Kidderminster & District Table Tennis League: Finals Night

The usual format of semi-finals and final was dispensed with due to defending champion George Carroll being abroad. He would have been present for the original date of finals night - but the venue was unavailable due to the local elections.

With only three of the four semi-finalists present at Cookley Village Hall, the management committee decided to introduce a round robin format with all the players competing against each other. And it certainly made for an exciting evening of table tennis, with all three players winning and losing a match each.

The first game of the night set the tone for the rest of evening: a tense encounter between veteran defender Steve Horton and George's elder brother Frank Carroll.

Left-hander Carroll gradually wore his opponent down with relentless attacking shots and looked certain to take the match when leading 10-6 in the fourth while 2-1 up in games.

But the man from Wall Heath never knows when he is beaten and clawed the game back to 10-10 before taking it 15-13.

He then cruised into an 8-4 lead in the decider, only to see Carroll fight back to deuce. Horton finally took the game on an edge 12-10 for a hard-fought 3-2 win.

After this marathon encounter which had the crowd on the edge of their seats throughout, it was the turn of Josh Webb, the youngster from Great Barr who plays for Hope Baptist Church in Stourbridge, to tackle Carroll.

Webb raced into a 2-0 lead with Carroll looking at sixes and sevens - but the Bewdley Institute player showed great character to come back after the disappointment of losing his opening encounter and win the next three games for a 3-2 victory.

Teammates Webb and Horton then did battle, with the defender noticeably struggling with a knee injury. Webb held his nerve for a 3-0 win, which also brought him the title, with Carroll the runner-up.

There was disappointment for spectators when the veteran Jeremy Duffield was forced to pull out of the Restricted Singles final with Cookley's promising youngster Archie Goulding who had gone all season undefeated in the league. With Duffield having suffered a back injury, the trophy was awarded to Goulding.

There was further drama in the Handicap Singles when Roger Webb was announced the winner by one and a half points. The margin was correct but it was Roger's opponent Adrian Wheeler who had won the best-of-four game clash.

Despite the no-shows and scoring eccentricities the spectators were treated to a great evening of table tennis, with prizes being awarded by guest of honour John Cumbers, who first started playing at Wordsley Community Centre in the mid-1970s. He played with teammates Pete Mole and the late Kev Walford for 40 consecutive years, first playing the Kidderminster league in 1997-8.

The rest of the trophies are being handed out at tonight's (Monday, May 19) KDTTL annual meeting at Oaks Community Hall, Harvington, at 7.30pm. All teams must send a representative or risk a £20 fine for non-attendance.