The Mission followed up their League Title for the season with a Craske Cup victory to make it the double, defeating Swanton Morley A 5-2 in the final. There were some close games throughout, with Swanton's Paul Durrant taking their two points with wins over Steve Barrett and Robin Thaxter. Paul Pegg came close to taking the game further but lost out in the fifth set in two close games to Robin Thaxter and Paul Barrett.
23/04/2009, played at Swanton Morley Village Hall.
Swanton Morley B beat 66 Club B 8-2.
The match was played as a double header, with team captain and spectator for the evening Paul Elsegood arriving with 3 games played to find his side 2-1 up. His arrival was the kiss of death though for 66 B, who went on to lose all remaining games, albeit with a sprinkling of close encounters.
22/04/2009, played at Foxley Village Hall.
The Mission beat Bradenham 8-2.
The climax to the season saw the clash of the titans. The crowds turned out to pack Foxley Village Hall to the rafters to witness what turned out to be an extraordinary match. Although the match score was 8-2 in favour of Mission, that scoreline did far from tell the true match story. Despite there being 44 nets or edges in favour of Mission against Bradenham's 4, Bradenham showed true composure to avoid mentioning this record breaking total once all night. The two wins came from Houseago beating Steve barrett and Hunt beating grinder Thaxter. Throughout the night Bradenham battled hard, gaining leads in games to then see, time after time, the game drift away to a lucky net or edge. Mission, who were highly embarrassed by the number of flukes, scraped wins from the jaws of defeat time and again. Bradenham's composure, sportsmanship, and overall tact ( especially from Houseago), was an example to all in how to carry on in the face of adversity. Mission, who after this match are believed to be sponsored by Robertsons for being jammy devils, took the title of Division 1 Winners with this victory, despite being seriously weakened by not playing Howard Lupton in this game. It was luck alone that secured the win and overall the title.
Anyone who can guess who wrote this write up wins a drink from Howard at the Presentation Evening this Saturday.....good luck....!!
13/01/2009, played at Billingford Village Hall.
Billingford beat Swanton Morley H 10-0.
Division 2's final match saw Billingford cruise to a 10-0 win and in the process move themselves from fourth to the runners-up spot in the table, finishing just a point behind the winners Swanton F. Billingford were largely untroubled throughout the match dropping just the one set in all.
25/03/2009, played at Foxley Village Hall.
The Mission beat Swanton Morley D 9-1.
David Appleby played well for Swanton throughout the evening and ended with a win over Steve Barrett to show for it. The Mission, though, edge closer to the League title with this win, but Bradenham are still hanging in there, and next Wednesday's Mission v Bradenham match will certainly be vital for both sides.
Bradenham overcame their handicaps to triumph 6-3 over Billingford in the final in a match with several close games. For Billingford it was Daniel Ballantyne who made the greatest impression, throwing caution to the wind and using his handicap start to good advantage by attacking well, a tactic which produced wins for him over Keith Hunt and Dave Attridge, and almost over Nigel Houseago before he lost out in this one 22-20 in the third set. David Lake did overcome Houseago though for Billingford's third win with a 21-15 third set win. A good final overall, enjoyed by everyone involved.
Swanton Morley H lost to Swanton Morley F 3-7.
Both the side's no.1 players were unavailable on the night, but it was always going to be the "H" team that was going to struggle, even with a two man opposition. The "F" team needed just seven points from this, their last match of the season, to secure the Division 2 Championship, which they achieved despite being three points down at the start. The "H" team's super sub, Al Douglas, very nearly upset the apple cart by going two games up on David Powell, but David called on all his experience and nerve to take the match 10-12;9-11;11-4;11-4;11-7. Many congratulations to the trio of Derek Sidgewick, David Powell and, captain, Steve Levy for a great and consistant season.
