Jason Fleming reports:
In Division 1, The Spinners hold the dignity of being league leaders at the end of the year, although Top Bananas can easily regain top spot with their games in hand. The Spinners didn’t have it all their way in their two matches, however, as the duo of Kay Solaja and Brian Kirkpatrick went down 4-1 against Gordon Duff and Shona Morton of Netflicks. A particular game of note was Duffy’s spirited display to recover from 2-0 down against Kay to win in the fifth. Spinners’ fortunes were bolstered by the acquisition of Danny Bajwa making his return to the league, as they saw off Jason Fleming and Paul Borrowdale of Gaulty Towers 4-1. Fresh from his recent exploits in British League, Danny didn’t really need to get out of first gear, whilst Jason probably wished he was still on paternity leave at home with his newborn baby. Gaulty Towers’ consolation point came through Jason’s win against Kay. Also in Division 1, Smashing Pumpkins had a comfortable 5-0 victory against Apple Crumble, followed by a rematch against Netflicks, who must have hoped to get revenge for their defeat earlier in the season. Nonetheless, again Smashing Pumpkins were able to prevail as they won 3-2, their overall victory spearheaded by Shannon Brown who won both her singles matches. With plentiful rearranged matches to take place in the coming weeks, it will be intriguing to see how the division shapes up in January and February.
The tussle between Table Toppers and Two Slips and a Gully for Division 2 pre-eminence continued as both sides put Sultans of Spin to the sword – Table Toppers winning 4-1 and TS&G winning 5-0 – before both sides faced off against each other in a top of the table clash. TS&G’s young duo of Cory Dawson and Isaac Ishmael will have hoped for revenge against Annie Borrowdale and James Hutchinson, though in the end experience yet again prevailed as Table Toppers clinched a 3-2 win. Annie made a crucial contribution by winning both her singles matches, whilst Isaac had a good win in five against Jim. Cory will feel hard done by to have lost both his singles matches in five, nevertheless, his side remain in first place, albeit Table Toppers have games in hand to make up the deficit. Steve Cussell and Ray Pirrie of The Owd Coots were able to cement their position in third, with 4-1 wins against Hurricanes and Sultans of Spin. Lastly, Hurricanes picked up their first win of the season through a hard-fought 3-2 win against Watsonians – Mike Watson winning his two singles matches to salvage two points for his side.
In Division 3, Graeme and Finley Boyd of Blade Runners continued their sprint to the title, producing a perfect display in winning 5-0 against Chuckle Chums. Even at this stage, their lead appears almost unassailable, thus the decisive battle of the division will come down to the battle for second place, which is currently neatly poised between Double Trouble and Titans by a single point. Titans’ duo of Evan Robertson and Theuns Wiese had a resounding 5-0 win against Falcons, before they faced off against Olivia Maxwell and Boyd Telfer of Double Trouble. In the end, the latter duo had a big 4-1 win against Titans to leapfrog them into second place, with key wins from Boyd and Olivia proving crucial.
Full details and tables are as always at https://www.tabletennis365.com/Dumfries.
