Firsts move up to third in Widnes
RAVENSCROFT 1 have climbed to third spot in the eight strong National A-1 division table after a successful second weekend of Senior British League fixtures at the Halton Table Tennis club in Widnes.
The team of Lawrence Stacey, Joshua Stacey, Ben Foss and Alex Robinson won three of their four matches having opened the weekend with a 6-3 win over fourth placed side Halton TTC I.
The afternoon fixture on Saturday against seventh placed side Draycott II was a tight 5-4 scoreline for the Sarnians.
This was a real team effort with all four players each winning one singles match.
Lawrence earned a solid four-set win over former England international senior women’s player Emma Vickers, while twin Josh also defeated her in five sets.
Foss beat Adam Feargrieve in four sets, while Robinson earned a nice four-set win over Jody Bevington.
It came down to the doubles rubber and it was the combination of Foss and Robinson that took the honours due to a straight sets win over Bevington and Rhys Davies.
The first match of day two was a 5-4 defeat to second placed side St Mary’s Hull 1.
It was a similar story to the Draycott encounter in that each player won one match, however on this occasion the 100% doubles record for the weekend was lost as Foss and Lawrence were beaten in four sets by Connor Whitehead and Michael Fraser.
The highlight of the singles rubbers was arguably Josh’s strong straight sets win over Fraser, ranked 109 in England, while Lawrence came back from 2-0 down to beat the same player.
Ravenscroft I ended the weekend with an emphatic 8-1 win against Cardiff City TTC I, who are currently bottom of the division.
Ravenscroft II had a much tougher weekend of action in National C1 and failed to record victories in any of their matches.
Despite the defeats, there were still some good wins and performances from each player, namely Ryan Bichard, Ryan Gilson, Jamie Ferbrache and Senior British League debutant Steve Ozanne who made a solid start with two singles wins over the weekend.
Meanwhile the leading CI player Garry Dodd competed superbly for his Nottingham Sycamore side in the strong Championship Division.
Playing at No. 1, he won seven of his eight singles matches, losing only in four sets to England number 22 James Hobson.
Included in his wins were a number of top 50 English players.
