The best two juniors in the County certainly did that with 4 birdies in the last five in their foursome against Kenilworth Pair 1, to turn a 3 down with five to play deficit into a win and to put Maxstoke through to the final. That was Maxstoke’s ‘tough’ match on the way to the final. For Stratford, there were two key away wins.

Having beaten the Warwickshire and then Moor Hall away (by 2.5 to 0.5 each time), Stratford then faced a very strong Coventry Hearsall who had put out the holders and overall favourites Coventry Finham out of the competition in the previous round.

That was a 3-0 win for Stratford and in the semi-finals, they went away to Walmley and won 2-1 with all the matches going to the 18th.

The final hinged on matches 1 and 3 as Maxstoke B were soon four up against Stratford B, with Maxstoke captain (and past County Captain) Gordon Marston playing with Anthony Gascoigne. Four up became five up and then followed three ‘comedy holes’ (Gordon Marston) which could have seen a Stratford fightback but Danny Blair and James Smith were unable to capitalise on Maxstoke errors – a 3&2 win to Maxstoke.

Match 1 had the father and son pairing of Bob and Ben Stafford up against John Hathaway and John Lillie. Maxstoke A were up from early on but only by the odd hole or two and as the match moved to the 17th hole, the Staffords were only one up after three putting the 16th.

News from the two matches behind them was of possibly one point going to each club so when the Stratford approach to the 17th only made the front of the green, Maxstoke halved that distance but could not make a wining three, so the match moved to the 18th.

Playing straight into the wind, the par five 18th was unreachable in two. Maxstoke made a five and with Stratford unable to find a winning birdie, the Cup went to Maxstoke, irrespective of what would happen in Match 3. The news of the cup being won and Stratford C, Stuart Helliker and James Hansen, made three uncharacteristic errors in losing the last three holes after they were 2 up with three to play. The final point went to Stuart Bloxham and Scott Warren for Maxstoke.

Pictured : Gordon Marston receiving the Warwickshire Cup, the Maxstoke Team, the Stratford Team.

Thos players who played for both clubs who are not in these pictures include –

Stratford – John Pitts (Team Captain), Roger Morgan, Lee Van Der Hayden, Matt Leefe.

Maxstoke – Rob Browning, Andy Evans, Chris Evans, Andy Sullivan.

A number of additional picture can be found in the Championship gallery which is in County Men | Knockouts | Warwickshire Cup | Pictures