Thompsons and Brandon Air labour to narrow victories

There was little change at the top of the Sunderland Table Tennis League Division One following two close results.

West CA’s Adam Webster and Harry Saxton combined to take four sets, making leaders Thompsons sweat for their 6-4 win.

Second-placed Brandon Air failed to take advantage, with only Jamie Lupton scoring a maximum as they also laboured to a narrow win over their Bullets stable-mates.

The tightest encounter of the week was a mid-table draw between St Gabriel’s A and Mount CA.

It was to be a marathon encounter for Tony Gelder. After the disappointment of losing 12-10 in the fifth end to Rod Roberts, Gelder battled back in two more five-end affairs, defeating David Pringle 11-8, and Phil Prady 11-4.

After losing to Prady, George Gibson also hit a double.

While others toiled, St Chads cemented third position as they steamrollered Backspin A 10-0.

In Division Two, Silksworth IM B failed to lift themselves out of the relegation zone after two defeats against St Gabriel’s teams.

In the first contest, Geoff Young beat Nigel Tree but was pipped 12-10 at the death by Jeff McKenna.

Ultimately, it was David Revell who proved the difference, hitting an unanswered treble as Gabriel’s earned a crucial 6-4 win.

Silksworth returned to duty at St Gabriel’s D, but McKenna and Tree benefited from a lacklustre start from the home team to put their side into an early lead.

Gabriel’s rallied however, the match outcome being dictated by a dramatic middle-order revival.

After going 2-0 down to McKenna, Tony Watson hauled himself level only to trail 4-1 in the decider.

Watson then transformed the course of the game and emerged an 11-8 victor.

Team-mate Gary Anderson then performed his own great escape when trailing 2-0, his fight-back seemed to be in vain as Tree took command of the decider to lead 10-6.

Tree launched fierce forehand drives but, agonisingly, saw both returned by Anderson reaction-blocks.

Refusing to surrender, Anderson clawed level before scraping home 14-12.

A revitalised Dave Winterbottom conjured some superb shots to defeat Tree in four ends, capping an 8-2 win for Gabriel’s.

The recent run of exciting encounters in Division Three continued.

Top-of-the-table Backspin B drafted in Mark Patterson and he polished off a hat-trick as the leaders ran out 8-2 winners.

Below them, there was an epic shoot-out in East Boldon as the Cowboys wounded the promotion-chasing Bandits, 6-4, courtesy of Ethan Brown (3) and Sophie Richardson (2).

Although Brown was pushed to five ends by Ryan Campbell, the Bandits could have suffered an even heavier defeat.

Firstly, Bruce Davison extended Adam Allsopp and Campbell to 11-8 scores in deciding legs, before Allsopp edged a 14-12 final-end thriller against Richardson.