The Isle of Man men’s county tennis team competed in division six of the annual Winter County Cup at Nuffield Health Centre in Hull the weekend before last.

On the first day the islanders went up against a tough side in Oxfordshire. While they battled hard, Oxfordshire proved too strong and won the tie 8-1, with the team’s only win coming from Orry Farnworth as he battled through a gruelling three-setter 5/7 6/3 6/3 in two and a half hours.

Some notable performances on the day came from Chris Mash and Adam Pyatt-Coppell fighting well in a close 7/5 6/3 loss, and Farnworth and Sean Drewry pushing a world-ranked opponent in Alexis Canter in the doubles 6/4 7/5.

The second day saw the Isle of Man take on Northumberland, with the team getting stuck in with plenty of passion on show.

After the six singles matches each team had notched up three wins apiece, the Isle of Man’s victories coming from Drewry, Farnworth and Pyatt-Coppell 6/4 7/5, 6/4 6/2 and 6/2 6/3 respectively.

This meant the island team needed two out of the three doubles rubbers to take the victory.

First up was Pyatt-Coppell and Nerijus Gricevicius who fought back from a set down to take it to a third set which was settled by a 10-point match tie-break in the doubles.

A nail-biter ensued where little could separate the pairs but, with some clutch serving and a passionate bench behind them, the Isle of Man team took the tie-break 14-12 in dramatic fashion.

Northumberland pegged the Manx side back with a 6/1 6/3 win in the second pair doubles, which meant the whole tie would be decided by each team’s top doubles pairs clashing.

The Isle of Man’s Farnworth and Drewry took the first set 6/4. The second set had to be decided by a seven-point tie-break which turned into a saga in its own right, with neither team being able to get two points ahead, coming up with some high-quality tennis to deny each other the set. Finally, the Northumberland team snook it 17/15.

The Manx team were left to regroup ready for the third-set match tie-break that would decide the overall victor.

Boosted by the support of all their team-mates, Farnworth and Drewry were able to clinch the tie-break 10/7 and thus give the day’s victory to the Isle of Man.

The third and final day saw an island derby where the Isle of Man took on the Channel Islands, with the opportunity for the Manx side to take second place in the division if they won the tie.

There was a tough start to the day as Nick Reeder and Gricevicius lost two hard-fought battles 7/5 6/3, 6/3 6/1 respectively.

The Isle of Man then showed their passion and desire to win as they took the rest of the four singles rubbers, including some great comebacks from Pyatt-Coppell and William Hart as they won in three sets, each taking the third set in emphatic style 6/0 and 6/2.

This meant the IoM only needed one rubber from the three upcoming doubles matches. The first saw another three-set bout from Gricevicius and Pyatt-Coppell but this time they were unable to recreate their fairy-tale comeback from the day before, eventually being defeated 6/2 3/6 10/7.

After two days of partnering each other, Jos Woolford and Hart found their form together to make a great comeback win 1/6 6/1 10/8 to secure the team’s second place in the group, a feat that hasn’t been achieved by a Manx men’s side in more than a decade.

As the cherry on top, Farnworth and Drewry put on a doubles clinic to take their match 6/0 6/1, therefore concluding the tie as a 6-3 win for the Isle of Man.

A great weekend which saw the Manx team really pull together and turn up the energy to bring out the best in each other, in turn generating some great wins.

CHRIS BUTLER