THERE was a trio of third-placed finishes for Cippenham’s teams in the Veterans’ British League when the competition completed in Derby over the weekend.

The men’s A team had an especially good weekend.

Back to full strength after two of the three players had to miss the first weekend, they romped through their programme, winning four and drawing one of their five matches.

Mark Banks, many times Maidenhead League Men’s Singles champion, won nine of his 10 matches, as did Hari Gehlot.

Martin Adams, playing in the more difficult number one position, won seven times.

First to suffer from the power of the Cippenham team was Dewsbury who succumbed 6-0, and they then beat Division 2A champions St Georges 5-1, inflicting their opponents only defeat of the season.

Saturday concluded with another 5-1 victory, this time over XLNT Draycott 3.

The one disappointing result came on Sunday morning as Cippenham were held to a 3-3 draw by fifth-placed Hereford Challengers, but in the final match of the season Border Reivers were no match and Cippenham romped to another 6-0 victory.

The B team of Mike Rhodes, Paul Baker and Tony Stead were operating in Division 4B.

The weekend started with a 4-2 victory over Swerve, but divisional leaders Sycamore Zigabytes were too strong and ran out worthy 6-0 victors.

This result left Cippenham in third place in an eight-team division and so qualified for the top section when the division was split into two halves for the remainder of the season.

Corby Smash proved just as formidable opponents in the first match of the second phase and Cippenham were once again left reeling from a 6-0 defeat.

Another match against Sycamore on Sunday morning brought about another 6-0 reverse, but a final third-place finish was secured in the final match, a good 5-1 victory over Foresters E.

Women’s Division Two followed the same format with the eight teams being split into top and bottom halves for the second phase.

Denise Weller and Mary Heffernan both beat Lynne Trussell in the first match against Foresters but that was all Cippenham managed to win in a 4-2 defeat against the divisional leaders.

Bottom team Halton were the next opponents and a 5-1 win saw Cippenham easily qualify for the second phase in third place. Sue Hayes and Mary Heffernan both won twice while Julie Dean added the other.

A rematch with leaders Foresters went no better on Sunday than it had on Saturday, Cippenham this time losing 5-1.

Another 5-1 defeat ensued against second-placed Ashford and an excellent win for Weller against Lisa Sprackling was all Cippenham could muster from this encounter.

A third-place final position was already secured before the final match of the season, but Cippenham to finished off with a win, 4-2 against Billswood.