The Fambridge team were the benefactors of the drama that unfolded at the top end of the Burnham & District Table Tennis League this week.

The unbeaten pre-season favourites Mapledene A were toppled for the first time in a fiery encounter with Cold Norton B.

This close result edges Cold Norton B into second place behind Fambridge but more importantly dampens the spirits and odds on Mapledene catching the league leaders. 

The action in Division 1 this was dominated by some excellent individual performances and eye-catching results. In the box-office clash of the week it was Cold Norton B’s Ian Wall that took top billing with a cracking hat-trick of wins including a four sets victory over current League Singles Champion Reece Seddon.

Seddon had a busy night all round pipping Dan Anderson 14-12 in the fourth set, and then going the full monty in a comeback five-setter against Dave Richardson. Richardson maintained his form with good wins over Steve Muth and George Reeves, and Anderson completed the 6-4 overall victory with a straight sets triumph over George Reeves.

In the other top half clash, current Champions Woodham A were hesitant on their journey to Cold Norton A, having seen the calibre of the Cold Norton team that destroyed the fighting Woodham B side the previous week. But taking a leaf out of the Eric and Ernie playbook it seemed the Nortonian Management had picked all the right teams but for all the wrong weeks.

Woodham A picked up a straightforward 8-2 points haul with only Duncan Taylor picking up points for Cold Norton. In another eye-catching result Woodham’s Harry Chivers bested the legendary Taylor in a professional straight sets victory that will be reverberating around all the top contenders for the Singles crown this season. Chivers completed his hat-trick and was well supported by Chris Penrose and Daniel Piggott who both beat Steve Maltby and Neil Want to complete the rout.

As the embers died down from the A teams’ encounter come the Thursday it was time for the C teams to do battle. Cold Norton C arrived at Woodham with a strong side and were looking to pick up some good points to secure their mid-table position. The Cold Norton hitman, Arron Chandler, was up first and set off at a great pace to impress the supporters he had brought along.

Chandler has been in phenomenal form this season so his opening straight sets victory over the hard-hitting Chris Hancox was no surprise but set the tone for the evening. Cold Norton raced through the singles card with the only blip being Graham Briggs’ rollercoaster five-set victory over Cold Norton’s skipper Dick Wyman. Wyman and Hitman Chandler then plucked defeat from the jaws of victory in the doubles giving Woodham’s Hancox and Peter Harverson a bonus doubles boost for the journey home.

At the other end of the arena Woodham B and Mapledene B were having lots of enjoyment playing out a hard-fought and lengthy 5-5 draw. Mapledene’s David Jacob provided an opening match shock with a long five-set victory over Sanjay Saptarshi. Jacob was machine-like with the focus of a deadly sniper as he kept the Saptarshi forehand under control and forced his opponent into ambitious attacks that didn’t always work out – a cracking battle of tactics and patience, with Jacob coming through as a worthy winner.

The match ebbed and flowed as the teams went into the break at 3-3 with Jacob involved in a further dramatic five-setter, this time losing out to Woodham’s Daniel Patynski after having got back to deuce in the decider. A much more open encounter that saw a barrel load of exciting rallies between these two players on top of their game.

Mapledene took the doubles so now it came down to the singles run-in. Patynski struggled against a resurgent Anthon Ranjit-Singh but emerged victorious, Jacob came through a tricky encounter with Eamonn Hall, so it all came down to the final match and the one the punters had paid to see – Saptarshi v Keith Willett. Willett came in full of confidence having won all his matches that night, whereas Saptarshi was having a focus dilemma. Having set the scene the match didn’t pan out as expected as Saptarshi smashed his way through the Willett defence for a surprisingly swift three-set victory that ensured the spoils were shared.

Division 2 is now a two-horse race between leaders Maldon A and the thoroughbreds from Stow Maries A. It has taken a while for Stow A to get their campaign in full swing but they are now definitely at the races.

This week the Stow A side welcomed the Blackwater B trio to their stables but that was as hospitable as it got as the Stow trio went about their business with gusto and quickly demolished the Blackwater defence for a 10-0 whitewash win. Stow’s Richard Storey and Ken Sheard both hit virtually unscathed hat-tricks, whereas the Stow third player, Peter Chastin, had a much more difficult time collecting his spoils with two five-set victories over Gary Smith, and Louis Gunn.

Rivals Maldon A were held back this week by Stow B who did their A team a favour by taking three points off the league leaders. For Maldon, Lloyd Bennett-Smith, and Hamish Innes both hit hat-tricks and combined for the doubles. Innes had a very busy evening involving himself in three five-setters including a remarkable comeback against the lovable Dave Goody who had the cheek to take the first two sets in their singles encounter. Goody did redeem himself though as he reversed his five-set fortune with a 12-10 deciding set win over Brain Riedling.

These results see Maldon A and Stow A just a point apart at the top of the table with a considerable gap back to the chasing pack.

Steve Aspland was back on form for his Maldon B side this week as he produced another hat-trick, but this wasn’t enough to overcome the battling Cold Norton D side. The match ended in a draw with both Terry Hyland and Peter Lucraft winning two for the Cold Norton club, with Hyland and Aspland battling out the final match for the evenings bragging rights which Aspland won 11-6 in the decider.

Blackwater A strengthened their top-three aspirations with an unexpected 10-0 victory over Stow C. The Stow crew certainly didn’t roll over and have their bellies tickled as four of the matches went to fifth set deciding legs – but Blackwater prevailed in each and every one. Hat-tricks all round then for Blackwater’s Alan Scammell, Roger Slade, and Neil Freeman, with Stow’s Tim Huxtable losing out in five sets to both Slade and Freeman, and Jean Chasmer doing the same against Scammell and Slade.

Maldon C’s assault of the Division 3 title continues at an alarming speed with another 9-1 victory this week leaving them with significant clear water between themselves and the forgotten chasing pack. This week’s victims were Blackwater F and they had Mike Crumpton to thank for avoiding the whitewash humiliation as he overturned Maldon’s Matt Copsey in four sets.

It was business-as-usual for Maldon’s top two players, Brian Riedling and Chris Ravenhill, who each registered their third hat-trick of the season – and this time neither dropped a set so they were all home in time for the nine o’clock news.

Blackwater C pulled off a noteworthy conquest as they beat St Lawrence 6-4 to claim second place. Chris Rolison (three wins) and Colin Barham (two wins) doing all the damage, including a good doubles win over the Mike Pratley and Mike Burton tricky pairing. Burton was the best of the St Lawrence squad with two wins including an excellent four-set triumph over Barham.

Woodham E’s Allan Steel continues to dominate the statistics in Division 3, and this week he rattled off his fifth hat-trick on the bounce to maintain his 100% win rate and looks an odds-on bet for the Roy Davis Cup this year – which is awarded to the player in Division 3 with the best win rate having played at least 50% of the matches.

Steel was untroubled in his singles with a straightforward nine-dart finish but his three personal wins couldn’t produce an overall win for Woodham E as they drew with Blackwater E. Woodham’s Chris Crooks won his first two singles so the match result came down to the final game as Crooks took on Blackwater’s Keith Thompson. Thompson went 2-1 up before the pair of them couldn’t decide who should win the fourth set – eventually at 17-17 Crooks went for some big hits that didn’t connect and Thompson was able to take the leg 19-17, securing the draw for Blackwater.