This was a great start for Popps A in the second division of the winter league. The two close season signings, Conner Pollard and Kristian Fearnley, won two of their three sets. Conner used his forehand topspin loop to overcome the tight defence of Lyndon Harris. Kristian battled hard against a determined Gary Taylor, winning the fifth and final game 12-10. Terry Allington managed to to beat Gary Taylor, but needs to be more focused. For the visitors Mick Reddy was outstanding winning all his sets. The future of the team looks bright, with a good mixture of youth and experience.

POPPS A Peter Davis, Gwyn Wardman and A N Other (to be confirmed)
POPPS B lost the the match against Evergreens 9 sets to nil without winning a game, such was the supremecy of their opposition. Peter Davis reports that:

“One chap had an illegal serve which didn’t seem to matter! People seemed to put a great deal more spin on the ball than I have encountered much and there were a lot of points made off the serve. So this is something I will have to get used to. I enjoyed the experience, good fun! Wasn’t embarrassed at all”.

That’s the spirit Pete!

Marsh Con Club: John Schofield, Adrain Normanton and Rod Veal
Popps B: Dennis McGuiness, John Taylor and Terry Wassall

This was POPPs B’s first summer league game and it looks very much like business as usual! Your reporter had to leave before the end of the match but at that time Popps were losing 1 – 6 with only 2 to play. The solitary success up to then was John beating Rod 3 – 0 comfortably, not losing more than 5 point in any game. Terry came quite close to Rod in his match winning the second game 11 – 8 but losing in the 4th by 11 – 13. Dennis took the first game from Adrian 13 – 11 before losing the next 3 fairly rapidly.

All the Popps team looked a little tired and it is probaly just as well we have a big enough squad to only have to play every other match! Having said that, Terry in particular needs to get some games in over the summer in prepartation for next season. This was his first match for 4 weeks and it showed!

As usual we had a jolly evening and the match was played in good humour. This report will be updated with the full result in due course.

POPPS A: A: Terry Allington B: John Korner C: Derek Greenwood
Central 2: X: Dave Blackburn Y: Brian Chapman Z: Steve Caulfield

Good to be back – or was it? Good break – what break? More of the same – or is it less? A scratch team turned out in their mythical Popps ‘A’ shirts, Terry A. drowning in a morass of misplaced ‘phone numbers, John bemused as usual with his seasonal descent to the relative lowlands of Ovenden (summer is rarely seen in Sowerby) and Derek, arriving late and unannounced with the expectation of a quiet night sitting on an uncomfortable chair, scoring, supporting and little else. Best laid plans (or not!), this was the team!

Our opponents, organic Suma reconstituted into Central 2, with two shouters and a chatterer to brighten our evening!

A sound start by Terry, with Dave working his top-spin magic to good, if not devastating effect. Having got a grip in each game, Terry held onto whatever it was to the finish. Comfortable 1^st game for John, with Brian losing sight of the table-end but then following up with a more focused 2^nd game thanks to a series of superb, scything forehands which took him into a winning position and success in the 3^rd game. As John faded at the start of the fourth, Brian harvested a trailer-full of shots but then, surprisingly, let the game slip at the end, pushing the set into a final game with all square. An excellent 5^th game for both saw Brian stagger first over the line. A good three game set from Steve, barely troubled by Derek’s extravagant, occasional winners, too occasional and inconsistent to leave even a smudge on Steve’s game. A solid performance from John, but just falling long too many times, with Dave showing good consistency and a centimetre or so more accuracy on every third shot. Next, good, close exciting table-tennis, with Steve giving almost as good as he got, working Terry from side to side throughout the first two games, culminating in an easier 3^rd game for Terry as Steve ran out of steam. A poor show by Derek against Brian as his knees almost gave up the ghost completely. The first two games passed him by, although there was a glimmer of light throughout the 3^rd. Strong start by Steve, pounding John into early submission with hard-hit, early balls. A high-speed and destructive first two games brought John to his knees, unable to deal with a relentless Steve, who was taking shots leaning half-way across the table as he strolled to a 3-0 win. A good first, fighting game from Derek against Dave, but the set then slipped away over the next three games as Derek failed to get to even half of Dave’s wide plants. Dave not at his best but still made it unhindered to the rostrum. Sparkling first game from Brian, with Terry cautiously finding his composure. Confidently and carefully, Terry proceeded impressively through the next three games as Brian struggled for accuracy.

