Brighton’s hope to make it a historic third successive title looked to fade away as they went down to a very impressive Fusion side in round 11 by the narrowest of margins, 4-3. Larry and Lorestas Trumpauskas’ victories over Felix Thomis, combined with the father and son duo’s doubles win, plus Larry’s 3-2 comeback victory over David Andersson, which saw the start of his impressive weekend, helped Fusion take the victory.

Ormesby got off to a slow start themselves, but ended the round on the right side of a 4-3 scoreline, recovering from 2-1 down at one stage against North Ayrshire. Hugo Torngren got North Ayrshire on the board defeating Ben Piggott 3-1, and a win in the doubles saw the Scottish side take a 2-1 lead before Enio Mendes levelled the score with a win over Chris Main. With the score poised at 2-2, David McBeath’s 11-8 in the fifth victory over Torngren proved pivotal. As Mendes then defeated Main whilst Colin Dalgleish bounced back for North Ayrshire, defeating Piggott.

Bottom of the table eBaTT launched their fight for survival with a huge victory over third-placed BATTS. Nahom Asgedom put eBaTT ahead, defeating Isaac Kingham, with Czech international Simon Belik able to double their lead, defeating Haotian Chen 3-1. The doubles made it 3-0 to eBaTT, before BATTS launched a comeback of their own, taking the next three singles, including a 14-12 in the fifth victory for Kingham over Ismaila Akindiya. But Belik excelled over Josh Bennett to secure victory for eBaTT.

All eyes were on table 1 for the opening round of the weekend, as seventh-placed Drumchapel Glasgow took on sixth-placed Ormeau, with just two points separating the two – a victory for the Scottish side would see them overtake their relegation rivals. Anticipation for this match was also building due to the star spearheads of each team.

Par Gerell, 12-time Swedish national champion and former World Championships bronze medallist, was first up on the table and put Ormeau ahead with victory over Paralympian Aaron Mckibbin. Then it was the turn of Drumchapel Glasgow’s landmark signing, Paul Drinkhall, seven-time English senior national champion, who defeated Sophie Earley in straight games. Drinkhall’s reputation as a doubles expert, being a 15-time national champion in Men’s Doubles, helped Drumchapel take a 2-0 lead, before a huge comeback from Paul McCreery & Gerell saw Ormeau take the all important victory.

The two number threes then went head to head, with McCreery beating Xinliang Sun, to leave a match advantage in the hands of Gerell. Gerrel took on Drinkhall in a repeat of the 2016 Olympic Qualification final, and it was Gerell who took the win 3-1. The match was decided after this victory, yet the scoreline went from bad to worse as McCreery defeated McKibbin, before Sun hit back for the Scottish side over Earley to seal a 5-2 scoreline.

The tightest affair in round 12 came between Drumchapel Glasgow and eBaTT, the battle between the bottom two in the division, and a must win for both sides to stand any chance of securing safety. It was Drumchapel Glasgow that took the win 4-3, thanks to two close fifth-set encounters which started proceedings. Drinkhall overcame Belik 3-2, before Asgedom came back from 9-3 down in the fifth against Aaron McKibbin, to level at 9-9, before McKibbin took the next two points to put the Scottish club ahead. It soon became 3-0 and advantage Drumchapel with a doubles victory, before Ismaila Akindiya put eBaTT on the board, beating Xinliang Sun. Drinkhall’s victory over Asgedom sealed the win for Drumchapel Glasgow, and all but confirmed eBaTT’s relegation.

Ormesby continued to dominate the division with a 5-2 victory over BATTS. Enio Mendes scratching against Josh Bennett gave BATTS one of their two points, with the other coming with a headline victory for youngster Isaac Kingham, who defeated David McBeath 3-1. Two other matches went the distance with Piggott edging out Abraham Sellado 11-7 in the decider, and also the doubles, where BATTS lead 2-1 before the combination of Mendes & McBeath hit back.

In the other two matches in the round, Brighton bounced back from their opening defeat to beat North Ayrshire 5-2 and it was the same scoreline as Ormeau defeated Fusion.

It was 5-2 for Fusion against Drumchapel Glasgow and another landmark victory for a rising English star as Larry Trumpauskas triumphed 3-0 (9, 7, 7) against Paul Drinkhall.

That was part of a double for Larry, a feat matched by his dad Lorestas. Both beat Aaron McKibbin, with Lorestas taking it 11-7 in the fifth, and Lorestas also defeated Xinliang Sun. The father-son combination also teamed up to take out Drinkhall & McKibbin 3-2 (7-11, 11-5, 11-4, 3-11, 11-6) in the doubles.

BATTS’ 4-3 defeat of Brighton and Ormesby’s 7-0 romp against eBaTT ended any hopes of a grandstand finish in the final round of matches.

BATTS took a 3-0 lead as Abraham Sellado and Haotian Chen beat David Andersson and Felix Thomis respectively and Sellado & Josh Bennett took the doubles against Andersson & Callum Evans. But Brighton made it 3-3 as Evans beat both Bennett and Sellado, either side of Andersson’s victory over Chen. It was left to Bennett to seal it for BATTS 3-0 (7, 5, 5) against Thomis.

Ormeau defeated North Ayrshire 4-3, finally shaking off opponents who three times recovered from going a match behind and levelled at 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3. Par Gerell claimed two wins and combined with Paul McCreery to win the doubles. McCreery himself took the other Ormeau victory, while all three North Ayrshire players – Hugo Torngren, Colin Dalgleish and Chris Main – took one win.

It was relatively easy for Ormesby as no match against eBaTT took more than four games to decide.

With Brighton no longer able to defend their title, it was perhaps no surprise they found themselves 4-0 down against Ormesby, though Ben Piggott did need to go to 12-10 in the fifth to beat David Andersson. It was Andersson who got Brighton on the board by beating David McBeath (8, 13, 9) and Callum Evans then overcame Jose Mendes in four. But Piggott fittingly had the final word for the champions as he beat Thomis (12, 9, 9).

BATTS finished in third place, though Ormeau moved closer to them thanks to a 4-3 victory. They led 3-0 after Par Gerell & Paul McCreery won the doubles 3-2 (9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 10-12, 13-11) against Isaac Kingham & Abraham Sellado. Sellado pulled one back with victory over Sophie Earley, but Gerell’s win over Haotian Chen made sure of Ormeau taking the points. Sellado and Kingham made it respectable with wins over McCreery and Earley respectively.

Fusion defeated eBaTT 5-2 and finished in fifth place thanks to another full house for the Trumpauskas family with two singles wins each and the doubles. They were a place ahead of North Ayrshire, who won the all-Scottish battle 4-3 against Drumchapel Glasgow. Ayrshire were 2-1 and 3-2 down (Paul Drinkhall winning his two and combining with Aaron McKibbin to win the doubles) before Colin Dalgleish completed his double with a win over McKibbin and Billy Shilton defeated Xinliang Sun in four to seal Ayrshire’s victory.

The Glasgow side finished seventh and eBaTT eighth.