IT WAS a bitter-sweet weekend for Jersey’s men’s volleyball team who were knocked out in the semi-finals of the National Shield after losing 3-1 to Middlesbrough.

The away tie on Saturday was always expected to be tough, but things had looked promising for the non-league HLB Jackson Fox Jersey team with a win in the first set 29-27. But the team were unable to recover from a dip in the second, largely due to some questionable refereeing they claim, and lost the remaining sets 15-25, 19-25, 20-25.

But according to coach Lee Ingram, who also played in the match at Middlesbrough College, it was still the best the Jersey team had played all year. ‘We played well throughout the match but we were up against a very tough team,’ he said. ‘It was our best performance of this year. We always knew we were up against it, and to win would have been fairytale stuff, but it is still a bitter sweet loss.’

Pictured: Bero Bobus (centre) of Jersey