Division 3. High flying Hamer Delph suffered an unexpected defeat against Failsworth A. Alan Marston (2) was their only winner in their 7-3 defeat. Rob Carter was unbeaten for Failsworth with 2 wins each for George Mercer and Jack Greenwood. They now slip to third behind Pennine & Unison B.

Pennine beat Lancashire Racquets 7-3 in a game that was littered with deuces, the closest of which saw Pennine's Dave Harris overcome David Atkinson 28-26,17-21, 22-20 to remain unbeaten on the night. Glen Chadwick (2) and Vin Flannagan (1) completed the victory, with David Atkinson (2) and Dave Bleakley (1) replying for the visitors.

Bottom club Coldhurst A beat Werneth D 6-4 mainly thanks to the unbeaten Geoff Hollin assisted by Murray Corbin and Peter Altham who each won one. Christian Halford (2), Tony Hyde (1) and Dave Renton (1) were Werneth's winners.

Division 1. Leaders NCFPP won 9-1 at Hanging Gate with Tony Reed losing to Gary Blackhurst.

Werneth B came away from Rosehill B with a 7-3 victory. Eddie Darlington and Doug Hill were unbeaten whilst Jon DePledge won one, losing to Jimmy Findlow and Bob Moores.

Division 2. The Grotton B team of Alan Sarsfield (3) Steve Smith (2) and Neil Tomlinson (2) beat Hollinwood F 7-3. John Foster (2) was Hollinwood's only winner.

First Transport won 7-3 at Hollinwood D with a fine display of hitting from Tommy 'Gun' Ryan (3) assisted by Brian Hall (2) and Ken Hayes (1).

Werneth C remain joint top after beating Hollinwood E 7-3. Paul Wilkinson starred for them winning his 3 whilst Doreen Schofield (2) and Bernard Davies (1) completed the victory. Steve Mather (2) and Glen Dowse (1) replied for Hollinwood.

Division 4. Coldhurst C picked up their first win of the season at the expense of their D team. In the 9-1 victory John Greenwood and Simon King were unbeaten with Simon Walsh losing to John McLoughlin.

Werneth F beat Coldhurst B 8-2 with wins from Mick Pellowe (3), Pete Aspinall (2) and Malcolm (The Backhand) Pellowe (2).

Werneth E posted a 6-4 win against Failsworth E but this was swiftly adjusted to 9-1 as Failsworth had played an ineligible player.

The Unison D team of Dennis Hayes (3), Neil Chapman (1) and Wayne Carter (2), kept up the pace with a 7-3 win against Failsworth B. Ron Tench won one for Failsworth with team mate Vin Gaffey (2) going close to winning his 3, narrowly losing 22-24,22-20, 18-21 to Wayne Carter.

Division I. It seems to be the year for 'come backs' in the Oldham & District Table Tennis League, with ex Oldham Town Champion Tim Hatton being the latest, making his debut for Hamer A in their 4-6 defeat against BAe A. Two wins from Tim and one from Phil Myers was the limit of their singles success, with John Hope (3), Bill Russell (2) and Dennis Taylor (1) winning for BAe.

Leaders NCFPP had a 9-1 win against Rosehill B. Jimmy Findlow had an excellent win against Larry Bainbridge and only just lost 26-24 in the third against Tony Reed who was unbeaten along with Andy Jackson.

Rosehill A drew with Hollinwood B with wins for Kevin Rothwell (2), Phil Ashworth (2) and Ian Stott (1), whilst Dave Buckley and Simon Abraham won two each for Hollinwood.

Division 2. Leaders Werneth C were held to a draw at First Transport. Glenn Phoenix won three for Transport with Ken Hayes and Brian Hall each winning one. Doreen Schofield and Paul Wilkinson won two each for Werneth.

Grotton A beat their B team 7-3 to move into second spot. With 7 of the games going to three it was a much tighter game than they might have expected.

Hollinwood E beat Hyde YMCA B 6-4 with 2 wins each from Stuart Clarke and Glenn Dowse and one from Steve Mather. Winners for Hyde were Ken Ward (2), Dennis Bradshaw (1) and Vernon Hyde (1).

Division 3. Gilders Tackle B drew at home to Uppermill C.C. B courtesy of their doubles win. Gerry Lees was unbeaten and Tony Robinson picked up the other set. Two wins each from Howard Meadham and Stuart Hamnson with one from Jim Bradbury secured the draw for Uppermill.

A draw also resulted between Unison A and Owls A. Craig Oldfield starred for Unison with 3 wins, Glenn Jackson winning one. Owls replies came from Philip Hall (2) Paul Woodward (2) and Martin Raines(1).

Deaf A won 8-2 at Werneth D thanks to a treble from Hitesh Kanji with doubles from Ian Cochrane and Prekesh Bhojani. Tony Hyde and Christian Halford replied with singles.

