Week five of the Fun88-sponsored Isle of Man Table Tennis Association league saw another round of singles fixtures in Divisions One and Two, with the usual singles and doubles fixtures in Division Three.  

Division One  

Travellers A (7), Travellers B (2)   

The A team was without two of its regular players which meant John Shooter played up for the home side, while Keeran Chan played up from the C.  

This resulted in an unexpected clash between father and son John and Will Shooter - and (perhaps) an unexpected result when Will pipped his dad in the fifth. A tremendous scalp for Will, battling back from 2-1 down to take the final two ends 11/9.

Scott Lewis was also pitted against his father Malc in this tie. Despite being stretched at times, island No.1 Scott won in four ends, retaining his 100 percent record so far this season.  

Luke Begley also played up for the B and did well to push each of his opponents.    

Ramsey A (6), Arbory A (3)    

Adam Teare proved once again he is a tough man to beat and remains unbeaten this season.  

He saw off Sonja Shaw in three ends before edging past Jason Quirk also in straight games 11-9, 14-12, 11-6.  

Teare saved his best for his final match with Mike Tamarov. At two games apiece, Tamarov clawed his way back into the final game from 5-9 down after some top-class attacking play.  

But he was foiled at the death by a determined Teare who re-grouped to see through the final two points, taking it 12-10 for the match.  

Elsewhere, Duncan Alexander did well to take points off Quirk and Shaw both in three ends. Tamarov was in supreme form once again though and was too strong for Alexander, whom he beat decisively in three ends. Tamarov’s second point came from his win over Rebecca Taylor.   

Arbory B (2), Strathallan (7)    

Arbory’s John Magnall was joined by Dan Levine and Malcolm Lambert who was playing up from the C team.  

Magnall saw off Neil Quane in three, as he did against an off-colour Andy Patterson. Lambert did really well to push Julian Briercliffe to a fifth before being edged out 8-11.  

He did the same to Patterson who just managed to pip the gritty Arbory player 14-12 in the final end. Player of the match was Briercliffe who came away with three wins.   

Tower B (0), Tower A (9)    

This match was a critical one in the fight for survival at the bottom of the table, therefore 

Tower A will have been delighted to take all nine points.  

Ken Mitchell was pushed to a fifth game by a dogged Steve Curtis, but other than that all but one match were concluded by Messrs Parsons, Mitchell and Bayley in straight ends.  

The win puts Tower A within two points of sixth-placed Arbory B and three behind Strathallan in fifth. Tower B remains firmly at the foot of the table.   

Division Two 

JRTE Marketing A (6), Arbory C (3)   

Darren Smethurst was once again untroubled in his matches for JRTE.  

Arbory were unfortunate to be without some key players because of illness, so it was down to Kevin Drewry and Bob Borland to hold the fort - but they had to forfeit three points.  

Drewry did well to defeat Paul Mitchinson and Cameron Millar without dropping a game. Borland came unstuck against Mitchinson, losing in straight ends, but made amends by taking his match against Millar.   

Arbory D (6), Ramsey C (3)   

Arbory D were also affected by illness and fielded only two players, thus forfeiting three points.  

The hosts’ Malcolm Lambert did incredibly well on the night to not only take his three matches, but he also played up (as detailed above) for Arbory B, so he had a rather busy night. 

He swept aside Geoff Burchill and Darren Shaw in straight ends, before taking his third point by defeating a stubborn Keith Herrington in three closely-fought ends.  

Mike Levine backed up Lambert extremely well to also take his three points. He dropped games against Herrington and Burchill but got across the line in both matches in relative comfort.    

Travellers C (5), Peel A (4)   

Travellers C were vying for top spot with Peel A in this clash of the titans - and the scoreline demonstrated why only one point separates them.  

Dave Lovelady was the only player to come away unbeaten as he breezed through his matches with Jon Taylor-Burt, Stu Perry and Ken Hegarty.  

Paul Mathieson-Nelson didn’t have it quite so easy but notched up two good wins for the hosts against Hegarty and Perry - the latter going down to a final game.  

Mathieson-Nelson came unstuck against Taylor Burt who pulled out all the stops against the gritty Travellers player, winning 11-9, 8-11, 14-12, 11-7.  

Dave Buck was unable to add to the home side’s tally so they had to settle for a 5-4 win, which means they are only one point ahead of Peel at the top of Division Two.   

Ramsey B (3), Desmond’s Douglas A (6)   

Ramsey’s Geoff Ball, Adrian Slater and Lisa Lord came out second best against a powerful performance from the Desmond’s trio Neil Ronan, Brandon Montgomery and Russ Kent.  

Ronan had an excellent night, winning all his three matches, backed up well by Kent who won two and Montgomery who won one.  

Match of the night was between Ball and Kent, with the Desmond’s player edging it 11-8 in the fifth after being pegged back from 0-2 down by a determined Ball.   

Division Three 

Ramsey E (5), Ramsey D (0)    

Saul Tumblety came back from losing the first game 13-15 against Pat Helliwell to take the next three and the match.  

He then did likewise against Tony Sewell to take his second point. Teddy Clayton also managed to beat Sewell and Helliwell in three ends, before teaming up with Tumblety to take the doubles and a clean sweep 5-0 result.   

JRTE Marketing B (4), Travellers G (1)    

Cameron Millar of JRTE defeated young Max Doyle in straight ends, before being taken to a fifth by a determined Tom Taylor-Burt.  

He fought off his young Travellers opponent after a reset and took the final game 11-5 for the match. 

Gary Skillicorn also managed to beat Doyle in three games, but was defeated by a delighted Taylor-Burt 6-11, 7-11, 7-11.   

Travellers D (5), Travellers F (0)    

Maurice Campbell and Margaret Forsyth continued their dominance of Division Three with another strong performance, albeit poor Sydnie Weaver found herself playing solo in this tie because of illness.  

This meant that the F team unfortunately had to forfeit three points. Campbell and Forsyth deepened the woe by then taking both points against a hapless Sydnie. 

KEN MITCHELL