RUNNYMEDE A are still leading the race for the Premiership title in the Southend Table Tennis League following their narrow 5-4 win over third-placed Rawreth A.

Kevin Caldon and Stuart Gibbs both bagged a brace and Dave Bowles added one, but they all fell victim to Rawreth’s star player, Cris Sladden, who remains unbeaten since returning to the league in January.

Legra A are hot on the heels of Runnymede. They ovecame Rayleigh Mill 6-3 thanks to a hat-trick from Paul Whatton, who won all his games in three straight sets. There were two wins from Marco Jovic and one from Jamie Willson.

This leaves them just one point behind the leaders.

In Division One, there were two in-house derbies. For Hadleigh Forum B an unbeaten innings from Mike Tappenden, and one win each for Dave Woolmer and Colin Napper, enabled them to scrape home 5-4 against their club’s A team.

Mark Everard and Graham Farmer banked a pair each for the A side and the score was 4-4 going into the last game of the match when the B team managed to secure the win.

Hullbridge C hosted the game against Hullbridge B. A maximum for the B team’s Richard Hiskey, two wins for Bill Smith and one for Andy Seabrook gave them a 6-3 win.

Linda Attridge won two games for the C team but was denied her hat-trick by Hiskey at 10-12 in the fifth.

In Division Two, a hat-trick for Tony Wright of the home side, Warehouse C, led his team to a 5-4 win over Legra B.

Owen Warren and Sam Chesher banked a pair each for the visitors in a match in which none of the encounters went the full distance, although there were some very close games including a 22-20 winning leg for Chesher over Graham Back.

Sam Langton registered his third trio in a row for Rawreth G and Matt Swain added a pair to give them a 5-4 win over Canvey C.

This gave the newly-promoted team their first win in Division Two and doubtless it will not be the last.

In Division Three, Rob McDon-ald scored a hat-trick for Canvey D in their match against RESSC B but he finished on the losing side.

Pam Swan and Sarah Mapes won both their other games for RESSC and Maureen Cooper added one to give them the 5-4 win.

Runnymede C enjoyed a 7-2 win over Invicta B. Tony Coeshall led the way with a hat-trick and he was supported by Anne Adlington and Phil Mardle who each bagged a brace — both of them being denied their maximums by Invicta’s Derek North.

In Division Four, away team Warehouse D fought their way to a 5-4 win over TT-on-Sea.

Bob Brett and Lawrie Neville had two wins each and Ro Brett added one to give them the edge.

Jack Burns scored a creditable hat-trick for the home team, and Emily Godfrey added one.

Hullbridge F made it 11 straight wins when they overcame Rawreth H 9-0 and now have a 24-point lead at the top of the table.

The winning team comprised Bill Chester, Bill Hoy and Neal Klyman.