In a mad three days this week Mens D finally earned the promotion to the first division which had been put on hold

Bad weather in the last two weeks of the regular season meant that their match at Nantwich B which had to be abandoned with Congleton 1.5-0.5 up and the match at Bentley Motors A which never got started had to played in the same week , with the team needing two points to clinch the second promotion place behind Hartford B

On Tuesday 27th Simon Darmon/Andrew Giltrap and Tim Dean/Adam Goodall travelled to Nantwich to resume their match which had stood at 1.5-0.5 when the heavens opened two weeks ago

Nantwich had dropped two players from the previous occasion and put in two players back from university who had been playing A team tennis but were not nominated so could play down

This was the significant factor because despite close sets Nantwich managed to turn things round and record a 5-3 win

This meant the match at Bentley on Thursday 29th was a must win fixture

On Wednesday the team found out that Simon Darmon had picked up an injury at nantwich and was unavailable for the Thursday match.Captain Adam Goodall drafted in John Nicholson who had stood in for the team on a few earlier occasions in the season.Tim was to play with John and Andrew to partner Adam

Bentley had also strengthened their team with a non nominated player but the expectation of the Congleton team was still high

Andrew and Adam comfortably took both sets from the second pair but the Bentley first pair were playing out of their skin and beat John and Tim leaving the match tied at 2-2 at half time

John and Tim then easily took the first set of the second pair but despite a long set Adam and Andrew lost 4-6 to the first pair.At three sets all this was proving tighter than anticipated and the last two sets would be crucial

Adam and Andrew found some improved form and raced into a 5-0 lead against the first pair but Tim and John were finding the second set tougher and at this point trailed 3-5.Everything pointed to a 4-4 draw which would not be enough

However after Bentley had missed a smash to win the set John and Tim found some additional strength and fought back to go 6-5 up with Tim covering every inch of the court.Bentley served but a long game finally went Congleton's way - a 7-5 win - was this enough ?

You might think so but on the neighbouring court the unthinkable was happening as Bentley began to fight back and the form that Adam and Andrew had found was evaporating quickly.In fact Bentley won the next 6 games in a row to lead 6-5.

Adam was to serve and it appeared that the set was slipping away as Bentley took a 40-30 lead.At this point Adam hit a cross court passing shot that hit the top of the net and bounced over the Bentley player's racket.Taking an age to come down it landed just inside the court to save the set point.

Gathering themselves Andrew and Adam managed to take the next two points to draw the set 6-6 and take the match 4.5-3.5 and hence gain promotion.

The match finished in near drakness as Bentley do not have floodlights but the team were pleased to finally finish the season on a high

Captain Adam Goodall thanked the regular team members of Tim Dean , Simon Darmon and Andrew Giltrap who had fought hard all season often against the odds (the team know what I mean - no more needs to be said !!) plus those who had filled in when there were absences or injuries - primarily John Nicholson but also Zach Shaikh , Peter Wardlaw and Louis Burgess-Beard

Who can forget Tim and Simon driving around the Cheshire countryside lost trying to reach Nantwich Farmers , the debacle at home to Bentley Motors , the hard fought (and crucial) win against the C team , the even harder fought draw with champions Hartford B away from home which ended in a torrential downpour, losing at home to the same team after being 3-1 up at the halfway point and Tim's fantastic salmon (or was it ham) sandwiches

Well done team !!