TENNIS: Oxon's men rue missed chance

5:33pm Thursday 31st July 2008

Oxfordshire men felt frustrated at going so close in County Week when they ultimately finished fourth, in the top section, of Group 7 at Beckenham.

Winning two of their first three matches, they finished top of their grouping of Channel Islands, Avon and Wiltshire to progress to the higher group from which the two promoted teams would be decided.

But then, in their last two matches, they were beaten, by Staffs and Avon.

"I think our captain, Jonathan Maskens, was the most consistent player over the week," said North Oxford's American player, Jay Sexton.

"I suppose the silver lining of the week was the partnership of Oliver Neighbour and Jack Rooney, who got better as the week progressed.

"It was a bit frustrating because we were a lot closer to getting promotion than it looks.

"Iain MacDonald and I had some match points against the Channel Islands, when we lost the contest 5-4, and had we taken those it might have been different."

Oxon finished top of their early grouping, with the Channel Islands second.

But with the complicated system of scoring, the result of the match against the team who progressed with Oxon was carried forward to the second stage, and their loss against the Islanders put them at a disadvantage.

Avon and the Channel Islands went on to win promotion.

Sexton, who hails from Kansas, found the unique County Week experience - every match in every group is played on grass - enjoyable, but by the Friday conditions at Beckenham were not ideal.

"It's a lot of tennis, three matches a day for five days but a good experience," he said.

"The courts got really beat up and there were a lot of bad bounces at the end of the week.

"I know it's the same for everyone though. This was one of the hottest weeks in the ten years I've lived in England and that made it tough.

"We had Tom Greenland with us one day, Joe Cartledge, who played very well, two days and Iain MacDonald two days.

"If we'd had the full side for longer we would have had a good chance of going up."

Oxon results: won 7-2 v Isle of Man, lost 5-4 v Channel Islands, won 5-4 v Wiltshire, lost 6-3 v Staffs, lost 7-2 v Avon.

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