Week 11 of the League again saw four of our five teams in action, with Team 4 this week sitting out. All four teams played on Thursday 28th November and it was busy again at Ladywood with Teams 1, 3 and 5 all in action.
Team 1 saw Colin Green, Peter Aird and new recruit Ryan Docherty take on Edinburgh International 2 in a match which could only be described as a “must win”. Ryan, new to the Vets table tennis circuit this year, helps reduce the average age of the 1st Team, not by a huge amount, but enough to take them from above 60 to under 60!! Peter was first up and got the home side off to a good start with a four end win against the stylish Chandru. Ryan’s first taste of Edinburgh league action came against the unique ultra-aggressive style of Artur Labecki – 2-1 down and a bit worried, Ryan found his form and won the last two ends 11-3, 11-6 amid various moans and groans from his opponent. When Colin defeated Adam Alnak in Match 3 the hosts were off to the perfect start. It got better for the Penicuik trio as the next three singles also went their way with the loss of only one end. Used to playing with Greig or Peter in the doubles, Colin couldn’t believe that Ryan actually moved out of the way when playing doubles rather than leaving Colin to try and knock his partner over when trying to retrieve a ball! A 3-0 doubles victory was followed by three further singles wins as the hosts recorded a 10-0 victory – a good start for the newbie!
Team 3 have had a bad couple of weeks, and they were looking to bounce back as they faced Murrayfield 8 – that wasn’t going to be easy, the Edinburgh side having upset Team 2’s undefeated season the previous week. Bob Porteous, Charlie Brindley and Kristian Skotzen were in action for the hosts. When Bob lost out to the awkward style of Lynn Somerville in Match 1 and Charlie lost a close five ender in Match 3, there were clear signs that this was going to be tough. Kristian won his first two matches of the night, however, to tie the scores at 2-2 after four games played. Bob and Charlie then went the distance in matches 5 and 6 – Bob squeaking over the line in match 5 before Charlie lost another close one – 3-3 with the doubles to follow. Bob and Kristian knew how important this match was and perhaps nerves got to them a little as they fell to a 3-1 defeat. With the last three singles to play, the hosts knew that all three were required for the win. Kristian rounded off an excellent night for him individually with a win in Match 7 before Charlie faced Lynn. Charlie certainly got his monies worth with yet another five end match – this was the closest of them all and included wins in ends 2 and 3 for Charlie by 14-12 and 17-15 scorelines. This time he held his nerve in the decider for an 11-8 win. Two thirds of the way there could Bob pull off an excellent come from behind victory for Team 3 in his last match. It started well with an 11-6 first end win but he never recovered from a poor 2nd end as the Murrayfield team secured a 5-5 draw. Two losses and a draw in the last three weeks has seen team 3 fall away a little from the top of the table but with 2nd placed WL still to play, they could yet finish the first half of the season pushing for a promotion spot.
Team 5 were coming off their worst performance of the season as they faced Edinburgh International 4. Roscoe Cairney, Phil Daly and John Bald were looking to put last week’s match behind them and were given a real boost when their opponents could only field a two player team. Effectively 3-0 up, Phil got the hosts off to a great start with a victory over Alan Gracie who will no doubt have been disappointed to lose out 11-9, 11-9, 11-9. When Roscoe then defeated Arpit Gupta in four ends a point was already secured for the hosts. Alan and Arpit kept the match alive, however, with wins against Roscoe and John respectively. Roscoe has never beaten Alan having played him several times over the last few seasons and felt he had a real chance this time, just losing out 11-8 in the fifth. He got his revenge in the doubles as he combined with John for a comfortable 3-0 win and with that the two points were secured. Alan defeated John in the penultimate match of the night before Phil took on Arpit to bring the night to a close. According to Phil this was the match of the night and he’s already been in touch with the Committee putting his case forward for this week’s player of the Week Award. A five end nail-biter and Phil got off to the worst possible start, 5-0 down at the changeover. He found a way to win, however, and pulled it back for a 12-10 victory. (Enough for POTW Award – we’ll find out later!) A 7-3 victory for Team 5 which means they already have the same number of points as they accumulated in the whole of last season when they were playing in a lower division!
