A TALENTED table tennis trio did Barrow proud with a promotion-winning campaign in the Lancashire and Cheshire Junior League.

Scott Barker, 15, Jack Cullen, 17, and Tom Huddleston, 15 – all members of Thwaites Table Tennis Club – produced a series of impressive displays to win the Division One title.

The trio showed off their skills in a series of matches at Our Lady’s School, Blackley, to gain a place in the Premier Division for next season.

Their first match was against Southport B, with Barker and Cullen giving Barrow excellent start with comfortable straight sets wins against Max Davies and Felix Anderson.

Huddleston had a very close battle with Elliot Cooper. Twice the Barrow player took the lead, only for his opponent to creep back into the match with 12-10 sets. The decider also went to deuce, but this time it was Huddlestone who held his nerve and won 13-11.

Cullen’s game against Davies was equally close and exciting.

Having taken the first set 16-14, his opponent took the next two with some brave attacking when the scores were close. This triggered a positive response from Cullen, who became more offensive and closed out the next two sets for his second win.

Barker was comfortable in his next match, despite dropping the first set, and Huddleston wrapped up the whitewash victory when he outplayed Anderson.

The next match was against Manchester A, who were only able to field two players.

With their confidence high, the Barrow team raced to victory, dropping just one set in the four matches played.

Barker played two and won both, while Huddleston and Cullen both played once against the Manchester team of Jhoti Mahapatra and Jacob Isaac.

The final match was against Wirral.

Cullen started strongly, going 2-0 up against Jack Norton. In a dramatic change of form, Norton hit back, taking the opening win with three comfortable sets.

Barker also started his game against Tom Peake in complete control, with 11-2, 11-5 sets. However, Peake reached the top of his form in the third set and suddenly a repeat of the previous match looked likely.

At deuce in the fourth, Barker remained composed and took the two points needed to win and end Peake’s comeback.

Wirral regained the match lead when Nathan Bradshaw defeated Huddleston in straight sets.

The fourth rubber was played out between the respective number ones – Norton and Barker. Barker won the encounter comfortably, preserving his unbeaten record for the day.

Cullen was again involved in a very close match. He took the first end 15-13 but lost the next two sets 12-10, 11-7 to Bradshaw. This time it was Cullen’s turn to turn fortune around and with wins in the next two sets he secured a vital victory for Barrow.

In the final match, Huddleston found the luck against him as Peake edged the first set 12-10 and then took the next two to ensure a draw in the match.

With their previous results, this saw Barrow finish as winners of Division One, earning promotion to the Premier Division.

The team thanked Fingerprints for their shirt sponsorship.