ONE point separates the top three teams in Division Two of the Malvern Table Tennis League as the season approaches its climax.

Wombats moved into second place after coming from behind to beat their Manor Park rivals, Rangers. Tony Birch was the star winning all three singles and the doubles with Steve Glazzard (2). Richard Bennet won two but were made to fight all the way by Nick Haggar before winning in the fifth set. Dave Steen and Simon Morgan won one apiece for Rangers.

Rangers fared better in their match with Crackpots E. Dave and Simon each won two and Nick one whilst Colin Dolding won all three and the doubles with James Palmer (1) for the visitors.

The match between Crackpots E and Juniors went down to the wire with the two unbeaten players meeting in the final match. David Smith came from two sets down to beat Colin Dolding and clinch a narrow victory for the Juniors. James Palmer again won two for the hosts whilst James Clarke and Mark Griffiths each won one for Juniors.

In the battle of the bottom teams, Upton kept their survival hopes alive with a win over Crackpots. Roger Davies was in great form winning all three. He was well supported by Peter Nash (2) and Brian Gregory (1). The home team were indebted to wins from their experienced duo of Ted Cates (2) and Alan Forsdike (1).

In this week's other match Ledbury Exhaust and Broadheath Belters both kept their narrow hopes of promotion alive with a hard fought draw. Five matches went to a deciding set with four won by Exhaust. Stewart Moss and Ray Cooke each won two and John Meredith one for Ledbury. David Elliott won two plus the doubles with Pete Roberts, who won one singles match, as did John Stalker for Broadheath.

RESULTS: Manor Park Rangers 5, Crackpots E 5; Ledbury Exhaust 5, Broadheath Belters 5; Manor Park Wombats 8, Manor Park Rangers 2; Crackpots E 4, Malvern Juniors A 6; Crackpots B 3, Upton Ripples 7.

JACK Higgs won all his singles and the doubles with Ben Salisbury, who won two singles and Mark Griffiths chipped in with one for Manor Park Juniors in their Division Three fixture.

Abbey College fought so hard that 42 games were played in the evening and 20 of them were only won by two points and nine went beyond ten all. The four sets which went to a fifth game were won by the home team and three of the fifth games were two point wins, so the result could easily have been a draw or a win for the College. Cyrus Wong won two and Henry Chan won one for Abbey College.

Cyrus again won two and Henry one when they visited Bromyard Logics. Six sets needed extra games and two a fifth but John Hunt won his usual three games and Derek Craddock two and Chris Daniels one for Logics.

Another long evening was the match between Police and Crackpots C. Seven sets went to four and three to five games. However no player went home without a win. Alan Holmes, Malcolm Dalley and Ralph Cook each won one for Police and Richard Cullis took three, Stan Ginn two and Ed Palmer one and Richard and Ed the doubles for Crackpots.

Paul Lythgoe managed to earn two points for the Manor Park Maulers but the Juniors B trio of Anthony Wiseman, Matthew Lang and Tom James were too strong for the others. Anthony's set with Paul was a good one. Anthony eventually won 8-11 in the fourth game.

RESULTS: Manor Park Juniors 7, Abbey College 3; Police 3, Crackpots C 7; Bromyard Logics 7, Abbey College 3; Manor Park Maulers 2, Malv Juniors B 8.