On Tuesday, April 21, the Plymouth and District Table Tennis League division five cup final took place between Railway Club F and Ivybridge and Chaddlewood G.
The match got off to a good start for Ivybridge, with Ben Wilkins winning 11-6 against John Dean of the Railway Club.
Dean then got two games back to take the lead, winning 11-7, 12-10.
Needing to win to take the set to a decider, Ben ramped up the pressure to win 11-4. He then went on to send Ivybridge and Chaddlewood 1-0 in a close decider, taking victory 13-11.
Railway club were looking like it wasn't their night when Harry Hargreaves won his first game against Ken Chambers 12-10.
From there Chambers went on to win the set, bringing it back to level terms at 1-1.
Matt Norton then sent the Ivybridge team back into the lead, beating Dave Brown comfortably in three games (11-2, 11-5, 11-9.) Ken Chambers continued his good form by beating Ben Wilkins 3-1 (11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 11-4).
Matt Norton's second game of the evening wasn't as comfortable as his first was but got off to a good start, winning the first two games (12-10, 11-9).
The next two games went to John Dean (11-6, 11-9), piling the pressure on the last game.
Feeling the pressure, Dean crumbled, losing 11-5 and letting Ivybridge and Chaddlewood G take a 3-2 lead at the half way stage.
Returning from the break, Harry Hargreaves had a thrilling match against Dave Brown, with the first two games being painful to watch for spectators.
Harry won the first 16-14 and lost the second 15-17, before winning the next two to send I and C up 4-2.
Only needing two more sets to win the cup, Matt Norton lost in a five-set game to Ken Chambers, who earned himself a maximum, winning (10-12, 11-3, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7).
Ben Wilkins failed to win his second set of the night losing 3-1 to Dave Brown, making things all square at 4-4.
Harry Hargreaves then stopped fourth in the averages in division five, John Dean, from winning a single winning 3-2 (6-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-2, 11-6). It was now 5-4 to Ivy going into the doubles, and they knew a victory would give them the cup.
Railway, however, weren't in the mood to crumble, with Matt Norton and Harry Hargreaves losing (11-9, 5-11, 3-11, 7-11) to John Dean and Kenneth Chambers.
In the tense decider it had to be a different doubles pairing playing, so for Ivybridge Matt Norton and Ben Wilkins stepped up to face Kenneth Chambers and Dave Brown.
They won the first game 11-2 easily. In the second game Railway ramped up the pressure and only let Ivybridge and Chaddlewood win 11-8.
Similar happened in the third, but Ivybridge eventually won the final game and in turn the cup after winning 11-8.
The final score then was Railway Club F 5, Ivybridge and Chaddlewood G 6.
The game took three-and-a-half hours to complete and was a thriller.





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