British League
Division 1 South

 Ellenborough Team
Gary Tendler
Jimmy Walsh
Simon Philpz
Matthew Spiero
Eric Hammond
Jon Nillson (Not playing)

Review - Day 1 - Cippenham 1
Ellenborough Mens British League team have made a fantastic start to what has to be one of the strongest and close fought Divison 1 South Zones for many a good few years. 

With players such as Nigel Eckersley and Dave Barr (for OLOP), Andrew Dennison (Irish Number 2), Noah Essomba and an International UAE player playing for Progress, Paul Whiting for Plymouth, several of the teams would not have looked out of place in the Premier division! 

The Ellenborough team has been enhanced by the addition of two new players: 

Eric Hammond (now a regular face at Ellenborough) and Jon Nillson of Sweden

The league is now played across 4 weekends throughout the course of the season (4 matches in each weekend). Unfortunately we were without Jon Nillson (Swedish National League commitments) but we did have Eric Hammond for the first day (Saturday 13th September) 

Our first game was against Cippenham 1 whom we had beaten on a number of occasions in the past. Eric had problems getting to the match due to his car being serviced which meant that he did not turn up for the game until 11:20 (match start time was 11:30am). In what should have been an easy victory for Ellenborough, the late arrival left Eric a little unprepared and Eric suffered a terrible loss against Cippenham number 2 Clive Payne in 4 sets. 

Gary Tendler levelled the game for Ellenborough at 1-1 but as has been the case in so many Ellenborough games another unexpected loss for Jimmy Walsh against Terry Haley (11-9 in the fifth leg). Simon Philpz then lost to Mark Butler to give Cippenham a 3-1 lead. Eric made ammends in his match against Cippenham number 1 Martin Adams winning a close faught battle before the next shock loss for Gary Tendler against Mark Butler. 

Jimmy Walsh made light work of Clive Payne in three straight sets but Terry Haley was also too strong for Simon Philipz to give Cippenham a 5-3 victory. 

Our second game was a much better preformance from the Squad

Players

 Results

Score
Eric Hammond V’s Phil Cox 9, -9, 7, 7 1 - 0 
Gary Tendler V’s Mark Brown -6, -8, 9, 9, 9 2 - 0
Jimmy Walsh V’s Will Power 8, -9, -7, 7, 5 3 - 0
Simon Philipz V’s John Huckle 6, 8, 8 4 - 0
Eric Hammond V’s Mark Brown -10, 8, -9, -6 4 - 1
Gary Tendler V’s John Huckle 8, -8, 9, -6, 5 5 - 1
Jimmy Walsh V’s Phil Cox 10, -10, -8, 9, 10 6 - 1
Simon Philipz V’s Will Power 7, 8, 7 7 - 1

Day 2 - Ellenborough vs Plymouth

What a funny game Table Tennis is, a shock loss on day one with our best player Eric Hammond and then a shock win without our best player against one of the best teams in the division Plymouth !! 

We always knew we would have to produce something special to win against Plymouth particularly against such a strong team. 

Matthew Spero stepped in for the team on day two (Matt had also been there on Saturday to cover for Eric incase he didn’t turn up so a special thanks to Matt for his support and commitment!!)

Players

 Results

Score
Jimmy Walsh V’s Paul Whiting -10, 7, -9, 5, 4 1 - 0
Gary Tendler V’s Mike Short -10, -5, -10 1 - 1
Matthew Spero V’s Marketa Mskova -6, 4, -6, 8, 10 2 -1
Simon Philpz V’s Kevin Buddell 8, -13, 7, 16 3 -1
Gary Tendler V’s Paul Whiting -10, -9, 7, 9, -9 3 -2
Jimmy Walsh V’s Marketa Myskova 4, 6, 6 4 - 2
Simon Philipz V’s Mike Short 11, -8, -7, 8, 8 5 - 2
Matthew Spero V’s Kevin Buddell 9, 8, 4 6 - 2

Ellenborough vs PSP Westinsure

PSP Westinsure struggled all weekend without two of their key players (Kevin Satchell and Phil Payne)

Ultimately this was an easy victory for Ellenborough (losing only 1 game)

Players

 Results

Score
Gary Tendler V’s Trevor Lloyd 9, 8, 7 1 - 0
Jimmy Walsh V’s Eddie Roofe 17, 9 , 9 2 - 0
Simon Philipz V’s Michelle Cohen 6, 7, 9 3 - 0
Matthew Spero V’s Dave Richards 9, 4, -12, 7 4 - 0
Gary Tendler V’s Eddie Roofe 7, -10, 9, -7, 7 5 - 0
Simon Philpz V’s Trevor Lloyd 7, 10, -7, -5, 9 6 - 0
Jimmy Walsh V’s Dave Richards 8, 2, 7 7 - 0
Matthew Spero V’s Michelle Cohen -5, -7 ,-8 7 - 1

Luckily for Ellenborough, the other top teams also had losses which means that Ellenorough are top of the table on 6 points with Plymouth (but ahead on games difference)

Latest League tables can be found at the ETTA web site on: 

 - http://www.etta.co.uk/BritLg/BL0304/Senior/div1S.htm

Thanks go to Ellenborough Table Tennis Club for it’s continued support of the team,

Next round matches are to be held at Okehampton Table Tennis club – Devon where we hope to field our other top player Jon Nillson


By Jimmy Walsh