Bath Street Marine Table Tennis Club
A Table Tennis England PremierClub
News Release - BSMTTC News 147
Dateline: 15 October 2022
It's a knock out!
The respective Divisional Cup competitions in the Liverpool League began this week, and the Club had 3 teams in action in Round 1. There was some really good play, but on this occasion very little success! Here's a brief report on each of the matches that took place.
G Team (Division 5 - The Stamp Cup)
The week started with Keith Hardman's G Team squad travelling to the new Sefton Park venue, a first visit by the club to the new location. This looked as if it should have been a fairly even contest, with the visitors able to put out a good line-up. But the match started really badly, and before the visitors knew where they were, somehow they were 4:0 down in a match where it is the first to 5 who wins! However, despite the surprisingly poor start, Dave Aimson and Steve McCormick then came to life and pulled the team back into the maqtch. This was followed by a fabulous win for Sue Young bringing the visitors to within 1 set of the Sefton Park team. It was up to Tony Rimmer to try and bring out a decider. But it wasn't to be Tony's night, the team slipping to a 5:3 defeat.
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D Team (Division 4 - The Forrest Cup)
Next up, Andy Armstrong's D Team also faced a visit to Sefton Park. And again this looked as if it should be a fairly even contest. But for the D Team this was only their second match of the season, and some of the players had definitely looked a little rusty in the first match! Things started well enough with the visitors taking an early 1:2 lead with wins by Andrew and then Mark Benson. The home side pulled it back to 2:2 but when captain Andy lost out to the home No.1 in the closest match of the evening it seemed to have an adverse effect on the team morale with Steve and Keith both collapsing in what should have been very close sets. As a result Mark didn't get back to the table, the Sefton Park team running out with a 5:2 win.
Above the match card for the Sefton Park C v BSM D cup match in the Div 4 Divisional Cup.
And on the right:.
Top - BSM D - Andy Armstrong, Steve Rees, Keith Dudley & Mark Benson,
Below - Sefton Park C - Jamie Whitty, Kenny Young, Ian Findon & Pat Espinoza.
C Team (Division 2 - The Rumjahn Cup)
The final cup match of the week was undoubtedly the best and closest match of the three. The C Team, led by Dave Stoddern, had a home draw with Harold House A who they had already played in the league just a week earlier. On paper there was every likelihood that ken Jackson could take his 3 singles for the home side, and so it proved. When captain Dave Stoddern took the 7th set in convincing style to give the home side a 4:3 advantage it seemed possible that the result in the league the previous week could be reversed. Dave had already had a chance to secure the match in a real tussle with Charlie Bradshaw only to be denied deep in the fifth. Now it was up to the other Dave, Dave McMahon. Again it was Charlie Bradshaw who prooved to be the nemesis, fighting his way back from 2:1 down to record another 5 game win to keep his team in the match. Boyed by this win, John Appleton returned to the table for the final set of the match. Dave Mc started well taking the first end, but when he lost the next two very tight ends it seemed to take the wind out of his sails, John racing through the final game to give his team the narrowest of victories 4:5. A great match, albeith with a disappointing outcome for the home side.
Above the match card for the BSM C v Harold House A cup match in the Div 2 Divisional Cup.
And on the right:.
Top - BSM C - Ken Jackson, Dave Stoddern & Dave McMahon.
Below - Harold House A - Charlie Bradshaw, Pancho Xavier & John Appleton.
And in conclusion.......
A tough week for the club's teams in the cup, with all 3 teams going out. The next round of the competitions will be in the week commencing 7 November, hopefully the remaining 5 teams will fare better.