The Leagues are organised with each County selecting courses then the Midland Golf Union draw for the opponents for each date and venue. Match five in 2006 and Staffordshire would be coming to Handsworth, a course where many of their players compete regularly, as Second team Captain Nick Clifford remarked when he heard the lunchtime news -

'I knew that with the guys Staffs have they could cause us real problems. Some of them know the course like the back of their hand.'

Clifford was almost past the winning post with the 2nds. He had a half from Liam Mallin and Ian Stranks, big wins from the two Sams (Hufton and Foster), Pete Clarke & Chris Leonard, a comfortable 2&1 from the Maxstoke pairing of Antony Gascoigne and Rob Browning - and two points won on the last.

The young Coventry duo of Dale Middleton and Ben Bernamont took their match with a 10ft putt from Middleton whilst Chris Doughill and Fred Jewsbury made a scrappy par at the last to stay one up.

Over at Handsworth, the singles started well for Staffordshire before back came Warwickshire so that it seemed every match bar one was around all square - but more matches were in Staffs favor than ours.

Our top three was Andy Sullivan, Ben Stafford and Matt Cryer. Warwickshire ended up with just half a point from these three singles when Andy Sullivan made two birdies in the last three to beat Mark Gates. Ben lost on the last to Jason Timmis, as did Matt Cryer to the very experienced Paul Griffiths.

The match with any sort of a lead was going to Paul Randle. In the foursomes, Paul and Ben Stafford had birdied the 5th, 6th and 7th in their 3&2 win. In the afternoon, Paul did the same and he nearly had a hole-in-one, his tee shot at the 11th virtually ripping the cup out of the green before spinning back off the green.

When Paul duly won 4&3, the match score was 5.5 - 4.5 in our favor. That soon changed as Andy Jones and Mark Davies both lost and every other match was too close to call.

Gareth Jenkins was one up playing the 14th. His opponent Tony Cheese was on the front of the green but more than 60ft from the hole. If the whole match changed in one stroke, it was there.

Cheese downed the putt. Over on the 18th, Dale Marson was counteracting the deficit with an eagle to take his singles for Warwickshire. We were still in trouble though.

Rory Kirwan saw one up after 12 soon become one down. Jenkins could only watch another Cheese birdie putt go in on the 15th. Meanwhile Bill Nicolson was showing all his experience to win his singles so that Jenkins loss on the 17th was not crucial. We could still take the Midland League title if Rory could take his match.

A win was a must because Notts had beaten Derbys 9-6 to overtake Shropshire & Hereford who after taking the foursomes 5-0 had then beaten Worcs 11-4, still not a big enough win to overtake the points difference that was putting Notts at the top of the league after their three wins and a halved match

It was getting dark and very cold as Rory tried his damdest to go back to all square with his tee shot to the 17th

'I am so disappointed for the team', said County Captain Graham Hargreaves', 'They have given me and the team everything.'

Rory flew the 17th and lost that hole and his match 2&1. One trophy had gone.

'It was a great day's golf, County Golf at its very best', said Graham after the match.

'We created the platform with a very good foursomes but from the off, I knew it was going to be tense in the singles.

'Staffs just managed to finish it off - it was very exciting.'

Over at Drayton, Nick Clifford has a bit of a surprise when at No 1, Antony Gascoigne lost his singles. Nick did not have to wait long for things to change.

'I have loaded my top half all year in the singles', said Nick as his next four players all came in with big wins.

Sam Foster and Sam Hufton, together with Liam Mallin and Ian Stranks all secured the win which was topped off with a 6&5 triumph for Fred Jewsbury and a half for 'anchor man' Pete Clarke.

'I have only used 18 or 19 players all season. We are lucky we have such strength in depth. Anyone of my top six could play for the firsts. They have all been a credit to themselves and the County, They have made my job easy!'

It was in the end just one trophy for our Centenary season. The foundations are there though for 2007 to be even better.

One person has tonight finished his dreams of what could be for this year - Centenary County Captain Graham Hargreaves. Graham has put everything into this year, and from beforehand, to try and make 2006 very special. It has been that (special)but sometimes, for all the effort, things just don't go quite right. Today was just one of those days, a day which our golfers will not forget, the sweet taste of victory and a day of losing. All those involved will have memories of a long tough fight - and be ready for 2007!