13 June 2011 Popps A v Panther
Captain Allerington rested himself this match Messrs Korner, McMullen and Parry took on the might of First Div Panthers.
Peter Mc lead the charge winning the first game 15-13.
Coincidentally Phil Parry and John Korner also took up the banner winning one each in their sets.
However we then sat back on our laurels (A…s !) and decided it was not on to belittle First Div opponents, so just let them squeeze ahead in the match. (Oh, the result, (9-0)).

21 June 2011 Popps A v Marsh Con Club.
Coming back from his rest Captn Allerington had a mighty task against Adrian Normanton but was just pipped at the post.
Adrian, a First Div player in many leagues, duly won his 2 other sets.
However this inspired Terry and John Korner to win their other 2 sets and leave Peter Mc to clinch the match with his one contribution.
Match result Popps 5 Marsh 4 — an excellent result for us.

POPPS (home) A: Derek Greenwood, B: Peter McMullen, C: Terry Allington
OTRs (away) X: Colin Anker, Y: Phil Dean, Z: Jo Sweeney

1: AvX – Derek v Colin: 11-1/11-8/11-5 HOME WIN
2: BvY – Peter v Phil: 11-9/11-8/6-11/11-5 HOME WIN
3: CvZ – Terry v Jo: 11-3/11-6/11-3 HOME WIN
4: BvX – Peter v Colin: 11-7/11-6/11-5 HOME WIN
5: AvZ – Derek v Jo: 11-4/12-10/11-5 HOME WIN
6: CvY – Terry v Phil: 11-5/11-3/11-2 HOME WIN
7: BvZ – Peter v Jo: 11-8/11-7/11-5 HOME WIN
8: CvX – Terry v Colin: 11-2/11-2/11-4 HOME WIN
9: AvY – Derek v Phil: 11-9/12-10/11-7 HOME WIN

Waiting for our familiar friends and foes from Old Town, we reflected on how much our games with their three teams are played in the spirit and atmosphere appropriate to League 3 matches. For us, we did recognise the importance of our pursuing a strategy which would, hopefully, result in a substantial win for ourselves as we speed with ever greater urgency to the end of an important season for us: for them, thrashing around in an as dignified manner as possible at the other end of the league, simply winning games anywhere, anyhow, had become their priority. Yet the smiles, the banter, the politeness &, most gratifyingly, the sharing in each others glory on winning and/or spectacular shots, could not divide us – in other words we were all having fun & enjoying each other’s company. So, a good start……….

In the 1st game, Derek began in absurdly good form, glad to be back at the table again in a match, after lengthy struggles with a dodgy knee. His shots, in variety & power were too much for Colin, who, nevertheless, gathered momentum in the 2nd game enough to focus Derek as he drew breath after his earlier exploits. Derek wrapped up the set with a return to power & accuracy in the 3rd game, Colin picking up points only on Derek’s mistakes.

In the 2nd set, a good even game between Peter & Phil, saw Peter powering forward with some accuracy whilst Phil attempted to find a better length; they followed a similar pattern into the 2nd game, but in the 3rd game, Peter lost his concentration completely for a time, allowing Phil to accumulate relatively easy points with a strong & sometimes spectacular style & to move into an uncatchable lead. But this 3rd game seemed to take it out of Phil, leaving Peter to push for an easy & painless victory in the 4th.

Jo has always been an unusually tricky opponent for us, with her flashing, low & flat forehands, but against Terry, she never managed to find her true form. Terry, looking cool & easy, played with his usual devastating consistency, with Jo struggling even with the simplest shots & with her mobility. The set trickled away quickly in Terry’s favour.

Between Peter & Colin, there was an obvious divide in skills, yet Peter seemed quite reticent in the 1st game, allowing Colin to build a modicum of resistance. In the 2nd & 3rd games, however, Peter began to turn the screw & Colin quickly succumbed.