A v X: 11-6/11-6/11-7.
B v Y: 11-5/8-11/9-11/12-10/9-11.
C v Z: 5-11/2-11/6-11.
B v X: 7-11/5-11/7-11.
A v Z: 11-8/11-8/11-5.
C v Y: 7-11/7-11/11-13.
B v Z: 6-11/7-11/4-11.
C v X: 13-11/5-11/7-11/3-11.
A v Y: 8-11/11-9/11-4/11-8.

Some good games, interesting moments, but a lot of disappointment and inconsistency from Popps ‘A’, falling unconvincingly at the first hurdle with a final score of 3-6. Well done Terry, as always and thanks Centre 2 for good company and impressive table-tennis.

POPPS ‘A’ (home) A: Terry Allington B: Peter McMullen C: Derek Greenwood     
Tradesmen 2 (away) X: Sam Drake Y: Mathew Knapton Z: Alex ? 

Apocalyptic is a BIG word – eleven letters, with probably as many meanings and as many people with suggestions for its appropriate use. To Popps ‘A’, this final match of the season seemed to sit appropriately under this heading, in a small yet significant way. 

By the nature of the make-up of their team, Tradesmen 2 will always present a meaningful and sharp-eyed challenge to any team in League 3. In our first encounter with them this season, in November, we, amazingly, saw them off with an extraordinarily controlled performance, leaving them stamping, shouting and gesticulating in despair, as they failed to dip under our radar. It was, in fact, one of our most committed victories of the season, framed with a modest, yet tasty, cocktail of unexpected shots and strategies. This time, however, we knew that we were there to be hunted down, hounded out into the open and picked over with a fine toothcomb.

With Chie still away on family duty in Japan, the team was already weakened, with Peter needing to renovate his body rather than his house and Derek his usual lamed and inconsistent self. We watched the eager, agitated and ‘keen to get on with it’ demeanour of Tradesmen 2 as they prepared to get down to work. Conscientious they certainly were, not the sort of Tradesmen who don’t turn up on the day, arriving later with a litany of unbelievable excuses – take note, Peter, this WAS commitment!

In comparison, we ALL looked a bit weary, felt a bit weary and, ultimately played a bit weary!

A nervy start from Terry against Sam, saw him complete two games successfully, if lengthily. However, with past long nights in mind, game 3 saw the imposition of the experdite rule. A slightly strange set of rules, for us at least, but they were certainly the key to Sam’s revival in this set. The incentive seemed suddenly there to exploit opportunities that barely seemed to be apparent. He pulled himself back into the set, leaving a deciding fifth set to ebb towards him and away from Terry. In a rather untidy set, Peter allowed Mathew to get an early handle on his game and succumbed, painfully, to a three game defeat. Derek took on Alex with enthusiasm and commitment but simply did not possess the mobility to challenge meaningfully. Peter too the first game of Alex, but the felt the fighting quality of this determined young man to slide sadly to a four game defeat. In an absorbing contest of, fortunately, manageable length, Terry eventually imposed his will upon the determined Alex, over five games. Derek enjoyed his best set of the night against Mathew, taking the third game after narrowly losing the first two: with Derek tiring, Mathew comfortably took the fourth to win the set. Peter turned the exhausted Alex in a lively four-game set, probably the best of the night. After a close first game, Sam pushed his way passed Derek over three games. Terry endured a tight first game against Mathew before pushing him firmly out of the way in the next two games.

So, a frustrating and disappointing evening for us, particularly for Terry. The introduction (some would say inevitable introduction, some would say necessary introduction) of ‘the experdite rule’ in order to sway Terry’s un-ending marathon approach to curbing the determined resistance of others, did seem to hold a whiff of Bernie Ecclestone’s fantasy Formula 1 idea, with his suggestion of random, God-like rain! Who the God of table-tennis is we’re not entirely sure! Somehow, this strange intrusion on a table-tennis match did seem to have a misty hint of that hideously lethal political expedient, ‘extraordinary rendition’, about it: in fact, for Popps ‘A’, it will, from now on, probably be referred to as ‘extraordinary experdition’! 

Well done, team, all of you, for doing your best: thanks too to Tradesmen 2 for providing us with some great table-tennis – we wish you well!

