GOING through the entire Summer League unbeaten, Matfen Cohorts topped Division Five to earn promotion to the division above.

And it was a good season all round for Matfen Table Tennis Club as their first team, the Senators, avoided the dreaded drop from Division One, but at the expense of Tyne Valley rivals Prudhoe and District United Services Club.

The Cohorts won all 12 of their games in Division Five, seeing them finish nine points ahead of runners-up Cramlington Jaguars.

Linda Pinkham, Richard Rayfield and David Crompton were the team’s most-used players, with Mark Perrin and David Swan also featuring heavily. Nicholas Snowden and Phillipe King Lewis also made valuable contributions when called upon.

In Division One, Matfen Senators were relieved to beat the drop as they inflicted a 9-1 defeat on their main relegation rivals Prudhoe.

Neil Forsyth and Steve Oxley won all three of their singles matches, and Forsyth and captain Alex Holliday were triumphant in their singles.

Holliday won two of his singles match-ups but lost the final game to Peter Stempczyk, who claimed Prudhoe’s only point from the encounter.

Holliday, Forsyth and Oxley were the mainstays of Matfen’s team, but Chris Kilsby and Philip Rainford were both called upon on two occasions throughout the season.

Stempczyk was Prudhoe’s most utilised player and was well accompanied by Maurice Cheek. Mark O’Connor and Shirley Gelder played five times each, and Andrew Firth four.

Matfen Tribunes finished joint bottom of Division Three as they and Cramlington Spartans were tied on 38 points.

While Matfen won two, and drew one, of their 12 games, the Spartans managed to amass the same amount of points despite losing 11 times and drawing the other.

However, Matfen’s superior win ratio put them just ahead of their rivals.

Turning out on a regular basis for the Tribunes was Stefan Sobell, Pete Seago, Nigel Tree and Keith Hodges. David Swan and Ferg Kilsby made brief appearances too.

In Division Two, Newton finished second bottom, just one point ahead of bottom club Backspin A. They weren’t able to win any of their fixtures, but did draw three times to pick up a total of 31 points. John Henderson was the most used player but Robert Lawson, Thomas Manuel and Ian Armstrong were regulars too. John Russell and Graeme Bell also played.