Dave Westwood and Chris Dougill started slowly, well over par after seven holes and two down before fighting back to lead on the 18th tee. A Worcs birdie at the last ensured that the point was halved.

Sam Dodds and Richard Oddy were also well down early. As the heavens opened, Sam produced a brolly that Graham Norton would have been ashamed of and it had the desired effect. The clearly spooked opposition then surrendered five holes on the trot to register another Bears point.

James and Dale were struggling to keep the ball in play on the tight Gay Hill course and succumbed to a 4&3 loss and with the final match of Ian Stranks and Karl Smith also struggling the points were shared at lunch.

We could have been 4-1 down and struggling but with honours even at half way we were confident that another strong singles performance would get the job done.

Andy led us out against Chris Nugent. The last time this pair met in the corresponding fixture last season, Chris came out on top and Andy was gunning for revenge. Five birdies and no dropped shots later and the Bears were off and running.

Both Rob and Sam held marginal leads at the turn but as match after match came through with the home side in front it seemed that a mid order collapse would prove our undoing.

James- 2 down, Chris- 3 down, Dale- 3 down, Karl- 4 down and Rich- 1 down didn't look too pretty. We needed to shape up fast!

Dave demolished his opponent 7&6 and as I caught up with Rob and Sam they had also won so we needed only one and a half points from the remaining 6 games- surely a simple task?!

I found Chris on the 16th green and was delighted to find that he had turned his game round and a routine par on the 17th saw off his opponent. We now had the 7 and a half points needed for a draw and with Ian and Rich both now in front we had it in the bag. Rich holed the winning putt before going on to secure a 2&1 win and Ian managed a half to give us a 9-6 margin of victory.

A win over Shropshire at Olton in October will now see the league remaining in our hands.

Thanks to David Morgan, John Powell and John Stubbings for their support on the day.

For the Match Scorecard CLICK

HERE

For the League positions CLICK

HERE