Bath Street Marine Table Tennis Club
A Table Tennis England PremierClub
News Release - BSMTTC News 189
12 April 2025
Four in a row?
For the fourth consecutive year BSM team captain, Colin Turner, will be playing in the final of the LDTTL Frank Murphy Veterans Handicap Cup. The Final is expected to be in the week after Easter and spectators will be most welcome. The exact date and venue will be announced as soon as it is known.
The Frank Murphy Cup is a competition for Liverpool League players of all standards who are O40. It brings together players of mixed standards and seeks to even out the skills differences by using handicaps. But like with milk, the cream usually rises to the top! This year, Colin will once again lead a team of all 1st division players into the Final, under the banner of BSM 6! Below is a report on the two semi-final matches.
Colin Turner, captain of the current BSM A Team, first appeared in the Frank Murphy Cup Final in 2022 when he was part of an all 1st division team led by Dermot Tierney. In 2025 he will lead his own team into the final, being the 4th consecutive year he has played in the final of this event.
The Action
In the first semi-final, Colin had to bring in a substitute to complete his BSM 6 team. Fortunately he was able to bring in a player of equivalent quality, Clare Peers, who has herself been a winning finalist in this event, to complete the team of Clare, Julian Quirk & himself. They faced a potentially tricky visit to St Andrews Church Hall to face Sefton Park 1 team. A mixed ability team comprising of players from division 2 and division 4, which meant they would start with a handicap advantage of 142 points! They would need to do something special though on the table to stop the all first division stars from clawing back this difference. As it happened, only their division 2 player, Chris Greaves, was able to momentarily stop the march of his higher ranked opponents, when he took a game from the BSM No.3, Julian, in the third set of the night. However, by the end of the sixth set the BSM players had won all the other games and cleared the handicap difference. By the end of the match they had gone from being 142 points behind to being 80 points in the lead, an excellent and convincing win, giving Colin a place in the Final for the fourth consecutive year - an amazing achievement in itself!
Above right, the match card for Sefton Park 1 v BSM 6.
And to the left, the Sefton Park 1 team of Chris Greaves, Ray Jones and Ian Findon.
And in the centre, the BSM 6 team - Colin Turner, Clare Peers and Julian Quirk.
A convincing win by a top quality side. And now for the Final.......
The Action
The second semi-final involved BSM 1, led by captain Dave Aimson, facing a visit to CADWA. With 4 players in the squad and all available, captain Dave had a tough selection decision to make, deciding to bring in a Keith Williams as a substitute for himself for the match. To be able to bring in real quality in the form of Keith - a former winner of this event with BSM - was a real bonus. Keith was joined by Mehdi Eskoroochi and Mark Benson giving a mixed ability team of players from Division 3 and Division 1. Their opponents Cadwa 1 comprising two players from Division 3 and one from Division 5. With a 1st division player in the BSM line-up it meant the Cadwa team had the opening handicap advantage of 58 points. The BSM team set about trying to eliminate the deficit, and wins from Keith & Mehdi looked to be putting the team on the right path. The key set of the night was undoubtedly set 7 with Mark playing Alby. Mark narrowly took the first game but only by a single point. However, Alby didn't surrender and fought back in exceptional style taking the second game leaving the points score 41:38 in favour of Cadwa. This left Mehdi & Keith a mountain to climb in the final two sets. Mehdi did his best taking set eight but only taking 8 points off the deficit. This left Keith needing to win by 30 points in the final set, and he very nearly made it, clearing 28 points. But this meant the Cadwa boys were still 2 points ahead - and had secured a place in the final! What a terrific match, and so, so close.
Above: Left, the Cadwa 1 team of Alan French, Alby Ofoeme & Steve Daniels.
In the centre the BSM 1 team of Mark Benson, Dave Aimson (Captain), Mehdi Eskoroochi, and Keith Williams (sub).
And on the right the match score card Cadwa 1 v BSM 1. A terrific effort by the Cadwa boys to take this match.
And in conclusion.......
Two terrific matches in the cup, but no all BSM final this year! The scene is set for a top quality final. Can Colin make it four in a row.......