In the last week of league matches before the Christmas break, the New Milton Table Tennis Club came up with five wins, one of them at the expense of one of their own teams in a local derby.

The Div 5 derby saw the L team (Adam Titcombe, Stuart Burton & Maggie Brown) reverse their first round 4-6 defeat at the hands of the K team (Dave Burns, Malcolm Douglas & Geoff Biggs) courtesy of a third hat-trick from 13 year old Adam Titcombe (pictured below). Brown bagged a brace and captain Burton added one more to the tally, needing the doubles to win it 7-3 and go one better. However, Kays Captain Douglas and Biggs weren’t having any and took the doubles 3-1 to make it honours even over the two legs.

The doubles, which are always played after the final singles of the match, proved decisive in five of the club’s matches. In the Premier league, the A team (Steve Hemmings, Russell Wilson & Gerard Redman) improved on their first round draw against basement boys Bmth Sports C with an 8-2 win at Mudeford Wood. Once more the doubles were required for maximum points and once again “Hat-Trick Hemmings” and Wilson did the business.

In Div 2, the D team (Terry Jenvey, Malcolm Floyd & Chris Pusey) need every point to keep them out of the relegation zone and things looked bleak as they were losing 2-7 against Bmth Sports G with ex-Premier player Colin Bryson and Arthur Bartram readying for the doubles. Captain Jenvey and Floyd surprised themselves to scrape the first two sets 12-10, 12-10, but then lost the third 6-11. However, the Milton pairing regained their composure to take the fourth very comfortably 11-3 to salvage the precious point.

Likewise the F team (Sylvia Smith, Malcolm Nash & Ian Linney) in Div 3 as they were losing 2-7 against Merton H, Milton’s reply coming from Linney returning from illness. Captain Nash and Linney also won their doubles 3-1 to secure their hard fought point.

Also in Div 2, the E team’s Simon Golding and Peter Daish scraped their doubles 12-10 in the fifth set to hold Merton F to a 5-5 draw in their own back yard. It also took Liam Iliffe and Dave Sutton five sets to force a home draw for their G team against basement boys Bmth Sports L in Div 3.  Full results details appear below:-

PREMIER

New Milton A 8 Bmth Sports C 2

(Steve Hemmings 3, Russell Wilson 2, Gerard Redman 2)

Bmth Sports A 10 New Milton B 0

(John Millward 0, John Hook 0, Shaun Newcomb 0)

DIVISION 1

Merton D 0 New Milton C 10

(Andy Tipsana 3, Rob Blackmore 3, Paul Iliffe 3)

DIVISION 2

New Milton D 3 Bmth Sports G 7

(Terry Jenvey 2, Malcolm Floyd 0, Chris Pusey 0)

Merton F 5 New Milton E 5

(Simon Golding 1, Simon Daish 1, Peter Daish 2)

DIVISION 3

New Milton F 3 Merton H 7

(Sylvia Smith 0, Malcolm Nash 0, Ian Linney 2)

New Milton G 5 Bmth Sports L 5

(Liam Iliffe 1, Dave Sutton 2, Elliott Storr-Smith 1)

DIVISION 4

Winton YMCA C 1 New Milton H 9

(Dave Sutton 3, Liam Iliffe 3, Les Smith 2)

New Milton J 0 Merton J 10

(Danny Williams 0, Lynn Willrich 0, John Parkhouse 0)

DIVISION 5

Shamrock B 3 New Milton K 7

(Mike Gent 2, Malcolm Douglas 2, Geoff Biggs 2)

New Milton L 6 New Milton K 4

(L Team: Adam Titcombe 3, Stuart Burton 1, Maggie Brown 2)

(K Team: Dave Burns 0, Malcolm Douglas 2, Geoff Biggs 1)