A depleted Oxford League team came a highly-creditable fifth on their first appearance in the national Carter Cup finals at Wellingborough.

Oxford had to play without their No 1 player Reece Chamdal, who was selected by Table Tennis England to play in an under 13 tournament in Lithuania.

So Erik Wahlgren, 13, was joined by Kavan Warrender, 17, who suffered before hitting a ball in anger when his bat was disqualified because of a slight tear and frayed edge on the rubber, leaving him to borrow a spare.

After 5-0 defeats against eventual champions, Wembley & Harrow, and Hull, Oxford hit back to win 3-2 against Crawley & Horsham, thanks to a nail-biting victory in the doubles – 12-10 in the deciding leg with a ball which rolled along the net and just dropped on the other side.

Both Wahlgren and Warrender won one singles.

This success put Oxford into the play-offs for fifth and sixth places.

Birmingham’s No 1, Michael Bree, was injured and only able to take part in the doubles.

Even so, the match reached 2-2, before Wahlgren triumphed in four sets to help Oxford secure fifth place out of eight.