At first sight, the prospect of playing a side called Senior Citizens might bring up an image of doddery blokes with Zimmer frames, slopping their tea all over their trousers, but we knew this team should not be underestimated. They have already won a number of matches this year and have those great ingredients of effective table tennis at this level: experience and patience. Moreover, we knew that we would have to drop down to earth after our compelling victory the previous week.

In the event, Alan and Robin struggled and John (M) managed to win one set, losing 8 sets to 1.

Alan Feetham defeated John 11-4, 11-3 & 11-8. Alan played consistently while John missed some forehands. The final match was balanced at 8-8, until Alan edged ahead with some good attacks and returns. Against Alwyn Kershaw, John tried to steady himself, but Alwyn moved ahead courtesy of a couple of flukes which seemed to upset John’s concentration. The second was an exciting game, balanced all the way, but John just could not establish a lead, and went down 11-8. John urged himself forward with a stream of words, but Alwyn held it together well to win 11-4. John finally settled down to beat Roy Oldroyd in 4 games. Roy won the first 11-9, with some steady returns, but John responded straight away with wins of 11-8, 11-2 and 11-9, benefiting from a couple of flukes. John was starting to win some smashes, which began to erode Roy’s confidence.

Alan Partington lost 11-6, 11-5 & 11-6 against Alwyn, each game showing a consistent pattern of steady play by Alwyn, some unforced errors by Alan and Alwyn each time creeping ahead to victory. Against Roy, it was a similar result: 11-5, 11-8 & 11-7, Alan started well in G2, but Roy levelled at 4-4 and by better all-round play moved to 11-8. Alan tried to peg back, but Roy again edged ahead to win the final game, 11-7. In his final game, the two Alans fought it out with Alan Feetham winning 11-5, 11-5 & 11-9. Our Alan played well in G3, leading at first and levelling at 7-7. But Alan (F) produced some excellent smashes to win at 11-9.

Robin’s performance showed a degree of impatience and lack of tactics. Roy Oldroyd beat him 11-7, 11-7 & 11-4, using some spin and consistent returns. The result was never in doubt. Against Alan Feetham, he showed more resilience, creating a flicker of excitement by extending G2 to lose 15-17. He achieved some effective smashes and used a fast serve to occasionally outwit the less mobile Alan, but experience told in the end. Finally, his match with Alwyn predictably ended 11-5, 11-4 & 11-7. with Robin trying to hit anything which moved and being bamboozled Alwyn’s spin.

This match, despite being one-sided was played in good spirits, with our opponents generously applauding our occasional good shots. They have had to pull things together after losing one of their comrades actually during a match last season, and in doing so, have demonstrated great fortitude and are a credit to this game.

‘B ‘Team achieves first win 9-0!

Sowerby 3 finished 2nd in Division 3 last year, so our team approached this fixture with a degree of apprehension. However, we know that teams change their personnel and in addition, we had John Taylor, covering for a poorly John Mitchell. So if John could get us off to a good start, that might inspire Alan and Robin, both currently needing a win to bolster confidence.

John delivered as promised, beating Liz Whitely 11-3, 11-4 and 11-2, where his spin serve wizardry caused problems for Liz. He repeated this pattern against would-be broadcasting legend, Jonathan Monaghan, 11-5, 11-3, and 11-5. Jonathan produced some successful attacking shots, but struggled against John’s experience. Finally, he despatched Martin Grace 11-6, 11-3 and 11-6. Martin stayed in the last game after John missed a couple of smashes, but the result was never in doubt.

How would Alan and Robin perform? Alan played with great steadiness against Martin to win 11-7, 11-7 and 11-9. Martin surged into a lead of 5-0 in G2, but Alan hauled him back patiently. The final match was balanced throughout, but Alan moved ahead with confidence to tie up the match. Alan against Liz Whitely was the most dramatic event all night, Liz winning G1 14-12, after a ding-dong battle. Alan broke back confidently to win 11-5, and 11-6, but in G4, she produced some good smashes and helped by a couple of well-timed flukes, won 11-9. Alan remained focussed in the final scrap, and charged ahead to win 11-3, winning the match 3-2.

A man with a mission to obliterate his last year nil percentage in the rankings, Robin steamed into his match with Jonathan with a vengeance, having been destroyed so many times in the past. He won 11-0, 11-1 and 11-4. It was similar against Martin: 11-1, 11-2 and 11-4. Liz provided much more resistance and Robin had to think on his feet to sustain the pattern of wins. Some use of back spin helped, plus a more patient approach, waiting for opportunities to attack, and the result was: 13-11, 11-7 and 11-7.

The match was played with a high degree of humour and sportsmanship, with stories about rape and pillage in the old Norse stronghold of Sowerby and John expounding on choice of rubbers to our visitors. This was purely to do with covering bats, you understand. Without being in any way patronising, we explained that today’s victory was the first for the ‘B’ team and that as Alan Dickinson has said, it takes a season or two of league play to get the hang of things. When we return to play at Sowerby, we will not be complacent, as players can improve rapidly with greater experience. We may need to take care in driving in a stormy winter night into the wild hills of Sowerby, where wild animals abound and even the natives can be strange, indulging in strange Norse habits and occasionally organising raids into neighbouring villages. You have been warned!

Terry took on Joshua Reynolds in Game 1 whose tricky serves and consistent attack shots took him to 11-6. However, Terry pushed him more closely in G2 to lose 13-11, with Terry winning some of his ultra-short serves. In G3, the rot set in and some of Terry’s failed smashes led to an 11-4 defeat.

John then took on Matthew Knapton, son of Mark, and John gradually improved to lose 11-3, 11-6 and 11-8. John is still regaining mobility and was caught out by a player over 50 years his junior. Still, John’s experience showed from time to time, with a promise of more to come.

Joshua Reynolds had designs on more wins against your Team Sec, and displayed a wide canvass of shots, winning 11-3, 11-6 and 11-8, painting a picture of a competent young player using subtle brush strokes with his bat. Does that show improvement by the defeated or Joshua going for his shots? We will never know.

Terry against Matthew was more balanced game, Matthew winning G1 11-8 and G2 11-4, as Terry started to miss more smashes. His lethal backhand flick started to work in G3, but it was not lethal enough and Matthew edged ahead to win 13-11. John had a bit more success against Joshua. He lost 11-6 in G1, but won G2 by 11-9. Again we had a young player, still at school against the much older John, still recovering mobility. His frustration surfaced with minor bat abuse (bats are a protected species), but he knows he can play at a much higher standard when his shoulder fully recovers. In the next two games, Joshua moved ahead to win 11-6 and 11-7.

Terry won his first game against the now-arrived Mark Knapton, who has developed a trade mark technique of tossing the ball high and inviting a smash. Those smashes worked quite well for Terry at first, but in the next three games, Mark showed surprising agility in returning smash after smash, then pushing his opponent to over hit, the equivalent of kicking a penalty shot into the crowd. He eventually won 10-12. 11-7, 11-6 and 11-7.

The Team Sec’s match against Matthew Knapton can be briefly summed up in the score: 11-3, 11-6 and 11-1.

Marks final matches were against John and Robin. It was a matter of who became the most frustrated. John went down 11-2, 11-3 and 11-3, and could not cope with this particular strategy. Surprisingly, Robin scored 10-12 in G1, managing to place some attacking shots beyond the reach of Mark, but it was a false dawn. Mark won the next two games 11-5 and 11-2, hunger and frustration finally reducing this writer to a quivering mass of jelly as he flailed his forehand at the sky-reaching balls of Mark.

 Robin