Derek approached his set with Jo with more than a little trepidation, having been beaten by her in their last two meetings, Derek insisting on wearing his coach’s hat in trying to work out how Jo could improve her game: with Derek so distracted, Jo inevitably won these encounters. This time, however, the need for a confident win was more pressing, given our position in the league & Derek leapt out of the starting blocks with a quick & accurate victory in the 1st game. Jo brought out her steely-eyed glint & her knowing smile in the 2nd, both specifically designed to undermine Derek’s concentration! She almost succeeded, going down in the 2nd game by a narrow margin. After this ‘scary interlude’, Derek started fiercely in the 3rd game & proceeded to dominate the game for an easy victory.

Phil has an occasionally tricky game, but Terry, in great form, proceeded to make a nonsense of it, pulverising Phil progressively from the 1st game to the 3rd – no contest!

Peter took his 1st game against Jo in a fairly relaxed manner, allowing her to make her shots & find a few points. In the 2nd game, the screw began to tighten, with Jo given few opportunities, although she did up her own game & competed well. The 3rd game saw Peter prance confidently away into the distance, leaving Jo exhausted & a little non-plussed.

A mis-match if ever there was took place with a total domineering Terry at his most reliable with Colin, by now, half the size in every sense, compared with the beginning of this match. The Wibsey Wizard left Colin with a mere eight points from three games, probably encouraging Colin to contemplate a future in crochet rather than table-tennis!: a frightening dissection by Terry, but not untypical.

Derek faced the last set of the match, against Phil, with inevitable confidence & in relaxed form. A steady performance in the 1st game saw Derek ahead, although Phil pushed hard in the 2nd game, with points neck and neck until the last. In what turned out to be the final game, Derek cruised comfortably to a win against an exhausted Phil.

Another excellent win for Popps ‘A’; Chie came along to knock-up & improve her comeback from holiday, successfully ‘getting her eye in’ & giving the team good support. Thank you again to Old Town Robins for a thoroughly enjoyable evening of table-tennis & thanks also, as usual, to Jo for her contribution of sticky & delicious confectionery! 17 wins out of 17 with a very tricky match ahead against Northowram ‘G’ next Monday – well done team!

POPPS B was made up of the regular combo of Joan Bottomley, Tom Sunderland and Terry Wassall up against the Northowram Junior trio of Ross Barnes, Josh Gee and Rob Gee.  For the first half hour only Ross appeared for the Juniors so it looked like we may have had to rearrange but Rob and Josh arrived about 8.00pm  and saved Ross from having to play 3sets in a row. No doubt he would still have won them all! Terry turned up with the 3rd version of the chesty cold he has had on and off since September, the latest version putting him out of action over the Christmas and New Year holiday but he felt well enough to make up the numbers for the match, Robin (the other regular B team player) still on his tour of the ex colonies.

Tom and Ross kicked the match of with a rapid fire defeat for POPPs 8-11, 4-11, 4-11. Tom’s game is not being helped much at the moment with a resurgence of various chest and leg problems but he is due to see his consultant later this week to discuss the options for a complete body transplant so we are hoping for better results in future. This early view of Ross suggested pretty emphatically that we would not be getting any change out of him during the evening.

Next up was Terry against young Josh, significantly taller and more accomplished since we played against him last year. As is usual when Terry plays, we (and he) never know which one will turn up – the impatient aggressive loser or the impatient aggressive and fluky winner. Both made an appearance during the evening. His cause was not particular helped by a series of hot flushes and coughing fits. The first game went to Josh 11-9, always at least 2 points in front and looking comfortable. The second game looked even easier to begin with as Josh went into a 5 point lead without losing a point. Terry changed tactics slightly, varied his serve from short and long heavy back spin interspersed with fast long top spin.  Everything that came back was attacked. Back hand drives and flicks began to go on and forehand drives and smashes began to find the table. Catching up to 8-8 Terry went on the win the second game 11-8, followed by the next two 11-4 and 11-5 and taking the set 3-1.

Joan played some excellent points in her first set against Rob Gee and matched his conservative defensive game very well for much of the time. Mainly her points came when attacking his push shots rather than trying to out-push him and she played some convincing winners. However, most of the time her attacking shots lacked penetration and Rob was able to move back from the table and chop most of them back fairly comfortably, waiting for the almost inevitable miss or net. Rob won all 3 games 11-9, 11-8 and 11-7.

