Unison conquer deficit to secure cup-final spot

TABLE TENNIS:

HOSTS Unison ‘A’ conceded a 93-point start to Honeywell ‘D’ in the last four of the Oldham Table Tennis League Division Two Cup — but still managed to squeeze home by three.

With the last game in the doubles to go, Honeywell were still two points in front, but they lost by six.

There were gains for Unison of Andrew Tarpey (35) Alan Auxilly (23) and Mike Brierley (45), with losses from Honeywell’s Paul Carter (- five), Ken Dunkerley (-37) and Peter Ganley (-61).

Mid-table Hyde YM ‘B’ had to give second-placed Werneth ‘C’ a 50-point start due to Werneth’s team selection.

But the entire Hyde team of Steve Hilton (42), Neil Coppard (25) and Dennis Bradshaw (two) gained points.

With all Werneth’s players dropping points — Karen Hill (- 2) Doreen Schofield (-27) and Bernard Davies (-40) — Hyde emerged victorious by 27 points.

Coldhurst ‘A’, with a huge 178 points start against Saddleworth, held on to win by 31 points in the Division One Cup.

The losses were restricted to 37 points each by Paul Howarth and Simon King and 63 points by Simon Walsh. Ten points were lost in the doubles.

Saddleworth’s gains were made by Paul Cicchelli (54) Ian McLean (43) and Gary Crossley (40).

Hollinwood ‘B’ had a 104-point start against Honeywell ‘B’, and it was more than sufficient to secure a 48-points win.

Lucas Maciejewski (35) Tommy Ryan (32) and Kenny Hayes (8) gained the points for Honeywell, but the losses from Hollinwood of Steve Collins (-9) Matty Evans

(-18) and Mohammed Sajid (-48) were good enough.

Grotton ‘B’ reached the Division Three Cup final with a 10-point winning margin over Unison ‘C’.

Dave Morris (50) again starred for Grotton, although he was only able to take three points from Dave Wild, who gained eight.

All other Unison players dropped points — Steve Smith (-2), Neil Tomlinson (-9), James Collins (-19) and Mike O’Gara (-28) — with the 35-point handicap start for Unison proving just insufficient.

The closest match of the round was at Saddleworth ‘B’, who defeated Gilders by one point after being 14 points in front with the doubles remaining and needing 9 to win in the last set.

In the Division Four Cup, two junior teams locked horns for a place in the final — and it was St Saviour’s ‘B’ who emerged victorious against Hollinwood ‘E’ by 31 points.

Saints conceded a 35-point start, but all of the players gained, with Jacob Reilly (9), Josh Poole (43) and Mark Pellowe (8) to the fore.

Adam Newton picked up six points for Hollinwood, while Bobby Crossley was on minus 26 and Tom Farkas minus 40.

Conceding 83 points, Werneth ‘F’ defeated Coppice TTC by 48 points.

Werneth’s team of Ashley Murray (23) Alan Else (42) and Dave Jefferson (55) collected 131 points to overcame the Coppice team of Rob Ainsworth (-17), Dave Winterbottom (-37) and Alan Nightingale (-66).




OLDHAM women are through to the final of the Lancashire and Cheshire League’s Mabel Neary Trophy after a 5-1 defeat of Manchester.



The team is made up of Mandy Winskill, Karen Hill and Doreen Schofield.