Stickney out of the relegation zone in table tennis league

Gavin Herberts was the man of the match, comfortably winning his three singles, only dropping one end to Dave Coulson.

Paul Harnett backed him up with two victories over Sam Cooper and Dave Coulson, but couldn’t get the better of Pete Evans.

Vince Lozynsky added one with a good victory over Sam Cooper and, together with the doubles, it gave Stickney the points needed to get them out of the bottom two.

Sibsey faced Graves Park A without Neil Snaith but managed a creditable three points against a strong team.

Rob Smith was in illustrious form for the Park, winning his three singles without dropping a set.

He was ably backed up by the unflappable Alan Reetham, who beat both Dave Smith and Mick Ellis in three, but seemed totally bemused by the renown quirky style of Roger Hooton, losing in three.

Phil Brooks picked up one with his usual win over Roger, but lost to Mick in four.

In what was the game of the night, Dave and Phil both played some excellent table tennis with Phil taking the first two ends, Dave fighting back to take the next three.

Park’s Rob and Phil won the doubles for a 7-3 result.

In Division Two, Mayflower Sportsman 1 missed a major opportunity to put pressure on Lodgers B at the top of the table, only managing a draw against stablemates Mayflower Sportsman 2, who could only field two players on the night.

Darron Kent did what needed to be done, taking both of his singles in straight ends to give them a guaranteed draw, but the wily veteran Tony Hall and Wayne Grooby proved to be stubborn opposition, both of them taking victories against Alex and Tim Pexton.

Tony Hall, in particular, did extremely well to come from two sets down against Alex Pexton.

With the match poised at 4-5 in favour of Mayflower 1, a victory in the doubles was needed to seal the win.

However, Tony and Wayne came from 1-2 down to force a draw.