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.