DERWENT Table Tennis Club first team are on course for British League premier division glory.

They took seven points from three wins and a draw in their first batch of matches, all played at Accrington last weekend.

The Riccall-based Derwent club beat Sycamore 6-2 and Halton Croda 7-1, drew 4-4 with Grantham and finished with a 6-2 victory in a Yorkshire derby match against BD Fastbats.

Now the first team are optimistic they can go on and win the division. The next round of matches is not until December, in Sheffield.

Derwent second team, with four players including 14-year-olds Stephen Robinson and James Parker making their British League debuts in division three North, lost 6-2 to Grimsby, drew 4-4 with Elgre (Nottingham) and lost 5-3 to Blackpool Seasiders and 5-3 to Northfield (Billingham).

With the score 2-2 in their opening match, against Sycamore, Derwent firsts won four in a row through Simon Noutch, Steve Horsfield, Richard Smith and Richard Moss.

The following day Derwent crushed Halton Croda 7-1 but then had to battle hard to get a draw off Grantham. York champion Moss won the final clash to snatch his side a point.

Moss scored two wins against BD Fastbats, Noutch and Smith winning one each.

Jonathan Wooldridge, Robinson and Richard Crowther made their British League debuts for Derwent seconds, led by the experienced Mick Wilcockson, against Grimsby.

Robinson produced the best performance of his career to beat Lesley Keast, one of the best female players in the country. But from 2-1 up and later 3-2 behind, Derwent crumbled to a 6-2 defeat.

Parker came into the second team in place of Robinson for their second match, against Elgre. Wilcockson won two singles and Wooldridge and Crowther one each to gain a 4-4 draw.

Robinson replaced Parker in the side against Blackpol Seasiders. Wilcockson won two and Wooldridge one in the 5-3 defeat.

The second team almost pulled off a shock result in the final match, against Northfield, one of the best sides in the division.

Former York League player Steve Cooper put Northfield ahead by beating his former Bootham Conservative Club colleague Wooldridge.

Northfield recovered to lead 4-2 and then Robinson played the game of his life to beat John Bousfield in four sets.

Parker was one set each in the final encounter, against Nick Corking, who squeezed home 17-15 in the third and just took the fourth 11-9 to deny Derwent a draw.

Updated: 10:51 Friday, September 10, 2004