The second half of the season got underway with five of our six teams in action.
Penicuik II v Edinburgh University II (Division 1)
Penicuik II faced a challenging fixture against Edinburgh University II at Ladywood on Wednesday night. Krzysztof Laszkiewicz, James Wighton and Hannah McDonell took to the table for their first match in 2026 against three young all-out attacking students. Krzysztof was the standout player for the hosts claiming two singles victories. He and Hannah also produced an excellent doubles performance, and they will rue not taking their chances as they just fell short of the victory. Hannah picked up one singles victory whilst James was particularly unlucky losing a marathon five end match 13-11 in the fifth. In the end a 7-3 victory for the students probably flatters them a little.
Edinburgh University IV v Penicuik III (Division 2)
Craig Linton, Kristian Skotzen and Bob Porteous travelled to St Leonards Land on Friday night looking to do better than Team 2 had earlier in the week. After the first round of singles the Penicuik trio looked in complete control with a clean sweep of the three matches. It got even better when Bob won match 4. Things then got tight. Craig lost 11-9 in the fifth before Kristian suffered a 4-end defeat. When two of the remaining 3 singles matches went the way of the students it was 5-4 and the doubles would determine the outcome. Kristian and Craig somehow held their nerve in a five-end battle coming out 11-8 winners in the decider to give Team 3 a much needed 6-4 victory.
Penicuik IV v Corstorphine II (Division 3)
Penicuik IV welcomed back Aidan Craig to the fold as he combined with Patrick Shanks and Ian Hislop to face Corstorphine II who the team are due to play twice in this half of the season. At 3-0 up this looked like being a straightforward night for the League leaders but from there the Edinburgh based opponents caused problems for the hosts. Aidan’s 100% record went in match 4 and when Patrick lost match 6 and the doubles went the way of the visitors it was suddenly 4-3 and the match was in the balance. As Patrick was losing his final match of the night, Aidan lost his second end of his final match 18-16 and it wasn’t looking good for the hosts. Aidan turned his match around to secure at least a point, and it was left to Ian Hislop to try and secure the win in the final match of the night. At 2-1 down Ian was in trouble but he dug in with some excellent defence against his attacking opponent to run away with the final two ends – a terrific 6-4 victory, Ian winning all three of his singles, Aidan contributing two wins, and Patrick adding the crucial sixth victory.
Corstorphine IV v Penicuik V (Division 4)
Penicuik V made the visit to Napier Uni on Tuesday night to face Corstorphine IV in the knowledge that this was a crucial match in their fight against relegation. A win for the visitors would have cut the deficit to their opponents to only 2 points. Roscoe Cairney, Rachel Petrie and Iain Caddell started well as Rachel came back from 2-0 down to win match 1 and that was followed by a 3-0 win for Roscoe. Three consecutive wins for the hosts, however, put the pressure back on the Penicuik side. Roscoe levelled the scores and he and Rachel were then involved in a cracker of a doubles match. On such small margins matches change and a 14-12 loss in the fifth seemed to knock the stuffing out of the visitors. Iain and Rachel lost matches 8 and 9 and the contest was over. Captain Roscoe did all he could on the night and a 5-set win in the final match of the night made the final score 4-6. A terrific unbeaten night for Roscoe but a disappointing night overall for the team.
Penicuik VI v Murrayfield XIII (Division 5)
Penicuik VI endured a tough evening against a dominant Murrayfield XIII side. The Edinburgh outfit fielded players with ratings far superior to the Penicuik trio and positives can be taken despite the 9-1 defeat for the side. John Grant provided the sole win for Penicuik and pushed the highest rated player on the night to five ends, a player rated 200 points ahead. Stuart Bennett and Ian Millar also played some good table tennis, Stuart particularly unlucky losing out 9-11 in the fifth in his last match of the night.