Terry then played Ross, losing in 5 games. This was a bit of a disappointment as it was clearly winnable and Terry found a strategy that might have just done it for him. He won the first game 11-9 having been 2-7 down. Most of his points came from back hand flicks having drawn Ross into the net with very short wide returns on his backhand side. When Ross did get them back he tended to hit cross court to Terry’s forehand at which point they were driven hard and straight down the other side of the table with Ross out of position. However, occasional longer rallies were taking it out of Terry and his concentration and stamina began to fade. He lost the next 2 games fairly quickly 6-11 and 4-11 missing a lot of the counter hitting forehands that won so many points in the first game. However, this helped him win the 4th game 11-8 as he put a bit more thought and energy into it and the tactics of the first game began to pay off again. It may well be that Ross relaxed a bit too after winning the previous 2 games so easily. Terry tried to keep it going in the 5th and final game and, after a poor start, manged to get up from 0-5 down to 6-8 but ended the game pretty drained in a flurry of hit-and-hope attempts at quick winners, losing 7-11 and the set 2-3.

At this point, because of our late start, the match started to use a second table so your correspondent was not able to witness all the remaining sets. Terry went on to play Rob Gee immediately so he could get off home. Amazingly he won the first game 11-5 with Rob hardly getting going at all. He came close in the second losing 8-11, holding his own up to 7 all, but the next 2 games were lost very quickly 5-11 and 4-11.

Of the remaining games both Joan and Tom managed to win against Josh Gee. Joan evidently had an epic struggle  winning the first 11-9, losing the next 2 games 8-11 and 4-11, before winning the 4th game 13-11 and the final 5th game 12-10 to take the set 3-2. Tom lost his first game to Josh 6-11 but went on the win the next 3 games 11-5, 11-4 and 11-7.

The other set worth an honourable mention was Joan against Ross. After narrowly losing the first game 11-13, Joan managed to win a couple of games 11-6 and 11-5. However, Ross won the remaing games comfortably to take the set 3 games to 2.

This match completed our first half season (it had been postponed from the 4th November due to snow). It has been a tale of mixed fortunes so far. There is no doubt the team has been held back by Tom and Terry’s continuing illnesses and physical problems. On the plus side Robin has won some useful points for us when he has been able to play and Joan has improved steadily match by match and has registered her first wins in recent weeks. We are not bottom; probably 2nd or 3rd from bottom. If Terry’s and Tom’s health improves, Joan continues to improve and Robin continues to bamboozle the opposition when he is able to play, there is every chance we will do better in the second half.

POPPS A teame – A: Terry Allington,  B: Peter McMullen,  C: John Taylor
Sowerby 2 team – X: Andrew Whiteley,Y: John Korner, Z: Philip Parry

The final challenge of the first half of the season, a potentially close match against opponents who, largely, knew each other well, having played as team-mates in the earlier Summer League. On one of the coldest nights of the year, with the TT Centre heating turned down low to avoid issues of condensation, this battle of the Halifax Woolies against the Sowerby Woolies commenced with both teams reluctant to unwind their scarves or shed their mittens.

1: AvX – Terry v Andrew: 11-7/11-3/11-5 HOME win. Teasing gentle high returns from Andrew attempted to foil Terry’s persistence: Andrew, playing in a direct manner & at a slow enough pace for Terry to dominate most sections of the match, saw Terry mesmerising his opponent into swift submission.

2: BvY – Peter v John K.: 11-5/12-10/11-8 HOME win. Good punchy start by Peter with John K. Struggling to deal with the power of shots. Tight & challenging 2nd game but Peter pulled it off & rolled into a comfortable 3rd game win.

3: CvZ – John T. V Phil: 11-8/3-11/7-11/5-11 AWAY win. Eager 1st game from John comfortably concluded. Phil found his rhythm & length in the 2nd & powered through with a purpose. With John over-hitting his back-hand flicks at the beginning of the 3rd, leaving him struggling to match Phil’s eager swipes, he quickly defaulted to Phil’s superior power & accuracy on the night.

