STRONG performances from a young Wey Valley team could not prevent a 24-11 win for Shipton Gorge C in the Weymouth and District Table Tennis League.

Ethan Bingham (8) took his first two matches 3-0 against Shipton Gorge C’s more experienced Tom Baldry (6) and Dave Poole (6) but he eventually met his match in a very close and hard fought battle with Dan Corren (9) who needed to draw on all his experience to find the right moment to initiate an ultimately winning offensive game.

Both Ethan Bisland (0) and Joe Bingham (1) also showed their potential, despite the scores not doing them justice, and were eventually beaten by their own lack of consistency against a seasoned league team.

The doubles match was another hard-fought battle that could have gone either way as the young team pushed Shipton to five sets. The eventual 24-11 win for Shipton does not reflect the close competitive play throughout.

Elsewhere, Colliton C secured a hard-fought 27-16 win over Budmouth B where half the games went the distance. Wyke A secured a close 20-18 win over All Saints A.

Budmouth A hosted Shipton Gorge A in a cracking match with some great attacking play countered by superb blocking.

Rob Hawes (9) continued his good form but was pushed all the way by Liam Critchard (7) and Josh Clark (8), who lost the fifth leg 12-10.

Jess Moggeridge (6) continues to grow in confidence and secured good wins over Terry Whitworth (4) and Miranda Edwardes (5).

The final result was in doubt until the doubles but the Budmouth boys came through a stern test to secure a 23-19 win.

If the Springfield B v Colliton X match was a football match it would have been first on Match of the Day – this was a three-hour thriller between two very closely matched teams.

Mick Hogan (7) won his first match after a thrilling 22-20 fourth game win over Paul Arnold (6). Arnold and Raj Lehal (6) then fought out a close five-setter, with five of the singles legs going to a decider.

The closest of these was a 3-2 win for the home team’s Chris Whitefield (6) over Lehal even after losing the fourth leg 20-18.

However, the performance of the evening went to the home team’s Gary Ayles who took all nine points and produced by far his best performance of the season, capped off by a convincing 3-0 doubles win with teammate Arnold to secure a 24-20 win.

Meanwhile, Park District swept past YMCA with a 30-7 victory and Red Triangle beat Shipton Gorge B 26-14.

There was a very good 28-12 win for Colliton D over Budmouth C with some impressive table tennis played.

Colliton had the edge when it came to tight legs, winning the majority which went to deuce. The doubles in particular had the small crowd on the edge of their seats as Budmouth came back from 2-0 down to force a fifth-leg decider which the Colliton boys won 17-15.

Springfield D just came out on top after a really close match with Colliton B. Mike Wood (8) showed his improved form of recent times and was involved in the two closest matches of the night, against Mick Hogben (7) and Les Gardner (5).

David Moth (9) made the score 17-12 when he defeated Mark Gugan (3) but Colliton fought back taking the last two matches to make the final score 19-18 in Springfield's favour.

An excellent, close match saw Wyke B just running out 23-20 winners over All Saints B.

Tom Hepburn (9) came back from two down to beat Rod Wynees (8) with some steady play. Paul Robson-Rowell (7) won a hard hitting match 3-1 against Ben Chen (3).

Billy Blackmore (5) also beat Chen but lost to Nathan Bushell (7).

Finally, Colliton A scored a 21-13 win over Budmouth.