There was a break in the Bournemouth and District Table Tennis league programme last week as the week was given over to the Times & Directory Handicap Cup competition. Going into the week, the New Milton club had one team left in the quarter-finals of the Cup proper and five teams in Round 2 of the “Plate” competition. The A team (Steve Hemmings, Phil Handy & Umit Kaya) who usually play in the Premier league booked their place in the semis with a 5-1 demolition of Merton L (Div 5) down at Mudeford Wood. The A team have been drawn against Winton YMCA B (Div 1) in the semi-final to be played at Mudeford Wood on Monday 17^th March.

In Round 2 of the “Plate”, the New Milton C team (Malcolm Floyd, Svet Ignatov & stand-in Clive Pitts) from Div 2 also beat a side from Div 5, Nimrod C down at Mudeford Wood on the same night. In their 7-2 victory, Floyd and Ignatov scored hat-tricks, and Clive Pitts playing up from Div 3 chipped in with the one win. Pitts deserves a special mention because he had to play off the handicap of the player he was replacing, which reduced his handicap from 18 to 15, so he did extremely well to pick up his win.

Not so fortunate at Mudeford Wood on the same night, the J team (Geoff Biggs, Dee Flanagan & Mike Roberts) lost 3-6 to fellow Div 4 side Nimrod A to exit the Plate.

The D, F, G teams all won their matches to join the C team in the quarter-finals of the Plate, and once again the draw for the last eight has quirkily enough kept the Milton teams apart. The D team (Chris Pusey, Bob Fagan & captain Terry Jenvey), pictured below, who normally play in Div 2, disposed of Div 5’s Bmth Sports S by 7-2 at the Arnewood School, thanks to a hat-trick from Fagan and a brace apiece from Pusey and captain Jenvey.

The New Milton F team (Malcolm Nash, Ian Linney & Sylvia Smith) beat fellow Div 3 side Merton H 5-2 aided and abetted by a fine hat-trick from Linney. The G team (Bev Scott-Johns, Clive Pitts & stand-in Dan Williams) braved the elements to travel out to Breamore and were rewarded for their efforts with a 6-3 win over their Div 3 fellows. Pitts earnt a second mention in despatches in the same week as he played for the second evening in a row and won a hat-trick for his own side. Full result details are below:-

CUP (QUARTER-FINALS)

New Milton A (Premier) 5 Merton L (Div 5) 1

(Steve Hemmings (+6) 2, Phil Handy (+6) 2, Umit Kaya (+8) 1)

PLATE (ROUND 2)

New Milton C (Div 2) 7 Nimrod C (Div 5) 2

(Malcolm Floyd (+14) 3, Svet Ignatov (+16) 3, Clive Pitts (+15) 1)

New Milton D (Div 2) 7 Bmth Sports S (Div 5) 2

(Chris Pusey (+16) 2, Terry Jenvey (+15) 2, Bob Fagan (+16) 3)

New Milton F (Div 3) 5 Merton H (Div 3) 2

(Malcolm Nash (+21) 2, Ian Linney (+18) 3, Sylvia Smith (+20) 0)

Breamore (Div 3) 3 New Milton G (Div 3) 6

(Bev Scott-Johns (+21) 1, Clive Pitts (+18) 3, Dan Williams (+21) 2)

New Milton J (Div 4) 3 Nimrod A (Div 4) 6

(Geoff Biggs 1, Dee Flanagan (+21) 0, Mike Roberts (+19) 2