THE three teams chasing leaders Denham Village A in the Chalfonts Table Tennis League each had clean sweeps against the bottom three teams, who all made it easier for the top dogs by turning up with just two players each.

John Taylor, John McCance and Garry Keers steered title favourites Higher Denham to within just four points of Village A - with a match in hand - by brushing aside Rickmansworth B.

Rickmansworth A’s Roger Pyle, Chris Ogle and Max Bonyadi inflicted the same result on Chalfont Beta, as did Alpha’s Keith Newell, John Barclay and Jim Welch on Village’s B team.

Village A’s final match is against Beta, while Higher Denham’s final two matches are against Village B and Rickmansworth B, so barring any unforeseen upsets, Higher Denham look like they have the title in the bag.

The pecking order in Division Two is pretty much settled, as Village D need just three points from their last two matches to secure the title.

Their nearest rivals, Chalfont Colts, had their remaining hopes snuffed out after a shock 7-3 defeat to Village’s C team - who had maximum scores from Mick Lowens and 14-year-old Alex Cleary.

The clash between third and fourth placed teams Chalfont Gamma and Rickmansworth C went Gamma’s way, 8-2, with Derek Husbands and a back-to-form Rob Culverhouse winning all their sets.

Amazingly, after being the only team in the league not to have lost a match all season, Ickenham URC were second best to Denham Village E, losing 6-4 in their very last match, thanks to a superb 100 per cent performance by Timur Hashimi, who has only just turned 13.

Ickenham have now completed their fixtures and appear to have handed the title to Chalfont Kappa, who still have three matches left and need just 14 points.

The Village H youngsters fought valiantly against Rickmansworth D, but suffered another heavy defeat, 9-1, courtesy of maximums by Ricky’s Ajay Manocha and Ronnie Patel.