But still, things were good, as captain Nathan Ray began the singles by making short work of his opponent, winning 5/4. Michael Pell, behind him got to 2 up with 4 to play despite his opponent being under par, whilst most of the other matches were close.

It was at this point that the fates began to pay back their debt to Staffordshire, who had been so cruelly robbed of the qualification for the EGU finals on June 1st.

First, George Allen sustained a serious back injury and, though gamely fighting to the end, could not swing effectively and lost a match he would surely have won. Michael, having lost his lead, also lost his ball to a drive on 17 that appeared in the centre of the fairway and lost on the last.

Neither Dan Spalding nor the man in form, Adam Lumley could find any sort of form and never looked like winning, but the two youngsters Iain MacKay (14) and Max Martin (13) at the back were always going to win, and did to balance things.

That left the other three to decide things, but, as the fates seemed to have decreed, nothing went right and all three lost narrowly. A 5 ? - 9 ? score line did not do us justice, indeed the Staffordshire officials had resigned themselves to a drawn match less than half an hour before holing the winning putt! It goes like that sometimes.

It is almost certain that Staffordshire will reach the final. We wish them luck. They deserve it this year, though it hurts to say so!