellent 7-3 victory.
Division 4
Team 5 v Murrayfield X (Away)
Although Team 5 endured another tough away night, the feedback from the players was they had a fun match with humour maintained throughout. Roscoe Cairney, Rachel Petrie, and Iain Caddell fell to an 8-2 defeat to significantly higher rated players and there can be positives taken from the performances of the Penicuik side – it’s been a difficult first half of the season for Team 5 but there’s only one way things can go in the second half – and that’s upwards!
Division 5
Team 6 v Dunbar II (Home)
After a visit to Gullane the previous week it was time for a visit from another East Lothian outfit for Team 6 as Dunbar made the trek to Ladywood in Division 5. John Grant, Michael Daly, and Tony Walker took to the table for the hosts. The Dunbar side had more experience than our league "newbies" and it showed in their consistency levels. Tony picked up Penicuik’s only win of the night as Team 6 fell to a 9-1 defeat.
Player of the Week
There wasn’t much competition for this week’s award but even had there been this young man would have probably still won it. For an 8th consecutive time he won all three of his singles to help Team 4 remain at the top of the Division 3 table. 24 matches played and 24 wins which bring his first half of the season to an end, and what a first half of the season it's been! Well done (for the third time) to Aidan.
Controversy of the Week
We’ve had a number of problems recently with fielding full sides, resulting in us calling up players from teams below. In the old days we would have just put three players into each team and that would be it. We don’t know why, but these days it seems that you probably need a squad of at least 4, if not 5, to manage a season of table tennis fixtures. That seems crazy and although we have often poked fun at some clubs for having a huge list of players available to them, maybe that's the way to go.
That said, there has to be a balance – not many of our players would be happy if they were in a team of 7 or 8 playing a fairly short season. And the problem with a big pool of players is that it’s just potluck for the opponents as to which “team” you end up facing. Whilst the University are probably a bad example, their Division 1 side had 9 players in their pool at the start of the season and now 8 (no idea where one of them has disappeared to after playing a few matches). The most anyone has played is 4 times, three have played 3 times, one has played twice, two only once and two not at all. And despite having 9 players registered, they’ve had to rely on two players playing up and have played with only two players on two occasions! Now that is crazy!
We can see why Haddington might be a bit perturbed. When they played the students in mid-November they had a full team out and probably three of their highest rated players. Haddington were challenging at the top of the table but fell to a resounding 8-2 defeat. Fast forward 3 weeks and the students face off against Murrayfield 6 who were sitting in third place a point behind the top 2 (Haddington and Murrayfield 4). The students turn up with two players, one of whom was playing up from Division 4! An 8-2 win for Murrayfield who probably couldn’t believe their luck! Is there any way of avoiding such a scenario arising? Probably not. It seems to just be a matter of luck or bad fortune depending on what side you’re on. It does, however, cause others to complain. Given the closeness of the Division 1 title battle, how can it be fair that one team vying for the top 2 can get such an easy ride whilst another team doesn't?
Our format at Ladywood this season is a bit different and we have more space available for three matches every week. The result of that is that there should be less disruptions to play with balls flying over from other tables - try telling Tony that! He was frustrated that the set-up of the hall meant that a larger proportion of errant balls seemed to land in his court. Maybe something we can get a bit better for the second half of the season.
Only three matches left for us before the Xmas break – Santa is nearly here to bring us all new equipment which will undoubtedly turn our fortunes around in the New Year, unless you’re waiting on such equipment arriving from some dodgy Japanese site that Kristian recommended!! Still on a boat somewhere seems to be his daily update!! Maybe it will arrive in time for Easter just as the season ends!!!
Premier Division
Team 1 v Heriot-Watt University I (Away)
This was always going to be a tough night for Colin Green, Peter Aird, and Krzysztof Laszkiewicz (playing up) as they travelled to Heriot-Watt to take on a formidable looking trio of opponents. Colin picked up Penicuik’s only win, defeating Harry Blackhall in a five-set battle. Peter and Krzysztof both fought hard but couldn’t add to the score. Krzysztof was over the moon though to pick up an end in his match against Yubo Zhou Rasmussen. Nathan Hogg was the standout player of the night untroubled in his three 3-0 wins. It’s been a tough run for Team 1 with player availability issues over the last few weeks – they have one match left in the first half of the season and will be looking to finish on a high.
Division 1
Team 2 v Murrayfield V (Home)
After picking up their first point of the season in Week 10, this match looked like being a close contest for James Wighton, Hannah McDonell, and Greig McDonell. Greig picked up two singles wins and Hannah an excellent win v Jonas Falter in the first six singles to draw the match level at 3-3 going into the crucial doubles fixture. Greig and Hannah combined to win in five sets, and the hosts held their first lead of the night. 4-3 up going into the last round of singles fixtures, surely another point (or even a win) was on the cards. Hannah was 2-0 up against Julio Lopez and coasting until she glanced across to see Dad struggling against the excellent young Cayden Fleury – she suddenly realised that she needed to win and that pressure let Julio back into it. Julio was a major factor on the night coming back from losing positions against both James and Hannah to win 5 set battles. The last match saw James take on Jonas and it just wasn’t to be -a devastating 6-4 loss for Team 2 ended their first half on a real downer.
