Coopers Coborn beat Colchester Sixth Form College in the Senior Students tennis tournament to set up a meeting with Southend

Delight for tennis squad

Coopers Coborn pupils pulled off a shock win against Colchester Sixth Form College in a thrilling tennis battle.

The underdogs trailed 3-2 after three of the singles matches and the doubles, but Gopal Sagoo kept his composure to win his next match, 6-3.

Harry Cannons and Adam Gray returned to the court for the championship tie-break, but fell 9-6 down.

Gray then produced two outstanding serves to close the gap to a single point and the Coopers pair saved two more match points before closing out a 12-10 win.

Alec Roeper defied a knee injury to play his part as Coopers booked a meeting with Southend.

There was disappointment for the under-18 rugby squad, though, as they bowed out of the Daily Mail Vase after a 20-5 home defeat against Cranbrook School (Kent).

*************

Shenfield High School’s Year 7 girls eased through in the Essex Cup with a 47-19 win over Maltings Academy.

They overcame a slow start, on their return from the Christmas holidays, to build a 19-12 lead by half-time.

And great offensive work from Ellen Hoad saw Shenfield increase their tally in the second half, as Sophie Clark worked valiantly in defence.

Shenfield, who beat Boswells 57-49 at the end of last term, will travel to Greensward Academy in a few weeks time.

*************

Royal Liberty School’s under-16s slipped to defeat against Walthamstow Academy in their Essex Cup contest.

Hisham Kasimu’s brace put them on top early on, but Walthamstow hit back before half-time and added three more goals in the second half.

Ahmed Safar grabbed a third goal for Liberty with five minutes remaining, but the visitors held on to book a quarter-final place.