Hundreds of spectators enjoyed a thrilling night’s table tennis as England women beat Greece 3-0 and the men lost 3-1 to Serbia in the European Championships Stage 1 double-header at Medway Park.

The women made light work of their opponents, winning in just over an hour for the loss of only one game, while the men’s 3-1 defeat could easily have gone the other way, as three matches went to deciding sets.

You can watch the two matches in full below, and scroll down to read the players’ reaction.

Here is what the players on duty said after the matches. All pictures by Michael Loveder – click here to see more on our Flickr page.

Click here to read the full report from both matches

Charlotte Bardsley (completed team victory with a 3-0 win over Konstantina Paridi on her senior debut)

I was shocked when I was picked, but happy as well because I felt I was ready.

I was so nervous, but it’s normal to be nervous so I just tried to relax and not let the nerves get the better of me. The two girls winning their matches gave me a lot of confidence.

Once I started playing, I relaxed and tried to concentrate on one point at a time. I was really happy to win and for the team to win.

Maria Tsaptsinos (defeated Georgia Zavitsanou 3-1)

Even though we won away to Greece (earlier this year), we came in thinking this would be a tough match because they beat Norway more easily than we did. It was harder than the score suggests.

We’re quite a new, young team and it’s good to come together as a team and finish top of the group. Thanks to the crowd for their support too!

Tin-Tin Ho (beat Aikaterini Toliou 3-0)

I had a Champions League match which I won 3-2 against a very good defender, Viktoria Pavlovich of Belarus. I learned from that and took confidence from it and applied the right tactics against another defender in Toliou.

Charlotte played really well. She faced an awkward opponent but she delivered really well.

Sam Walker (lost 3-2 to Aleksandar Karakasevic)

I don’t think I took my chances, especially in the second set, and to be fair after that, he played well. It was a tough match tactically. He’s got good touch and good angles and it wasn’t easy to play my game.

It’s about trying to play my game and not let him play his. There were patches when I did that and patches when I didn’t. I think it would have been a different story if I’d have closed that second game.

Paul Drinkhall (lost 3-2 to Zsolt Peto)

We thought it would be tough and it proved to be. It’s just a shame I couldn’t get over the line with the 2-1 lead, that was my big chance.

It’s pretty much the same as the first match in Serbia – we lost but every match was close and could have gone either way. They’ve put together two great matches and we haven’t, but we did everything we could.

Tom Jarvis (beat Ivor Katic 3-0 and lost 3-2 to Peto)

I think I played well in both matches and the second one could have gone either way. I don’t think I did anything wrong, but he (Peto) was good when it was tight and made it difficult for me.