Crawley Ridge edge into two cup finals
EACH Aldershot & District Table Tennis knockout competition is at a semi-final or further stage as Crawley Ridge A met Frimley C in the Second Division Cup final four.
Crawley Ridge won 5-2 with both Phil Garrett and Vincent Quiambao unbeaten. The final will be between Crawley Ridge and Ash E.
It was a successful week for Crawley Ridge A as they have also reached the Handicap Cup final. In their semi-final they entertained Tennis K from the Fourth Division.
Crawley Ridge started well with Garrett beating Tom Ratcliffe, but Tennis hit back with Ken Lewington beating Quiambao and Ben Kirby overcoming Dennis Smith. Crawley Ridge won the first doubles to level the match score.
Quiambao then beat Ratcliffe and Garrett beat Kirby to put Crawley Ridge 4-2 up. Lewington pulled one back by beating Smith, but the second doubles went the way of Crawley Ridge to leave the match score 5-3.
With Quiambao beating Kirby and Smith and Ratcliffe halving, Crawley Ridge had won the match.
The other semi-final had First Division Central playing Fourth Division Crawley Ridge D. Although Crawley Ridge had a 25-point start in most sets, they were never really in the hunt, losing 9-3.
In singles matches Peter Millard was undefeated for Central, with team-mates Phil Snelson and Paul Baker both winning a couple of solo victories. Ken Thompson won a couple of singles for Crawley Ridge.
In the First Division, Bentley A eased into second spot with two 7-3 victories. The first match against Ash A saw Micky Lang, Richard Seymour and Trevor Spraggs all win twice for Bentley, as did Robin Pretty for Ash.
The other Bentley victory was also against an Ash team – the B side. Again all the Bentley team, Spraggs, Crispian Knight and Andrew Bawden, bagged braces but the star player of the evening was Ash’s Dave Halfpenny who was unbeaten.
Fleet A played their postponed match against Frimley A, winning 7-3. Fallon Thompson chalked up a maximum for Fleet with David Joyce supported with a duo. Nigel Oh won a couple for Frimley.
Ash A brought forward their Easter Monday clash with Ash C and won 8-2. Martin Townshend won all three with team-mates Andy Appleby and Robin Pretty bagging braces.