Press Report 7TH Nov 2014

 1         0       3          4         57 

Hyndburn TTC C      2         0       1          3         56 

KSB D                        0          0      4           4        54 

KSB C                        1          0      1           2        42

 Third division league 

 Name                        Won Draw Loss Played Points 

KSB E                            3        0       2         5          99 

Best Centre Raptors   3        0       0         3          84 

Whalley Falcons         3         0      1         4           80 

Ramsbottom E            3         0      0         3           78

 Doals Vikings             1         0      3         4           62 

Whalley Merlins          1         0      4         5           58 

Best Centre Phantoms 0      0      6         6            47 

Slayers                          1        0      0         1            27

 Hyndburn TTC D         1        0      0         1            19

 Overall league Summary 

 Just a month or so into the new season and its time to report on how things are shaping up. League chair Ged Simpson with his team mates Keith Ward & Keith Jackson in their newly named team ‘K Ward Plumbing’ have played 4 and won 4 and sit top of the Premier division. Ramsbottom ‘A’ are just 3 points behind, and with a strong squad including new transfer Martin Wyatt (formerly of Burnley Boys) will expect to form a sustained challenge for the title. Yet B.L.C Clarets & East Lancs 1st are also unbeaten but played 1 game less, will also fancy they can challenge at the top. It could be a much closer title race all-round this year! Early strugglers are The Lions & Rovers without a win yet and likely to have a hard season. In Division One Ramsbottom C unbeaten after 4 games sit top. KSB ‘A’ also boast 4/4 wins and nicely placed to pounce are Old Masters ‘A’ unbeaten after 3. Hyndburners with just 1 loss will also compete at the top end of the division. Teams without a win yet and will be battling to avoid the drop are Tackyfire, Mavericks & Hyndburn TTC ‘B’. Whalley Kestrals are likely to be in the mix battling for survival as well but have had 1 win thus far. Rolling Doals, by virtue of playing more games than anyone else sit top of Division Two, and if they were able to field their strongest 3 players regularly may well be serious contenders but reliance on reserves has already contributed to 3 losses. Old Masters ‘B’ have managed to win 4/4 though only by a single point in 3 of them. The team looking to be most likely on top when things settle are Ramsbottom ‘C’. The rest of the division between top and bottom looks wide open at this stage and all teams have good players capable of emerging winners on any night. The only team without a win in div 2 are KSB ‘D’ but with a much improved Bernard Milnes & with Craig Milnes likely to get nearer to his former standard when he gets his eye back in, no one should think they will be pushovers either. Should be an interesting and closely fought division this year. Divison Three also boasts a number of very good standard players and teams this year. KSB ‘E’ with more games played are top, but with their squad should continue to do well anyway. Best Centre Raptors are second having started with a blitz and will harbour hopes of promotion after collecting an impressive 84 out of a possible 90 points in 3 games. Whalley Falcons can contend and also have a few very good players. The two teams to watch as well are the two sides demoted from Div 2, Ramsbottom ‘E’ & Slayers (if they actually manage to play their games!). 

 For info in how to start playing TT or how to join a club contact league development office Harry Rawcliffe on Tel 01254 663451 

 Burnley Focus

 B.L.C Clarets (current league champions under their Old Name of Burnley Boys Club) will miss Martin Wyatt who has left them, but will still carry the flag for Burnley into a title challenge and have made a great start with 3/3 wins. The other Burnley based premier team are newly promoted Brierfield ‘A’ who with two wins already may believe they can stay up. There are no Burnley based teams in Division one this year but in Division two Brierfield ‘B’ have players good enough to compete and a few who will be amongst the best. Newly Promoted Best Centre Jets have enjoyed their first win, but despite a big improvement for a team that only started last year, survival in division Two is going to be a hard battle for them. Best centre represent Burnley with two teams in Division 3: Raptors who are blazing the trail with 3 big wins out of 3 and will be a serious proposition for promotion but with 3 or 4 other really good teams in div 3 this year it will be hotly contested. Best Centre Phantoms with a new squad of players playing for their first season are struggling as expected but showing signs they will soon improve. Best Centre is open to new players and beginners to join their club on a Monday night (Contact Darren Wright for more info on 07736473609) 

 Rossendale Focus 

Ramsbottom have two teams in the premier Division and both will do well. Ramsbottom ‘A’ have made a great start with 4/4 wins and sit in second place at present, and have the capability of staying there. Ramsbottom have a team in each of the other divisions and all have started well and look like promotion challengers. The ‘C’ team unbeaten after 4 games sit top of Division One, the D team also unbeaten after 3 games look favourites in div 2, and the E team in Division 3 are also unbeaten and when games caught up with are likely to be somewhere near the promotion places. Rawtenstall’s Kay Street Baptists (known as KSB) have five teams competing this year. ‘A’ & ‘B’ teams are in Division One. The B team have started alright with 2/4 wins and the ‘A’ team are boasting 4/4 wins and are capable of pushing for promotion. In Division Two their ‘C’ & ‘D’ teams look like they are struggling but both will improve as the season progresses and with the players in the squad the ‘C’ team in particular should rise much higher than their current position. Bacup based Doals Community Centre Table Tennis Club have 3 teams this year. Rolling Doals, aided by more games played are top of Division Two and Doals Marauders are 3rd. Both teams have not done as well as they can at the start of the season due to key players being unavailable and relying on reserves or playing with a player short on occasion. With a new signing last week and the return of Ian Smith Marauders will still hope to mount a promotion challenge. The Doals Viking team in Division Three has also struggled with not enough players but the return of two players in last few weeks has settled the team again. A good team with youngster Thomas Sumner going well on 70% but probably not strong enough as a team all-round this year to get promoted. For info of how to start playing TT in Rossendale contact Ramsbottom’s Bryan Edwards on 01617975082, or Doals (Bacup) Neil Hepworth on 07873834942, or KSB (Rawtenstall) Trevor Elkington on 07981387755.