courtesy of Nick Howard

No hat trick heroes in Kings vs Kingpins stalemate.

On paper, this was always an evenly contested fixture, and that proved to be the case when the final score was recorded.

The charismatic trio of Allison, Purcell and Brown faced off against the second placed Kings, with their regular line up restored (Howard, Sparrow and Wood).

Needing to finish early, Kingpins allowed Wood to play through her matches first.

First up was Dave “always on time” Allison. I can’t imagine the stresses this man goes through on a weekly basis playing with Mark and Craig “I’ll be there in 5 minutes” Brown. He is a pillar of this table tennis league and community!

He didn’t have it all his own way against a rampant Wood though…..

It was a night of “could have/should have” for members of both team. In this case, Jordan losing 3 straight (9, 8, 10), came away feeling she probably should have won it.

With no time to dwell, it was the battle of the barnets.

After Mark had gone through his meticulous beauty regime to prepare himself for the game, he clearly forgot to warm his bat up, as he won just 4 points in the first set.

Undeterred, and with the power of Samson, he took the next 2 for the loss of just 9, before being pegged back in a tight 14-12 set in the 4th.

It’s worth noting, that at this point, Jordan actually led the match in points scored, closely followed by “edges and nets” of Purcell, with the actual clean points won from Mark, somewhere in the single figures!

These things even out over time, so I feel for Mark when luck won’t be on his side!

He eventually overcame the attacking Wood, to seal a 11-5 victory in the 5th - Another one that got away for Jordan.

At some point in the evening, Craig turned up. We can’t be sure of the time, but lets just assume he was late…..

He went straight on against an angry Jordan. Having never beaten Craig in her life, it was a tough ask to do it having just played 2 matches in a row.

However, the Northampton ace soon found herself 2-1 up against a livid Brown. After much chuntering, Craig managed to level at 2-2, but couldn’t stop the MK Womens Champion taking her first victory over Brown in her career.

Captain vs Captain was next - Howard and Allison always have close games. This one was nothing special if truth be known, with Howard taking a 3-1 victory.

Guy has been seeing a lot of table tennis action recently, with most of his games going to 5.

His match against Purcell was keeping with this trend. Probably the match of the night, Guy finally overcame the stubborn Purcell to win 9-11, 14-12, 6-11, 13-11, 11-9.

This was certainly one that Mark should have won (multiple times), and he’ll be kicking himself for losing.

Nick and Craig were next up. Howard having won their previous encounter 3-0, couldn’t produce the same high level this time around.

The Kings captain walked the first set, but this was the only fortune he’d have, as Brown finally found some form for the year to take the next 3 (and just about manage to write himself out of a headline).

Guy and Dave played out the strangest 5 setter I’ve ever seen next - It was over in a flash, with Guy managing to hang on in there against Dave to seal a 11-7 win in the 5th.

Howard and Purcell finished off their singles in another uninspiring contest - Howard winning comfortably 3-0, with neither player hitting full flow.

Craig and Guy were last up (at about 10:15 by this point), and this was one match too far for Sparrow, who was feeling lucky to have escaped with 2 wins already.

Brown, who was petrified of what the headline to the report might have been if he lost, was too good throughout, walking away with a 3-1 victory.

The doubles was nip and tuck throughout (apart from an 11-1 blip on the Kings behalf).

But Purcell and Allison (Brown having been dropped for time keeping issues), were worthy winners against a pairing of Howard and Sparrow who don’t lose many together.

Final score was a well fought out draw.