Superb Win Secures Promotion
Massive Congratulations to West Lothian Team 2 in clinching promotion to the Premier Division on Thursday 30th March. Mark, Ben and Jamie were delighted to secure promotion in their final league match of 2022/23 season.
Ben, Mark and Jamie travelled to play Penicuik 2 knowing that they had to win 8-2 or better to clinch promotion on “goal difference” and in the end, they won 9-1. This was a dramatic climax to the Division 1 league season and promotion will give WLCTTC two teams in the premier league next season.
Well Done & Commiserations
Congratulations also to Edinburgh University II in winning Division 1 and commiserations to a very good Corstorphine I team who missed out on promotion by the narrowest of margins.
How It Was Done
West Lothian Team 2 enjoyed a phenomenal second half of the season with the team dropping only 1 point to the eventual league winners EU2 in an epic 5-5 draw in February.
In the first half of season Wociech played an important part by playing 9 matches and having a 74% win ratio, with the highlight being an impressive 3 wins out of 3 against Corstorphine 1. Sadly, he had to return home to Poland in January. However, the recruitment of young Ben Hart at the turn of the year was a tremendous boost with Ben playing 10 matches and winning an incredible 97% of his games, losing only one game to one of the talented Edinburgh Uni players Alisdair Crofton. Ben’s calmness under pressure was shown when saving match points in a few games including a fantastic game against EU’s Connor Smith. We expect Ben will thrive in the premier league next season and is one of Scotland’s top prospects at the age of 14.
Mark Robertson had an impressive debut season for West Lothian, playing in 19 of the matches and winning 61% of his games. The number of games Mark prevailed in five sets was remarkable and this is due to both his determination, fighting spirit and consistency in keeping the ball on the table. Highlight of the season for mark was winning all 3 against Edinburgh International II and helping to clinch an important 6-4 victory on an evening when the team were without Wociech.
Jamie Toner played all 22 matches in the season, winning 55 out of his 66 games which was an impressive 83% win rate.
Jamie has gained promotion now for his West Lothian team in 3 consecutive seasons with win rates of 89% in D3, 85% in D2 and 83% in D1, a fabulous level of consistency for an ever-improving young player. Jamie has surely now deservedly earned his place in the premier league and this will see him play in all 5 ELTTL divisions over 5 seasons. Highlights of Jamie’s league season was 3 wins with no sets dropped on the night against Corstorphine 1 a few weeks ago and a hard fought 5 set win against the top player in the D1 rankings EU’s Jakub Kara.
Credit also to Callum Stephen in stepping in to play his part when asked; Callum played 4 matches winning 25% of his games and notably he clinched a very important 5-5 draw v Murrayfield V in game 10 on the first match of the season. Special mention also to Keith Mackay who stepped up to play one match and what an important contribution it was winning one singles game and a doubles game with Jamie to clinch a 5-5 draw v Murrayfield VI on a night where the team were without Callum, Mark and Wociech. This point proved crucial in the end and showed that every game counts.
Well done to West Lothian Team II
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