Cold Norton B have tightened the screws on Division 1 leaders Fambridge with an almost impeccable performance this week in the Burnham & District Table Tennis League.

The Ice Cold Norton trio finally put the current champions Woodham A back into their box as their beleaguered attempt at retaining the championship fell away in tatters.

Fambridge and Cold Norton B have the points in the bag and it’s now up to Mapledene A to decide if they mean business this year and catch up with the leaders – they will need significant wins in their two games in hand to do this.

Contenders Cold Norton B travelled to Woodham A this week and were met by a huge queue outside the venue. Cold Norton captain Dan Anderson assumed it was the crowd coming to watch him play but alas it was just a psychic evening – we should have known!

With a late start due to traffic and parking issues we were able to get some divine insight from the Woodham psychic Don Chunno who predicted a whitewash victory for the Cold Norton visitors although he was a bit muddled about the outcome of the final leg of the final match.

Cold Norton quickly rattled through the card and found themselves 9-0 up. In the final match protagonists Dan Piggott from Woodham A and Anderson went to 2-2 and now we could see why there was some fuzziness about the outcome. Piggott rallied round to eventually secure his team’s sole point with an 11-8 final leg victory.

Cold Norton’s Eric Green and Ian Wall went unbeaten all night in singles and doubles – a win that puts Cold Norton B just two points behind leaders Fambridge.

At the other end of the table Woodham B rejoiced in just their second win of the season with a 6-4 winning margin over Cold Norton C. Dan Patynski was the main man for Woodham, winning all his singles – but only just. Against Kim Shead, Patynski was 1-2 and 5-10 behind and faced five match points against his tricky opponent. Somehow Patynski survived that ordeal and went on to win in five sets.

Eamonn Hall had a good evening for his Woodham side winning against both Tim Cramphorn and Dick Wyman. But Wyman and Cramphorn did their own Houdini impression with a fantastic doubles win having faced several match points before winning the deciding set 16-14 against Patynski and Harry Sawford. Shead was the best of the Cold Norton trio with two singles victories on the night.

In the only other first division match this week bottom-placed Woodham C were extremely unlucky in the Cold Norton A lottery as they put out their two top players giving the Woodham tryers a tough challenge. True to form both Duncan Taylor and Kevin Read won all their matches including the doubles leaving Woodham just an opportunity for points against third player Steve Maltby. Maltby battled hard in all of his matches, making comebacks in every one but alas was unable to get over the line as Woodham notched three welcome points.

Maldon A are hanging on by a thread at the head of Division 2 as rivals Stow A just failed to overtake them this week. Stow needed a full-house victory over Maldon B to leapfrog Maldon A but with Steve Aspland in their side Maldon B were never going to roll over and die.

Aspland was his side’s best performer by far with two straight sets singles victories over Peter Chastin and Ken Sheard, and a similar outcome in the doubles when he paired up with Garry Eames. For Stow Richard Storey played a captain’s innings with three hard-fought singles wins including a four-set triumph over the in-form Aspland, and with Chastin and Sheard winning their remaining singles Stow walked off with a decent 7-3 win leaving them just two points adrift of the leaders.

Mapledene C are capable of beating any side in this division on their night and this week they recorded an impressive 7-3 scoreline against the very tricky Blackwater A trio. Mapledene’s Tony Ayliffe was in fine hat-trick form that included a rollercoaster five-set victory over Denis Balic. Balic did win his other singles matches and combined with Alan Scammell for a five-set doubles bonus point, but that was it for the Blackwater scoring as Mapledene’s Andy Seaman and Lin Roff were able to come through their remaining singles encounters.

Cold Norton D posted an impressive 8-2 win over Woodham D this week with a hat-trick for Neil Want. Want was ably supported by wingmen Dave Hancox and Gordon Gatheral who both scored a brace of wins, with Hancox and Want partnering up for a simple doubles point. Woodham’s Peter Harverson was in good form, just losing out to Want and Hancox both in five hard-fought sets. Then with Gatheral going for his hat-trick, the inexperienced Harverson somehow quickly got the measure of the Gatheral style and won out in four sets. Scott Perry took the other Woodham point with a four-set triumph in the penultimate match of the evening.
Blackwater’s Noah Sage continued his fine vein of form with an unbeaten performance against two-player Stow C. This was matched by Captain Gary Smith, and although unsuccessful in her singles campaign Tina Hutchinson paired up with Sage for a convincing doubles point to give a final 8-2 win for Blackwater B.

In Division 3 Blackwater C continue to put in the best challenge to runaway leaders Maldon C. This week they defeated their own D side with a closer than expected 6-4 winning margin. Merv Perriman did his bit with a classic nine-dart hat-trick where he was barely troubled.

Chris Rolison was in a good supporting mood with two out of three victories over David Sage and Ron Tam, just losing out to the powerful Jason Bush. Third Player Colin Barham, usually so reliable in this division, had an off night by his standards losing out in all of his singles including an oh-so-close fifth set 11-13 loss to the incorrigible Ron Tam.

In the other Blackwater derby E beat F with both Phil West and Keith Thompson registering hat-tricks in the 8-2 victory. West needed all his experience to get past the up and coming Oscar Wyman in five sets, who took this form into his final game to record a win over Vanessa Thompson. In her other matches Thompson had all the drama with a five-set victory over David McHattie, and a five-set loss to Mike Crumpton going all the way to 11-13 in that final leg.

St Lawrence and Maldon E ended up in a stalemate in their encounter this week. Maldon’s Ross Kirby was the star player winning all his singles in straight sets. Despite this setback the experienced St Lawrence players went to work in the other matches with Mikes Pratley and Burton winning a brace of singles each and then combining for the draw saving doubles point.

Entries for the Burnham Closed tournament are now open and entry forms and details can be found on the League website.