
Team 1 vs. Murrayfield 2
Monday, 6th January saw Team 1 travel to Murrayfield for an important match against Murrayfield 2. Other than the top 2 in the Premier Division, it looks as if this season could be one of the tightest in recent times. As the second half started, only a gap of 4 points split 3rd place from 9th place. The second relegation spot (10th) was only 5 points behind 3rd and with a game in hand only three points below mid-table! Team 1 and Murrayfield 2 found themselves in 8th and 9th respectively, with only a point between them—was it too early in the season to call this “vital”? Absolutely not! Team captain Colin Green felt that at least a draw was needed. Keith Dingwall proved his importance to the home side with 3 excellent 3-1 wins. Advantage Murrayfield. Peter Aird did brilliantly to overcome young Angus Halliday (to whom he had lost just two days previously in the Edinburgh Open). Perhaps Peter had been studying Angus’s recording of their previous match. He and Colin both defeated Lindsay Muir, who was playing up from Team 4. Going into the doubles it was all square. A terrific win for Colin and Peter against Keith and Angus gave the visitors the advantage. Match 8 was crucial—Colin v Angus. The youngster (that’s not you, Colin) started brilliantly, but Colin came back to force a decider. At the change of ends, Angus had roared into a 5-1 lead. Colin is a fighter, however, and remarkably turned the match on its head, winning 10 of the next 11 points for an 11-6 victory. 5-3 and a point was secured. Keith’s final win of the night against Peter made it 5-4 before the final match saw Greig take on Lindsay. A nervy first where Greig seemed unable to cope with Lindsay’s serves went the way of the home player. From there, however, Greig found some consistency and the next three ends went his way to secure a terrific 6-4 win for the visitors - a great win, reversing a 7-3 defeat from the first half.
Team 3 vs. Corstorphine 2 (Division 2)
The next night saw Teams 3 and 5 in action against Corstorphine opposition. In Division 2, Team 3 of Craig Linton, Charlie Brindley, and Bob Porteous took on Corstorphine 2. The reverse fixture had seen Team 3 run away with the match, recording a 10-0 win. With the same trio in action for Team 3, this was no different. Only one match went beyond 3 ends and in record quick time (finished by 8.30 pm), Team 3 were done and dusted. A terrific start to the second half of the season.
Team 5 vs. Corstorphine 4 (Division 4)
Meanwhile, Team 5 were in action against Corstorphine 4 in Division 4. They had suffered a 7-3 loss in the reverse fixture at Ladywood. Jay Jayalath, John Bald, and Mat Dyluk took to the table. It started brilliantly for Team 5 as Jay and John won their opening singles. After the second round of fixtures, however, the match was all square at 3-3. The two J’s played their first doubles of the season and it seemed to work! An excellent 3-0 win gave the visitors a 4-3 lead. Match 8 was going to be crucial. With Jay undefeated and due to play match 9 it looked like a point was going to be secured (and indeed Jay’s match finished before Match 8 giving the visitors the vital fifth win on the night). Could Mat secure the overall win? The match went the distance. An 11-7 first end win was followed by an 11-9 defeat. Mat put that disappointment behind him with an 11-7 third end win. One end away from victory, the momentum swung in the home side’s favour as Mat lost 11-2! Oh no, thought his teammates. After such a heavy defeat, who would have thought the decider would have gone the distance, but it did. An 11-9 victory and it was Mat who came out on top—a terrific performance and a terrific win secured. John didn’t care about losing Match 10—a 6-4 victory for Team 5 sent the visitors home over the moon.
Team 2 vs. University 4 (Division 2)
On Thursday at Ladywood, Teams 2 and 4 were in action. Team 2 of Krzysztof Laszkiewicz, Ian Hislop, and Gary McDougal took on University 4. Only Ian remained from the reverse fixture which the Penicuik side had won 7-3. There was a slight change in the University side as well, with John Cowan, playing up from the division below, joining regulars Richard Beer and Enrique Calisto. Ian had a fairly straightforward win in Match 1 before Krzysztof took four ends to defeat Richard. Gary, after a very tight first end (15-13), completed a clean sweep of the first round of singles with a 3-0 win. When Krzysztof and Ian also won their second matches, a point was secured. Richard kept the students alive with a 3-1 win v Gary in Match 6. The doubles have been a disaster for Team 2 all season. All types of different combos tried, 9 played and 9 lost. When Krzysztof and Gary lost the first end to Enrique and Richard it looked like this would be the tenth loss of the season, but the next two ends went the way of the home side, only for the students to win the fourth. The decider was nervy but at long last Team 2 are able to claim a doubles win! 6-1 and the victory was secured. In Match 10, Richard defeated Ian for the students’ second win of the night, but it was the home side who secured an 8-2 victory.
