Cooke shines in table tennis battle

Chris defeated Vince Lozynsky in four and beat Paul Hartnett in five, coming back from two sets down.

Dave ‘Smiler’ Smith also won one, Vince on the receiving end.

For Stickney, Gavin Herberts was his usual immaculate self, winning his three games with consummate ease, whilst Paul picked up two and Vince deservedly picked up one beating Roger Hooton in four.

In the doubles, Chris and Roger teamed up against Gavin and Paul in what looked like a Stickney banker, but the Sibsey pair took the game to their more illustrious opponents and were a little unlucky to lose in five tightly fought ends to give Stickney a 7–3 victory.

Simon Raistrick was the man to deny Lodgers A a whitewash when he beat Gary Hill in straight sets to give Lodgers Blades a consolation point.

Gavin Read was 2-0 sets up against Gary, but Gary pulled it back, taking the next three; all the other games were over in straight sets, apart from Simon winning the first set at deuce against Tim Day, giving the A team nine points in their quest for the title.

Although Lodgers C emerged as winners against Sibsey C, the 7-3 scoreline hardly did justice to the fight that Sibsey put up in their fight against relegation.

Roger Hooton set the ball rolling in the first game, forcing Scott Sykes to five sets before Scott could claim the victory; Roger was not to be denied, however, beating both Andy Birks and Darcie Proud in a deciding fifth set.

Chris Cooke chipped in with one win, against Andy, whilst Dave Smith took the first sets against Andy and Darcie, but was unable to press home his early advantage.

Trev Blackbourn played a captain’s part for Lodgers B when they hosted Wrangle, beating Sam Cooper in four, and Dave Coulson in a see-saw game which went to five sets.

David Kime claimed the other scalp for Lodgers, when he beat Sam in straight sets, but there were plenty of other opportunities for Lodgers to improve their score, Colin Bell going down in five sets to Dave, and David losing out by the same score to Pete Evans in an ultimately disappointing 7-3 defeat for Lodgers.

Pete Evans came back from being a set down against Tim Day to record Wrangle’s solitary point when they came up against Lodgers A, for whom Kelvin Clements was on top form, winning his three in straight sets.

Sam Cooper took an end out of Tim, and forced Graham Lacey to a deuce third end, whilst Pete and Graham fought out a 15-17 first set, but these were the only highlights for the Wrangle team.

Division One: Sibsey C 3 Stickney 7, Lodgers A 9 Lodgers Blades 1, Lodgers C 7 Sibsey C 3, Lodgers B 3 Wrangle 7, Wrangle 1 Lodgers A 9, Graves Park A 4 Wrangle 6

Division Two: Graves Park D 7 Sibsey B 3.