small claims court

Other

Hi There
Last year my tenants caused a lot of damage to my property and I deducted 50% of their deposit, they took me to the small claims court and accused me of not protecting their deposit even though they new the deposit was protected but they denied I told them and they also said the flat was dirty etc before they moved in, I had an inventory but could not find my copy but they denied this also. at the court hearing the judge did not listen to me and ignored me and only listened to the tenant. the judge was happy that the deposit was protected but as I did not have the inventory he granted I pay the tenant the 50% deposit back and interest and loss of wages etc totally £666.00 I was told I would receive a letter explaining the hearing and the costs I had to pay the tenant, no letter came and when it did come an extra £100 had been added. this total was paid and as I was so annoyed that the judge only listens to the claimant I have decided to take the tenants to the small claims to claim back all my losses, since then I have found the inventory which was scanned and sent to the letting agents. I do not have a court date as yet but the court have sent a letter asking why did I not counterclaim the claim the tenants made? I do not know what this means. Please help me as I do not want to lose more money, im a hard working landlord/mother/wife and these tenants lied and treated my flat very badly. I need advice on what I should do and what is the meaning of counterclaim?