A v X: 11-7/11-8/9-11/7-11/2-11 (A)
B v Y: 7-11/5-11/7-11 (A)
C v Z: 6-11/4-11/7-11 (A)
B v X: 11-4/7-11/7-11/7-11 (A)
A v Z 11-4/7-11/11-5/8-11/11-8 (H)
C v Y: 9=11/10-12/11-9/4-11 (A)
B v Z: 7-11/11-5/11-5/11-8 (H)
C v X: 9-11/5-11/5-11 (A)
A v Y: 12-14/11-4/11-3 (H)

NJs (home): A Ross Barnes  B:Jim Dawber  C Josh Gee    
POPPS A (away): X Terry Allington Y Peter McMullen  Z Derek Greenwood

A ‘night out with the lads’ – how often do mature (?), older men use this reference? Usually, it has to be said, to describe a memorable (in some ways) but not necessarily remembered evening on the town, city, village, whatever! In this case, our  ‘night out with the lads’ was to be an evening of intense competition with Northowram Juniors, two of whom were almost young enough to be our great-grandchildren! However, as per usual, a mix and match team was presented with a seriously talented older player in the mix. As always, we were determined to give our best, particularly with regard to our current position in the League & with one more match to play. After an, almost, expected spat from a member of the home team with regard to our ‘attitude’, we pushed on into a game of table-tennis with our usual equanimity.

Terry pushed hard into his 1^st game but had to be wary with the very good Ross planting some excellent & accurate forehands onto the edge of the table. Having won the 1st game, Terry settled into his usual rhythm & proceeded to rattle off two more comfortable games. Despite winning the 1^st game comfortably, Peter eventually succumbed to the continuous pressure of Jim, a very accurate & hard-hitting player, over four games. Derek followed with an expected victory over the inexperienced Josh in three games. Despite his undoubted skills, Jim really had few answers to Terry’s consistency & dead-ball defence, despite investing substantial power into his shots – unfortunately Terry managed to get many of them back across the table. In a contest as close as their last meeting, Ross ground out a three game win over Derek, despite being held most of the way. Peter managed to subdue Josh into swift submission as he re-found his confidence & accuracy. Again Derek came off worst against Jim, although it was a better effort than on their previous meeting. Terry swiftly dispatched Josh to ensure our victory in the match with Peter comfortably outreaching & outplaying the, by now, careless & frustrated Ross.

An evening that was good for the table-tennis but with a slightly sour note left from comments &, what appeared to be, a deliberate withdrawal of hospitality: a shame really, but thank you, at least, Northowram, for the table-tennis.

Well done Peter & Terry & just let’s hope Derek pulls his socks (& his game) up for our final match on Thursday against our deadly rivals, Tradesmen.

A v X:7-11/5-11/7-11.
B v Y: 7-11/11-4/11-9/11-4.
C v Z: 9-11/6-11/4-11.
B v X: 6-11/5-11/7-11.
A v Z: 11-9/17-15/11-9.
C v Y:5-11/1-11/4-11.
B v Z: 11-9/11-5/9-11/11-8.
C v X: 3-11/2-11/2-11.
A v Y: 8-11/12-14/3-11.

In the most recent fixture against OTR, Popps won 6-3, but there could be no complacency about our prospects tonight, given the considerable improvement of all those who play in this remote hilly kingdom. It will be easy to make the usual jokes about strange goings-on in this wild outpost in the Pennines, but as they say on Match of the Day, at the end of the day, it’s about a result and Popps knew they would have to fight to at least maintain standards.

Popps Team: Terry Wassall, Joan Bottomley & Robin Thomas
Old Town Robins: Colin Anker, Jo Sweeney & James Picard

This is our last fixture of this season. We have had few wins and it might be worth while getting some excuses out in the open before we start. Terry Wassall has been buried in work as he strives to establish his academic legacy before he retires. Therefore he has not practiced much and has spent too much time plonked in front of a PC to re-establish his youthful speed of movement which helped him become bus depot legend many years ago. Joan has been a beacon of improvement and perhaps needs a few more games to bring her to a point where she can reel off more victories. Tom, an experienced and quietly effective player, has struggled with injury, while Robin has no excuse really, he has just got worse.
Match 1: Terry V Colin.  Colin defended well and attacked when possible as Terry tried to get back into his game, taking the first game 11-9, but Terry fought back as Colin hit the net a few times, to take the 2^nd game 11-9. Colin had a spectacular specs saver moment in G3 as he missed it completely, but he produced some excellent smashes to take it 11-8 as Terry had his spec saver moment.  Colin cruised ahead in G4, but Terry levelled at 5-5.  The match proceeded gingerly as both tried not to lose, and Colin held it together better to win 11-8. Terry, the Lawrent Gbagbo of TT, underperformed in this match which he should have won and his body language was that of a defeated dictator.

