With several sides having currently fallen behind on their fixtures the match between Maldon B and Writtle A took on the role of the top of the table clash in the first division of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League.

Fittingly, it was a hard fought match and it ended with a 5-5 draw.

Maldon’s hard-hitting Minda Sinkus took the top billing and he scored a hat-trick of wins over Peter Radford, Paul Cuming and Bruce Kettle.

OCs A turned out their top three players against ECC B and it was Brandon Crouchman, David Cole and Terry Dowsett who ran out 8-2 winners.

Rik James won twice for the ECC side beating both Brandon Crouchman and Terry Dowsett in five ends.

Danbury D made it five wins out of six in division two by beating Hatfield Peverel B 8-2.

The 2012 M&G Investments Chelmsford Closed Tournament Division Two Singles Champion Andrew Halling picked up a hat-trick and he was well supported by Gus Heath and Chris Buer who both won twice.

Hatfield Peverel’s Neil Freeman impressed by beating Buer 11-5, 11-8, 12-10. ECC C edged out Danbury C 6-4. James Hicks won his three singles for ECC but he had to pull out all the stops to get the better of Dave Richardson 11-7, 5-11, 4-11, 11-7, 12-10 in the opening game of the evening. Chelmsford A beat Danbury B 6-4.

However, none of their players – Waseem Qureshi, Julie Johnson or Mike Johnston – were able to get the better of an impressive Glenn Laing.

In division three Elmtree Excalibur V were bolstered by the inclusion of the renowned “stonewall defender” John Tendler in their match against Danbury F, who was making his debut in the Chelmsford League.

On this occasion he won twice, succumbing to Gordon Gatherall while Bill Smith picked up a trio of wins as Elmtee Excalibur ran out 7-3 winners.

Danbury E made it five wins out of five by beating ECC D 7-3. Herbie Smith was their match-winner, and he followed up a narrow 7-11, 11-6, 8-11 11-7, 12-10 opening game success against Neil Thompson with wins over Malcolm Storey and Richard Storey.

The match between Danbury F and Rawreth finished all square, tied at 5-5. Mike Worship sealed a draw for Rawreth by beating Chris Hancox 11-9, 12-10, 6-11, 11-6 in the last game.

A determined Gordon Gatherall had earlier seen off the challenge of Worship by a last gasp 11-13, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9 margin.

In the division four match between Maldon C and Hatfield Peverel D, “ace defender” Ray Eldridge came out on top, but he had to pull out all the stops to do so. Eldridge beat Tom Elder 3-1 and Brian Riedling 7-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-9, 12-10. He then had to dig deep to overcome Dawn Baldry 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 9-11, 11-9.

Hatfield Peverel eventually ran out 6-4 winners.