Princes holding throne as Argyle soundly beaten
AT the top of Division One in the Southport Table Tennis League, Princes St A got back to winning ways in great style with a comprehensive 9-1 victory over Argyle D.
They have now opened up a 14 point lead over Crosby C (42pts) who dealt themselves a calamitous hand, when they apparently got their match dates mixed up, and with time at a premium they turned up at Argyle A with a team drawn mainly from the 3rd Division.
A maximum loss was the result, but more importantly it was a severe jolt to their title ambitions.
Holy Trinity B moved within three points of the top two and with a match in hand, after a pretty efficient 2-8 win at Princes St B.
Crosby D continued their fine form, this time an 8-2 home win against Argyle B, saw them leapfrog their opponents into fourth place with 36pts.
Southport A’s home match with Crosby B was postponed.
With top spot in Division 2 a distinct possibility, we headed to Waterloo
to see if their A team host Princes St D, in the first of two matches they have this week, and with quite a bit at stake they would have to do it without young Nathan Jago and captain Mark Brooks, Peter Roberts and John Taylor deputised. First up was Peter to take on Christine Foley, and although he led 2-1 in games, Chris claimed the upper hand and took the next two 2-11, 8-11.
Colin Fyles then put the visitors 0-2 up with an unstoppable 2-11 success in the 5th against Chris Jago, before John introduced a little calm, with a steady comeback against Ian Lunt, taking the final two games 11-7,11-8.
It worked as well, when Phil Cashmore produced a fine display of attacking topspin to edge out Chris, again in five games to level it at 2-2.
After that shaky start, the home side went ahead when Peter overcame Frank Proffitt in three straight.
Phil then continued his great form with yet another five game epic win over Colin to make it 4-2 Waterloo.
Jago then made it 5-2 for the hosts in another see-saw encounter which inevitably went all the way, 11-9, 7-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-7.
John then gave his side victory with a four game win against Frank, before Frank exacted some revenge when he and Ian saw fit to beat Chris and John in their doubles in similar fashion to make it 6-3.
However, Waterloo pairing Phil and Peter did have the last word with yet another five game victory over Colin and Chris which gave a final score of 7-3 Waterloo A.
An incredible match throughout with 46 of the maximum 50 games played, where on another night Princes Street’s efforts could well have been rewarded with a draw at least, just fabulous entertainment.
With stage one completed successfully, they now faced a tricky one against Crosby F, but with Nathan
Jago back at number 1, their confidence must have been given a boost.
So it proved as first Nathan, and then Gary Corran, put them 2-0 up before Chris Jago made it 3-0.
Young Jack Savage pulled one back for Crosby, only for the would be leaders to win the next three contests to go 6-1 ahead.
Nathan then fittingly edged a five game thriller against Jack to get the point that was needed to ensure top position.
Charlie Williams then won a further consolation, leaving acting captain Phil Cashmore to wrap up an impressive second win of the week 8-2 Waterloo A.
Holy Trinity B (48pts) drop to second place, just one point adrift, after a 2-8 win at Princes St E, where the home side were very unlucky to lose Darren Taylor early on through injury. That didn’t help Princes St’s cause as their 100 per cent record disappeared in a procession of wins for the visitors. Southport C went down to a 3-7 loss at home to Princes St C, who find themselves handily placed in 3rd position on 39pts, five ahead of their E team. Argyle E pulled out all the stops in their 9-1 home success over Southport B, Adrian Hyland being the pick of the bunch, and Waterloo B finished off a very good week for their club, with a 4-6 win at Crosby E.
In the third division, the Para’s remain top on 49pts, this after a close 6-4 win against Argyle G, where acting captain Mark Wilson’s double success was improved upon by his decision to change his normal doubles pairings, which indeed did the trick as those two wins were the difference between the sides.
Argyle F (44pts) are now in second place after being held to a home draw against Crosby H, Lewis Hible for Argyle and Wayne Lang for the visitors were the standout performers.
Rainford (43pts) without a match this week slip to third position.
Southport D moved into fourth spot after an excellent home win against Crosby G, where Alan Town with a superb full quota of wins was the hosts match winner.
Finally, Southport E got their first victory of the season in a close 6-4 win at Carlton, who must again wait a little longer for their luck to change.
Mind you they did match the visitors in the singles, two wins for Kris Cooper and one apiece from captain Mick Walsh and Andy Bennett kept the home side in it.
But losing out in both doubles was their eventual downfall.
Southport also had Pat Merry to thank for an important full quota of wins.
All information can be found at southport.ttleagues.com