Much is still to play for in the Spalding and District Table Tennis League – sponsored by Vital Recruitment – with the season heading into overtime.
According to the league handbook, the season should now be finished. Reality is another matter altogether, with a plethora of unplayed and unfinished matches – 12 in Division One and eight in
Division Two, plus a couple of individual competitions that need completing.
Some of those look likely be defaulted – which is unfortunate and a shame for those looking forward to playing as much as possible when the season started. However, it is proposed to continue till everything has been decided one way or the other.
Of last week’s games, Defenders completed two Division One matches, losing both. The first, a match with Outsiders which was level at 1-1, saw Dave Coley take both singles to seal match for the Outers. Coley came from behind in both games, taking one in four and the other in five, while Defenders did the same for the doubles in between.
Defenders then took the doubles against Nets and Edges in a match that already stood at 1-3.
The Netters made a start on their final match with JDM, but Phil Chandler was JDM’s only player present and he proved too good and took both available points.
In Division Two, the main interest centred on Hurricane Brothers’ George Wallis. With an outside chance of stealing the title at the last, he played three games, two with Bourne Nightmayors and one against Young Guns.
The first pair were wins, though they took nine ends altogether, but as the previous week the Gunners’ Daniel Dorey had too much, leaving the Brothers needing to avoid another defeat to gain the title.
Bourne also completed another match, taking the doubles for a whitewash over Team Equinox’s juniors in five.
Equinox also finished off their match with Castle Sports, who had Colin Vertigan available again.
Coming from 2-0 down, Vertigan took both singles for Sports, including a hard-fought win over Cameron Duncan-Johal, and added the doubles after another five ends to win the match.
Both semi-finals of the Veterans’ competition were also played, with Richard Hammond defeating Guntars Briedes 11-6, 11-5, 11-5 and Chandler defeating Dave Gibson 11-6, 11-5, 7-11, 10-12, 11-9 to set up a repeat of the Division One final pairing.
