BOTH Springfield A and the Park District came into their top-of-the-table clash unbeaten with players from each team also defending unbeaten records. 

In an enthralling evening of table tennis, both teams still remain unbeaten after a 21-21 draw but individual records tumbled.

Springfield’s Thomas Babler ended firstly John Ryan’s and then Geoff Ware’s great starts to the season for the loss of just one set but then relinquished his own perfect start in a 3-1 loss to newcomer and Dorset County youngster Ali Malloch. 

He secured Park District the full nine points from his three singles ties and, with Ware beating Craig Stanten 3-1 in the final singles tie of the night, Park went into the doubles with a slender 19-18 advantage. 

Babler and Stanten took the opening two legs to swing the match back Springfield’s way before Ryan and Ware took the next two to regain the lead. 

The Springfield pair dug in though to come through 11-5 in the fifth to leave nothing between the two sides after a nip-and-tuck evening. 

Wyke A lie in fourth place behind Budmouth A, who didn’t play, after a convincing 30-5 win over Dorchester’s Colliton X in the division’s only other match this week.

Sai Maganti, Steve White and Mike Doyle dominated from start to finish in winning all 11 ties. 
Raj Lehal top scored for Colliton with five points. Andy Crouch took their only other point in the singles in sneaking a mammoth 16-14 set over Maganti in a 3-1 loss. 

Springfield’s B team are emulating their Division One counterparts by sitting atop Division Two after securing a 24-14 victory over Pilgrims A. 

Preston B and Preston A did battle at Westfield with the former coming out on top 26-13 to stay second. 

This match looked like it might be closer than the final score shows with the teams sharing the spoils in the opening four matches. 

The B team then won the last five singles ties for the loss of just four sets to open up a big margin before Simon Green and in-form Derek Shilliday restored some pride in overcoming Derrick Smith and Josh Harman 3-2 in the doubles.

Harman got the full nine points for the victors but a special mention is made for Ros Page who hit eight points and two wins despite playing with a broken toe.

Shipton Gorge B are third after a close 22-16 win over Budmouth D. 

Shipton stormed to a 9-1 lead before league chairman, Neil Hardisty, and Tom Lydford secured wins to close the gap.

Eddie Knell then narrowly lost 3-2 to Peter Billingham before Lydford beat Derek Wheeler by the same score. 

Hardisty’s 3-0 win over Billingham in the final singles tie meant Budmouth could grab an, what seemed earlier, unlikely draw with the same scoreline in the doubles. 

Wheeler and Graham Albertella were too strong though and secured the victory with a 3-0 win. 
The youngsters of All Saints scored their third win of the season with a 26-16 success over the experienced Preston C.

All but two of the 10 ties went to four or five sets with Dan Dadds (6) and Dave Clegg (6) fighting out an absolute classic in the sixth tie after All Saints had got off to a fast start in winning the opening five. 

Clegg won the first leg of that sixth tie 11-9 before Dadds hit back in an incredible 17-15 second leg.

As if that wasn’t enough, Clegg then won the third leg by the same score before Dadds once again got himself back into it 11-5 in the fourth.

Wiley Clegg held his nerve in the decider eventually winning it 11-7.  A total of 118 points played in that one tie will be hard to beat this season.

Division Three of the Weymouth & District League is currently dominated by its two Shipton Gorge teams.

Shipton Gorge C are still on top after inflicting a crushing 30-2 defeat on the division’s bottom side, Preston D.

Lynda Clegg and Thierry Roy scored the solitary points for Preston with Dave Poole scoring the full nine points with no reply for Shipton.

Shipton Gorge Youth lost to STEPS J 14-28, for whom this was the first win of the season, but remain second.

This match could have gone either way given that six out of the 10 ties went to the full five sets.

However, the difference was that the other four ties all went STEPS’ way without them dropping a set with Paul Hammond winning all three of his.

Colliton C had better fortunes over STEPS’ other team in the division, STEPS M, with a 23-17 victory and closed the gap on them in doing so.

Consistent scoring from Peter Loakes (6), Andy Ray (7) and Mark Whittingham (7) secured the win with Richard Wood (9) top scoring on the night for STEPS.

The second drawn match of the weekend saw Springfield D and Pilgrims fight out a 17-17 stalemate.

Despite losing all three of his matches it was great to see Frank Dallimore return to the table.

The highlight was his tussle with old friend and colleague Mike Richardson.

After seven ties, Pilgrims had built up a 14-10 lead but then David Moth beat Alec Bailey 3-0 and Richardson beat Dallimore by the same score to set up a tense doubles finale.

Bailey and Barry Thomas won the first two sets for Pilgrims to level at 16-16 before Richardson and Chris Moth edged the third set 12-10 for Springfield to ensure at least an honourable draw.

Bailey and Thomas then took the fourth for Pilgrims to ensure that draw.

Budmouth E continued their reputation for playing in close matches in coming out 19-16 winners against Wyke C.

Although Wyke C won five of the singles matches, the score was 16-16 going into the doubles and the combined talents of April Heasman and Erin Stow eventually won the match for Budmouth.

Roy Sharp played well to take a maximum nine points but it was Mark Collins who was involved in the two closest matches of the night.

Firstly, he was involved in a hard-hitting game with Erin Stow who came back well after losing the first leg to secure a 3-1 win and secondly in a cliff-hanger against Edith Dedman who fought back after losing the first two legs to draw level only to see her comeback thwarted 12-10 in the deciding leg.