4: BvX – Peter v Andrew: 11-4/11-9/11-4 HOME win. Power-play from Peter from the off, relentless & accurate: with Andrew upping his game in the 2nd in terms of variety of shot & with Peter backing off slightly, a closer result still took Peter to 2-0. The 3rd game faded away for Andrew, with Peter deservedly achieving an easy win.

5: AvZ – Terry v Philip: 11-8/11-5/7-11/8-11/11-7 HOME win. Even but, somehow, bizarre & attritional set, with each player wrenched out of their regular game plans. Terry, having motored swiftly to a 2-0 lead, allowed Phil to regain some momentum with two solid games, before Terry motored through the 5th to a good win.

6: CvY – John T. V John K.: 11-3/12-10/4-11/11-13/6-11 AWAY win. John T. was cold at the start of this encounter & his temperature dipped further despite winning the first two games. John K. turned on the heat in the 3rd & after struggling to a close defeat in the 4th, John T. shivered into oblivion in the 5th.

7: BvZ – Peter v Phil: 11-4/11-4/9-11/11-9 HOME win. Phil, tiring by now, was mauled & tossed around by Peter in the 1st & 2nd games before a flicker of light took him to victory in the 3rd. Peter, at his offensive best, sensed Phil’s exhaustion & punched out a win in the 4th.

8: CvX – John T. v Andrew: 11-8/11-1/11-7 HOME win. John, revived but still freezing, made short work of the limited skills of Andrew in three quick & easy sets.

9: AvY – Terry v John K.: 11-9/8-11/11-7/9-11/11-9 HOME win. Terry against John K, could have gone on forever, with many rallies of over 130 shots each! Some players grow old & die playing against Terry but John K. provided a spark of life which flickered courageously until doused by the relentless cannon of Terry.

RESULT: HOME win 7-2 This great result enabled POPPS ‘A’ to finish the first half of the season at the top of the table with eleven wins out of eleven matches played! A brilliant effort guys – let’s do it again from January!!!

One of the Popps B team did not put in an appearance but Embassy kindly offered one of their players who had turned up for a bit of practice so Terry, Alwyn and Embassy’s Derek Briggs lined up for Popps B against Clive, Sam and Steve for Embassy. Embassy beat us 8 – 1 in our last meeting and in the meantime had narrowly lost to Popps A 4 – 5 so we knew, as usual, we were in for a tough evening. In the event Popps B’s two winning sets came from Alwyn repeating his victory in the last meeting over Sam, 3 – 1,  followed by Sam losing out to his club mate Derek. Otherwise history repeated itself.

Terry had a rather strange evening turning up rather out of salts after a heavy ‘socialising’ session the previous evening which left him in a rather fragile and contemplative condition. In his first match against Clive he started promisingly and matched the more experience player point for point getting to 9 all. Clive was playing in his usual confident manner content in just getting the ball back with back spin and waiting for a mistake at the other end of the table. He won the game very easily in the end taking the last 2 points by deploying the demon serves he tends to reserve for when he sniffs a hint of trouble.  Unfortunately for Terry the rather long game seemed to exhaust him bringing him out in a heavy sweat requiring a rigorous towelling down that seemed to exhaust him even more.  In the second game, with nothing to lose, he went for broke with just about every shot, smashing the return when he was serving and being aggressive with his own returns. The first 6 points were all very short rallies, usually only 2 or 3 strokes and, much to everyone’s amazement,  Terry roared to a 6 – 0 lead. But every zenith is followed by a nadir. Clive dug in and started using his ‘proper’ serves. Terry could only try to  smash them back, with some success but most missing. Clive accumulated 10 points while Terry could only add another 4 bringing the score to 10 all. As in the first game Clive served out the last 2 points easily and took the game 13- 11. The last game was over almost before it started and with his 0 -3 defeat Terry’s match was effectively over for the night as he never recovered physically to give Sam and Steve much of a challenge.