Away from home on Thursday, Team 2 were also trying to recover from a bad week – they lost to Murrayfield 8 in Week 10 and now had to travel to Ocean Terminal to take on Murrayfield 7. Ian Hislop, Krzysztof Laszkiewicz and Gary McDougal were trying to steady the ship for the visitors. Kris came back from 2-1 down in match 1 to secure a five end victory but when Gary and Ian both lost their openers the hosts took a 2-1 lead. Kris levelled the score with a win in Match 4 but a loss for Ian in Match 5 handed the advantage back to the Edinburgh side. Gary secured an important win in match 6 to level again going into the doubles. Anyone who reads these reports will know that Team 2 have a shocking doubles record – 8 matches played and 8 defeats. Thursday saw Kris and Gary combine in the knowledge of how crucial the doubles was going to be in another tight match for the visitors. Was this going to be the night for a doubles win? Eh, no! Make that 9 defeats out of 9 for Team 2! So, 4-3 down and Team Captain, James receiving updates via text was resigning himself to more dropped points – Come on James, have some confidence! Match 8 went to five ends. The two ends Ian lost out of the first four saw him suffer 11-2 defeats. Somehow, however, he called on all 80+ years of experience to win 11-9 in the fifth. The match was still alive. Kris then won Match 9 to secure a point, and it was left to Gary to play match 10. A straightforward 3-0 win for Gary followed as Team 2 squeezed home 6-4 to bring their first half of the season to an end.
Last week our Player of the Week Award was as straightforward as could be. Really difficult this week! All of Team 1 were undefeated. Kris was undefeated for Team 2. Kristian had an excellent night for Team 3. Phil came back from the dead for an undefeated night for Team 5. How do we split them? We couldn’t really decide so at the PTTC Xmas Night out on Saturday, young Michael was given the casting vote. Phil thought he was a certainty for the award – Michael is his grandson! Michael is a sensible young lad though and recognised that Phil’s undefeated night included a win against someone called Mr Walkover! In addition, he was aware of grandad indicating to Colin upon seeing our new Team 1 player in action that if our Club President was looking for a new team he could become a reserve player for Team 5! Although Michael was amused he accepted that such comments ended any chance Phil had. Even the attempts by Phil to bribe Michael didn’t work! Kris won his 3 in a 6-4 victory – they don’t come more important than that. But he lost the doubles due to his lack of mobility according to Gary. Newbie, Ryan? 3 wins and a doubles victory? Close Ryan but Michael felt you will need to repeat the job a couple of times before you’re in the running. Colin or Peter? Well, if Ryan’s not getting it neither are you guys. So, what about Kristian? As his teammates were getting embroiled in five end tussles throughout the night, Kristian took care of his opponents in style winning three in a 5-5 draw – but he also lost out in the doubles! In the end it was a straight fight between Kris and Kristian. The former wanted to point out to everybody who would listen on Saturday that he’s currently top of the individual averages in Div 2. Michael wasn’t impressed – he was even less impressed by the jumper worn by Kris to the Xmas night out – Kristian had made the effort with a lovely woolly Xmas jumper and that got him over the line - well done to him!
And so, to our controversy of the week section. The ongoing saga of Team 4’s walkover win against Haddington 4 was resolved on Friday night at the ELTTL Committee meeting. We were taken aback that the issue had an agenda item all to itself. Why was that? Surely the score would have had to have been recorded as a win for the matter to have then been appealed? That would be the only basis for the Committee to be involved wouldn’t it? There hadn’t been any appeal as far as we know. Bizarre. Even more bizarre when Team 4 pointed out a specific add on to the rules (which we think only came in this season or perhaps last). The rule about requesting postponements had a sentence added to it in the following terms:
“A request for a postponement is just that, a request”.
If that’s what was specifically brought into the rules it’s even more bizarre that the matter was up for discussion at all! In any event the score card has now been approved!
Finally, Team 2 were left unimpressed by the “new” (maybe temporary) venue of their Murrayfield opponents last week at Ocean Terminal. The players seemed to agree that the conditions were very poor in general but in particular playing against a background of pure white walls with white balls didn’t help those older team members whose eyesight isn’t great at the best of times (not singling out Ian H at all)! There was a motion made at the end of last season to have orange balls used where the walls were white – Team 2 certainly thought that should have happened at OT.
