The third match of the season saw us at Kings Norton for a home fixture against a very good Derbyshire side which had some junior players making their Debut. Kings Norton was in fabulous condition with the greens staff giving us some pure fast running greens.  With Phil Krone, Alex Emms and Evan Lewis all called up for the first team it game me another opportunity the give another junior player a debut in the men’s side. With Tom Blizzard having a successful junior record I put my faith in him and Giles Blakley to go out in trap one. They did not disappoint by giving us the first point of the day winning 1up. I paired up with Matty Ruffinato and with going down early on we managed to turn it around and winning on the 18^th green. The Worcester GCG pairing of James Howl-Newton and Simon Green took down their opponents 2up.  With us having a 3-1 lead the final match with Lee Evans and Jason Lane could prove pivotal if we could get something out of their match. They played the long par 5 up the hill perfectly and secured a vital half point to give us a good lead going into the single matches.

Sending Giles Blakley out at number one put a bit of pressure on him to stretch our lead and closer to the winning line. He rose to the occasion by winning 2&1, Matty Ruffinato made it two wins for the day for him winning 2up, Neil Grubb turned around his morning disappointment by putting another point on the board for us winning 2&1.Playing in only his second game for the county, Simon green had a fantastic 6&5win to put us on 7 ½ points for the day. For the second game running a draw was looking the likely outcome. Down in trap 10 was Jason Lane of Moseley, after being down all afternoon battled back to only 1 down standing on the 18^th tee.  With the majority of both sides watching the final match Jason kept his head brilliantly by hitting a good drive, second and third to left side of the green, cutting a long story short his opponent had a nightmare up the hole and finally conceded the hole to get us the vital half point to win the game 8-7.

I’d like to thank Paul Newman who once again gave up his Sunday to support the team, he tirelessly drove around in the buggy making sure the lads had plenty of refreshments and keeping me informed of the scores. A big thanks to the Clubhouse Staff who kept both teams fed and watered throughout the day. And last but no means least, thanks to my team who I know gave 100% effort the whole day which gave us a great win putting us tied second with Warwickshire in the league.  

Mark Dunkley

2^nd Team Captain

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