All four pairs were defeated and only an impressive win from Ian Stranks and Gareth Jenkins saved us from a whitewash.

Over the last year our foursomes performances have improved, partly due to better preparation but we were never in contention in the first four games citing bad putting, fast greens and wild tee shots as some of the excuses.

We needed a fast start in the singles and Rob led us out against plus 4 handicap Ross Overton who had registered some plus 400 yard drives in the morning's play.

However, Rob was focused and often rises to the challenge when required. Ross has not been beaten in county singles for 31 games - that's about 6 years!

When I caught up with Rob he was 4 up and held on to that margin to close out the game 4&3 - an excellent performance.

Games featuring Tom, Fred and Sam were all close and we needed to get at least two points from these three to stay in contention but despite fighting gamely only Fred was able to get a half.

I knew we were strong in the second half of the order and despite Chris struggling, the news from the back was very positive. James, Rich, Gareth, Dale and Ian were all in front and if they all hung on we would gain an unlikely half.

However despite solid wins from Dale, Ian and Gareth, James and Rich could only halve their games and so the final score was 8 1/2 to 6 1/2.

Notts deserved the win, they were well organised and captain Colin seems to have engendered real team spirit within his squad.

Beeston Fields was in excellent condition for the match and I would like to pass on my thanks to the club for their hospitality and to President John Powell for his support on the day.

The league is now wide open and we will need to regroup before our next fixture.