Oh well not many league games left before the festive break. Week 12 is upon us.
Team 1 saw Colin Green, Peter Aird and new recruit Ryan Docherty take on Edinburgh International 2 in a match which could only be described as a “must win”. Ryan, new to the Vets table tennis circuit this year, helps reduce the average age of the 1st Team, not by a huge amount, but enough to take them from above 60 to under 60!! Peter was first up and got the home side off to a good start with a four end win against the stylish Chandru. Ryan’s first taste of Edinburgh league action came against the unique ultra-aggressive style of Artur Labecki – 2-1 down and a bit worried, Ryan found his form and won the last two ends 11-3, 11-6 amid various moans and groans from his opponent. When Colin defeated Adam Alnak in Match 3 the hosts were off to the perfect start. It got better for the Penicuik trio as the next three singles also went their way with the loss of only one end. Used to playing with Greig or Peter in the doubles, Colin couldn’t believe that Ryan actually moved out of the way when playing doubles rather than leaving Colin to try and knock his partner over when trying to retrieve a ball! A 3-0 doubles victory was followed by three further singles wins as the hosts recorded a 10-0 victory – a good start for the newbie!
Team 3 have had a bad couple of weeks, and they were looking to bounce back as they faced Murrayfield 8 – that wasn’t going to be easy, the Edinburgh side having upset Team 2’s undefeated season the previous week. Bob Porteous, Charlie Brindley and Kristian Skotzen were in action for the hosts. When Bob lost out to the awkward style of Lynn Somerville in Match 1 and Charlie lost a close five ender in Match 3, there were clear signs that this was going to be tough. Kristian won his first two matches of the night, however, to tie the scores at 2-2 after four games played. Bob and Charlie then went the distance in matches 5 and 6 – Bob squeaking over the line in match 5 before Charlie lost another close one – 3-3 with the doubles to follow. Bob and Kristian knew how important this match was and perhaps nerves got to them a little as they fell to a 3-1 defeat. With the last three singles to play, the hosts knew that all three were required for the win. Kristian rounded off an excellent night for him individually with a win in Match 7 before Charlie faced Lynn. Charlie certainly got his monies worth with yet another five end match – this was the closest of them all and included wins in ends 2 and 3 for Charlie by 14-12 and 17-15 scorelines. This time he held his nerve in the decider for an 11-8 win. Two thirds of the way there could Bob pull off an excellent come from behind victory for Team 3 in his last match. It started well with an 11-6 first end win but he never recovered from a poor 2nd end as the Murrayfield team secured a 5-5 draw. Two losses and a draw in the last three weeks has seen team 3 fall away a little from the top of the table but with 2nd placed WL still to play, they could yet finish the first half of the season pushing for a promotion spot.
Team 5 were coming off their worst performance of the season as they faced Edinburgh International 4. Roscoe Cairney, Phil Daly and John Bald were looking to put last week’s match behind them and were given a real boost when their opponents could only field a two player team. Effectively 3-0 up, Phil got the hosts off to a great start with a victory over Alan Gracie who will no doubt have been disappointed to lose out 11-9, 11-9, 11-9. When Roscoe then defeated Arpit Gupta in four ends a point was already secured for the hosts. Alan and Arpit kept the match alive, however, with wins against Roscoe and John respectively. Roscoe has never beaten Alan having played him several times over the last few seasons and felt he had a real chance this time, just losing out 11-8 in the fifth. He got his revenge in the doubles as he combined with John for a comfortable 3-0 win and with that the two points were secured. Alan defeated John in the penultimate match of the night before Phil took on Arpit to bring the night to a close. According to Phil this was the match of the night and he’s already been in touch with the Committee putting his case forward for this week’s player of the Week Award. A five end nail-biter and Phil got off to the worst possible start, 5-0 down at the changeover. He found a way to win, however, and pulled it back for a 12-10 victory. (Enough for POTW Award – we’ll find out later!) A 7-3 victory for Team 5 which means they already have the same number of points as they accumulated in the whole of last season when they were playing in a lower division!
