Milton Keynes Topspin 2-8 Milton Keynes Phoenix
Wednesday 30 November 2022
| Game | Result | Score | Match score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Wackrill lost to Ioan Constantin (1-3) | 11-7, 6-11, 7-11, 5-11 | 0-1 |
| 2 | Paul Haigh lost to Ivor Howard (1-3) | 11-6, 6-11, 3-11, 4-11 | 0-2 |
| 3 | Russell Penn beat Gerald Ridgway (3-2) | 11-3, 5-11, 7-11, 14-12, 11-4 | 1-2 |
| 4 | Russell Penn & Paul Haigh lost to Ioan Constantin & Ivor Howard (2-3) | 3-11, 11-8, 11-4, 9-11, 7-11 | 1-3 |
| 5 | Paul Haigh lost to Ioan Constantin (0-3) | 9-11, 11-13, 10-12 | 1-4 |
| 6 | David Wackrill beat Gerald Ridgway (3-1) | 11-8, 11-8, 5-11, 11-5 | 2-4 |
| 7 | Russell Penn lost to Ivor Howard (2-3) | 11-7, 14-16, 8-11, 11-9, 7-11 | 2-5 |
| 8 | Paul Haigh lost to Gerald Ridgway (2-3) | 6-11, 11-9, 11-7, 5-11, 4-11 | 2-6 |
| 9 | Russell Penn lost to Ioan Constantin (2-3) | 8-11, 12-10, 13-11, 3-11, 4-11 | 2-7 |
| 10 | David Wackrill lost to Ivor Howard (2-3) | 12-14, 5-11, 11-8, 11-8, 3-11 | 2-8 |
| Team | Legs won | Legs average (%) | Points won | Points average (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milton Keynes Topspin | 18 | 40.00 | 380 | 46.23 |
| Milton Keynes Phoenix | 27 | 60.00 | 442 | 53.77 |
| Team | Player | Games played | Games won | Legs played | Legs won | Legs average (%) | Points played | Points won | Points average (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milton Keynes Topspin | David Wackrill | 3 | 1 | 13 | 6 | 46.15 | 233 | 109 | 46.78 |
| Milton Keynes Topspin | Paul Haigh | 3 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 25.00 | 215 | 91 | 42.33 |
| Milton Keynes Topspin | Russell Penn | 3 | 1 | 15 | 7 | 46.67 | 288 | 139 | 48.26 |
| Milton Keynes Phoenix | Ioan Constantin | 3 | 3 | 12 | 9 | 75.00 | 229 | 130 | 56.77 |
| Milton Keynes Phoenix | Ivor Howard | 3 | 3 | 14 | 9 | 64.29 | 262 | 145 | 55.34 |
| Milton Keynes Phoenix | Gerald Ridgway | 3 | 1 | 14 | 6 | 42.86 | 245 | 122 | 49.80 |
Paul Haigh played on loan from Milton Keynes Pioneers in Division One.
| Match date | Wednesday, 30 November 2022 at 19:30 |
|---|---|
| Competition | League |
| Division | Premier Division |
| Venue | Milton Keynes Table Tennis Centre |
| Season | 2022-2023 |
| Legs played | 45 |
| Points played | 822 |
Published 05/05/2024 00:26 by David Wackrill.
TESTING TIMES FOR TROUBLED TOPSPIN
Any lingering hopes that we, at team Topspin, had of finishing as high as 7th took a nose-dive with this latest performance against the current incumbent of that elevated position. In a basement match between last year’s promoted teams, Phoenix could afford to leave their top players at home watching the World Cup footie and still run out easy winners against their rivals for bottom place. The gap between the teams now sits at a massive 16 points.
Topspin have Div 1’s Paul Haigh to thank for plugging this week’s team vacancy, and play alongside Russell Penn and myself. Our Phoenix pals went with Ioan Constantin, Ivor Howard and Gerald Ridgway.
Congratulations go to Ioan and Ivor for maximums, and they also snaffled the doubles together. Gerald picked up Phoenix’ remaining point by beating Paul, his first ever win against him and also his first of the season. 6 sets went the distance with Phoenix winning 5 of them.
Set of the night goes to Russell v Ioan with Russell keen as ever to take up the usual challenge on offer, to try and hit Ioan off the table when he offers up those tempting side-spin lobs for smashing. While Russell’s attack was going well it made for spectacular viewing with Ioan often driven back to the boards before countering with some fancy hitting of his own (how does he consistently hit winners from 5 yards away? Amazing!)). But after 3 close games fatigue set into Russell’s game and he couldn’t maintain his former standard, losing the 4th and 5th games easily.
One for the old-fashioned purists was my drawn-out battle with Gerald, and in particular the last rally of the 2nd game (I was leading 10-8 at the time) which lasted longer than a whole game played by Julie Snowdon and Abhay Tijare in the Div 1 match on the next table. Spare a thought for umpire Ioan, whose officiating incidentally was consistent with the expedite rules of play.
Man of the match : Ivor Howard (who quadrupled his win tally for the season!)
Any lingering hopes that we, at team Topspin, had of finishing as high as 7th took a nose-dive with this latest performance against the current incumbent of that elevated position. In a basement match between last year’s promoted teams, Phoenix could afford to leave their top players at home watching the World Cup footie and still run out easy winners against their rivals for bottom place. The gap between the teams now sits at a massive 16 points.
Topspin have Div 1’s Paul Haigh to thank for plugging this week’s team vacancy, and play alongside Russell Penn and myself. Our Phoenix pals went with Ioan Constantin, Ivor Howard and Gerald Ridgway.
Congratulations go to Ioan and Ivor for maximums, and they also snaffled the doubles together. Gerald picked up Phoenix’ remaining point by beating Paul, his first ever win against him and also his first of the season. 6 sets went the distance with Phoenix winning 5 of them.
Set of the night goes to Russell v Ioan with Russell keen as ever to take up the usual challenge on offer, to try and hit Ioan off the table when he offers up those tempting side-spin lobs for smashing. While Russell’s attack was going well it made for spectacular viewing with Ioan often driven back to the boards before countering with some fancy hitting of his own (how does he consistently hit winners from 5 yards away? Amazing!)). But after 3 close games fatigue set into Russell’s game and he couldn’t maintain his former standard, losing the 4th and 5th games easily.
One for the old-fashioned purists was my drawn-out battle with Gerald, and in particular the last rally of the 2nd game (I was leading 10-8 at the time) which lasted longer than a whole game played by Julie Snowdon and Abhay Tijare in the Div 1 match on the next table. Spare a thought for umpire Ioan, whose officiating incidentally was consistent with the expedite rules of play.
Man of the match : Ivor Howard (who quadrupled his win tally for the season!)