The Team was:   Sam Bird, Mats Colling, Hayden Cummings, Aaron Dawson, Ryan Golesworthy, Josh Gook, George Houghton, Liam Hignett, Mike Johnson, Jake Norris

We were missing our US university players and as it was the last one we wanted to win, so it was going to be tough against a strong division 3.

Day 1 v Berkshire

The team was:

1  Liam Hignett                                                                              Doubles:

2  George Houghton                                                                     1  Hignett + Dawson

3  Ryan Golesworthy                                                                     2  Golesworthy + Houghton

4  Aaron Dawson                                                                          3  Gook + Colling

5  Josh Gook

6  Mats Colling

We got off to a great start with Mats winning easily at 6.  Then Aaron won a battle at 4 and  George and Liam won convincingly giving us a 4/2 lead to doubles.

After a tough loss at 3rd doubles, George and Ryan sealed the win with a convincing win at 2.  To put the icing on the cake, Liam and Aaron won at 1 against easily their best pair.

So a 6 – 3 victory first day.  Very good team performance.

Day 2 v Suffolk

The team was:

1  Liam Hignett                                                                              Doubles

2  Jake Norris                                                                                1  Hignett + Dawson

3  George Houghton                                                                    2  Golesworthy & Houghton

4  Mike Johnson                                                                           3  Norris + Colling

5  Ryan Golesworthy

6  Aaron Dawson

Because of the LTA’s rating system, both Jake and Mike had to come in much higher than where we would have expected them to play, but it would possibly help us pushing some players further down the order.

And as expected Aaron and Ryan got us off to a great start, as they were further down the order, giving us a 2/0 lead. Then Mike had a huge win in 3 sets followed by George and Liam winning easily giving us a 5/1 win after singles.

The confidence rolled into the doubles and after a great win at 3 by Jake and Mats, Ryan and George then Liam and Aaron won easily to give us an 8 – 1 win.

Day 3 v Cambridgeshire

So it was down to the last day v Cambridgeshire, as both teams had won both their matches, it was a straight shootout to see who won.

The team was:

1  Liam Hignett                                                                               Doubles:

2  George Houghton                                                                      1  Hignett + Dawson

3  Ryan Golesworthy                                                                       2  Golesworthy + Houghton

4  Aaron Dawson                                                                            3  Bird + Colling

5  Sam Bird

6  Mats Colling

Sadly we lost Jake and Mike for the tie so it was going to be tough, but always great to be in the final especially as it was the last one !

We didn’t get off to a great start with Sam and Mats losing both their singles, and then Aaron lost a tight one.  So we were down 3/0.  Ryan and Liam  then won convincingly leaving George on to give us any chance of winning the tie.  Which he duly delivered 6/7, 7/6, 7/6 in an amazing match. Leaving us 3/3 after singles.

So we needed 2 out of the 3 doubles to clinch victory.

Sadly Mats and Sam lost theirs at 3.  So we needed both the other doubles to win.

Then another amazing match ensued with Liam and Aaron at 1.  They lost the first set 6/3 then turned it around to win the second 6/1 to go into the championship tie-break.  A fitting way to end the tie.

The tie-break was nip and tuck both teams playing quality shots under pressure and both teams leading at some point in it.  They saved 3 match points.  Then we just held.  Finally Liam hit his routine backhand return winner to win the match !

So it was left to George and Ryan to win their match that they were winning  convincingly. They finished that fairly quickly giving us the 5 – 4 win and winners of the division.

A great weekend and the last Winter singles medal to boot !

Liam, Ryan and George show their class as always and we are glad to have them.

I thought Aaron came of age this weekend playing and winning under pressure and praise for Mike winning probably his best ever match !  Praise to Mats for winning his singles first day setting the whole thing in motion!

As I have said before I think the most encouraging part of this is that there is now a pool of players to be able to pick from, we have a “team squad”.  This creates healthy competition and they can all feel part of something bigger.

Despite the LTAs decision to axe this event and the disappointment felt personally by myself, our team and the other county teams, the competition was played at a very high level and we are very proud of being able to win it and feel very disappointed that we aren’t able to compete in division 2 next year.

Julian Godfrey  – Men’s County Captain