Improving Hollinwood upwardly mobile

TABLE TENNIS: HOLLINWOOD ‘B’ are improving fast in Division One of the Oldham and District Table Tennis League.

Two wins have calmed relegation fears and they are now looking to cement a place in mid-table.

Hollinwood were too good for basement boys Coldhurst ‘A’, who went down 7-3 despite a treble from Derek Watmough.

The team’s trio of Steve Collins, Nathan Buckley and Matty Evans then went one better to defeat Grotton ‘A’ 8-2. Evans was the star of the show with an excellent treble.

The Glodwick juggernaut rolled on with a 7-3 win over Werneth ‘A’.

However, the high-flyers were unable to get the better of Darryl Meredith, who accounted for all of Werneth’s points with narrow wins over Andy Jackson, Mark Ramsbottom and Khamal Hussain.

There is a quite a battle developing for runners-up spot in Division Two, with four points covering four teams.

Two of the sides in contention met at Uppermill, with the host club’s ‘A’ team taking on Hollinwood ‘C’. And Uppermill emerged victorious 6-4 after trailing 3-2 at one stage.

In-form Callum Jones registered a fine treble for Hollinwood.

Jones was also unbeaten, as was the returning Jack Christian, in Hollinwood’s 9-1 defeat of Droylsden, which put a massive dent in the latter’s promotion hopes.

Droylsden drew with second-placed Werneth ‘C’, although this time they had star player Miles Benjamin in their ranks and he duly won his three matches.

Birthday girl Karen Hill won two for Werneth and pushed Benjamin all the way before succumbing in the fifth set.

The match of the week in Division Three saw Saddleworth ‘B’ record a 6-4 success at top-of-the-table St Saviours ‘A’.

The experienced Gary Crossley clinched a hat-trick of wins for the visitors and, alongside Alex Griffiths, sealed victory.

Owls ‘A’ are still favourites to claim the second promotion place after a 7-3 win over Unison ‘D’.

Paul Woodward had three good victories for the Owls, while Peter Roberts won two for Unison.

In Division Four, youngster Adam Newton maintained his hot streak with a brilliant treble for Hollinwood ‘E’ in their 6-4 win over Our Lady’s ‘C’, for whom Elena Tepelus replied with a double.

There was also a close game at Coldhurst, where the ‘E’ team drew 5-5 with Coppice. Dave Murphy was unbeaten for Coppice.