Ed Wardman helped consign Bootham ‘D’ to relegation to division three in the Northern Powergrid York & District Table Tennis League as he guided Shepherds ‘C’ to a 7-3 win.

Shepherds, however, went down by the same score to a Rich McCarthy inspired RI ‘C’.

Jonathan Chabry and John Temple, playing his last game for the club, saw RI ‘D’ to an 8-2 success over RI ‘F’.

RI ‘E’ remain favourites for second place, though they could muster only two players for a draw with Bootham ‘B’, Mark Blackburn playing well.

Bootham ‘D’ had earlier beaten Tramways 6-4, Nigel Reeson the top player.

Dave Rawlings was in tenacious form as he led Bootham ‘C’ to a 7-3 win over Shepherds ‘A’, who recovered to beat RI ‘F’ 8-2, Ian Williams and Andy Kirk unbeaten.

Division one champions Coneysthorpe ‘A’ thumped Crescent ‘B’ 9-1, with Martin Lowe and Chris Londesbrough unbeaten.

But they picked up three crucial points as they lost to RI ‘A’, whose Mick Wilcockson and Paul Robertson were on form.

Top youngster James Rule played extremely well to win his three singles for Coneysthorpe ‘B’ in their narrow win over Holgate ‘A’, including the scalp of the third ranked player in the league, Aidan Ranftler, winning 11-9 in the deciding game.

Lowe and Joel Wright proved too good for RI ‘B’ in a 7-3 win.

Aviva ‘A’s hopes of escaping the drop to the basement received a blow as they crashed 8-2 at BT ‘A’, Howard Broadbent not dropping a game.

Holgate ‘C’ lost valuable points in their quest for the division three championship as they beat Bootham ‘E’ 6-4, Bob Young working hard for his wins.

RI ‘H’ look set for relegation after crashing 9-1 at BT ‘B’, who had Bill Carter and Jim Stevenson to thank.

Thornton-le-Clay are division four champions after overcoming a depleted Trustmarque 7-3.

The losers forced a draw with Hartrigg Oaks, whose Roy Barker won three very close sets, and he helped his side to a narrow win over Bootham ‘G’.

Barker was unable to prevent his side being whitewashed by Shepherds ‘E’, for whom Alan Johnston, Nigel Baker and Steve Webster were unbeaten.

They enjoyed another win, 8-2, over a two-man RI ‘J’.

A depleted Bootham ‘G’ still overcame RI ‘K’ 7-3, while Holgate ‘E’ beat RI ‘I’ 7-3.

The semi-finals of the cup will be held on Tuesday, April 30 and Thursday, May 2, with the final on Tuesday, May 7.

Semi-final draw

Tuesday, April 30: Coneysthorpe ‘A’ v Bootham ‘A’ (Shepherd), Coneysthorpe ‘C’ v Holgate WMC ‘E’ (Machell); Thursday, May 2: York RI ‘B’ v Holgate WMC ‘D’ (Shepherd), BT ‘B’ v Holgate WMC ‘C’ (Machell).