Embassy 'A' continued their late charge for the Keighley & District Table Tennis League Championship with a comprehensive victory over bottom club Airedale Terriers.

Neil Foley, drafted in from the 'B' team for the third time this season, did himself and his team proud with an exemplary display that saw the Irishman's best performance being the defeat of Mark Emmott 11-6, 11-9, 10-12, 11-4. Gareth Wiles earned the visitor's another three points with his seventh treble of the season and Tony Boyd chipped in with a couple against Tom Lacey and Mark Emmott. Foley and Wiles then paired up for the doubles to inflict further misery on the Terriers, defeating Lacey and Stuart Myers 11-4, 11-4, 11-3. For the losers, Myers did well to defeat Boyd 10-12, 11-8, 11-3, 2-11, 12-10 to grab his team's only point.

For his second match of the week Foley returned to the 'B' team when they took on Ukrainians at home. On this occasion he was outshone, as were the rest of his team mates, by a dazzling performance from the visitor's Rod Robertson who firstly defeated Derek Briggs 11-9, 11-8, 11-8 before getting the better of Palminder Sandhu 6-11, 11-6, 11-6, 6-11, 11-5 and just edging out Foley in a thriller 9-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-5, 12-10. Peter Holbrook added a couple for the Ukrainians against Foley and Briggs, but Embassy hit back with wins for all three players against Stef Szczur, a win for Sandhu 8-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-3 against Holbrook and, to tie the match, victory in the doubles 11-7, 7-11, 11-6, 11-6 for Foley and Sandhu against Szczur and Holbrook.

Second up for Ukrainians this week was Nemesis 'A' who required as many points as possible as they continued their quest to retain the Championship title. Nemesis started well with three straight victories for Mark Land 11-4, 11-6, 11-4 against Holbrook; Steve Taylor 11-13, 11-9, 3-11, 11-3, 11-4 against Robertson and for John Stones, 11-8, 11-4, 11-3 against Szczur. Robertson and Holbrook hit back for Ukrainians with wins against Land 8-11, 11-3, 11-8, 5-11, 11-8 and Taylor 10-12, 9-11, 11-7, 12-10, 12-10 respectively, but otherwise it was one way traffic with Nemesis rattling up a credible 8-2 victory that leaves them 8 points adrift of Embassy 'A' at the top, but with a game in hand.

Nemesis 'B' kept themselves in top spot in Division Two, 6 points ahead of Lothersdale 'C' who have a match in hand, with a couple of victories. Firstly travelling to Embassy 'C', the boys from Wrose found the going tough faced, as they were, with a resilient Derek Briggs and Nick Kaye. Briggs did well to get the better of Peter Worger 7-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-6 and Tom Sampson, but just failed against Les Packer 5-11, 11-13, 11-8, 11-7, 11-5. Kaye also added a couple with wins against Packer 11-4, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9 and Tom Sampson. However, Nemesis showed why they are title contenders as they hit back hard. Packer defeating Steve Crossland 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8, 12-10; Worger getting the better of both Crossland and Kaye 11-8, 7-11, 11-2, 8-11, 11-6; Sampson winning against Crossland 11-5, 8-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-5 before Packer and Worger teamed up to clinch the match 6-4 with a well taken defeat of Crossland and Kaye in the doubles.

Nemesis then added to this with another victory when they entertained Cononley Sports later in the week. Dave Manogue notched his 27th win from 30 with a quick fire treble that included the defeat of Paul Lister 11-3, 11-7, 11-6. Les Packer added another two points, getting the better of Michael Mitchell 7-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-3 and Eric Hudson 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-4. Tim Moran also defeated Hudson before Manogue and Packer teamed up to top off a 7-3 win with a comfortable doubles win against Lister and Mitchell. For Cononley, Lister did well to get the better of Moran and Packer.

Lothersdale 'C' kept up the pressure on Nemesis with an excellent 10-0 home win against Wilsden whose trio of Broadbents found Andrew Lambe, Richard Crookes and Martin Mulligan too hot to handle, although Adam Broadbent almost got the upper hand against Mulligan, just losing out 6-11, 14-12, 3-11, 11-9, 11-5.

In Division Three, most entertaining match of the week was that between Haworth Hawks and visitors Embsay who, despite losing 10-0, could quite easily have ended up as 6-4 winners had lady luck decided to shine on them. Six of the rubbers went to 5 with every one of them ending in favour of the determined Hawks. Unluckiest player on the night, if not of the entire season, was Embsay's Trevor Wilkinson who lost in the 5th 11-7 to Nathan Hogg, 11-6 to Steve Cole and 13-11 in the 4th to Andy Bray. However, Haworth deserved their win for sheer determination alone and, in Andy Bray, have a star in the making, having increased his average by more than 30% so far this season.

Ilkley Road 'C' had Ben Stead making his debut at home to South Craven and the new boy did well to open his account with a win against Luke Binns 11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 5-11, 11-7. Matt Nutting added another against the same player, but it was a Steve Ives treble that clinched a 6-4 win for the home team. For the visitors, both Edward Jagger and Chris Farnworth did well with a couple each against Stead and Nutting.

Results

Division One: Airedale Terriers 1, Embassy 'A' 9; Embassy 'B' 5, Ukrainians 5; Ukrainians 2, Nemesis 'A' 8.

Division Two: Crossflatts 'A' 2, Embassy 'C' 8; Crossflatts 'A' 6, Wilsden 4; Embassy 'C' 4, Nemesis 'B' 6; Ilkley Road 'B' 2, Ilkley Road 'A' 8; Lothersdale 'C' 10, Wilsden 0; Nemesis 'B' 7, Cononley Sports 3.

Division Three: Denholme 9, St Wilf's 1; Fastbats 5, St Wilf's 5; Haworth Hawks 10, Embsay 0; Ilkley Road 'C' 6, South Craven 4.