Player of the Week
Only two players were undefeated in singles play this week, Ian Hislop and Roscoe Cairney. Ian’s unbeaten night ended in a 6-4 victory for his team whilst Roscoe’s resulted in a 4-6 loss. So, on importance to the team Ian wins. But on the other hand, compared to his teammates, Rosoce’s undefeated night was better! How do we split them? What about their doubles performances? That’s not going to help – they both lost! Ends won and lost – Ian won 9 lost 3 whilst Roscoe won 9 and lost 2! So surely Roscoe is this week’s winner? Let’s face it, whoever misses out is going to be annoyed this week! Ultimately, we can’t overlook that both players won the final match of the night by a 3-2 scoreline but Ian’s win was under the greatest of pressure, and he came back from 2-1 down to win the match for his team and to maintain their position at the top of the Division 3 table. Sorry Roscoe – great effort but this week’s award goes to Ian. Well done to him.
Controversy of the Week
It was a fairly quiet start to 2026 – most people still full of festive cheer and not wanting to offend their opponents. Even James was on his best behaviour and managed not to fall out with either his teammates or his opponents. There were only a couple of incidents from Wednesday night at Ladywood worthy of note. In Team 6’s match v Murrayfield, controversy arose in one of Ian Millar’s matches. At two separate points in the match Ian challenged the “home umpire” re wrong scoring of his game. The second of those was a classic where Ian’s opponent hit a shot which caught the net landed at about the halfway point on the table before travelling past the endline and past Ian. A bit lucky from the Murrayfield player but when Ian retrieved the ball and claimed the point was his, the opponent, the umpire and the onlookers were a little stunned. He was only joking right? No. He claimed the ball hadn’t hit the table and needed quite some convincing from all concerned! In fairness, this wasn’t really controversial – there was no malice in what Ian was doing, there was just real evidence that Ian needs to go to Specsavers.
Meanwhile, in Team 4’s match, Patrick’s serve came under scrutiny from his opponents. The claim made was that he was throwing the ball up from under the height of the table. We haven’t ever noticed that before, but it appears that this isn’t the first time that an opponent has suggested he does so. We’ll look out for it at our next training session. The controversial point is not the serve itself but the fact that the issue wasn’t raised until Patrick’s last match of the night, an important match which could have ultimately had a bearing on the result.
On we move to Week 15, festive spirit will well and truly be gone by then.
Penicuik II v Edinburgh University II (Division 1)
Penicuik II faced a challenging fixture against Edinburgh University II at Ladywood on Wednesday night. Krzysztof Laszkiewicz, James Wighton and Hannah McDonell took to the table for their first match in 2026 against three young all-out attacking students. Krzysztof was the standout player for the hosts claiming two singles victories. He and Hannah also produced an excellent doubles performance, and they will rue not taking their chances as they just fell short of the victory. Hannah picked up one singles victory whilst James was particularly unlucky losing a marathon five end match 13-11 in the fifth. In the end a 7-3 victory for the students probably flatters them a little.
Edinburgh University IV v Penicuik III (Division 2)
Craig Linton, Kristian Skotzen and Bob Porteous travelled to St Leonards Land on Friday night looking to do better than Team 2 had earlier in the week. After the first round of singles the Penicuik trio looked in complete control with a clean sweep of the three matches. It got even better when Bob won match 4. Things then got tight. Craig lost 11-9 in the fifth before Kristian suffered a 4-end defeat. When two of the remaining 3 singles matches went the way of the students it was 5-4 and the doubles would determine the outcome. Kristian and Craig somehow held their nerve in a five-end battle coming out 11-8 winners in the decider to give Team 3 a much needed 6-4 victory.
Penicuik IV v Corstorphine II (Division 3)
Penicuik IV welcomed back Aidan Craig to the fold as he combined with Patrick Shanks and Ian Hislop to face Corstorphine II who the team are due to play twice in this half of the season. At 3-0 up this looked like being a straightforward night for the League leaders but from there the Edinburgh based opponents caused problems for the hosts. Aidan’s 100% record went in match 4 and when Patrick lost match 6 and the doubles went the way of the visitors it was suddenly 4-3 and the match was in the balance. As Patrick was losing his final match of the night, Aidan lost his second end of his final match 18-16 and it wasn’t looking good for the hosts. Aidan turned his match around to secure at least a point, and it was left to Ian Hislop to try and secure the win in the final match of the night. At 2-1 down Ian was in trouble but he dug in with some excellent defence against his attacking opponent to run away with the final two ends – a terrific 6-4 victory, Ian winning all three of his singles, Aidan contributing two wins, and Patrick adding the crucial sixth victory.
