Northowram Edge to 5-4 Win

Teams
Northowram Martyn Halliday, Josh Gee, Robert Gee
Popps ‘B’ Terry Wassall, John Mitchell, Robin Thomas

Fighting their way through a cold wintry night, Popps entered the cold wintry room to see the walls covered with toddlers’ paintings and a set of rules: Be kind, share, don’t swear, play, don’t fight, be polite, good manners. I can report that these rules were followed by the adults and that the room warmed up: perfect surroundings apart from a strangely feline smell and a floor more suited to strictly come skating. However, the match was played in good spirits with a hot cup of tea and a Jacob’s biscuit available from our hosts, something you don’t get at the HXTTC.

Set 1 saw Martyn against Terry. He started well to win 13-11, but Martyn fought back to win 11-9. A couple of good forehand smashes took Terry to 11-9 in G3, but Martyn’s spin service confused Terry in G4, to take it to a decider. It was level most of the way, but Terry missed a couple of smashes as Martyn moved to an 11-8 win, to win the set 3-2.

John Mitchell then came on to play young Josh, a rapidly improving player. Josh had some good forehand attacks, but could not prevent the experienced John from moving to 11-9. John’s continuing lack of mobility showed as Josh pushed him to 13-11, but John’s back hand flick worked to good effect to tie up G3 at 11-7.

The experienced Robert Gee then took on Robin and despite some good attacking shots and the occasional effective serve from Robin, Robert’s steadiness took him to 11-5, 11-8 and 11-6. One sensed that Robert had plenty in reserve if needed.

Back now to Terry who faced Josh. It was close in G1 with Josh having some good returns. However, Terry edged ahead to win 11-8 and 11-8. Josh lost some concentration in G3, to go down 11-3.

Set 5 brought Martyn and Robin together. Surprisingly, Robin won the first game 11-8 with some searing back hand flicks. When he has worked out how to do them again, he will try to incorporate them into his game. That is a problem with TT. Things sometimes work very well, but you don’t know how you did it. Like some other things in life. Martyn pulled things together with more steady play and reeled off 11-3, 11-5 and 11-7 to take the set.

John was now back to the table against Robert. At this point the low-tech scoring display started to fall apart and advanced origami skills were utilised to string together this card board and wire contraption. Robert shot into a lead and despite a fight-back by John, he cruised to 11-6. John started better in G2 and things were level at 7-7. By this time John was talking to himself and a phone call was made to the men in white coats. It worked for a while as John fought back to 9-10, but then Robert executed an outrageous fluke to take the game 11-9. Robert then shot to a 6-1 lead. John tried to get back but Robert was on a roll to move to ll-4, to take the set.

Set 7 brought Robin and Josh together. Conscious that it might be his only chance for a win, Robin played safely to win 11-2, 11-8 and 11-7.Josh executed some effective forehand smashes, but Robin held it together. However, Josh must have a good future if he continues to play, and demonstrated improvement since our last encounter with him However, it appears that football is his first love as he started to kick a ball around the room once the match was over. When he is a football millionaire living in Prestbury, we will be able to say that we once beat him at table tennis.

John Mitchell then played Martyn in the best set of the night. Martin took the first game 11-5, but John immediately struck back to win 11-7 after a better start. John’s backhand proved unreliable in G3 and Martyn won 11-9. With snow clouds looming outside, would be get snowed in, to live off a few chocolate biscuits? John moved ahead in G4, to win 11-6 with the decider to play. John moved to a 5-0 start, but Martyn clawed his way back to 9-8, only to allow John to win 11-8 and the set 3-2.

Set 9 saw Terry and Robert playing on the alternative table with a yellow ball. I don’t think that made any difference and Robert moved to 11-7, 11-5 and 11-5. Terry executed some spectacular smashes and at one time Robert’s serve missed the table, but his steadier game overall meant that the result was not in doubt.

Northowram MPM therefore won the encounter 5-4 and the people got home before the snows fell.

RT