Charlie helps Westfield extend their advantage

Leigh ClementsLeigh Clements
Leigh Clements
Charlie Clements' sixth treble of the season helped Westfield B extend their lead at the top of Division Two in the Wellingborough & District Table Tennis League as they claimed an 8-2 win at Higham Harriers B.

Clements received good support with two wins apiece for Leigh Clements and Evie Elliott, who was making her first appearance of the season.

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Phil Inman and Bob Collyer both scored single wins for the home team before Charlie Clements and Elliott took the doubles in five ends.

St John B won 7-3 at Westfield C to hold on to second place.

Mike Terry scored a great treble for the away team without conceding a single end and received solid support with two wins from Steve Mansfield and one from David Hatherall.

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Mark Ramsden put up most resistance for Westfield with a well-earned double and Steve Fuller chipped in with a single win to keep the score respectable.

Terry and Mansfield finally took the doubles for the visitors to complete a good night’s work.

Chesterwell C made it four wins in a row with a 6-4 success at third-placed Wanderers C to move into fourth.

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Maxine Shears was the only unbeaten player but, as her team-mates Clare and Stuart Coles could only manage one win apiece, she had to team up with Stuart to take the doubles in four to decide a very close match.

James Findlay played very well for the home team, beating two of the Chesterwell players and a win apiece from Tony Wallis and Carl Singh ensured the match result was in the balance until the doubles.

The clash between the two bottom teams was a predictably close affair as Wanderers D edged out hosts Old Grammarians B 6-4.

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Roger Ellingham made the difference with a superb treble for the visitors, only losing one end in his three encounters.

Graham Babbage and Mike Howorth chipped in with singles before Ellingham joined Babbage to take the doubles 11-8 in the final end to secure the victory.

Fighting doubles from the home team’s Colin Lord and Martin Rice kept the match result on a knife edge.

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Results: Higham Harriers B 2 (Phil Inman, Bob Collyer) Westfield B 8 (Charlie Clements 3, Leigh Clements 2, Evie Elliott 2, doubles Clements/Elliott), Wanderers C 4 (James Findlay 2, Tony Wallis, Carl Singh) Chesterwell C 6 (Maxine Shears 3, Clare Coles, Stuart Coles, doubles Shears/Coles), Old Grammarians B 4 (Colin Lord 2, Martin Rice 2) Wanderers D 6 (Roger Ellingham 3, Graham Babbage, Mike Howes, doubles Ellingham/Babbage), Westfield C 3 (Mark Ramsden 2, Steve Fuller) St John B 7 (Mike Terry 3, David Hatherall, Steve Mansfield 2, doubles Terry/Mansfield).

Wanderers A moved above Chesterwell A and into second place in Division One after a fine 8-2 home success.

Tony Wharton and Andy Law had not been at their best this season but both gave excellent displays to earn magnificent trebles.

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Law won out 11-8, 11-7, 13-11 over Mike Pond and, taken to five by Valdy Papiernik, crushed him 11-7 in the fifth while Stan Galkowski also went down in five.

Wharton, in his best display for years, only dropped one leg in his treble against Galkowski. Jon Taylor-Burt couldn’t match his colleagues but took Pond to five and saw off Papiernik 10-12, 11-9, 12-10, 11-9.

The eighth point in a startling victory was gained in a nail-biting doubles as Law and Wharton won out 4-11, 9-11, 12-10, 12-10, 14-12 over Galkowski and Pond.

Leaders Westfield A beat Old Grammarians 8-2.

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OGs have been beaten by this scoreline in five of their eight fixtures and in every case, the two points have been gained by the persevering Steve Kendall.

He saw off Stephen Woolston and Travis Holly with reasonable ease but went down 11-9, 11-9, 11-13, 7-11, 3-11 to Patryk Polanski, which was followed by a five-set doubles win by Holly and Polanski over Phil Laurence and Kendall.

There were mixed fortunes in two matches for Thrapston as they claimed a 9-1 victory over Higham Harriers A before being whitewashed 10-0 by WDHA Royals.

