Second round night for the Marylands Cup in the Spalding and District Table Tennis League – sponsored by Vital Recruitment – was an opportunity for teams to play catch up on fixtures.
However a combination of half-term, rain and possibly football meant that it passed by as just six tables were in use with play in three competitions.
In the Marylands just two of the four matches were played.
Nets and Edges found Can’t Move Won’t Move too strong on 17 and 24 handicaps. A combination of good play and poor form meant that Garry Wilkinson and Hannah Gilbert had too much and won 4-1, with Reece Kerry getting the consolation point in the last match.
Fellow First Division team Outsiders did better against Mine’s a Pint, but having levelled in the second game lost the next two before getting one back at the end, going out 3-2.
Jeremy Hitcham is on a fine run of form and it showed again with two wins.
With the other matches to be played the semi-final draw, scheduled for March 16, is: Can’t Move Won’t Move v the winners of Skidlids, Team Equinox or Bourne Nightmayors (still a round behind), and MatDuf or Defenders v Mine’s a Pint.
One other match was played in full between second division MatDuf and Hurricane Brothers, postponed from January.
A tight match, with just one being played in regulation, saw Hurricanes take a 3-2 victory.
Sam Wallis took two, but had to come from behind against Stewart Duffill.
Duffill won his other game in five, on a night when he became the first player for some time to have to play over 200 points in his singles.
The Pinters’ Hitcham took another point with a win in their unfinished match with Young Guns.
Those points have tightened up the division, with the second-placed Pinters now five ahead of three teams level on 27, while Young Guns and Hurricanes are closing up with games in hand.
In Division One, Bladerunners completed two more matches.
Colin Vertigan came in against Defenders and helped take a 5-0 win, with two singles and a doubles win.
He couldn’t help against South Holland, however, losing out to Richard Hammond to give the table-toppers a 4-1 win.
Then he added another point with a win in the unfinished match with Nets and Edges.
Meanwhile, Defenders added a point to their tally with a doubles win over Outsiders.
All that adds up to Holland increasing their lead at the top to seven points, with matches in hand over all their rivals except Blades.
Blades themselves have now jumped two places to third. The two teams also made a start on their Moulton Shield final and Pete Budd and Dave Gibson put themselves in a strong position with two wins.
