Table Tennis: Shepherd’s shock win peps up survival bid (From York Press)

Table Tennis: Shepherd’s shock win peps up survival bid

11:29am Saturday 18th February 2012 in Table tennis

SHEPHERDS ‘A’ beat second-placed RI ‘A’ to pick up crucial points in their bid to avoid the drop to division two of the National Powergrid York and District Table Tennis League.

RI ‘A’ went into the game 30 points adrift of reigning champions Coneysthorpe ‘A’, and having beaten Shepherds ‘A’ 9-1 in the first clash between the two sides earlier in the season.

However, only two players were fielded by RI, which resulted in three points being gifted to Shepherds ‘A’.

Jake McCarthy then picked up a notable win, defeating RI’s Paul Robertson, to collect four valuable points and ease their relegation worries.

They pulled further away from pursuers RI ‘D’, who battled hard but went down 7-3 to Crescent ‘B’.

John Wooldridge picked up three wins as Bootham ‘A’ overcame Holgate ‘A’ 7-3, with Joe Suchecki doing well to beat John Farmery. They then whitewashed RI ‘C’.

Ian Stansfield was in top form as Coneysthorpe ‘B’ edged out RI ‘B’.

Graham Hood turned in an excellent performance as Holgate ‘D’ edged past CE Electric/Bootham.

Three singles wins from Mark Blackburn could not prevent Bootham ‘C’ picking up a crucial 7-3 victory. They need to finish in the top six as the league will be re-organised at the end of this season.

Gareth Bryning starred for Bootham ‘B,’ inflicting John Flintoft’s third defeat of the season in straight games after beating Crescent ‘C’ 6-4.