Dean George wants Surrey Smashers to keep up their impressive form when they play for the inaugural National Badminton League championship title next month - but knows they will be pushed all the way.

With four wins from five match-nights in the regular NBL season, Surrey finished top going into the end of season showdown on Sunday 7 June.

However, the finals day schedule sees them go into an intriguing play-off against Loughborough Sport for the right to play for the title.

Loughborough won both their last two fixtures to finish in the final qualifying position and George knows all too well that they pose a threat after their dramatic encounter during the regular season.

The Horsham star said: "Loughborough are a strong team and the last time we played them it was a thriller of a match that we managed to win 3-2. So we know what they are capable of and that we will have to be at our very best to match them and beat them."

Back in December, the Smashers were forced to save ten match points to eventually finish 3-2 winners in a fixture memorable for Soraya De Visch Eijbergen’s remarkable match-defining comeback from 8-2 down.

"They are going to be out for revenge and will want to get back at us for losing last time around," said George. "I think we have to be looking at it as a match we can win because at the end of the day we want to be champions.

"To finish [the season] the way we did was really pleasing but now we have got to erase the board and start again.

"You have to take confidence from what we did but at the end of the day we still have plenty of work to do."

The UK’s first ever National Badminton League comes to a thrilling finale at K2 Crawley on Sunday 7 June. 

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