SECOND-PLACED Alpha edged out visiting third place side Winklebury 6-4 in a thriller at the top of the Basingstoke and District Table Tennis League Division One.

The returning Sander de Riemer took a treble for the home side. However, de Riemer only held on to his 100 per cent record by he skin of his teeth, edging past Colin Wilkes 12-10 in the final game.

This was after Wilkes inflicted his own 12-10 victory in the last game, against Paul Rattue. Wilkes then added another point, which along with Malcolm Cummins’ two wins, left Winklebury with four points.

Peter Martin was unstoppable as he only dropped only one game in a relatively untroubled maximum for Queens B in their 8-2 win over Queens C.

Callum Coombs saved Queens C’s blushes with good wins over Bob Walker 3-1 and Paritosh Singh 3-0. The result could have been different, with two five game matches going in favour of Queens B.

Minitec A came out on top in a close encounter over a strengthened Aldworth A 6-4. Minitec’s Steve Murgatroyd was the star, shining with a superb treble, which included the surprise scalp of Ed Slot 3-1.

Queens A inflicted a 8-2 defeat on KG A as Tony Palaczky, Marcel Ludwig and Louis Webb had little difficulty in wrapping up the match, aided by the concession of three points by KG A.

In the match of the night, KG’s Duncan Sibbick came out on top 11-8 in the final game against Webb.