Welcome to St Andrews Table Tennis Club

St Andrews Table Tennis Club provides both competitive and recreational playing opportunities for all ages and levels.
Informal adult beginner/returner sessions, “The Rascals”, led by Elaine Forbes are currently fully subscribed until 31 March 2019. Anyone who is interested in joining is invited to click on the contact page and submit their details. You will then be contacted as soon as spaces become available.

The club has five teams competing in the Dundee and District League between September and March.  For season 2019/20, these are (in rank order):

Division 1: Prefects (Bonifac, Nick, Elaine)
Division 2: Truants (Graham, Knut, Alain, Sascha)
Division 2: Swots (Dave B, Chris, Howard)
Division 2: New Kids (Kong, Ian S, Ian B, Collin)
Division 3: Prospects (Dave G, Ken, Sandy, Charlie, John, Louis)

Some action from our competitive matches can be viewed on the club’s YouTube channel

Cup joy for Prospects

After four league fixtures, let’s take a look at the fortunes of the St Andrews teams in the early part of the season.

Prefects are feeling the absence of star player Michael Hahn. Indeed, the Division 1 team have lost all of their matches so far, and quite heavily too, collecting only three out of a possible forty points. They will need to find some form promptly to avoid relegation. Will new recruit Holly McGerty be able to lift the team up from the bottom of the table and safe from relegation?

In Division 2, Truants are also (temporarily) at the bottom despite winning both matches played. They have two games in hand and could climb up the rankings swiftly, however, they were hoping to gather more points from their relatively less challenging opening games (with no offence intended to New Kids) and will need to be more convincing if they are to battle in the top half of the division along with Swots. The latter are currently in fourth place, breathing down the neck of the leaders, being only two points behind second placed Comets. New Kids are currently sixth, safe from relegation (for now).

Representing the club in Division 3, Prospects have lost their strongest player from last season as he moved up to play in Division 2. They are currently seventh with one game in hand and could be the dark horse in this division if they can find the kind of form they displayed in their Consolation Cup match against Missiles. Prospects came close to a 5-0 clean sweep, but David Hunter avoided total annihilation for Missiles by winning a highly contested fifth game 16-14 against Charlie Ross. Sandy Pearson and Ken Falconer both won their singles convincingly and Prospects are now through to the semi-final of the Consolation Cup in December.

Tough week for St Andrews

While two of the five St Andrews teams enjoyed a well-earned week off, Prefects were playing at home against Brechin in Division 1. They called on Louis McLeod to step in as a reserve. Louis normally plays in the third division, but did exceptionally well to win a game in all four matches in which he played. Prefects started strongly under the influence of Bonifac Legrady who won the opening match against Ian Farquhar. However, Brechin swept up the rest of the matches for a comprehensive 9-1 win.

Swots were on the hunt for the elusive Tigers of Broughty Ferry. For the big cats, Kenny McLaren easily disposed of Dave Beveridge to give Tigers an early lead. Howard Lee was also in trouble against Paul Jackson but fought back from 2-0 down to force a fifth game with Howard narrowly clinched the match 11-9 to level the tie. Tigers roared back in the lead with three straight wins before Howard came back to the table to score a second point for Swots. Tigers responded by taking the doubles match in the deciding set. Chris Wroniecki gave Swots hope of salvaging a draw with a fine win over Kenny. Tigers only needed one of the two remaining points to secure a victory, which Scott Thomson duly provided at the expense of Dave. Howard brought the last point home to reduce the deficit to 6-4 in the end.

In the third fixture, New Kids travelled to Lundin Links. The hosts took the lead with two straight sets victories. Ian Smith reduced the arrears with a fine win against Ron Filsell, but the Lasers ensured a successful outcome on the night by scoring four matches in a row for the loss of only two games. Ian clawed one back but that was all for New Kids who drove home with only 2 out of a possible 10 points.

Secondary Shield local derby

In Division 1, Prefects welcomed a new player, Holly McGerty, to the team. She could have hoped for an easier first match but was thrown in at the deep end against Viscounts, who are league title contenders. Viscounts dominated the encounter winning all of their matches for the loss of only three games, two of which went to Holly on her debut.

In Division 3, Prospects were taking on Squires in the Consolation Cup. The former seized a commanding 3-0 lead as Ken Falconer, Charlie Ross and Louis McLeod each won their opening match. Charlie then narrowly lost to Derek Johnston by the smallest of margins in the fifth game. Ken and Louis, however, showed no mercy and clinched victory in the tie 5-1 to qualify for the next round.

