Table Tennis Soham Comrades II earned a hard-fought win over dogged Division Three rivals Fulbourn IV.

Four matches went to five sets, which included two 12-10 games, and they all went the way of Soham Comrades II, who took a 6-0 lead against Fulbourn IV.

Two of the matches involved Jon Chapman, who eventually came good against Kin Choi Chan, and the other two compounded an unlucky night for Hamish Ryder.

For Comrades, Bela Szabo completed his maximum while Rob Wallis, the beneficiary of the two 12-10 games, was beaten by Danny Bates but the match went to Comrades II, 8-2.

Carl Woolf gained a hard-fought maximum for Fulbourn VII against Soham Comrades V, backed up by two from Rob Powell.

The match was a test of patience with players on both sides reluctant to attack, although Chris Rule proved the exception especially when taking Powell to 11-9 in the fifth. Fulbourn included young Alex Hearne-Potton who took five games in all to test his opponents but struggled to find his rhythm. Nicky Rule saved his best for the doubles where he and Chris seemed to relish the impending time curfew as they played some exhilarating shots to force the draw.

Singles maximums for both Steve Jugg and Robin Gammon plus a five-set win by Rachel Foulger over Phil Gannon gave Countess an unassailable lead of 7-2 going into the double against Soham Comrades VI.

Jugg and Gammon continued their winning ways in that contest too, beating Syd Rushton and Edward Garrett-Jones in three.

Tim Hands led the way for Fulbourn VI with three wins, including the critical first on the card against Fulbourn VII’s Duncan Gates. The 7’s retained parity with Daniel Hearne-Potton swiftly dispatching Helen Clarke but with Manu Hathirimani still to arrive, Gates was forced to play again, too quickly for his powers of recovery.

Alison Cooke beat him comfortably, she and Hands then cruising away, helped by Helen’s win over Hathirimani. The match between Cooke and Hearne-Potton was the closest of the night, the outcome apparently decided by a lapse in the scoring at deuce in the fifth. In the doubles, Hearne-Potton and an enlivened Hathirimani came from two down to take a third point for the VIIs.