Andyıs encouragement from the 7.5 ı 7.5 result was firstly because there were four players missing from the squad ı Matt Cryer, Rob Steele, Chris Evans and Jon Wetton, all playing in the Berkshire Trophy ı and the win in the morning foursomes by 3 matches to two, with the losses only happening on the 18th green.

Newcastle is a shorter golf course which offers many birdie chances, as well as certain bogies when a golfer misses on the wrong side of the green. None of the Warwickshire Team had played the course before but the quality of golf they produced was excellent, sometimes without reward.

ıWe didnıt putt well and we could have been four up after five and well under parı, said Bill Nicolson (who played with Amateur Runner-Up Louis Meryon in the morning matches).

ıAs it was we had an eagle and a birdie and we were two up and on the 18th we were still two under ı and losing.ı

A run of four birdies in five holes from the 7th was good enough for Amateur Champion Paul Randle and Gareth Jenkins to have a 6&4 win and the Coventry Hearsall pairing of Sam Foster and Mark Davies overcame a slow start for their 271 win.

Two matches went to the 18th and we lost both of them leaving the match score at Staffs 2 and Warwickshire 3.

Paul Randle was playing at No1 and up against Rob Maxfield. He lost three of the first four holes and managed three birdies in the next 12 holes but lost to the very experienced Maxfield 3&2. That point lost was reversed by an excellent performance from Gareth Jenkins in a 2&1 win. Then came two matches going to the 18th and with the way games stood out on the course, to win either side would want to take both points.

Firstly Andy Sullivan watched as his opponent holed from 20ft at the last for a par to halve their match, par being a score that neither player had found very often in the previous 17 holes with Sullivan having seven birdies to his playing partnerıs five. Match halved.

Ben Stafford went to the 18th with there having never been more than one hole lead for either player in the match, with Stafford producing four birdies overall. Ben unfortunately came up short of the 18th and could not up-and-down for a par. Point to Staffs.

Bill Nicolson continued to play well in the afternoon, just not well enough to win his match so Staffs were now level on Match Score.

Warwickshire went ahead with a win from Louis Meryon. Louis had gone ahead with a hatful of birdies to start his round and been pulled back to all square with pars on the 11th and 12th only to find the 15th fairway when his opponent did not and to have another win at the 16th.

Mark Davies staged a great comeback and when he drove the par four17th, he had a chance to go one up with one to play. Mark was on the back of the green and faced a long two putt for his three. He took three putts and on the 18th, faced a similar problem. His par putt just lipped out and Staffs were once again ahead.

Warwickshire guaranteed at leats a halved match with wins from Adam Gray and Sam Foster. Firstly Adam went two up after ten with some of the five birdies he had over the afternoon, finishing by make a sand save birdie at the par four 17th with his opponent just three feet from the hole in two. Sam Foster started slowly with two bogies but did not drop a shot in the next fourteen and asked his opponent to match six birdies.

At No 10, Ian Stranks could not come to terms with the greens and lost leaving the match drawn.

The full match scorecard will appear in County Men | Teams | 1st Team | Results

Before the next Midland League encounter, the County will send a team of six to the Midland Region County Championship qualifier. See a separate report from Andy Kearns on his team selection.

For those who went to the Berkshire, the best performance of the two days came from Rob Steele, actually a Top 5 in this very prestigious event and an incredible charge through the field.

Having opened with 74 and a 71, Rob then had a 69 and to finish with, a 65 which included 30 putts. All this added up to a total 04 279, just four shots back from the winning score.

Chris Evans made the cut by two shots with a pair of 72s, only to shoot 77 and 72, Matt Cryer made the cut by one, and then had a 68 and a 69 for 12th place.

Oliver West and Ben Kruze missed the cut.

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