Table Tennis - Glaxo put down title marker with Champions' defeat (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Table Tennis - Glaxo put down title marker with Champions' defeat

9:54am Friday 26th February 2010 in

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DIVISION 1 leaders Glaxo A have become firm favourites to snatch the Division 1 title in the Kendal and District League as the Ulverston-based side inflicted a first league defeat for several seasons upon defending champions Ibis.

Ibis crafted an early 3-2 lead, courtesy of Steve Dixon’s 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7 success against Grant Woodhouse, James McGrath’s 11-8 victory in the fourth set against Keith Dymond and Dixon’s 11-8, 11-8, 11-4 triumph also against Dymond. Glaxo’s two points were conjured up by Woodhouse and Tom Smith’s three set victories against Trevor Nicholson. The tide turned for a determined Glaxo moving into the second half of the tie, as Smith and Woodhouse defeated McGrath 11-7, 11-9, 11-7 and 9-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8 respectively, to hand the Ulverston side a 5-3 advantage. In a desperate bid to avoid an Ibis defeat, Dixon triumphed 11-3 in the fourth set against Smith, leaving the encounter hanging in the balance at 5-4 in Glaxo’s favour. In a crucial doubles clash, Glaxo’s Smith and Dymond teamed up to score a four set victory and an overall 6-4 success for Glaxo. The result leaves the Ulverston side with a gaping 29-point cushion at the head of the table, with Ibis placed second having only two games in hand.

In Division 2, Dallam C have kept up the hunt for a potential third place finish, with a promotion spot looking out of the Milnthorpe side’s grasp, following an 8-2 success against Natland D. Lawrence Duncan and Norman Philbey handed Dallam a faultless 2-0 opening, with 3-1 and 3-0 sets victories against Peter Taylor and Rob Clarke respectively. Dave Ratcliffe appeared to have steadied the Natland ship with a crushing 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7 victory against Tom Carling. Despite a 12-10, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9 triumph for Taylor against Philbey, Dallam snatched the remaining matches, including a hat-trick of wins for an impressive Duncan to produce an 8-2 Dallam victory. The Milnthorpe side are positioned in fourth place, two points from third spot with a game in hand over third placed Burton E.

Third placed Burton E notched up an impressive 9-1 victory against Natland D, making it nine wins from thirteen games for Burton. Burton’s Mark Weatherall and Ryan Crayston remained unbeaten, while Bryan Gourlay contributed two points to the Burton total, with successes against Dave Ratcliffe and Rob Clarke. Natland’s solitary point of the night came thanks to Peter Taylor’s 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 success against Gourlay. Burton climb to third place, with promotion looking highly unlikely, due to a massive 17-point gap between themselves and a promotion place.

Burton F recorded their sixth triumph of the season- 18-16 against Dent B- to climb into fourth position. Matthew Pickering notched up three wins for Burton, while team mate Dave Salmon chipped in two victories against Pete Hawley and Wayne Gardener and was unfortunate not to take all three successes, following a tight 11-5 defeat to Ben Smith in a dramatic fifth set. Smith built on this excellent performance to defeat Bryn Jones 11-5, 11-7, 11-2, with Gardener and Hawley scoring two victories apiece for Dent.