It was close, but in the end both the first and second Cippenham teams managed to
stave off relegation from their Division 1 status. At one stage, after the Saturday
morning matches, both were bottom of their divisions but two victories for the first
team in their final three matches and a heroic last-gasp draw for the second team
in their final match saved the day.
The weekend started inauspiciously for the first team with an 8-0 whitewash at the
hands of a rejuvenated Urban Progress team. Concerned about their own relegation
worries, Urban sent out a strong team and swept away the Cippenham challenge although
Eddie Mitchell nearly saved the whitewash when coming back from two games down to
take Zoltan Hosszu all the way to deuce in the fifth.
Thereafter, things certainly took a turn for the better. Cippenham’s top two, Cedric
Brion and Martin Adams, found their form for the afternoon match against BATTS Team
Peniel II and a brace from each steered the team to a 5-3 win and, importantly, out
of the drop zone. Cedric started with a 3-1 win over Dob Tokov and then Martin made
it 2-0 with a closely run 11-9 in the fifth win over Martin Kubrt. Mark Butler failed
to penetrate the defensive skills of Meihan Liu but Eddie Mitchell restored the two
set cushion when overcoming the difficult style of Fred Dove. Cedric, now at his
scintillating best, raced past Kubrt, conceding only thirteen points in three games,
to make it 4-1 and Martin eased past Dove to claim the team’s second only victory
of the season.
Sunday morning’s match against then leaders Fusion I was not expected to yield any
points and so it proved. However, the 6-2 defeat masked a very impressive win for
Mark against Tom Cutler, ranked 26 in England, and an also impressive display by
15 years-old Eddie in his defeat of the veteran John Dennison.
Going in to the final match Cippenham I were almost safe. Bottom team Generation
2 needed to secure at least one point against a rampant Urban Progress side and that
was never very likely. In the end, Generation lost 8-0 and Cippenham’s survival was
assured without the hugely impressive 5-3 victory against fourth-placed DHS Greenhouse
Progress II. All three sets lost by Cippenham went the full distance of five games
while three of the host team’s successes were 3-0. It had not started so well as
Rafique Sarhadi went down in five games to James Sprackling. Cedric squared matters
up by beating Egle Adomolyte but Eddie lost to Ryan Maynard and Mark lost surprisingly
to Damilola Thomas to put the London-based club ahead 3-1. However, Cippenham then
commenced a spirited comeback to win all the next four sets and emerge victorious
5-3 and end the season on a high. Cedric, despite nursing an injury picked up earlier
in the day, saw off Sprackling 3-0 and Rafique emerged likewise from his dual with
Maynard. Mark then downed Adomelyte in four games to set up the chance of victory
that the eager Eddie clinched with a 3-2 win over Thomas.
It was all much less clear cut for the second team. Saturday morning saw OLOP IMPACT
dominate proceedings and Cippenham’s only respite in a 7-1 defeat was provided by
David Hayes’ 3-0 win over Chris Bush. The afternoon also brought little cheer although
the score was closer. Wins for each of Owen Clutterbuck, Nick Brown and Mark Jackson
were not enough as Brighton City took the points 5-3. That put Cippenham in dire
trouble with a Sunday morning match against third placed Mossford to look forward
to. The result was the same, 5-3, although all the host team’s successes arrived
at the end of the match from 5-0 down. Steve Munson was brought into the team in
place of Mark for the Sunday matches and he, Owen and Nick all picked up a win apiece.
It had all come down to the final matches of the season. On Saturday morning only
one point had separated the bottom five teams in a closely fought and congested division.
By the time the last match arrived, the number of teams in danger had been reduced
to three and Cippenham II were a point off the pace rooted in last spot. Lose against
the Guernsey national side and they were down, win and they were safe. Draw and then
it mattered what was happening on the adjacent table where Reading-based rivals Kingfisher
were playing Mossford. A draw for Kingfisher and they were safe, Cippenham would
be down. A 5-3 defeat would mean that the referee would then have to count all the
games played over the season as a tie-breaker. 6-2 and Kingfisher were down.
But, could Cippenham get the draw to make that a possibility? It seemed less likely
at 2-0 down with David and Owen having lost their opening matches. However, Nick
and Steve responded with straight-forward wins over Paul Hainsworth and Adam Langlois.
Further defeats for David and Nick put Guernsey 4-2 up and the islanders had won
all four matches involving their top two players. Their third and fourth players
had to lose all their matches for Cippenham to have any semblance of a chance. And
that is what happened, Owen and Steve were never troubled and Cippenham got the 4-4
result they craved. On the next table, the result was also going Cippenham’s way
as Mossford beat Kingfisher 6-2 and Cippenham survived by the narrowest margin of
a single set.
Meanwhile the Cippenham third team were in operation at Okehampton, Devon in Division
2 South & West. A difficult weekend saw them beaten in all four matches, three of
them by 5-3, against opponents that only lost once between them. Like the other two
Cippenham teams, seventh place was their final destiny. The first match was against
second-placed Horsham who were chasing Ashford for the title. Steve Buck and Paul
Baker both beat Rory Scott as that match ended 6-2 but with three of the lost sets
being decided in the fifth end it could have been different.
Saturday afternoon saw them take on leaders Ashford. Chris Hansell had the distinction
of being the first and ultimately only player to take Matt Pernet to five ends. Wins
for Tony Stead and Paul against Ramesh Bhalla and Steve against Jason Tendler were
not enough in a 5-3 defeat but, once again, two fifth-end defeats made all the difference.
And so to Sunday morning and Woolwell who had won twice on Saturday and were chasing
the leading two teams. Another 5-3 defeat ensued with Steve and Chris successful
against Freddie Cutler and Tony against Mike Griffiths.
Finally, on Sunday morning, the opponents were Club Cornwall whose three wins thus
far during the weekend had seen them move well away from the foot of the table. Cippenham
suffered yet another 5-3 defeat with Tony and Paul both beating Paul Jenkins and
Chris overcoming former Cippenham player Martin Rule.
