Guernsey One earn a spot in National A

Following the superb success of Garry Dodd in the Championship winning Drumchapel Glasgow side, the top Sarnian players also excelled and finished their campaign with flying colours, resulting in a promotion to National A next season.

Guernsey One were in pole position in National B1 heading into the final weekend of matches with a two-point advantage from closest rivals Huddersfield and the strong Guernsey outfit practically sealed the title on the first day of action at the Halton Regional Table Tennis Centre in Widnes.

The team of Lawrence Stacey, Ben Foss, Joshua Stacey and Ryan Bichard faced the crunch test in the opening fixture of the weekend on Saturday morning, as they were up against their title rivals.

The prior season meeting had resulted in a narrow 5-4 defeat and in another tough tussle, the result was reversed with an excellent 5-4 win for Guernsey.

Foss and Bichard each started off the weekend impressively with unbeaten starts.

Foss defeated Cameron Sandhu in four sets before defeating Timothy Dyson in straight sets.

Bichard begun with a straight-sets win over Dyson before holding his nerve in the pivotal deciding game of the match against Kee Young Sim to win again in straight sets.

The final victory was picked up by Joshua, as he also beat Sim in straight sets.

This result was followed up with an emphatic 8-1 win over seventh-placed Shiyi Ling TTC.

The sole match won by the opposition was in the very first rubber when their No 1 player Mikey Arnold played some excellent table tennis to overcome Foss in four sets.

The virtue of the victory and Huddersfield’s tight 5-4 win of their own in the afternoon left a four-point lead for the Guernsey side, meaning that a single victory was required on the final day of play to make absolutely sure of the title and promotion.

Maths never needed to come into it as another day kicked off with another comfortable victory, this time 7-2 over sixth-placed side Derwent.

The only singles match lost during this match was Bichard’s straight-sets defeat to Josh Bramley, while Foss and Bichard also fell in four sets in the doubles rubber to Bramley and Yonatan Caspi.

The season was then concluded in style as another comfortable 7-2 win was obtained against a strong Halifax side who finished in third.

Foss, Lawrence and Josh all ended the match with two singles wins apiece, while Bichard added a further win over Alex Shaw in straight sets.

Ben Fillingham prevented the whitewash when he edged past Bichard in five sets, while Fillingham and Shaun Ellis also overcame Foss and Bichard in five sets in the doubles clash.

Foss and Joshua ended the season with impressive records of 25 singles wins out 28 and topped the averages for most wins.

Guernsey Two experienced a tougher time in National C1, but did end the season relatively well, picking up two successive wins on the first day of action and ending in sixth spot.

The side of Matthew Casey, Ryan Gilson, Dan Collenette and Joseph Bourgaize started well with a strong 6-3 win against an Isle of Man side who finished bottom of the table.

All players picked up singles wins in the fixture except Casey, with Collenette and Bourgaize unbeaten.

This was followed up with a more impressive 5-4 win over a Halifax Two side who finished two spots higher in fourth.

Collenette once more remained unbeaten, while Casey got off the mark and Bourgaize added a crucial win of his own in the final game of the match over Keith Skarz in straight sets.

It proved to be the doubles rubber which was also pivotal in the outcome of the fixture and Collenette and Gilson combined well to dispatch Liam Chipman and Joanne Keighley in five sets in a fixture where the Sarnians trailed 2-1.

The final day of action proved a lot tougher and saw two heavy defeats.

Despite this fact Casey, Collenette and Gilson each picked up a singles win apiece across the matches.