Final match of the season for these third and fourth placed teams with just two points separating them in the table, and only 8 points separating top spot from 4th. A fitting climax to an interesting and enjoyable season. The match score edged back and forth until, with 6 games played, it was 3-3. Game 7 went to Conservatives and a crucial Game 8 also went their way with a 14-12 fifth set win for Ted Barnes over Matthew Hubbard, the first time either side had been able to establish a two set lead. At 5-3 to Cons a close aand tense struggle going right to the wire again was won 12-10 in the fifth by Pat Johnson over Matt Hubbard. 6-3 to Conservatives but the doubles was still important - a win for Bintree would leave both teams on equal points for the season. Another hard game eventually went to Cons in the fourth set to secure the 7-3 win.
All six players played well and most games could really have gone either way. A wide range of styles (not to mention ages!) gave some very interesting table tennis to watch with evenly matched players playing hard and in sporting fashion. Cons captain John Ashley didn't play in this final game but was priviliged to be a spectator.
27/03/2009, played at Bradenham Village Hall.
Bradenham drew with Swanton Morley C 5-5.
With Swanton's team greatly strengthened with the introduction of Chris durrant this turned out to be a topsy turvy game with the result never predictable. The opening game saw a nail biter between Nigel and Chris. Chris started better taking the first two sets relatively comfortably. But Nigel then mounted a comeback, taking the next two and setting things up for a classic final set. And it turned out to be exactly that, With Chris holding two set points Nigel kept fighting back but finally surcomed 15-17 to Chris. An excellent opener and the first of three wins for Chris. Well supported by Seamus Chambers with two wins over Keith hunt and Dave (Atto) Attridge. One a single win each for Keith and Dave over Lindsay, the final game was a comfortable win for the pairing of Nigel and Keith over Cris and Lindsay. It could be said Lindsay had a rough night with a lot of nets and edges going against him despite being in good form, but it takes years of practice to perfect these so the credit should go to us for achieving so many....ahem...!!!!.
03/04/2009, played at Beetley Village Hall.
Beetley beat RYBS 7-3.
The game was played as a double header, but unfortunately Beetley were a player short on the night. Hilary Howlett and Colin Tucker didn't find too much to trouble them though as they ran out 7-3 winners.
The above ex Dereham League player has been in touch and has invited anyone who knows/used to know him to his 60th birthday do. The invitation can be viewed/downloaded by clicking on Downloads on the left hand side of the page. Neville also included some memories of his Dereham League playing days which I've copied below - I'm sure it will be of interest to many. Unfortunately the date of Neville's bash is the same date as our end of season night at Foxley, which I've mentioned to Neville.
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Neville Graver
02/04/2009, played at Toftwood Junior School.
Toftwood lost to Swanton Morley E 4-6.
A fitting culmination as both teams completed their league fixtures for the season. The visitors came out on top by 6 games to 4 but that score masks what was a very competitive evening with a number of very close games. The first match of the evening between Digby and Liam set the tone going to 5 matches via a see-saw of 1-0, 1-1, 2-1 etc. The final match was up in the air but finally put to bed by the doggedness of Digby. The third game was equally hard fought between Dennis and Trevor, Dennis taking a 2 game lead. Digging in, Trevor fought back in a match that saw an emphasis on defensive play, as each player sought to find the weakness of the other. Trevor won the last 3 matches, as both players left the table exhausted. Dennis was involved in an equally challenging match with John Loveday, the away player again taking a 2 game lead, only to be pinned back by a combination of fine defensive and attacking play by John, This time it was not to be and Dennis came out on top. The game of the evening was probably left to that between Liam "the net cord is my friend" Brett and Trevor "do I really have to smash?" Theobald. Going into the final game, the scores were still level at 11 each. The room was hushed, mainly because everyone else had fallen asleep and Dennis was thinking up a new and more creative way of scoring. The scene was set and Liam homed in and took the last 2 points to secure victory for the away team;- we woz robbed! Top honours for the evening go to Tony who bagged a clean sweep of 3 matches, each in 3 sets. The only thing spoiling it and worthy of several points deduction was his insistence on wearing a Norwich city top and pair of blue? shorts! This was a fine evening of table tennis played in the spirit in which all games should be played. Good fun, highly competitive whilst retaining good sportsmanship. Thank you Swanton E!
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