It was a nerve-racking 3 days of squash, as teams from across the men’s division battled it out in the playoffs!

On Tuesday night, both higher division teams, Tynemouth 3 (div 4) and Chester-le-Street 3 (div 3), came out on top 4-1 to avoid relegation. The scores, however, did not do the matches justice, especially in the case of Chester-le-Street 3 v Northumberland 6, where all 5 strings went to five!

Day 2 continued in the same vein, with both promotion challengers falling short, as Consett 2 (div 2) beat Benwell Hill (div 3) 4-1 in a very cagey contest, while Primrose 1 had a clean sweep over Hexham, who came out on the wrong end of a handful of tiebreakers and close scorelines.

We saved the best till last, as Northern 2 (div 1) bucked the trend and produced excellent performances across the board to beat Premier opponents Newcastle Uni 2 by 3 matches to 2 to become the first team to ever gain promotion to the Premier through the playoffs!

Division 5 v Division 4

Consett 3 1-4  Tynemouth 4

Division 4 v Division 3

Northumberland 6 1-4  Chester-le-Street 3

Division 3 v Division 2

Benwell Hill 1-4 Consett 1

Division 2 v Division 1

Hexham 1 0-5  Primrose 1

Division 1 v Premier

Northern 2 3-2 Newcastle Uni 2