After missing a full season of team matches throughout 2020/21 due to the covid pandemic, the 2nd team were raring to go and see what this new season would bring, unsure of what the division 3 standard would be like after an extended hiatus. The squad was largely unchanged with just the addition of Alan from the 3rd team to improve the squad depth. The main change was in the order, seeing Andrew, Adam and Ollie moved up the rankings to 1, 3 and 4 respectively. Other notable alterations saw Adam take the helm from long-time captain Mark Manuel and a new home venue at Newcastle University (due to the closure of Eldon).

The season started in difficult circumstances against Hexham 2, as in our 1st match we were without Andrew, Will, James and Mark! This left us making use of the 3rd team, borrowing Umer and Matt B. Despite our rag-tag team we took the fight to Hexham and came away with a 4-1 victory in which we only dropped 2 of the available 20 points! Our 2nd home game in a row saw the welcome return of our top 2, in a match that would turn out to be quite crucial for our season. There were rafts of fans out in force for this fixture against Consett 1 (definitely nothing to do with the news of the Newcastle United takeover)! At no.5 Alan lost in a fiery affair, but Ollie levelled the tie after coming back from 2-1 down to win 3-2, 15-13 in the 5th. The 5 setters kept rolling, as both Adam and Will won in 5! With the overall win already sealed the pressure was off for Andrew, but not one to be left out he defeated his opponent in 5 games, giving us 17 points and a 4-1 win!

The next 2 fixtures were against Chester-le-Street 2 and Tynemouth 5, and we won both fixtures convincingly, 4-1 and 5-0 respectively. The only match we lost was in unfortunate circumstances where, at 2-2 in games, Alan tore his calf seeing him sidelined for around 4 months! Full of confidence from our 4-match winning streak we travelled to league newcomers and promotion rivals David Lloyd Sunderland. Without Ollie, James and the injured Alan for this fixture we called on Matt B (from the 3rds) and Mark to fill in. Despite not having picked up a racket since the last team game of the 2019/20 season, Mark put up a valiant display but lost 3-1, while Matt had us all sweating at 2-2 and 14-14 where he managed to edge the win and level the fixture. Adam was up next and continued his unbeaten form to win 3-0 and put us up 2-1 in matches. Will was next on court and in spite of his experience and determination, he lost 3-1 to a very fit and consistent opponent. Andrew was on last, with all the pressure on him to get the win. In a game of clashing styles, Andrew took the 1st game, but his shot-making opponent started firing and took the next 3 games to give Andrew, and the team our 1st loss of the season.

We bounced back from this disappointing defeat with back-to-back 5-0 wins against Newbiggin 2, including a win for Mark, and Westoe 3, which saw James play and win his 1st match. These wins put us back on track for our promotion push! In the final game of 1st half, we were away at the unbeaten league leaders Sunderland 3, where a convincing win would see us top of the table over the Christmas break. We got off to the perfect start, with Ollie continuing his blistering form to take yet another 3-0 victory (his 6th in 7 matches!) and James added a solid 3-1 victory to put us 1 match away from winning. Adam was up next at no.3 and after the opening game went to Sunderland he tied it up at 1-1, but his opponent upped the intensity and was in fine form in the 3rd and 4th games, handing Adam his 1st loss of the season to keep Sunderland in with a chance. Andrew and Will were up against it in their matches, as Sunderland's no.1 and 2 were definitely the strongest in the league and this showed, with both Eldon players losing 3-0 to cement a 3-2 victory for Sunderland. This, our 2nd loss of the season, dropped us to 3rd in the table behind Sunderland and Consett and certainly put us on the back foot for the 2nd half of the season.

Our opening bout of the 2nd half was a crucial fixture against 2nd place Consett, but without our top-performing player in Ollie, the recent arrival of Mark's 2nd child (congrats!) and Alan still being injured we called up Richard Martin to step in at 5. Adam started off proceedings with a 3-1 victory against a very experienced opponent, while Richard battled his way to 2-2 before losing in the 5th set. James stepped up to win his 3rd match on the bounce, winning 3-2 in a thrilling back-and-forth encounter to put Eldon back in front. Will had a stern test at no.2 and quickly found himself 2-0 down, but he rallied and forced a deciding 5th game. Unfortunately, Will had put a lot of effort in to level the score and just fell short, losing 15-12 in the final game. For the 3rd time this season Andrew was put in the unenviable position of playing the deciding match, and for the 4th match in the fixture, we went to the 5th and final game! Andrew went point for point with his opponent for most of this game, but he just couldn't get over the line and lost 3-2!

With this loss, our promotion chances took a massive hit as we slumped to 4th with a 13-point deficit to the top 2 and both Sunderland teams still to play! However, we weren't about to give up without a fight and with 37 points out of a possible 40 in our next 2 games. Sunderland, hit by injury to their no.2, lost 2 on the bounce to put us well and truly back in the promotion race! Next up was our toughest test, a rematch with the aforementioned Sunderland 3 at home, and we took full advantage of their weakened squad to take a huge 4-1 win, which turned the tides and put us in pole position for the title, although it was still tight between the top 4 teams. The stand-out performance in this match (and probably the season) was Andrew's 3-2 win at no.1, reversing a 3-0 loss in the away fixture and ending the Sunderland no.1s perfect win record!

We continued to put pressure on our promotion rivals with 5-0 wins against Newbiggin and Tynemouth and further improved our chances of a top-2 finish. The next match was another important one, this time against David Lloyd Sunderland, and if we managed to get at least 16 points we would be guaranteed promotion at a minimum! Another excellent performance from the whole team; Andrew, Adam, Ollie and James all won competitive matches and Will picked up another point in a 3-1 loss, giving us 18 points! However, Consett also pulled off a big win to bring the title decider down to the last match of the season!

We were up against a struggling Westoe team, who had little to play for, while Consett faced Sunderland in a match that had everything on the line! Some sharp maths from Ollie, as he calculated that we needed 17 points to take the title, regardless of the Consett result. With that goal in mind, our fixture began with a freebie, as Westoe could only field 4 players meaning we were 1-0 up without a nick being hit. Despite the nervous tension in the team we all played up to the occasion and dominated the opposition winning 20-0 to earn maximum points, a performance worthy of lifting the division 3 title! Consett managed to beat Sunderland to get 18 points, but that could only cement their spot as runners-up.

We weren't sure what to expect from this season but I don't think many of the team expected that we would be crowned champions at the end of it, especially after our loss to Consett in the opening fixture of the 2nd half! However, after that loss, we won 7 on the spin and amassed 132 points out of the 140 available to win the division by 8 points, 39 points clear of 3rd placed Sunderland 3! Now onwards to division 2 next season, a tricky task but we will surely be motivated and give it our all! 

Player of the Season

Ollie Drewett - 14 wins from 14 and only lost 2 individual games all season! Ollie was also named Player of Division 3 by Northumbria Squash,  flawless performances all season long from Ollie!

Honourable Mentions

James Gilbert - won 6 of 6 games for the 2nd team, a true super-sub!

All of the 3rd team players who helped out this season: Chris Dunlavy (3 games), Umer Chughtai (2 games), Matt Barnes (2 games) and Richard Martin (1 game)

-Adam Coates