Clash of the Titans in table tennis

Dec 15 2011 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

THE highlight of last week was the much anticipated meeting of West Lothian Table Tennis Club’s B Team and C Team in Division One of the Edinburgh and Lothians League.

Prior to the match the B Team had just taken top spot although their closest rivals could overtake them if they won their matches in hand.

Despite the fact that the C Team currently sit mid table there was still the possibility of a shock result given previous personal encounters.

For this match the B Team brought in Dariusz Szymczak as a replacement for Barrie Hills and he was joined by the veteran John McCulloch and top junior Kieran Boyle.

The C team had both Andy MacDougall and Keith MacKay unavailable but the other two from their pool, Kevin Milne and Andy Wyles, were joined by reserve Drew McLaren.

By the end of the night a 9-1 victory for the pre-match favourites suggests an anti-climax but there were a few games which could have gone the other way.

For the winners only McCulloch dropped a game and that after leading by two sets to one and 10-7 in the fourth against Wyles who also played particularly well against the other two but to no avail.

McLaren did not disappoint and was involved in the night's most entertaining game against Boyle. Milne, by his own standards, had a frustrating night especially after his recent good form.

After a good night's work the B Team remains on top of the table. Szymczak has still to be beaten in this division and McCulloch, Hills and Boyle are among its top players.

The C team sits in a very creditable fifth place and Wyles has staked a claim for a more regular place. However, they next meet unbeaten Murrayfield and could help their club mates with a good performance against them.

In Division Two the E Team fought out an excellent hard fought 5-5 draw at home to third placed Edinburgh Sports Club.

Playing were the returning Jim Stewart in place of John Swift, captain Martin Rumsay and young Aaron Cameron whose recent form demands a more regular start. The draw was all the more welcome because they had to overturn an early 1-4 deficit to take the point.

Young Cameron again led the way by recording two of their games. Stewart won the first of their games to keep them in touch – just – and formed a solid, winning doubles partnership with Rumsay, something which has been missing in recent weeks.

In the case of Rumsay, it was left to him to play the captain's part by winning the critical last game and he did not disappoint.

What made this result even more enjoyable for them was the fact that their opponents took both points from the more fancied D Team earlier in the season.

Once Sam Stanton returns from injury the selection process will become much more difficult and probably best decided on a 'horses for courses' basis. Playing to their full potential this team should be a handful for every other team in the division.

In Division Three the F Team suffered its second loss of the season, going down 4-6 to Edinburgh Sports Club. For this match they played the relatively inexperienced duo of Daniel MacKay, Iain Henry and gave a debut to Colin Neilson.

In an effort to give new players some much needed experience they probably underestimated the strength of their opponents as a number of higher ranked players were rested.

All three won one each and this was added to when MacKay and Henry had an excellent win in the doubles. However, the score could quite easily have been reversed with a little bit more luck.

At 4-4 both MacKay and Henry lost their final games in deciding sets, with nerves probably playing a part. Regardless of the result they will benefit from the experience.

Fortunately, they remain in second spot even after this loss and now that the first half of the season is almost complete they should be in a better position to gauge their opposition for the second half.