In the Secondary Shield, Truants were stunned at home by a strong Telstars team. Sascha Roschy put Truants ahead against Jim Houghton, but Alain Leger missed the chance to extend the lead for his team, losing 13-11 in the final game despite being 2-0 up against Stewart Clark. Telstars claimed the next three points to take them to the brink of victory at 4-1 in the first to 5 contest. Graham Wood kept the hosts’ hopes alive with a good win against Stewart but Alain was no match for David Monteith who easily sealed the fixture for Telstars.

The headline tie of the week was a local derby as New Kids faced Swots, the first of four encounters scheduled this season. Chris Wroniecki put Swots in front with a good win over Kong Wan in straight games. New Kids levelled the match as Collin Bleak was victorious over Dave Beveridge. Howard Lee eased past Ian Smith in five games to put Swots in front, but Collin came to the rescue again and beat Chris this time to level the match at 2-2. Both teams scored another point each (Howard beat Kong and Ian beat Dave) with three matches left in the fixture. Howard and Collin clashed and shared the first two games but Collin was too strong on the night and won his third match to put New kids in front, putting all the pressure on Swots. Chris needed a solid performance against Ian, but the latter was in control throughout the three games which he won comfortably for New Kids. With the overall victory in the bag, Kong added a final blow against Dave for a 6-3 overall scoreline in favour of the Kids.

Tragic news

It was a quiet week for the St Andrews teams as both Prefects and Truants were not competing.

Prospects (Division 3) travelled to Forthill to face Sputniks. The hosts took off with the first two points before Sandy Pearson managed to beat Eric Brown in five hard-fought games. But the Sputniks scored the next two singles to extend their lead to 4-1. Unlucky Eric lost in five games again, this time by a fractal to Ken Falconer. At 4-2 going into the doubles, Prospects needed to win all the remaining matches to secure victory in the fixture, but unfortunately lost them all.

In Division 2, New Kids were playing Barons at home. After an equally poor start as Prospects, the Kids managed to equalize when Ian Smith and Collin Bleak secured straight sets wins against Bill Beatie and Tanya Kapelyukh respectively. Barons bounced back and took the next three points, including the doubles. Collin kept New Kids’ hopes alive with a combative win against Bill in five games, but that was all they could manage as Barons grabbed the final points and a 7-3 win.

On the neighbouring table, Swots won 8-2 against a Tass team with only two players. The circumstances were tragic as the Telecoms team were mourning the untimely passing of their team mate David Axton who was due to play. The Table Tennis community was shocked by the impossibly sad news and all our thoughts are with David’s family at this difficult time.

A Promising Start for our Division 2 Teams in the Secondary Shield

Four of the five St Andrews’ teams were engaged in the first round of the Secondary Shield, which is open to teams from Divisions 2 and 3 of the Dundee and District League.

Truants opened the hostilities against Missiles at Forthill on the last day of September. Being a division above, Truants were under pressure to perform. All was going well indeed, with Knut Radmer and Sascha Roschy taking the first two points, until Lee Nixon (Missiles) stunned Graham Wood (Truants) in five games for a well-earned point. Fortunately, there was no further slip-up from Truants who cleaned up the rest of the matches to win 8-1.

The triumphant Swots in matching shirts: from left to right, Dave Beveridge, Chris Wroniecki and Howard Lee

Swots were hoping for a similarly strong result at home against Squires, benefiting from the same divisional advantage as Truants. And they even managed to outperform the latter, winning all nine matches for the loss of only two games.

Prospects (Division 3) had the toughest opening draw as they faced Comets, newly promoted to Division 2. The former had a great night, and were leading 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 thanks to impressive wins from Sandy Pearson (2 victories) and Louis MacLeod (1 victory). However, Comets always managed to level the score to 1-1. 2-2 and finally 3-3 before eventually taking the lead 4-3 and securing overall victory at 5-3. Prospects will be disappointed as they had the potential to take home the win. Still, they did themselves proud and will come back stronger next week.

Finally, New Kids (Division 2) were also player against a lower division team in the form of Duffers (Division 3) over in Broughty Ferry. On paper New Kids should have had an easy night, but they were made to work hard. They were able to grab the first three points, but two of these required deciding fifth game. Indeed, Ian Brumwell was very much on the back foot, 10-6 behind in the final game against Andy Reid, but he saved four match points in a row and dominated the next two rallies to win 12-10. Kong Wan (New Kids) was also taken to five games by Andy but wasn’t so fortunate and lost 11-3. The two Ians (Smith and Brumwell) snatched the last two points they needed, but New Kids will be aware that they need to raise their game in the next round against Swots to stay in the competition.