Joan then met the ubiquitous Jo in another match of the maidens. Joan sustained some long rallies with some powerful forehands to take G1 11-9. In G2, there was a pattern of fast and long rallies. Jo won a fluke and Joan made a mess of a smash as Jo won 11-7.  Jo swept to 11-2 in G3 and all looked lost, but Joan fought back to win 11-7 in G4. Terry was trying to score with the machine and his hand started to shake in the excitement as we awaited the final game. Jo messed up her first serve (a pattern repeated by her colleagues during the match), but recovered to edge ahead as Joan missed a smash. She won 11-5 to take the game after an exciting and hard-fought encounter.  Old Town Robins were now 2 ahead, a situation which continued as Robin took on James, a talented young man with a fancy spin serve.  Robin could not cope with this standard of play and rapidly gave up the ghost, to lose 11-5, 11-4 and 11-2.

The fight back had to start somewhere as Terry met Jo. Terry put together some good attacks and counter-attacks to take G1 11-5.  G2 was closely fought as both developed long rallies. Even at 10-10 there was no obvious winner, but Jo held it together better to win 12-10.  I noticed at this time that Jo has a strange habit of showing the ball to the opponent (rather like a tennis player displaying his new balls)   but then hiding the ball under the table so that it emerges like the result of a bad Paul Daniels conjuring trick. Terry edged G3 at 13-11 and hung on to win G4 11-5   after some effective back hand flix. He kept it steady and resisted a Jo fight back.

Robin then surprised himself and most of the population of Old Town watching on CCTV by beating the sprightly Colin in 5 games.  The score was 9-11, 15-17, 11-8, 11-6 & 10-12. After establishing a lead of 2 games by using a mix of spin, placement and patience, Robin allowed Colin back into the match, but hung on to win G5.  This proved to be an exciting match and the cries of disappointment as Colin crashed out could be heard all over the valley.

The all conquering James then met Joan in Match 6.  She took time to deal with his serve and hit some wild shots to lose 11-5.  The score was the same in G2 as Joan lost some consistency. James went for his shots in G3 and once missed he table, admonishing himself with “Off the table, pleeease”.But it did not affect the result as he cruised to 11-6, to take the match.

Robin again surprised the TT world by defeating Jo in Match 7, the score being 11-7, 7-11, 11-6, 4-11 and 8-ll.  Again he used some spin and tried to slow down Jo’s fast game and reversed previous defeats to this player.

Sanity returned as the youthful James reeled off a win in 3 games.  Terry was able to deal with the serve, but also had some wild hits to the roof of the building as James eased to 11-6.  (At this point Colin disappeared for a while. The thought occurred to me that he might have walked out into the night to be ‘away for some time’. However, he had just gone to the kitchen to do the washing up, but took his time to change into his pinny and suspenders.) James won G2 11-8 after some more Terry roof hits.  Terry provided more substantial opposition in G3, muttering to himself “Timing is everything”.  James was talking to himself and Terry was groaning in exhaustion. James was ahead at 8-5, but Terry fought back to 10-10, but a couple of misses helped James to go to 12-10.

By this stage of the match, the scoring machine startled to give up the ghost, possibly affected by damp or by mice droppings. It was mentioned that wood lice had appeared in to loos and Terry ventured the useful suggestion that they were good to eat, tasting like prawns when cooked. They also had many legs which would be ideal for large families. Thought you might find that interesting. Now back to the TT. In the last game of the night, with the match already lost, Joan took on Colin. Joan took G1 11-9 after a dogged performance by both. They fought long fast rallies with both displaying great agility in retrieving shots. Both have effective forehand smashes when they work and both hate being defeated. Joan emerged 12-10 after recovering from a couple of Colin flukes as Colin hit the net a couple of times.  G3   saw Colin emerging 15-13 after a dour struggle, so he was back in the game.  Colin may have been tiring in G4 as Joan edged ahead after a closely fought struggle. She won 11-7 to take the set.

So on reflection, if Terry had beaten Colin, which form suggested he should have done, we would have won the match 5-4, but in the event OTR won 5-4 after a well-fought match. We were given a cup of tea and cakes by our generous hosts, so we had a crumb of comfort from the encounter. We said our farewells to these simple hill folk and sped back to civilisation to round off another fairly undistinguished but enjoyable season. We  do not know our final position, but we hope it will not be the bottom rung.