Division 2
Team 3 v ESC 2 (Away)
This proved to be a difficult away fixture for Craig Linton, Bob Porteous, and Chamika Diyunugalge (playing up). When the first five matches flew by with only three ends being picked up by the visitors a 10-0 rout looked on the cards. Bob managed an excellent 3-2 win in match 6 to get the Penicuik side on the board and when he combined with Craig for a doubles victory and that was followed by Craig winning match 8 a remarkable recovery remained a possibility. A 5-0 deficit turned into a 5-5 draw would have been great to write about, but alas the last two matches went the way of the hosts as they secured a 7-3 victory!
Division 3
Team 4 v Edinburgh International III (Home)
In a season where most of our teams have struggled for consistency, thank goodness for Team 4! It was another strong performance from Aidan Craig, Chamika Diyunugalge, and Ian Hislop as they faced Edinburgh International. Aidan was unbeaten in singles, whilst Chamika and Ian picked up two wins each, Ian winning two five-setters. The doubles pairing of Chamika and Aidan lost in straight sets but overall the team maintained their position at the top of the division with an excellent 7-3 victory.
Division 4
Team 5 v Murrayfield X (Away)
Although Team 5 endured another tough away night, the feedback from the players was they had a fun match with humour maintained throughout. Roscoe Cairney, Rachel Petrie, and Iain Caddell fell to an 8-2 defeat to significantly higher rated players and there can be positives taken from the performances of the Penicuik side – it’s been a difficult first half of the season for Team 5 but there’s only one way things can go in the second half – and that’s upwards!
Division 5
Team 6 v Dunbar II (Home)
After a visit to Gullane the previous week it was time for a visit from another East Lothian outfit for Team 6 as Dunbar made the trek to Ladywood in Division 5. John Grant, Michael Daly, and Tony Walker took to the table for the hosts. The Dunbar side had more experience than our league "newbies" and it showed in their consistency levels. Tony picked up Penicuik’s only win of the night as Team 6 fell to a 9-1 defeat.
Player of the Week
There wasn’t much competition for this week’s award but even had there been this young man would have probably still won it. For an 8th consecutive time he won all three of his singles to help Team 4 remain at the top of the Division 3 table. 24 matches played and 24 wins which bring his first half of the season to an end, and what a first half of the season it's been! Well done (for the third time) to Aidan.
Controversy of the Week
We’ve had a number of problems recently with fielding full sides, resulting in us calling up players from teams below. In the old days we would have just put three players into each team and that would be it. We don’t know why, but these days it seems that you probably need a squad of at least 4, if not 5, to manage a season of table tennis fixtures. That seems crazy and although we have often poked fun at some clubs for having a huge list of players available to them, maybe that's the way to go.
That said, there has to be a balance – not many of our players would be happy if they were in a team of 7 or 8 playing a fairly short season. And the problem with a big pool of players is that it’s just potluck for the opponents as to which “team” you end up facing. Whilst the University are probably a bad example, their Division 1 side had 9 players in their pool at the start of the season and now 8 (no idea where one of them has disappeared to after playing a few matches). The most anyone has played is 4 times, three have played 3 times, one has played twice, two only once and two not at all. And despite having 9 players registered, they’ve had to rely on two players playing up and have played with only two players on two occasions! Now that is crazy!
We can see why Haddington might be a bit perturbed. When they played the students in mid-November they had a full team out and probably three of their highest rated players. Haddington were challenging at the top of the table but fell to a resounding 8-2 defeat. Fast forward 3 weeks and the students face off against Murrayfield 6 who were sitting in third place a point behind the top 2 (Haddington and Murrayfield 4). The students turn up with two players, one of whom was playing up from Division 4! An 8-2 win for Murrayfield who probably couldn’t believe their luck! Is there any way of avoiding such a scenario arising? Probably not. It seems to just be a matter of luck or bad fortune depending on what side you’re on. It does, however, cause others to complain. Given the closeness of the Division 1 title battle, how can it be fair that one team vying for the top 2 can get such an easy ride whilst another team doesn't?
Our format at Ladywood this season is a bit different and we have more space available for three matches every week. The result of that is that there should be less disruptions to play with balls flying over from other tables - try telling Tony that! He was frustrated that the set-up of the hall meant that a larger proportion of errant balls seemed to land in his court. Maybe something we can get a bit better for the second half of the season.
Only three matches left for us before the Xmas break – Santa is nearly here to bring us all new equipment which will undoubtedly turn our fortunes around in the New Year, unless you’re waiting on such equipment arriving from some dodgy Japanese site that Kristian recommended!! Still on a boat somewhere seems to be his daily update!! Maybe it will arrive in time for Easter just as the season ends!!!
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