Both Terry and Alwyn got no change out of their sets with Steve, scoring only 34 points between them in the 0 – 3 results they both suffered. Against Sam, Terry tried the same strategy he had nearly taken a game off Clive with by attacking everything indiscriminately and hoping for the best, a bit like US foreign policy. This seemed to work to begin with, Terry winning the first game 11- 6, but it all petered out and the next 3 games were lost with little if any resistance.  In the last set of the evening Alwyn played Clive and, like Terry had done at the very beginning of the evening, came close to winning a game losing 11 – 13.  Alwyn’s game has continued to improve throughout the summer league and this will stand us in good stead if he plays for Popps B in the forthcoming winter league were some of the teams are closer to our standard than any we have met in the summer league.

As usual the match was played with good spirit and humour with a fair bit of barracking and sledging from the Embassy team when Derek was playing.

In their latest summer league match Popps B (as last week, Alwyn, Tom and Terry) met the formidable Marsh Cons – the dad and son pairing of Adrian and Tom Normanton plus John Schofield. Once again Popps B salvaged a smidgen of respectability by winning one set and avoiding a white wash. Whereas Alwyn was our star player last week, Terry achieved this exalted position this week clearly benefiting from having played last week rather than the previous 3 week break.

The first 3 sets made it clear we were in for another tough night. The No. 1 pairing of Alwyn and Adrian played first and Popps quickly lost this set 7-11, 8-11 and 2-11. Alwyn seemed to be getting into the match in the 2nd game but Adrian turned on his efficient forehand and backhand topspin loops and drives in the 3rd and Alwyn put too many returns off the end of the table. There were many quite long defensive rallies too, a characteristic of all the sets (except Terry’s!), but generally we were first to either make a mistake or lose patience and go for a winner – too often in practice a loser.

Tom then played Tom Normanton and, despite pushing him close in all 3 games and having a 5 point lead in the second, lost 9-11, 7-11 and 9-11. Tom N had a similar range of shots as his dad – a reliable top spin back hand drive, an effective aggressive forehand and being prepared to push defensively if required.  However, he seemed to be more impetuous and  error prone than Adrian so offered the other Popps players perhaps a glimmer of hope. Terry then played his first set against John and lost rapidly 5-11, 7-11 and 5-11, a combination of poor returns of service and too many attacking shots flying into the net or beyond the table.

In the next two sets Tom and Alwyn lost in 3 straight games to Adrian and John respectively. They both switched strategies from patient defense to hit and hope ‘winners’ but neither tactic payed of with too many mainly unforced errors. The next set produced Popps only success of the evening with Terry beating Tom N in five long, hot and sweaty games. Terry lost the first game 8-11 but it was evident that he was playing to young Tom’s strengths with rallies consisting of drives and counter drives with Tom’s rhythm and reactions coming out on top more often than not.  At this point Terry remembered reading somewhere that in top class table tennis the average rally length was between 3 and 4 strokes with the most common sequence being serve, return, attacking winner. So he decided to raise his game and deploy this tactic. Whatever the result, it would mean he would get home earlier. Or so he thought. Terry won the next two games 11-9, 11-9 using mostly a very short serve followed by an attack on the return. Amazingly this kept him in the game and seemed to discombobulate Tom. On receiving Tom’s serves, Terry concentrated on returning safely rather than attacking it and began to put some long high shots in, tempting Tom to smash. Despite some spectacular winners the impetuosity spotted in an earlier set led to some misses at the critical stage of each game and Terry scraped home in each. The 4th game looked as if  Tom would win it 11-0 as he raced to a 7-0 lead as Terry lost concentration and went back to feeding Tom’s best shots as he had done in the first game. Facing a whitewash for the game he dug in and eventually lost 7-11, so all was on the final fifth game. Reverting to the successful tactics of the 2nd and 3rd games Terry pulled out a 5-0 lead and then, determined to win at least every other point from then on, ran out the winner 11-5 taking the set 3 games to 2.

After that it was business as usual and Marsh Cons took the last 3 sets. Alwyn took a game off Tom N and Terry took a game off Adrian but we never looked likely to take another set.

The match was played in good spirits and the opposition very kindly refrained from commenting on Alwyn’s enormous floral shorts. I don’t know what dress code Alwyn adheres to but it is probably as well if we don’t attempt to decipher it. How he spends his spare time is entirely between him and his advisers.