Away from home on Thursday, Team 2 were also trying to recover from a bad week – they lost to Murrayfield 8 in Week 10 and now had to travel to Ocean Terminal to take on Murrayfield 7. Ian Hislop, Krzysztof Laszkiewicz and Gary McDougal were trying to steady the ship for the visitors. Kris came back from 2-1 down in match 1 to secure a five end victory but when Gary and Ian both lost their openers the hosts took a 2-1 lead. Kris levelled the score with a win in Match 4 but a loss for Ian in Match 5 handed the advantage back to the Edinburgh side. Gary secured an important win in match 6 to level again going into the doubles. Anyone who reads these reports will know that Team 2 have a shocking doubles record – 8 matches played and 8 defeats. Thursday saw Kris and Gary combine in the knowledge of how crucial the doubles was going to be in another tight match for the visitors. Was this going to be the night for a doubles win? Eh, no! Make that 9 defeats out of 9 for Team 2! So, 4-3 down and Team Captain, James receiving updates via text was resigning himself to more dropped points – Come on James, have some confidence! Match 8 went to five ends. The two ends Ian lost out of the first four saw him suffer 11-2 defeats. Somehow, however, he called on all 80+ years of experience to win 11-9 in the fifth. The match was still alive. Kris then won Match 9 to secure a point, and it was left to Gary to play match 10. A straightforward 3-0 win for Gary followed as Team 2 squeezed home 6-4 to bring their first half of the season to an end.
Last week our Player of the Week Award was as straightforward as could be. Really difficult this week! All of Team 1 were undefeated. Kris was undefeated for Team 2. Kristian had an excellent night for Team 3. Phil came back from the dead for an undefeated night for Team 5. How do we split them? We couldn’t really decide so at the PTTC Xmas Night out on Saturday, young Michael was given the casting vote. Phil thought he was a certainty for the award – Michael is his grandson! Michael is a sensible young lad though and recognised that Phil’s undefeated night included a win against someone called Mr Walkover! In addition, he was aware of grandad indicating to Colin upon seeing our new Team 1 player in action that if our Club President was looking for a new team he could become a reserve player for Team 5! Although Michael was amused he accepted that such comments ended any chance Phil had. Even the attempts by Phil to bribe Michael didn’t work! Kris won his 3 in a 6-4 victory – they don’t come more important than that. But he lost the doubles due to his lack of mobility according to Gary. Newbie, Ryan? 3 wins and a doubles victory? Close Ryan but Michael felt you will need to repeat the job a couple of times before you’re in the running. Colin or Peter? Well, if Ryan’s not getting it neither are you guys. So, what about Kristian? As his teammates were getting embroiled in five end tussles throughout the night, Kristian took care of his opponents in style winning three in a 5-5 draw – but he also lost out in the doubles! In the end it was a straight fight between Kris and Kristian. The former wanted to point out to everybody who would listen on Saturday that he’s currently top of the individual averages in Div 2. Michael wasn’t impressed – he was even less impressed by the jumper worn by Kris to the Xmas night out – Kristian had made the effort with a lovely woolly Xmas jumper and that got him over the line - well done to him!
And so, to our controversy of the week section. The ongoing saga of Team 4’s walkover win against Haddington 4 was resolved on Friday night at the ELTTL Committee meeting. We were taken aback that the issue had an agenda item all to itself. Why was that? Surely the score would have had to have been recorded as a win for the matter to have then been appealed? That would be the only basis for the Committee to be involved wouldn’t it? There hadn’t been any appeal as far as we know. Bizarre. Even more bizarre when Team 4 pointed out a specific add on to the rules (which we think only came in this season or perhaps last). The rule about requesting postponements had a sentence added to it in the following terms:
“A request for a postponement is just that, a request”.
If that’s what was specifically brought into the rules it’s even more bizarre that the matter was up for discussion at all! In any event the score card has now been approved!
Finally, Team 2 were left unimpressed by the “new” (maybe temporary) venue of their Murrayfield opponents last week at Ocean Terminal. The players seemed to agree that the conditions were very poor in general but in particular playing against a background of pure white walls with white balls didn’t help those older team members whose eyesight isn’t great at the best of times (not singling out Ian H at all)! There was a motion made at the end of last season to have orange balls used where the walls were white – Team 2 certainly thought that should have happened at OT.
Oh well not many league games left before the festive break. Week 12 is upon us.
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