First St Andrews derby of the season

In Division 1, Prefects were hosting newly promoted Chieftains at home. Young rising star Jacob Munro (best second division player last season) was the chap to beat. He faced Bonifac Legrady after Nick Shepherd had defeated Fiona Kinloch in three straight games. Bonifac was unable to stop Jacob, who levelled the tie. Chieftains took the next two points before Nick won his second match of the night against Jim Tawse, but the guests then won four matches in a row to secure victory. Nick started the final encounter well, taking the first set comfortably but Jacob came back strongly to take the next three. Prefects will be disappointed to have scored only 2 points out of the 10 available.

On the other side of the room, Prospects were hoping to send Astronauts into orbit, and were indeed ahead for the best part of the night. Louis Macleod levelled the tie for Prospects after Charlie Ross misfired in the opening match against a promising Nairn Nixon, who then combined well with McKenzie Rough in the doubles to reduce the deficit to 4-3 going into the last three singles of the night. The hosts were looking up after Louis took the first one to lead 5-3, however, the Astronauts kept their cool and held Prospects to a draw at home.

Away from home, Swots had a tough night against Telstars at Telephone House in Dundee. Telstars were impressive, taking the first six straight singles to seal victory, but Dave Beveridge and Chris Wroniecki fought to the bitter end at 10-10 in the deciding game of the doubles to claim the first point for the away team. They each went on to win their final singles to reduce the deficit to 6-3 but Howard Lee could not quite manage the same feat and lost 14-12 to Jim Houghton in the deciding game. Final score: Telstars 7 Swots 3.

The first St Andrews derby of the season took place in the village of Gauldry, where Truants welcomed the New Kids. Although Truants play in Gauldry, they are affiliated to the St Andrews club. It was an international line-up with four countries represented, but no Scots on this occasion. In a friendly but competitive atmosphere, both teams held the lead at some point during the night, and it was anybody’s game at 4-4 with two singles remaining. Collin Bleak and Alain Léger battled hard for every point going to a deciding set but Alain was slightly more consistent and managed to put Truants in front, allowing Sascha Roschy to secure a 6-4 win for the continental European hosts.

A Modest Start to the New Season

The St Andrews had a very modest set of results for the opening week of the league fixtures.

Prospects opened the proceedings against the firemen of Kingsway (recently relegated from Division 2) with a strong start taking a 2-0 lead but the hosts took the next seven matches in a row. Louis Macleod, the newest member of the Prospects clinched the last point to reduce the arrears to 7-3.

In Division 2, Swots had a close encounter against Lundin Links Lasers. After the first 5 matches, the Swots held a commanding 4-1 lead but Lasers reversed the steam and secured the draw in the last match of the night.

The New Kids (from left to right) Ian Smith, Collin Bleak and Ian Brumwell

On the neighbouring table, there was another tight game in Division 2 as New Kids welcomed the Tigers to St Andrews. Based on their names alone, the cat and mouse game both teams played all night should have favoured Tigers, but the home team held on to a draw with strong performances from Ian Smith and Collin Bleak, who both won two singles and the doubles match together.

The final Division 2 game took Truants over the Tay to play Comets in Broughty Ferry. Alain Léger (Truant) started on the backfoot against Fraser Smith, but unexpectedly came back from 2-0 down to win in the deciding game. Glenn Christie (Comet) levelled the match against Knut before Graham Wood put Truants in front again when he beat Nairn Nixon (reserve) 3-1. Alain then forced another deciding set against Glenn this time, but the former was unable to win the war of attrition, allowing Comets to level the match again. Truants took the next two singles and the doubles to go 5-2 up before the last three singles. However, they had to wait till the very last match to take the win as Alain and Graham both lost, but Knut thrived under pressure and beat Fraser for the away win 6-4.

The top team Prefects (Division 1) severely misfired against Aces, but in fairness, they had to field two reserves from Division 2 against the first division title defenders. Whilst the encounter was a rather one-sided 10-0 whitewash, Nick Shepherd (Prefect) pushed Grant Williams (Aces) to the limit after taking a 2-1 lead, and had the chance to win in the fourth set as the score reached 10-10, but in the end Grant pipped Nick to the post 12-10 to seal the win in the final game.