Saddleworth take defeat on the Chin

Alex Darlington

THERE was no quarter given at Saddleworth in Division One of the Oldham and District Table Tennis League.

The hosts' 'B' team, in third place, faced Birley Moss, who were two points ahead in second, and the latter again had Kyan Chin to thank in clinching a 6-4 victory.

Chin won all three of his singles and was assisted by Miles Benjamin, who claimed a double.

In-form Matty Evans (two), Duncan Hadfield and Paul King were on the mark for Saddleworth.

There was also a hard-fought match at Uppermill, where visitors Coldhurst 'A' registered an excellent 7-3 success against the home side's 'A' team.

Gary Crossley's treble for 'Mill was in vain. Team-mate Mark Simpson was especially unfortunate, losing two matches in five sets, one being by an 18-16 margin.

The Coldhurst team of Simon King, Simon Walsh and Steve Barber bagged two apiece.

In Division Two, top-of-the-table Hollinwood 'B' were made to work hard to maintain their 100-per-cent record when they visited Grotton 'A'.

Thanks mainly to Kim Lee, who notched a treble, Hollinwood managed a 6-4 victory. Peader McKinstry also pocketed a double.

The match was also significant for a return to action of former Oldham Closed title winner Pete Morris, who managed two triumphs, his brother Dave and Lionel Royle delivered one each.

Honeywell 'C' maintained their promotion challenge with an 8-2 win over bottom-of-the-table Stanley Square.

The mercurial Lukasz Maciejewski trebled for Honeywell and was supported by doubles from the experienced Tommy Ryan and Pete Fowler.

Steve Mather and Glenn Dowse had good victories for Stanley Square.

The young Unison 'D' team consolidated second place in Division Three with a gutsy 7-3 triumph against lowly Deaf 'B'.

Alex Darlington scored a crucial hat-trick for Unison, Sophie Newton notched a brace and Josh Hudson a single.

Gordon Jennings was the main thorn in Unison's side in securing two singles and was aided by a single from Mathew Gartside.

Honeywell 'F', in third place, were thankful that Unison 'C' could only raise two players as this enabled them to scrape through with a narrow 6-4 success.

Inevitably, Adam Rowbotham won his three, but two Unison players, 'Fast' Eddie Kalinowski and Adam Stamp, won their singles matches.

The best match in Division Four was at Hollinwood, where the 'F' team went down 6-4 to Coldhurst 'C'.

TREBLE

Guy Barton was a treble star for Coldhurst, and he was backed up by Malcolm Wills and Neil Chapman.

On the mark for Hollinwood with two apiece were Sasi Venkataramanan and Neil Hepworth.

All other fixtures were decided by 9-1 scorelines, in favour of Unison 'E', Hollinwood 'G' and Grotton 'B' against Thornham, Owls 'B' and Deaf 'B' respectively.

The only result returned from Division Five was the mid-table clash at Hollinwood, between the 'H' team and Denshaw 'B'.

This was an another tight match, in which the visitors prevailed 6-4 thanks to a treble from Graham Neild and two from Gordon Allen, who also combined to win the doubles. All the Hollinwood players contributed, namely Richard Osbourne (two), Callum Hey and Andrew Brierley.