Boys 10U County Cup Reports

On a damp morning in Hove, the Surrey U10 Boys County Cup Team attempted to qualify for the national finals in Bolton for the first time in 4 years. Along with Tim Goodman, Brandon Murphy, Andrew Watson and Josh Wilson, both Dave Cox and I felt we had a strong team.

The first match for the Surrey team was against Dorset. After singles victories by Brandon and Andrew the match score was 4-2 to Surrey. The score was the same after the singles against Hampshire. So with all 3 teams having a chance to make it to the semis, all doubles matches were going to critical. The pairing of Brandon and Andrew played fantastic doubles and very quickly beat both Dorset and Hampshire to top the group and set up a semi final clash with Kent the following day.

Like the weather, the Surrey team started brightly, with Tim playing fantastic tennis to beat the Kent number one, Brandon continued his good form with a good win at number two and Andrew lost a close match to an in form Kent number 3. The tie was poised with the score at 4-2 to Surrey with the doubles to follow. After a nail biting match the Surrey team of Brandon and Andrew lost, with a 10-point championship tiebreak required to decide who would go through to the final. Both Dave and I decided that we needed to change the momentum of the tie with a new team to take on Kent, and it proved to be the correct decision as Brandon and Tim edged passed the Kent team winning 10-8 after trailing 8-7. We had made it to the final for the second year running, awaiting us was an old foe, Sussex!! 

Both Tim and Brandon gave everything they had to give but both lost their respective singles matches. Surrey now needed to win the final singles to take the tie into the doubles. Andrew played some fantastic aggressive tennis and comfortably won his singles. The tie was 4-2 in favour of Sussex, meaning Surrey needed to win the doubles to force the tie into a championship tiebreak. Unfortunately Tim and Brandon lost against the Sussex doubles team, so for the second year running the Surrey team came with in a few points of making the national finals.
 
The team had given their absolute all over two exhausting days and both Dave and myself were extremely proud of their performances and the way in which they conducted themselves both on and off the court. The team bonded very well and had such superb camaraderie and support for each other. The Surrey U10 boys can be very proud of their achievement and were worthy runners-up overall.

David Lovejoy
Surrey Boys U10 Team Manager