The Spalding and District Table Tennis League staged the first round of the popular Marylands Cup event last Tuesday night.
Played with players starting on a handicap, the four singles and a doubles are played best of three ends to 31.
Only two of the seven matches were completed, with two postponed and three unfinished.
Moulton S E found their first taste of this event tricky, with their opponents Aches and Pains having an advantage of between 13 and 18.
The first game went Moulton’s way, but the remaining four games all went to Aches, mostly in straight ends.
South Holland found the night equally difficult against 200 Up.
Both teams had a player new to the format, but with the handicaps favouring 200, only the doubles went Holland’s way.
In the other three matches, one of the teams could only put out one player so just two singles were played.
Mine’s a Pint versus Castle Sports proved to be very tight, with Castle’s Tony Dorey taking full advantage of his handicap.
Four of the five ends played went down to the last two points or closer with Dorey winning one game and losing the other.
Bladerunners faced MatDuf’s Finlay Bembridge who made good use of last week’s practice at the format and a good handicap.
Bembridge lost the first game, but took the second by a margin.
Pottermus Clarets’ pair had too good a handicap for Jokers’ solitary player and took both their games to set up an interesting tie when the League’s number one is available.
Five teams took advantage of spare time on the night to play some league matches.
Nets and Edges faced JDM’s Phil Chandler in a match postponed from October, the latter only dropping one end in his two wins.
The Netters then met Outsiders in a match brought forward from January.
The latter, as mentioned last week, are proving a tricky team to face and backed it up with a 5-0 victory.
Four of the games finished in regulation, but the first of the night went to five after Davey fell behind before his opponent ran out of steam.
Outsiders then completed their match with Bladerunners.
Starting 2-0 down they dropped the first in five but then roared back to take the final singles and the doubles.
Finally, Moulton and Mine’s a Pint played their match from last week.
The Pinters got off to a good start, winning the first game, but that was the sum total of their success, Moulton winning 4-1, a result that moves them up to second spot.
The ties marked the final fixtures of 2017, with the league returning to action on January 2.
