In difficult and windy conditions, the singles rubbers in particular were very hard-fought battles.

Peter Cook, playing No1 string, won 6-4, 6-3 against a very impressive opponent, while Andy Apperley at No2 lost.

Neal Smith was unlucky in his match and lost in three very close sets,
losing the final set 6-4.

Sam Kilhams again demonstrated why he has cemented his place in the men's first team with a comfortable 6-2, 6-1 win at fourth string to make the match tied at 2-2.

Cook dropped out of the doubles and his place was taken by Justin Pollard, the club's professional coach.

Pollard partnered Kilhams and won a very tough match 6-1 in the third set.

Apperley and Smith put aside the disappointment of their singles defeats and displayed great strength and determination against Amhurst's first pair to win in straight sets to secure a vital 4-2 victory for Chichester.

After the match, Cook, the captain, said: "It was always going to be a challenge this year and I'd like to thank everyone who represented the team this season.

"But I'm happy that the future looks bright, not only with the emergence of Sam Kilhams as a regular first-team player, but also another of the club's junior performance players, Nick Orgovanyi, proving he can step up to the mark when called upon.

"I think we can be extremely proud we're seeing some homegrown talent representing the club in our top men's tennis team."

The squad comprised Chris Nicholls, Peter Cook, Sam Kilhams, Paul McDonald, Andy Apperley, Neal Smith, Nick Orgovanyi, Rory Martin and Justin Pollard.

* A total of 21 boys battled it out in Middleton's Compass Lite open tournament, which saw entries from across Sussex and Hampshire.

In the 18 and under age group, No1 seed Nick Grimwade from Brighton had a bye in the first round before having a convincing win against Middleton's Josh Bappoo and then eased through the final beating Daniel Bartlett 4-2, 4-0.

Middleton's Shaun Hitchcock lost out in the first round of the 18-and- under age group against Ben Wilcock in a tightly-fought match. Hitchcock lost the third-set tie-break 10-6.

Hitchcock beat Jak Goddard in the consolation draw and, in the final, beat Michael Ryan 10-7 in another third-set championship set tie-break.
Fourteen boys entered the 14-and- under event, with the top eight players playing each other.

Middleton's Will Searle narrowly won the first round 10-7 in a third-set championship tie-break against Ben Chivers-Gibbs.

In the next round, Searle repeated his performance against Rob Clarke by clinching a third-set championship tie-break 10-7 and, in the final, won the first set 5-4 against Ed Clarke, who had to concede the match.

In the 14-and-under consolation draw, Mark Phillips beat Jamie Wilcock in went on to win the final in a tie-break against Ben Chivers-Gibbs.

In the other 14-and-under draw, Alex Chivers-Gibbs won comfortably in the final against Middleton's Jamie Knight.