WEYMOUTH A suffered a disappointing 8-1 loss to Southampton A in the National Junior League Southern Division at Waterside Table Tennis Club, Totton.

The Seasiders entered three teams into the competition for players aged under 18.

A total of 14 represented Weymouth over four rounds alongside two teams from Southampton and outfits from Portsmouth, Basingstoke and Fareham’s Generation II.

Going into the final round, it was a two-way race for top spot between Nathan Calton, Josh Clark and Ben Howe of Weymouth A and Southampton A.

Both teams met in the final match to decide the overall winners after Weymouth had won their two other matches 9-0, leading in the table after Southampton A had a close 5-4 win over third-placed Basingstoke.

Southampton raced into an early 3-0 lead, with William Agombar narrowly defeating Calton in a deciding fifth set.

Clark then beat Agombar, again in a fifth set, to give Weymouth hope of a comeback, but an inspired Southampton went on to win the next five matches to record a convincing 8-1 win.

This was Weymouth A’s only defeat of the year having beaten Southampton A 5-4 before Christmas, but ultimately this was too heavy a defeat and Southampton A won the division by two points.

Weymouth B’s Jed Brackenridge, Liam Critchard and Sophie Storey secured fourth place after a fantastic 7-2 win over fifth-placed Southampton B.

They also narrowly lost to Basingstoke 5-4, showing that the Weymouth squad had good strength in depth for so many players to compete in the top half of the table.

Weymouth C’s Holly Calton, Edith Dedman, Adam Bishop showed great improvement over the season and, although they finished bottom of the division, they recorded an impressive 7-2 win in their final match over Portsmouth to narrow that gap to only two points.

Brackenridge proved to be the top Weymouth performer over the season winning all 21 matches he played, including defeating all of the Weymouth A players.

Clark, who finished with an impressive 88 per cent win average, Calton, Howe, Critchard and Holly Calton played all 42 matches.

Other squad members not mentioned above included Ethan Clark, Ollie James, Edith Dedman, Rosa McKechnie, Adam Bishop, Ella Stanton and Ethan Bingham.

Weymouth and Dorchester are recruiting players to play in their under-15 and under-18 squads for next season, which starts in September.

Please contact Andy Millar for further information (a.millar212@gmail.com/07710507075).