Second Division side Crossflatts 'A' beat Division One team Embassy 'A' by 56 points in the second round of the Jeff Naylor Cup .

Crossflatts' Danny McHugh (-54), ran the reigning Keighley Junior Champion Gareth Wiles (+24) close, just losing out 21-17, 21-13. But it was team mate Mark Webster (-8), up against three of the top First Division players who really showed what a catch he has been for Crossflatts. Following a narrow defeat to Carl White (+60) 21-19, 21-11, the Crossflatts player was even more unfortunate to lose to Tony Boyd (+55) 21-19, 21-18 before becoming the first player to defeat Wiles in all competitions this season 21-15, 21-18 in an outstanding performance.

The Bingley team used all their experience to try to pull the game round by taking points from Anthony Mann (-80), but the Crossflatts youngster stuck to his task admirably with his defeat to Wiles 21-10, 21-8 showing a growing maturity as he played his part in helping Flatts through to the quarter finals.

Defending an advantage of only 36, Lothersdale 'C', second in Division Two, could not afford any slip ups if they were to see off the challenge of mid-table First Division side Ukrainians. They had a superb start with Richard Crookes (+23) defeating Peter Holbrook 21-17, 21-19 and team mate Andrew Lambe (-22) shading it 21-20, 21-20 against Jerry Harkawy (-31). The Ukies battled back gamely with Stef Szczur (+14) getting the better of Martin Mulligan (-17) 21-13, 21-18 and Holbrook defeating Lambe 21-13, 21-10. However, that man Crookes - looking every inch a Division One player in waiting - turned the tide in Lothersdale's favour once more with a share against Szczur 20-21, 21-18 and a defeat of Harkaway 21-10, 21-17 to seal the match for his side.

Both Lambe and Mulligan responded well to Crookes' leadership with their defeats of Harkaway being of great significance to the final 20 point victory.

Dave Manogue (-10) was nearly the architect of a famous Nemesis 'B' home victory against Embassy 'B'. After recovering well when losing to Neil Foley (+35) 21-8, 21-16, Manogue went on to push Palminder Sandhu (+43) hard before going down 21-19, 21-15 and then getting the better of Geoff Bartlett (+10). In fact it was Sandhu who proved himself to be the inspiration to a determined effort from Embassy 'B' as the best player on the night pulled his team round with defeats of Tom Sampson (-41) 21-5, 21-15 and Les Packer (-37) 21-10, 21-19.

Foley scored well with defeats of Sampson 21-18, 21-16 and Packer and with Bartlett also doing his bit 21-13, 21-14 against the same player, the Bingley team came back to win by 34 points.

Steve Barton (+55) played his best table tennis for a long time for Ilkley Road 'A' away to Skipton LTC with his match winning performance including the defeat of Harry Davies (-31) 21-12, 21-12. The two Skipton youngsters Graeme and Calum Davies showed enough promise in defeat to suggest that promotion this season from Division Three is a distinct probability and that survival in Division Two is not beyond their capabilities.

Lothersdale 'B', conceding 46 points away to Second Division Wilsden, found themselves with a real fight on their hands once Adam Broadbent (+6) took centre stage. The talented youngster clearly enjoyed playing against the Division One team with the defeat of Richard Foster (+4) 21-18, 21-7 sandwiched between a share with Martin Connolly (+28) 21-20, 20-21 and a narrow defeat to Peter Midgley (+40) 21-12, 21-19. However, the Lothersdale nerves were calmed with steady performances by all three players against Luke (-26) and Dave Broadbent (-52) and even though Luke sparkled sporadically, notably when just losing to Foster 21-18, 21-19, the Lothersdale team battled through to a hard earned 18 point victory.

Embassy 'C' eased themselves past Denholme by 84 points with the trio of Clive Sherratt (+66), Allan Jeffrey (+66) and Nick Kaye (+60) sharing the work load evenly between them. Paul Whittaker (-34) played well for the Division Three side and nearly caused an upset, sharing with Kaye 21-13, 20-21.

In the League, the clash of the top two in the First Division produced a highly entertaining draw with the individual honours taken by Mark Land who chalked up a superb three points for Nemesis 'A' following wins against Carl White 11-7, 11-4, 11-4 with defeats of both Tony Boyd 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-6 and Geoff Grange 11-9, 11-7, 6-11, 11-5. For Embassy 'A', Boyd and Grange earned a couple each, both defeating Steve Taylor and John Stones, although Boyd had his work cut out against both players with a 6-11, 11-9, 14-12, 4-11, 11-7 score against Taylor and 4-11, 11-9, 11-9, 16-14 against Stones. Carl White added another for Embassy with a win against Taylor. However Land and Stones combined to force a draw with the defeat of Boyd and Grange 6-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-6 in a cracker of a doubles game.

Results

Naylor Cup Round Two: Crossflatts 'A' 425, Embassy 'A' 369; Embassy 'C' 521, Denholme 437; Lothersdale 'C' 448, Ukrainians 428; Nemesis 'B' 418, Embassy 'B' 452; Skipton LTC 472, Ilkley Road 'A' 555; Wilsden 468, Lothersdale 'B' 486.

Division One: Airedale Terriers 1, Lothersdale 'A' 9; Embassy 'A' 5, Nemesis 'A' 5. Division Two-Cononley Sports 9, Johnson & Johnson 1.