Newton stars in Unison's victory

EXPERIENCE AND YOUTH . . . Unison club-mates John Maher and Sophie Newton

IT was tense in Division Two of the Oldham and District Table Tennis League as first played third.

Hollinwood B and Unison B went face to face, with both sides having their sights on promotion.

Unison again went for youth - the average age being 19 with Andrew Tarpey, Jacob Reilly-Cooper and Sophie Newton in the line-up.

Could Newton carry on her fine work of the previous weeks?

Of course she could as her side claimed a jaw-dropping 9-1 victory with Newton and Reilly-Cooper claiming a hat-trick each.

The former took the player-of-the-match award for the third week in a row.

What could Honeywell C, the other promotion contenders, do to make sure they kept up with the pace?

FANTASTIC

They recorded a fantastic 9-1 victory of their own, thanks to a brilliant three from Lukasz Maciejewski and Tommy Ryan.

With the possibility of a tied first place on the cards, next week's fixture between Hollinwood B and Honeywell C could shed some light on to the final positions.

Elsewhere in Division Two, Hollinwood C played Coldhurst B, who were without star player Harry Lewis.

They sorely missed him, succumbing to a 10-0 loss, with David Jefferson taking home the player-of-the-match award, in front of Joe Redikin and Paul Hutchinson. I

It is close at the bottom of Division One with Uppermill A, Unison A and Rosehill all fighting to stay in the top flight.

Uppermill A played second-placed Birley Moss.

The latter showed their class with a fantastic 9-1 victory.

Miles Benjamin was in excellent form just a week before the Closed Championships with a treble. Kyan Chin claimed three more and Naz Ahmed picked up two. Mark Simpson bagged Uppermill's point, which could prove vital in the coming weeks.

Unison A met Honeywell A, with Gary Newton, Sophie's father, showing that class and skill does run in the family with a superb three.

Phil Myers and Simon Hardwick also notched three and two respectively in Honeywell's 9-1 victory. Mike Brierley responded for Unison.

Rosehill registered a useful 5-5 draw against Saddleworth B as they continued their battle to beat the drop.

Matthew Evans of Saddleworth struck with a treble, and Paul King picked up two.

Simon Collins claimed two for Rosehill, who also won the doubles.

Duncan Hadfield, for Saddleworth A, won three in their 9-1 victory over bottom-of-the-table Werneth, who need to pick up positive results and fast if they are to avoid relegation.

In Division Three, Unison D played Hollinwood D, with John Maher winning two and Alex Darlington three in the former's 8-2 victory. Unison now only need a handful more points to ensure they win promotion.

Unison C were not as fortunate as they played leaders Deaf A, losing 7-3. Dave Varney was Deaf's star performer with a brace.

DEFEATED

Grotton B defeated Owls A 7-3 in Division Four.

Gary Owen and Neil Tomlinson won three apiece.

In Division Five, leaders Unison F lost to Hollinwood 'G', with Paul Whyatt and Gareth Hey, now a 'G'-team player for the remainder of the season, each bagging trebles.

• Check out more table tennis pictures on our picture sales page.