WOMBATS have opened a four point lead at the top of Division Two of the Brewin Dolphin Securities Malvern Table Tennis League.

They were made to fight for their victory at Broadheath. Three games required five sets and another five were decided in the fourth set. Dave Williams was in good form, winning all his games.

He was well supported by Tony Birch and Steve Glazzard with two wins apiece. For the home team John Stalker and Brett Brining each won once.

Ledbury Exhaust preserved their 100 per cent record with two narrow victories. Stewart Moss continued his impressive start to the season with six victories to take his tally to 14 wins from 15 games.

The match with CSSC Nomads saw Nick Haggar's return to the league. He won once and had a close struggle with Ian Backhurst before losing 11-6, 12-10, 11-13, 14-12. CSSC's father and son combination of Ian and Dave earned a point for their team with two wins each and Adrian Fray came close to forcing the draw when he lost to Ray Cooke 11-7 in the final set.

Martin Snee had a busy night for Manor Park Travellers on their visit to Ledbury. He defeated Ray Cooke 11-9 in the fifth set having already beaten John Meredith 19-17, again in the fifth.

Mike Bellfield and Bob Atyeo won one game each but a win apiece for John and Ray and together a doubles victory, combined with Stewart's wins, meant a 6-4 victory for the hosts.

Manor Park Travellers were more successful against CSSC Nomads. Bob won all his singles and the doubles with Martin who, like Mike, won two. Ian Backhurst prevented the whitewash with wins against Mike and Martin.

Crackpots E have been inconsistent with a comfortable win over Broadheath sandwiched between narrow losses to YMCA Vulcans and Bromyard.

The 6-4 scoreline against Vulcans could quite easily have been reversed. With the score at 3-3 Ray Holroyd and John Cawthra came from two sets down to beat Colin Dolding and James Palmer and then in the next singles match, John repeated the feat against James to win 9-11, 10-12, 11-5, 11-8, 12-10.

Colin was in fine form winning all his singles games in straight sets and Dave Steen picked up one victory. Ray Holroyd and Beryl Shammon each won twice and John Cawthra once for Vulcans.

Colin was again faultless against Broadheath and this time Dave and James won two each and James and Colin teamed up for victory in the doubles to give them an 8-2 victory. Brett Brining was the only member of the opposition to win.

The match between Bromyard and Crackpots went right to the wire with Richard Owens just pipping Colin Dolding 11-4 in the final set of the final game to give the home team the narrowest of victories. It was a good night for Richard, who won all his singles and partnered Chris Daniels (2) to success in the doubles. For Crackpots James Palmer won two tight five set games with Derek Craddock and Chris and Dave Steen and Colin won one game each.

RESULTS: Bromyard Logics 6, Crackpots E 4; YMCA Vulcans 6, Crackpots E 4; Broadheath Belters 2, Wombats 8; Manor Park Travellers 8, CSSC Nomads 2; Crackpots E 8, Broadheath Belters 2; CSSC Nomads 4, Ledbury Exhaust 6; Ledbury Exhaust 6, Manor Park Travellers 4.

ALEX Lindner of Allsorts managed to win the first game he played against Peter Quy but lost the next three and Roger Davies and Pete Nash won all their sets in straight games for Uckinghall in division three.

Abbey College were extremely unlucky not to get a point from their encounter with Maulers as four of the sets went to a fifth game and none of them went in the College's favour. Don James, Bill Smith and Ray Davies were the successful trio.

Only two sets were won in straight games when X-Police played Manor Park Crackpots. Ralph Cook won two sets for the X-Police whilst Richard Cullis won three and the doubles with Ed Palmer (2) and Stan Ginn two for the Crackpots team.

39 games were played between Abbeydowne and Dynamos and both the sets that went to a fifth game were won by Dynamos when Ian Sage beat Len Hitchman and won the doubles with Viv Tolley. Roy Holland and Peter Denniss both won all three singles for Abbeydowne.

RESULTS: Manor Park Allsorts 0, Uckinghall 10; Manor Park Maulers 10, Abbey College 0; X-Police 2, Manor Park Crackpots 8; Abbeydowne 8, Dukes Way Dynamos 2.