Table Tennis: Southport League

Paul Melling was on good form this week

Written by Jim Booth

There were just the two rearranged matches this week, headed by the crucial 'showdown' at the top of Division 2 between second placed Rainford and the leaders Princes St F.

Both teams knew exactly what they needed, the host’s a 7-3 win, Princes St, four points would suffice. First up was home captain Paul Melling to face Darren Taylor and what a start we had as Darren took the first 7-11, only for Paul to tie it up in the second but only just 13-11.

Paul then repeated the dose in the third,13-11 again, before Darren took the fourth 8-11 to make it all square. Into the fifth and at 7-5 to Paul, Darren suffered what seemed to be a bad calf injury and although he soldiered on, Paul took it 11-8 and the hosts were in front.

It was soon clear that Darren's evening was over, so his second singles was conceded, effectively the leaders were now 2-0 down. This was the third injury incident in as many matches the leaders had suffered, could they rally and get those four points. Well, Paul then stayed put to be joined by Nick Roberts to face the visitor's pair of Dave Noden and captain Dave Mullan, and yes, they delivered with a three straight success to make it 2-1 Rainford.

Mike Russell then overcame Genadijs Afanasjevs who had returned to action after the first of those said injuries discarding his crutches in the process, with a comfortable three straight victory.

Princes St needed something and something quick, and Dave Noden so nearly supplied it, but lost out narrowly 12-10 in the fifth against home number one Rob Midgley. With the second doubles encounter looking more and more likely to be also conceded then the match score stood at 5-1 for the home side. Jim Bolton then secured the match win, beating a stubborn Gordon Wood 16-14 in the third.

What a superb match, but also a cruel one for the visitors as yet again they fell just short, after Rob edged a wonderful contest versus Genadijs, the 11-1,11-8,7-11,11-13,15-13 scoreline telling a familiar story, and of course confirming at 7-1, Rainford had done it. Two further wins from Paul and Jim put a little more ‘icing on the cake’ to make it 9-1 at the finish, and with a remarkable run of nine wins on the bounce earning 70 points, then that I think says it all.

Congratulations to them, but commiserations to Princes St also, who have had a very fine season. Which can also be said for the season as a whole, Starting anew with Four Divisions was certainly not everyone's ‘cup of tea’, but the results show, it's been closer and more competitive throughout, which has got to be a positive view. We will have to see how positive that view is, when and whether the same format is retained next season.

In the second match, Argyle F completed their fixtures with a good 8-2 home victory over Crosby F, cementing their credible runners up position…. And that's it for this successful new-look season, the league programme that is, but we do have our Cup Competitions.

Instead of the Anon Cup straight knockout involving all the teams, it was decided that Divisional Cups would be fairer and give more teams another crack of winning something. So those competitions will take place over the next two weeks, with the Finals being played at the end of April to early May. Our popular Handicap competition ‘The Gunson Cup’ will follow on from the Divisional events, over the next four weeks, with the Final being played along with the other Finals.  Fingers crossed for another exciting finale!

Final League positions are as follows:

Premier Division
Princes St A        125 pts   C
Crosby C               76 pts
Crosby A               76 pts
Argyle A                64 pts

Division 1
Princes St C          127 pts  C
Southport A            116 pts
Princes St B           111 pts
Formby V  A           104 pts

Division 2
Rainford                  110 pts C
Princes St F            106 pts
Waterloo B               98 pts
Princes St D            95 pts

Division 3
Southport C              135 pts  C
Argyle F                    126 pts
Southport B               100 pts
Argyle E                     93 pts

All information can be found here.

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