Excited by the prospect of doing battle on home turf, the Somerset Men's Winter County Cup team were locked and loaded for their Division 6 campaign. Finding themselves on the bottom rung of the national ladder, the Cidermen were in desperate need of a promotion to kickstart their ascent of the county ranks. What better place to start than Taunton tennis Centre?!
Captain Alistair Felton's Somerset welcomed the return of world number 691 Richard Gabb and former top 600 ATP player James Marsalek. Fresh blood in the form of Matt Crofts and the highly promising Louis Skupien added youthful exuberance to the side, which also featured the Edwards brothers of Priddy and County Cup stalwart Dan Manlow.
On day 1 a strong Somerset side took on neighbours Wiltshire in a match that saw debutants Crofts and Skupien pick up impressive singles wins. Felton, Sam Edwards, Manlow and Gabb all notched routine wins to help secure a 9-0 routing and the perfect start.
Sitting in a strong position in the group, and with the addition of one of the UK's top players in James Marsalek, Somerset were fierce favourites for promotion. James Edwards opened the scoring against the South of Scotland and Somerset never looked back, racing to another 9-0 win. The quick days work allowed the team to make the 3pm FA Trophy kick off between Taunton Town and Concord Rangers. 90 minutes of riveting entertainment ended in a 3-2 win for the claret and blue...what a day for Somerset Sport!
Heading into Sunday's bout with Gloucestershire, the Cidermen were already guaranteed promotion to Division 5. With former County Captains Matt Bernard and James Deem in the stands, a rampant Somerset rounded off the weekend with a 7-2 triumph. British number 18 Gabb completed his trio of 6-0, 6-0 victories on the weekend to stamp Somerset's authority on the division.
Somerset's golden generation of world ranked players will hope to continue their march up the divisions in years to come, setting their sights on division 1 tennis.
The team would like to thank all the local tennis enthusiasts that came to support over the weekend and contributed to a fun team environment. The new look Somerset side will now set their sights on summer county cup where they hope to continue their assault on British inter county tennis.