Richard Oddy and Sam Dodds led us out and struggled to get to grips with the opposition despite some solid play.

Ultimately a 3 putt from nowhere on the 17th proved to be their undoing. Chris Dougill and Dave Westwood were the only pairing to get anything from their match - a half courtesy of pars on the last.

Fred Jewsbury and Tom Ibbertson should have won from 3 up but managed to lose with the climax of their game featuring back to back 3 jabs from close range.

James and Dale were up against it all the way round and succumbed to a 3&2 loss. Andy Sullivan and Rob Browning were out last after Andy had suffered some early morning timekeeping problems.

He probably wished he had stayed in bed as wild and erratic golf against steady opposition was never enough and they were soundly beaten.

I have to say, I saw it all - duffs, thins, tops and double hits. I have no idea where this form came from, maybe it is late in the year and the guys are winding down. Maybe we were complacent. We certainly came up against a focused and useful side who despite being outclassed on paper were committed to hanging onto their slim chance of regaining the league title they won in 2008.

So at lunch I delivered a little TLC!

If I had had a whip I would have used it - we needed to shape up and fast.

Fred led us out and was always behind against Ashley Chesters- an S&H veteran. Fred was down on his luck and eventually succumbed on the last. As I caught up with the groups after 7 holes the fast start had turned into a succession of negative scores.

It became clear early on that our form had not picked up - no one said they actually played well and as word spread round the course of our demise, morale flagged. Dale, James, Fred and Andy sat in the bar after mulling over what might have been whilst a torrential hailstorm swept across the course.

After 10 minutes, the course was unplayable and we headed for shelter. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing we decided to get the remaining games finished and only Chris had to take a half due to lack of light. Rob fought back to win the last two holes for a half, Sam won 7&6, Rich won 3&2 and Tom impressed in his 4&3 win.

The final result was 9.5-5.5 to the visitors.

After two years of progression in ability of our squad, team spirit and morale this was a major disappointment. The match was effectively over at lunch and basically we blew it.

I feel we have made progress over the last 10 competitive games, winning 7 of them - a record that none of our competitors can match but this result shows that on any given day anyone is beatable.

Hopefully we will use this as a spur to refocus on our 2011 campaign and I?m sure Dave Westwood is relishing the opportunity to get the league back to Bear country. I wish him all the best.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the players for their never-ending support and commitment over the last two years. We couldn't have had the success that we have had without their passion and drive to succeed. Many thanks to all our supporters, officials, coaches and friends who have made participating in county golf so enjoyable.

From standing on the range in pouring rain in Spain to basking in the British sun I will take many happy memories from the last two years - I hope that all who have been involved will share that sentiment.