Team 4 vs. Corstorphine 3 (Division 3)
In the other half of the hall, it was another Penicuik v Corstorphine match as Team 4 of Rachel Petrie, Patrick Shanks, and Chamika Diyunagalge took on Corstorphine 3. The reverse fixture had seen an 8-2 victory for the Edinburgh outfit, but at home and against a slightly different side, the hosts were hopeful that they could push their opponents close. Rachel was disappointed to lose out in match 1 against Alan Easton playing up from Division 4 but good wins for Chamika and Patrick gave the hosts a 2-1 lead after the first round of singles. The second set of singles followed exactly the same pattern. Rachel again losing out in four ends. The 4-2 lead was reduced after the doubles following Patrick and Rachel’s loss. Match 8 was to prove pivotal. Chamika faced Robert Hamilton and after a bit of a one-sided affair in end 1, the next three ends were as tight as could be. Chamika recovered from an 11-4 defeat to win the second 11-9, he lost the third 13-11 but won the fourth 11-9. The deciding fifth end went the distance—after four deuces, Team 4 were over the moon when Chamika triumphed 15-13 to give the hosts at least a point as they led 5-3. Could Patrick secure both points in Match 9? He did indeed, and despite Rachel having an off night, Team 4 recorded an excellent 6-4 victory
Player of the Week
We don’t get to do this often, so we’ll summarise what was a fantastic week for the Club! Five matches played and five matches won—Teams 1, 4, and 5 all overturned losses from the first half of the season. There were a number of excellent performances, and so our first player of the week award for 2025 is a difficult one. Undefeated this week were Krzysztof from Team 2, all of Team 3, Patrick and Chamika from Team 4, and Jay from Team 5. But there were really notable performances as well that are worthy of a mention. Mat has to be in the running this week. This is only Mat’s second season and he has been showing signs in practice of how much he has improved over the last year. His first “win” of the season came under huge pressure and in the knowledge that a win would secure the overall victory — it doesn’t come much sweeter than an 11-9 fifth end win to give your team the overall victory. Any other week, Mat, and you would probably have won the award! Peter played a huge role in Team 1’s victory, defeating a player he had lost to just a couple of days previous and playing terrifically in the doubles to secure an important victory. If the award was for the best quality match of the week, it would be hard to beat Colin’s victory over young Angus Halliday—some absolutely breath-taking rallies and a comeback fifth-end win from 5-1 down. Any other week and they’d also be in the running. Krzysztof remains our number 1 in terms of averages. Another undefeated night and this time combined with a doubles victory. He must be high in the thoughts of the selection committee. But the match which brings us our winner this week is Team 4’s narrow 6-4 victory. Both Patrick and Chamika produced 3 wins each, and Chamika was left wondering why he wasn’t played in the doubles! The vital win was a nail-biting 15-13 fifth-end win in Match 8 to effectively secure both points for the team—well done to Chamika—his first undefeated night of the season.
A New Year, A New Controversy?
Surely not. The reverse fixture between Team 2 and the students from Edinburgh Uni gave us one of our first controversies, but that involved James (he’s so difficult we can understand controversy following him around). With James absent from the match, this would be a quiet affair. Replace James with Krzysztof, however, and more controversy follows! In his first match of the night, Krzysztof was apparently not enjoying some of his table tennis—too much Xmas pudding over the festive period and not enough practice according to teammate Gary. He may have, on occasion, rebuked himself with some sweary language in his native tongue of Polish. His opponent apparently knew what “kurwa” meant and took issue with his opponent. Krzysztof wasn’t amused because one of the students was applauding/cheering on his mistakes. A bit of a tense atmosphere ensued. Of course, the Code of Conduct indicates that many behaviours are forbidden—one of them is “swearing”. The Umpire should issue a verbal warning for a minor breach of the code of conduct. How many times has that happened do we think? Players must also exhibit sportsmanship in their play — cheering on a mistake can’t be said to be “showing good sportsmanship”. Exuberant celebrations are also forbidden. Subsequent breaches after a verbal warning is given should result in Yellow and Red cards. Still waiting on one of those being brandished — now that will be a good controversy. As for swearing, muttering to oneself and perhaps doing so using “some profanity” goes on regularly in the League. We’re not aware of it being clamped down on, but perhaps it should, or perhaps we need to find a language that no one understands if we want to use “sweary words”! When the Code of Conduct came in, of course, that was all that was needed to end our old friend Martin Mackay’s TT career! If he hadn’t stopped playing, the umpires would have needed a new stock of cards for every match! In fairness to Krzysztof and to his opponent, it was clear that his "irritation" was directed at himself and not his opponent. Does that make a difference? All happy at the end of the night though, although we hear that Team 2 are taking their quota of yellow and red cards with them to St Leonards Land this Friday where they face Edinburgh Uni 3!
The only other controversy is an internal club issue - we started a "friendly" singles winter League last week at the Club. James was challenged twice by players in his division but had seen them in action throughout the night and thought they were playing too well - he dodged them with some spurious excuse - his opponents feel a walkover should have been given!!
Happy New Year, everyone!