Division 4. Failsworth C won 6-4 at Coldhurst B with two wins each for Alan Nightingale and Andrew Stott and one from our Treasurer John Barley who was unlucky against Derek Taylor (3) losing 28-26 in the Third. David England was Coldhurst's other winner.

Failsworth B overcame their D team 6-4 with an all round team performance. Ron Tench, Mick Buckley and Vince Gaffey all won two each but were all unable to beat Pete Aspin.

Aerospace B after last weeks successful bottom feeding where this week
invited to the top table with a fixture against Werneth A.
Having lived off scraps, the thought of a gourmet meal filled the team with
anticipation and the resignation that the acid indigestion usually follows
rich food. There was no doubting the richness of the opposition Darryl
Meredith, Ian Mclean and Pete Morris and this trio certainly proved to be
somewhat unpalatable for the Aerospace team.
The evening started as it was to continue with Ted Robakowski returning
from self inflicted injury on a hiding to nothing against Pete Morris,
Darryl continued the agony with some Stirling backhand practice against
Eddie Kalinowski and Pete Hill put up negligible resistance against Pete
Morris, muttering something about why can't he just stick to defending!
This was not going to be a long drawn out affair!
Ian Mclean arriving later in the evening, stated that he was a bit "fed
up", but a little bit of cannon fodder in the shape of Ted and Pete
brightened up his evening no end, and his night finished splendidly with a
crushing win against Eddie K.
Nine nil down and not a game won, and its only half past nine! Down to the
doubles.
Ted and Ed against Pete(self styled ace doubles player) and Darryl. First
game to Werneth and the second looking won at 19 -16 , the Aerospace duo
taking advantage of some bickering, or was it general mirth? in the Werneth
ranks took the second 21 - 19. This was their moment of glory, lost the
third, but never mind its Hamer A next week!

Division 1. Leaders NCFPPP beat Hollinwood A 7-3 with wins from Larry Bainbridge (3) and Tony Reed (3) with Wayne Renton, back after injury, winning one. George Jones and Jack Christian replied with one each, Jack being involved in the game of the night just losing 22-20,19-21,21-23 to Tony.

Werneth A came away from BAe A with a 7-3 victory with Darryl Meredith (3) Ian McLean (2) and Stuart Meredith (1). BAe winners were Mick Moir (2) with Phil Biggs (1) losing game 19 in the third to Ian.

BAe B beat Werneth B 6-4 with Kevin Hill being unbeaten and Eddie Kalinowski and Peter Hill each winning one. Doug Hill (2), Eddie Darlington (1) and the recently transferred Jon DePledge (1) completed the scoring for Werneth.

Division 2. Werneth C lost for the first time this season 6-4 at home to Hyde YMCA B. Hyde's Nick Bakewell won his three with Ken Ward and Dennis Bradshaw picking up one each. Bernard Davies and Doreen Schofield won two each for Werneth.

The Hollinwood D team of Ray Statham (2) Harry Ross (2), and Roy Hicketts (1) just pipped their F team to win 6-4. John Foster (2), Peter Dawson (1) and George Marrow (1) replied for the F team with George just losing on deuce in the third to Ray.

Grotton A are the only unbeaten team in the division.

Division 3. Leaders Pennine beat Failsworth a 8-2. Munawar Hussain making his seasonal debut won the two for the visitors, but was unable to beat Glen Chadwick who won his three.

Hamer Delph relied on the doubles to make a draw with Gilders B. Although Alan Marston won his three, their only other singles win came from Derek Naylor. Colin Ogden (2), Gerry Lees (2) and Tony Robinson (1) won for Gilders.

The mid table battle between Unison A and Werneth D ended in a 8-2 victory for Unison, for whom Glen Jackson and Craig Oldfield were unbeaten with Peter Jones adding one. Tony Hyde and Dave Renton each won one for Werneth.

Division 4. Failsworth C fought out a draw with Coldhurst C mainly thanks to Paul Carter who won his three and Alan Nightingale (2). John Greenwood (2), Simon King (1) and Simon Walsh (1) replied for Coldhurst.

Werneth E beat Deaf B 6-4 with wins from Julian Minshall (3) Brian Micklethwaite (1) and Brian's son Stephen (2). Scott Hall (2) and Stuart Davis (1) were winners for the Deaf Club.

Aerospace B 6 Werneth B 4

Who needs the top of the first division anyway.

