PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Loveder

The battle for the Senior British Club Leagues Premier Division appears to be a two-horse race as Brighton kept up their pursuit of Ormesby with a 5-2 win over BATTS. The title holders were made to work hard for another crucial victory but David Andersson’s double ensured they remain just two points behind the league leaders at the midway point.

Before the season began, it felt like the biggest threats to Brighton’s defence were BATTS and Ormesby and that has proven to be the case. But with BATTS suffering defeats to both, it now feels like they have no wriggle room from here and would need to win all their remaining games to have any chance of success. Brighton, meanwhile, have a solitary loss to Ormesby blotching their record at this stage.

This has always appeared likely to be one of the marquee fixtures of this competition and the early indications were that it would prove to be the case.

On one table, it was a battle between BATTS’ Haotin Chen and Brighton’s David Andersson. It was a brilliant contest of contrasting styles; Chen, so elegant on his feet and smooth in his strokeplay, against Andersson, who boasts a bludgeoning forehand and controlled backhand.

Andersson settled better to take the first end before Chen got to grips with the battle, producing some delightful backhand counters while his speed around the table opened up rallies that proved far more suitable for him than his opponent.

By the third end, both players were doing all they could to open the rally up first and generally, the player capable of doing that would eventually win the point. It was Chen who clinched it though, his banana flick backhand allowing him control of more points against serve.

The fourth was fascinating. Andersson appeared flustered when he called a timeout midway through, but that resulted in a tactical change: faster serves, quicker pushes, counter with intent. Andersson took it to a decider with those tactics.

It continued to work in the fifth. The longer serve had negated Chen’s flick, allowing Andersson to back up on third ball more effectively. Chen, it has to be said, never truly found a solution as Andersson took the fifth 11-7.

The adjacent game wasn’t quite as spectacular, with Shoma Nishihara proving to be simply too good on the day for Joshua Bennett, winning in straight ends. The Japanese, it must be said, didn’t put a foot wrong. But it meant Brighton had a 2-0 lead.

Trailing by that scoreline, doubles always feels pivotal, but again, it was Brighton who came up with the goods. Nishihara and Andersson dusted themselves off to beat the two players they beat in singles. It was relatively routine; Bennett and Chen took the third with a strong end but they couldn’t maintain that as they went down 3-1. At that point, Brighton needed just one more win to head out of Essex with another league win.

BATTS did offer some resistance though. Chen proved too sharp for Nishihara as he picked up an eye-catching straight ends victory, his first win in front of a home crowd.

And it appeared that Brighton would have to wait until the final two matches to secure their win when Chris Doran established a 2-0 lead over Ihor Zavadskyi, grafting his way to an advantage after two tight ends. However, the Ukrainian had other ideas and he superbly fought back to take it to a decider, which proved to be another outstanding contest. After saving match point, Zavadskyi prevailed, the travelling crowd ecstatic as he celebrated a fine victory which also secured the match.

Doran, to his credit, got back on the table minutes later to play Andersson and appeared to be carrying an injury, but that did tell, as Andersson proved too strong on the day and secured an impressive double.

BATTS, who it must be said were much more competitive than the scoreline suggested, did get a consolation win as Bennett rallied superbly to win six consecutive points to beat Zavadskyi in the fifth. However, it didn’t stop Brighton heading home with the win.