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In the Harriers encounter, Graham Bird opened with a 1-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8 win over Alan Tyler but failed to add to his score, being well beaten by Ian Donaldson and somewhat unlucky in a 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 20-22 defeat to Chris Warliker.

Martyn Reeves, without a win to date, took both Tyler and Warliker to five and Mick Malins similarly with Tyler but the return of Norman Wooster and Ian Bird is urgently required to make Harriers a top division outfit.

But Thrapston were then well beaten by Royals with only one game going to five.

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Abin Islam won out 6-11, 11-8, 11-9, 5-11, 11-9 over Donaldson and Virat Patel and Ethan Ali were untroubled in seeing off Tyler and Warliker.

Results: Thrapston A 9 (Alan Tyler 2, Ian Donaldson 3, Chris Warliker 3, doubles Donaldson/Warliker) Higham Harriers A 1 (Graham Bird), Wanderers A 8 (Tony Wharton 3, Andy Law 3, Jon Taylor-Burt, doubles Wharton/Law) Chesterwell A 2 (Mike Pond, Stan Galkowski), Westfield A 8 (Stephen Woolston 2, Travis Holly 2, Patryk Polanski 3, doubles Holly/Polanski) Old Grammarians A 2 (Steve Kendall), WDHA Royals A 10 (Ethan Ali 3, Abin Islam 3, Virat Patel 3, doubles Patel/Ali) Thrapston 0.

There were no surprises as second-placed Wanderers E went through the card without losing an end against lowly Chesterwell E in Division Three.

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Although Wanderers are 10 points behind leaders Chesterwell D, they have a game in hand.

Dave May recorded his sixth hat-trick, Derek Shears his fifth and there was a third for Steve Hoole.

WDHA Challengers gained only two points but they put up a good fight against mid-table Higham Band B, who secured an 8-2 success.

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Devlin Whitmore and Stuart Futrill both gained hat-tricks while Neil Thompson added a single point to the tally with his win over Ansh Shah but lost out to Hubert Malenda and Daniel Bain in five.

Thompson and Whitmore made sure of the doubles point, winning in three ends against Shah and Malenda.

Higham Harriers C moved clear of Westfield E by beating them 6-4.

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Oli Hicks secured his fourth hat-trick of the season and was the only unbeaten player on the night. Stuart Rae, for Westfield, came close, bowing out 11-6 in the fifth end.

Katie Hicks supported her brother well, gaining two wins and losing out to Rae 7-11, 10-12, 17-15, 11-9, 3-11 with Jamie Laughton coming away empty-handed, Wendy Bradford and Nicole King picking up the spoils.

Westfield needed the doubles to tie the game but came unstuck, losing 11-5 in the fourth end.

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Stanwick leapfrogged Westfield D with a 7-3 success but will need to up their game in the second half to fight for the runners-up spot.

Geoff Neville was again unbeaten and has yet to lose a point, winning his fifth hat-trick.

Kevin Tivey supported well with two wins, losing out to Westfield’s Amrat Mistry 11-9 in the fifth.

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Al Hayes won a point against Stuart Rae, who played up from the E side and Stanwick added the final point of the evening in a close fought doubles contest 10-12, 11-5, 11-13, 11-8, 12-10.

Results: WDHA Challengers C 2 (Hubert Malenda, Daniel Bain) Higham Band B 8 (Devlin Whitmore 3, Neil Thompson, Stuart Futrill 3, doubles Whitmore/Thompson), Chesterwell E 0 Wanderers E 10 (David May 3, Derek Shears 3, Steve Hoole 3, doubles May/Shears), Higham Harriers C 6 (Oli Hicks 3, Katie Hicks 2, doubles Hicks/Hicks) Westfield E 4 (Stuart Rae 2, Wendy Bradford, Nicole King), Stanwick VHTTC 7 (Geoff Neville 3, Kevin Tivey 3, Al Hayes, doubles Neville/Tivey) Westfield D 3 (Stuart Rae 2, Amrat Mistry).

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