Roumen ruins Higham hopes - this week's table tennis round-up

Kettering League

Westfield A narrowed the gap at the top of the Kettering Table Tennis League Premier Division to just five points after beating title rivals Higham 16-14 at Weavers Leisure Centre.

Roumen Stefanov was in sensational form as he bagged eight points from nine, inflicting a first defeat of the season on Andy Trott in the process.

Stefanov won the first two ends against Higham’s star man 11-8, 12-10 to seal the shock win, with only an 11-9 reverse in the third end denying him the perfect hat-trick.

He was ably supported by Kevin Bird and Brian Wooding, who both claimed 2-1 wins over Richard Bashford and a below-par Richard Elliott.

Westfield led 16-11 going into the doubles and would have gone top with a 3-0 win.

But Higham fought back to take all three ends and ensure they only fell to a narrow defeat.

The result was a perfect example of how the new match format can affect a score one way or the other.

If each win counted for one point, as it did in the previous season, Westfield would have won by a far more convincing 7-3.

Smash Kettering A were the week’s biggest victors with a 20-10 win at bottom side Westfield C.

Youngster Alex Cochrane continued his fine run of results with another treble, gaining seven points in his three wins.

Ashley Bennett had his best night of the season so far with six points, with Matt Rushton the only Westfield player to get the better of him.

Rushton was Westfield’s best player, scoring half of his side’s points with five including 2-1 wins over Bennett and Gary Pells.

Westfield C now sit nine points adrift of Smash Kettering B at the bottom, albeit with a game in hand, after Smash fell 18-12 at home to Westfield B.

Adam Wilson was the hat-trick hero for the hosts, with his treble including a 2-1 win over Nicole Bird.

He was the only player to take an end off Westfield’s Carl Leeson, who was back to his best as he scored seven points for the visitors.

It looked like Smash could claim a surprise win when Mark Stockley levelled the scores at 12-12 late on by beating an out-of-sorts Matt Horrocks.

But Westfield reeled off six points in a row through Leeson’s 3-0 singles result over Steve Codrington and his doubles success with Bird to seal the win.

Results: Premier Division:Westfield A 16 (Stefanov 8, Bird 4, Wooding 4) Higham 14 (Trott 7, Elliott 2, Bashford 2, Trott/Elliott 3); Westfield C 10 (Rushton 5, Roper 3, Kendall 2) Smash Kettering A 20 (Cochrane 7, Bennett 6, Pells 4, Cochrane/Bennett 3); Smash Kettering B 12 (Wilson 7, Codrington 3, Stockley 2) Westfield B 18 (Leeson 7, Bird 6, Horrocks 2, Leeson/Bird 3).

Player of the week: Roumen Stefanov.

Team of the week: Westfield A..

Division One: Division One: Harborough A 21 (B Thompson 7 Brocklebank 7 Crook 5, Brocklebank/Crook 2) Corby Lakeview 9 (Pedley 4, R Warburton 3, J Warburton, Pedley/R Warburton); Old/Thrapston 16 (Payne 9, Warliker 3, Williams 3, Payne/Warliker) Kettering Smash C 14 (Logan 4, Palinkas 4, A Parrott 4, Logan/Parrott 2); Rothborough A 23 (Marlow 8, M Watts 8, Clifton 7) Westfield E 7 (Holly 3, Hooda, Holly/Hooda 3); Westfield D 14 (George 6, Malpass 5, Wooster 3) Burton Baptist A 16 (Marshall 6, Crasto 4, Cheesewright 3, Crasto/Marshall 3).

Player of the week: Nigel Payne.

Team of the week: Rothborough A.

Division Two: Division Two: Smash Kettering E 2 (Kelly 1, P Menon 1) Smash Kettering D 28 (Dyson 9, Burrows 8, Marlow 8, Dyson/Marlow 3); Rothborough C 8 (Elrington 4, Linnett 2, Steele 1, Elrington/Linnett 1) Corby Lincoln 22 (Murie 9, Hunt 8, Donaldson 3, Murie/Hunt 2); Rothborough B 22 (Jones 8, Sturges 7, Shipley 4, Jones/Sturges 3) Smash Kettering F 8 (P Menon 4, V Menon 3, Reygan 1); Old Village 20 (B Tyler 8, Swaysland 6, Bradford 5, Tyler/Swaysland 1) Westfield F 10 (Grigg 4, D Elsom 2, A Elsom 2, Elsom/Elsom 2); Corby Chesham 9 (Preston-Jones 6, Redman 2, Preston-Jones/Redman 1) Harborough B 21 (McGowan 7, Morgan 6, Coombs 6, McGowan/Morgan 2); Corby Harrogate 9 (G O’Callaghan 5, Solomon 1, Woolston 1, O’Callaghan/Solomon 2) Burton Baptist B 21 (Muggleton 8, Sanders 6, Chatburn 6, Muggleton/Sanders 1).

Player of the week: Nick Preston-Jones.

Team of the week: Smash Kettering D.

Wellingborough League

Chesterwell could only field two players owing to transport problems but they still managed to gain a close victory at Westfield B in Division One of the Wellingborough and District Table Tennis League.

That came thanks to fine maximums from Johnathon Driscoll and Daniel Mann.

Westfield’s Richard Mole and Paul Benko both managed to gain a couple of points each to add to their nine default points before then ending the night with a great 3-0 doubles victory over the unbeaten Chesterwell pair.

Highfield A re-gained second place in the league with a solid 24-12 win against Stanwick, mainly thanks to unbeaten performances from Ganiu Owolabi and Mike Hawes to add to five further points from Shyam Bavalia.

Stanwick’s Ian Baldock and Graham Taylor both managed to see off Bavalia before adding a further valuable three points with a fine doubles victory over Hawes and Owolabi.

Division Two: Old Grammarians B 30 Wanderers C 4, Highfield C 18 Old Grammarians C 22, Westfield D 20 Higham Harriers B 19, Highfield B 27 Chesterwell C 5, Chesterwell B 22 Wanderers D 13, Westfield C 18 Higham Harriers C 18.