SOMETHING had to give in the eagerly-awaited clash of the two unbeaten sides in the Aldershot Table Tennis League Division One.

And it was Bentley A who cracked as they lost 7-3 to local rivals Central A who open up a 17-point gap at the top of the table.

Paul Baker led the way with a full house for the Farnham side. Phil Snelson won two in support, but suffered his first loss of the season when he went down to Graham Diplock who took a worthy double for Bentley.

A maximum from Dave Phelps helped Ash A to a convincing 8-2 victory against Fleet A. Team-mates Nigel Care and Dave Halfpenny won two apiece, both losing to Fleet’s Fallon Thompson. A close inspection of the scorecard reveals many tight matches.

Tennis E remain bottom of Division Two after losing 6-4 to Cody B, one of the teams also hovering around the relegation area. No player was unbeaten on the night. Peter Killick and Graham McCulley won twice for Tennis, as did the Cody duo of Paul Mission and Dave Stenning.

Leaders Cody A won narrowly, 6-4, against Tennis D who had Pu Zhang undefeated on the night. Keith and Phil Russell bagged braces to give Cody the edge.

Frimley B will be delighted with their 9-1 victory against Bentley B. Clive Weisman, a newcomer, and David MacKinnon were both unbeaten and John Eade won two.

In Division Three, Ash D edged past basement side Fleet B, 6-4. Amy Parkes won all three for Ash and Jo Bartlett backed her up with a double. Andrew Blunden won two for Fleet.

Cody C beat Crawley Ridge A 7-3, thanks to a Dave Thomas treble and two wins from John Harvey. David Skellern took two for the losers.

Reserve player Ted Cornell notched up a maximum as Frimley D beat Tennis F 7-3. Brian Greenberg won twice in support and Charles Burton claimed two for Tennis.

Tennis G are top of the table after an emphatic 8-2 victory over Ash E. Peter Bone won all three, while Martin Evans and Mehrdad Abutalebi had to be satisfied with doubles after losing to Terry French of Ash.

Division Four leaders Crawley Ridge C had to work hard for a 6-4 victory over Frimley E. Yuriy Schulzhenko’s hat-trick was the difference between the sides. Mark Stephenson (Crawley) and Ramesh Vasudevamurthy (Frimley) both won two.

Michael Wolfe was unbeaten for Tennis H who beat their J team 6-4. John Page (H team) and Graham Dorey (J team) both won twice.

Fleet C had Alan Yeung unbeaten as they beat Braybrooke B 6-4. Kenny Duarte and Sandra Jackson scored defiant doubles for the losers.

Cody E showed no mercy on their F team, beating them 9-1 with hat-tricks for John Asprey and Malcolm Moran-Ellis and two for Dave Hewitt.

Ted Cornell, Gary Smith and Steve Lawlor were the all-conquering trio as Frimley F whitewashed Ash G 10-0.

Results:

Div I

Central A 7 Bentley A 3, Fleet A 2 Ash A 8

Div II

Cody A 6 Tennis D 4, Tennis E 4 Cody B 6, Bentley B 1 Frimley B 9

Div III

Ash D 6 Fleet B 4, Cody C 7 Crawley Ridge A 3, Frimley D 7 Tennis F 3, Tennis G 8 Ash E 2, Fleet B 1 Tennis G 9

Div IV

Cody F 1 Cody E 9, Frimley E 4 Crawley Ridge C 6, Fleet C 6 Braybrooke B 4, Tennis J 4 Tennis H 6, Ash G 0 Frimley F 10