Mondays game at the Lancaster club was a cracker two evenly matched teams
battling it out in the nether regions of the first division. Kevin Hill as
is becoming the norm got Aerospace off to a good start beating Jon de
pledge comfortably in two, Eddie Darlington made it 1 -1 beating Peter Hill
in two straight. Dougie Hill ( more Hills than average tonight!) was
fortunate to win the first game against Eddie Kalinowski but made no
mistake in the second. Werneth 2 - 1 to the good.
At this stage the match really got going Peter Hill was on to a hiding to
nothing loosing the first against Jon game 8 but rallied strongly to win
the second and with some vintage returning clinched the third on deuce.
Fast Eddie then had a cracker against steady Eddie, it is debatable whether
some of the shots were intentional but it made for a fast and entertaining
match, fast Eddie clinched it 22 - 20 with a lucky net cord in the third.
Aerospace lead 3 -2.
Kevin Hill again produced the goods not letting Dougie Hill, no relation,
get into his stride, winning in two straight. Aerospace 4 - 2 up and
looking good.
At this stage the wheels nearly game off the wagon, Fast Eddie won the
first so comfortably and was 8 - 2 up in the second against Jon de Pledge
that it seemed inevitable that Aerospace would go 5 -2 up, but Jon had not
read the script and fought back well to take the second game, the third
game was close but again Jon's experience won through, 4 - 3 to Aerospace.
Dougie Hill, always had the beating of Peter Hill, not his dad, and the
game was tied 4 -4.
Eddie Darlington against Kevin Hill was a classic, Kevin took the first and
seemed to be coasting, but Eddie sneaked in on the inside to take the
second. In the third the game seemed to be slipping away from Kevin with
Eddie playing some great shots to lead 10 - 5 but could not maintain the
intensity, Kevin went 15 -10 up and went on to win comfortably in the end.
Werneth needed the doubles for the draw but the combination of Kevin and
Eddie were too good for the Werneth pair of Jon and Eddie, it was all over
in two.

A great game watched by a crowd of one.

Veterans. The Oldham Veterans 1st team have made a steady start in the Premier Division of the Lancashire & Cheshire League.

Their opening match saw them win 7-3 away at Preston. Larry Bainbridge, Stuart Meredith and Peter Morris each won two games.

The same team played at home on Saturday against a strong Macclesfield team. The match lasted nearly four and half hours, with 6 games going to a deciding set. The end result of a draw was a little dissapointing as Oldham were leading 5-2 and had good opportunities to win the match.

Division 1. Hanging Gate picked up another draw against Rosehill B and were unlucky not to win. The turning point was when Rosehill's Jimmy Findlow narrowly beat Brian Peace 23-21 in the third. All players contributed with wins from Glenn Hewitt (2), Brian Peace (1), Gary Blackhurst (2), Jimmy Findlow (1) Bob Moores (2) and Warwick Francis (1).

The Hollinwood A team of George Jones, Jack Christian and Gary Hallsworth had no problems beating their somewhat dissapointed C team 9-1, who had expected a much closer game.

Werneth A have moved into third spot after posting 3 wins and 27 points recently.

Division 2. Honeywell Lane go top after their 9-1 win against Grotton B. Paul Rowbotham and Brian Higgins each won three with Ken Dunkerley (2) losing to Alf Barker.

Werneth C are still the team to watch, although they slip to third they are only 4 points behind with two games in hand.

Gilders A took advantage of a weakened Uppermill A side beating them 7-3 with wins from Ray Woods (3), Martin Nicholls (2) and Colin Ogden (1). Mark Simpson (2) and Keith Moores (1) replied for Uppermill.

Hollinwood F improved 3 places after picking up 15 points from the last 2 games. Their latest game resulted in a draw against First Transport in a game where Adge Tindale retired hurt with what appeared to be a serious Achiles injury. We all wish him well soon. Hollinwood sportingly allowed the inclusion of substitute Tommy Ryan who, unfortunately for Hollinwood, went on to win his three.

Division 3. Pennine take over at the top following their 9-1 win at Gilders B. Glen Chadwick and John Robertson won 3 each with Dave Harris (2) losing to Gerry Lees.

Coldhurst A picked up their first win of the season against Gilders B, with Geoff Hollin(3) and Murray Corbin (2) doing the damage.

The Werneth D team of Alan Else (3), Dave Renton (2) and Tony Hyde (1) beat Owls A 7-3. Paul Woodward (2) and Philip Hall (1) were Owls winners.

Failsworth A beat Coldhurst A 8-2 thanks to George Mercer (3) and two wins each from Pete Aspin and Vincent Gaffey. Murray Corbin and Peter Altham replied.

Division 4. Unison C kept up the pace at the top with a 10-0 win against Coldhurst B There were unbeaten performances from Peter Rands, Roger Jagger and John Mark who made his first appearance of this season.

Werneth F moved into second spot with a 7-3 win against Failsworth B. Mick Pellowe starred with 3 wins, ably assisted by Mark Dyson (2) and his father Malcolm (1). Winners for Failsworth were Mick Buckley (2) and Alan Nightingale (1).

Failsworth E were unlucky not to get a draw against Owls B going down 6-4 despite losing 2 games on deuce in the third, and if this was not hard enough, they also had to concede the doubles due to time constraints with the hall. Owls winners were Linda Woodward (3), Dave Foden (1) and Mike Stansfield (1), whilst Failsworth wins came from Jonathan Hulme (2), Adam Young (1) and John Barley (1).