Ramsbridge: A: Donald Stott  B: Steve Hanson  C: John Schofield                   
POPPS ‘A’: X: Terry Allington Y: Peter McMullen Z: Derek Greenwood

A match to celebrate  – for ALL of us, as Donald Stott announces his retirement at the end of this match from competitive table-tennis. For all of us, age brings with it a set of uncompromising circumstances in relation to our bodies willingness to face each match of each day. When we spend more time looking over our shoulders to see why our body, (or, at least, certain parts of it), is not keeping up, than facing the music (or the table-tennis) in front of us approaching at a joining speed of around 200 mph (yes really), then perhaps the time has come to consider other preoccupations, stimulants or ways of having fun! So, Donald, we wish you lots of fun, whatever you do and thank you  profoundly for your company, your respect &, not least, for sharing your skills with us!

Lurking as we currently do, in a rather insecure second place in the league, this was yet another ‘must win’ match. With one of our top players, Chie, unavailable through travels to Japan, the team was not at its strongest. With Derek & John on loan to a depleted ‘B’ team, things were looking tough for McMullen & Allington, expected as they were to win 3 sets each without fail.  

An easy win for Terry in the first set against Donald followed by a stylish & pugnacious victory by Peter over a very capable Steve, provided Popps with a great start. Derek fluffed his lines (again) in his set against John, who played with great presence, tenacity & care, outwitting Derek through pushing his heavily top-spinned forehands relentlessly back over the net. A ‘business as usual’ performance by Terry against Steve in three games, re-established our focus which was quickly followed by an easy victory over the struggling Donald. Peter, having taken an easy 1^st game against John, fluffed his lines & succumbed to the talented John’s consistency, helped, of course by some unhelpful refereeing from Peter’s team-mate Derek. Derek proceeded to compound the problem he had thus created for his team by slipping easily to a three game defeat against Steve. However, easy wins by the two star members of the team, Terry over John & Peter over Donald, fortunately left us with a 6-3 win: well done team & thanks to Ramsbridge for enjoyable & spirited company

POPPS ‘B’:  A: Derek Greenwood B: Tom Sunderland C: John Taylor
Northowram G:  X: Josh Gee Y: Rob Gee Z: Jim Dawker

Yet another match against the myriad members of the various Northowram teams – the pre-match excitement always surrounds the matter of actually who might be playing for them? Their propensity for asking their third team member to arrive late, only adds to the excitement. We could only approach the game with reasonable confidence, in the end, misplaced, but at least it was a spacious & un-contentious evening of table-tennis, as it always should be.

Derek, again on loan from the ‘A’ team, began the match, keen to make some inroads into the evening as he was also committed to playing in the ‘A’ team match running parallel. His set against young Josh was a simple formality, as the youngster offered little resistance or consistency. Tom, however, still playing with a variety of infirmities, found Rob in confident form & succumbed with a moderate whimper. John put up a strong fight against Jim, an extremely good all-round hitter of the ball, whose game was somewhat undermined by John’s subtle & curious spin: in the end, Jim just found a little extra to win. Tom cruised past Josh, apart from a slightly tense & uncharacteristic 3rd game for Tom. By this time, Derek was feeling the fatigue & succumbed far too easily to Jim after a close 1st game, Jim lifting his game on all levels. In a well-balanced match with John, Rob, despite a slight dip in concentration, kept his nerve to run past John in each of three games. Tom fought hard in his 3rd game with Jim, but having easily given in to him in the first two games, surrendered in the end. A steady win by John over Josh added to our credit, but by this time we had simply been outclassed by an on-form Northowram team. Derek, perhaps surprisingly, was easily taken out by Rob, showing little focus, accuracy or consistency: and so the match was lost, 3-6.

Tom played under substantial physical difficulty & John is attempting to re-find his form & consistency. Derek, however, had little excuse could & should have raised his game. Well done Northowram & thank you for a good evening’s table tennis.

Results- AvX: 11-4/11-2/11-1.
BvY: 4-11/2-11/7-11.
CvZ: 19-17/9-11/7-11/10-12/?.
BvX: 11-7/12-10/11-4.
AvZ: 10-12/5-11/4-11.
CvY: 9-11/9-11/6-11.
BvZ: 6-11/4-11/13-15.
CvX: 11-6/11-4/11-7.
AvY: 8-11/6-11/8-11.