RUNAWAY leaders Thornton-le-Clay underlined their superiority in division four with two emphatic wins in the Northern Powergrid York & District Table Tennis League.

Although Terry Ruane overcame Trevor Percival 11-9 in the final game and pushed Neil Lynch all the way before going down 14-12 in the decider, the villagers won 8-2 against Aviva ‘B’.

They followed up with a whitewash of bottom side RI ‘K’, who also crashed to RI ‘J’.

John Stokes and Paul Greenwood guided RI ‘I’ to a 7-3 win over Bootham ‘G’, who bounced back with a narrow win over RI ‘J’ thanks to Jason Chinnian.

Ruane was again in form and ensured a narrow win for Aviva ‘B’ over Hartrigg Oaks, who were also blown away 8-2 by Holgate ‘E’, Pete Waring and Dan Hickey too good.

Sara Hough surprised Steve Webster in one game, but it was not enough to prevent another thrashing for RI ‘K’ at the hands of Shepherds ‘E’.

Shepherds then met their match in the form of the remorseless Ruane, who produced a remarkable success over Nigel Baker, losing the first two games before winning the next three to help his side to a draw.

In division three, leaders Shepherds ‘C’ dropped what could be a couple of vital points as they overcame a two-man Bootham ‘F’, but recovered to whitewash a weakened RI ‘H’, then dropping two games to relegation-threatened Holgate ‘D’, though Chris Hutchinson and Paul Kozyra were unbeaten.

Second-placed Holgate ‘C’ are pushing them all the way. Rob Farmery showed battling qualities to see off Ray Mitchell 12-10 in the final game and, aided by Graham Hood, saw his side to an 8-2 success.

Howard Broadbent helped BT ‘A’ see off RI ‘G’ 7-3.