Milton Keynes Junior Table Tennis Club
Match reports - By Sarah Hudson

Milton Keynes A

v Waterside
The team started off well with both Johan and Jon winning their first games, Alan was unable to continue this early run of good form and narrowly lost to their number one player. At this stage the team were growing in confidence and I was extremely pleased with the players team spirit and attitude. Unfortunately, they were on the wrong side of some lucky shots and the opposing team were winning the crucial points to take games off of the team. Johan got us back to winning ways by winning his last game and this was shortly followed by Alan picking up his first win of the day. On another day MK could easily have won this game 9-0, but unfortunately today they finished with a loss of 5-4.

v ALNS
By the time of the second match the team were feeling a little more confident, their nerves were settling down and they were beginning to produce some outstanding Table Tennis. Alan was able to clinch the first game of the match in a closely fought battle with their highly ranked number one player. Both Jon and Johan's games were very close and unfortunately ended on the wrong side of deuce. Many of the games played were again extremely close, but our lack of experience proved valuable with the opposing team yet again taking advantage. Johan was able to win his final game making the final score a disappointing 7-2.

v Cippenham B
At this late stage the players were feeling very blue and unconfident, but after a little talk we were able to lift there spirits again. First up was Alan and he was against his county team-mate, he was up for the challenge and was out to win. Whilst he didn’t play brilliant he kept his nerve and took the win. At this stage in the game we needed to beat Cippenham B by 3 points to stay in Division one. Next up was Johan, Johan played a safe game and was able to win the match in 3 straight, a great result for him. Unfortunately, this was the last game of the match our lads to win, many of the games again went to 9 all or deuce, but we were unable to capitalise on this score line and lost the match 7-2.

Review (in my opinion)
Although the team battled hard, they need to considerably improve before the next day of competition. Due to the relegation/promotion format the A team will be playing in Division 2 next time. Hopefully, they will be able to get back to winning ways and get promoted back up to division 1. It does look hopeful for the future though, both Alan and Johan beating different players, if they could get the consistency into their game and a bit more passion then I don't see any reason why MKA cannot push for first place in Division One. It's up to the players themselves whether or not they want to achieve this.

Well done to all

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Milton Keynes B

v Cippenham B
Nerves, lack of experience and of course lack of confidence was main factor with the B team, none of the teams players have played many tournaments, local or national, so this type of competition is relatively new. The team got of to a good start though with John Lodge picking up the first win of the match, with Matthew Garner also impressing in the second match it looked like the B team would have a chance of winning, however after all the hard work they put into the match they were only able to come away with an 8-1 loss.

v Chesham High School A
Up next was a very experienced Chesham High School A team, many players of this team play for the county and I wasn't expecting many of our players to pick up points. MKB put up a real battle and many of the games again went the full distance, Both Neil and John were able to pick up well-deserved wins making the final score 7-2.

v Southampton The final match of the day was against Southampton, by this time many of the team were showing the fight and determination that the first team were lacking, as the day wore on the B team were getting stronger and stronger and I was most impressed with this attitude. The game started of well with John picking up a 3-0 win. Neil unfortunately was unable to continue this form. At the half way stage the team were 4-1 down, but they showed true fight over the next few games with each player picking up a win, unfortunately this was not enough to win the match and they closely lost 5-4.

Review (in my opinion)
From the performances that I saw I was very pleased with the progress certain players have made over the past few months. The B team will be playing in Division 3 next time, and I am confident that they will be heading straight back to Division 2. The first day of competition is always tough, but hopefully the players have learnt a lot from this experience and this can only help to improve their game.

Well done lads

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