Corstorphine IV v Penicuik V (Division 4)
Penicuik V made the visit to Napier Uni on Tuesday night to face Corstorphine IV in the knowledge that this was a crucial match in their fight against relegation. A win for the visitors would have cut the deficit to their opponents to only 2 points. Roscoe Cairney, Rachel Petrie and Iain Caddell started well as Rachel came back from 2-0 down to win match 1 and that was followed by a 3-0 win for Roscoe. Three consecutive wins for the hosts, however, put the pressure back on the Penicuik side. Roscoe levelled the scores and he and Rachel were then involved in a cracker of a doubles match. On such small margins matches change and a 14-12 loss in the fifth seemed to knock the stuffing out of the visitors. Iain and Rachel lost matches 8 and 9 and the contest was over. Captain Roscoe did all he could on the night and a 5-set win in the final match of the night made the final score 4-6. A terrific unbeaten night for Roscoe but a disappointing night overall for the team.
Penicuik VI v Murrayfield XIII (Division 5)
Penicuik VI endured a tough evening against a dominant Murrayfield XIII side. The Edinburgh outfit fielded players with ratings far superior to the Penicuik trio and positives can be taken despite the 9-1 defeat for the side. John Grant provided the sole win for Penicuik and pushed the highest rated player on the night to five ends, a player rated 200 points ahead. Stuart Bennett and Ian Millar also played some good table tennis, Stuart particularly unlucky losing out 9-11 in the fifth in his last match of the night.
Player of the Week
Only two players were undefeated in singles play this week, Ian Hislop and Roscoe Cairney. Ian’s unbeaten night ended in a 6-4 victory for his team whilst Roscoe’s resulted in a 4-6 loss. So, on importance to the team Ian wins. But on the other hand, compared to his teammates, Rosoce’s undefeated night was better! How do we split them? What about their doubles performances? That’s not going to help – they both lost! Ends won and lost – Ian won 9 lost 3 whilst Roscoe won 9 and lost 2! So surely Roscoe is this week’s winner? Let’s face it, whoever misses out is going to be annoyed this week! Ultimately, we can’t overlook that both players won the final match of the night by a 3-2 scoreline but Ian’s win was under the greatest of pressure, and he came back from 2-1 down to win the match for his team and to maintain their position at the top of the Division 3 table. Sorry Roscoe – great effort but this week’s award goes to Ian. Well done to him.
Controversy of the Week
It was a fairly quiet start to 2026 – most people still full of festive cheer and not wanting to offend their opponents. Even James was on his best behaviour and managed not to fall out with either his teammates or his opponents. There were only a couple of incidents from Wednesday night at Ladywood worthy of note. In Team 6’s match v Murrayfield, controversy arose in one of Ian Millar’s matches. At two separate points in the match Ian challenged the “home umpire” re wrong scoring of his game. The second of those was a classic where Ian’s opponent hit a shot which caught the net landed at about the halfway point on the table before travelling past the endline and past Ian. A bit lucky from the Murrayfield player but when Ian retrieved the ball and claimed the point was his, the opponent, the umpire and the onlookers were a little stunned. He was only joking right? No. He claimed the ball hadn’t hit the table and needed quite some convincing from all concerned! In fairness, this wasn’t really controversial – there was no malice in what Ian was doing, there was just real evidence that Ian needs to go to Specsavers.
Meanwhile, in Team 4’s match, Patrick’s serve came under scrutiny from his opponents. The claim made was that he was throwing the ball up from under the height of the table. We haven’t ever noticed that before, but it appears that this isn’t the first time that an opponent has suggested he does so. We’ll look out for it at our next training session. The controversial point is not the serve itself but the fact that the issue wasn’t raised until Patrick’s last match of the night, an important match which could have ultimately had a bearing on the result.
On we move to Week 15, festive spirit will well and truly be gone by then.
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