So the depth and strength of my squad would be tested again.

Fortunately I had managed to call upon the services of home club player Dale Marson and I paired him with Coventry's Dale Middleton. They were up against a strong S&H pairing (including a +2 handicapper), so the half point was a good result for us.

The all Walmley pairing of Rob (Dutch) Holland and Will Bailey also managed a half, although they felt that they should have secured a full point.

Third up were Will Smith (Stoneleigh Deer Park) and Shaun Young (Maxstoke Park). Signs were promising when they took an early lead, but this was gradually worn away by their S&H opponents and a 2&1 loss was the end result. This loss was quickly countered by a win in the last match - Stu Bloxham (Hearsall) and me (Stoneleigh Deer Park).

Despite 4 early birdies from our opposition, we managed to fight back and our solid play resulted in a 4&3 victory.

So the match was finely balanced at 2 points each with the Atherstone duo of Gary (Gaz) Greenway and Paul (Bink) Walker on the course. When I walked in they were 1 down playing the 15th. Half an hour later they were walking in and so I feared that we were 3-2 down at lunch.

I politely asked Gaz how they'd done and I was delighted to hear that our pairing had birdied the 15th, 16th and 17th to turn the game around and win 2&1. My sandwiches and chips were that little bit tastier knowing we had a 3-2 lead. Surely our strong singles play would again herald a good victory and improve our points difference.

I put my faith in homeboy Dale to start us off with a bang. He was up against the +2 handicapper and their match renewed former first team battles. They put on a display which would have graced any first team match with Dale coming out on top by 2&1. Dale was 6 under par against his opponent's 4 under par.

The Walmley boys followed. Will battled away in a tight match but just came second, the less said about Dutch's spanking the better! Diddles managed to gain parity with a strong victory, so we maintained our slender lead from the morning.

The normally dependable Gaz was not quite on his normally impeccable form and unusually lost his singles game. At this point I was walking to the 13th tee at 1 up (having squandered a 4 up lead after 5 holes).

I was told that things were tight - the overall match was 5 all with the final 5 singles tightly poised. Down in 2 and up in 3 I knew my game was crucial.

This proved to be the case as both Will S and Shaun suffered defeats (Will struggling with a stiff back), whilst Stu and Bink secured solid victories.

From a Warwickshire point of view a timely bogey from my opponent on the 13th, followed by a nicely holed birdie putt of mine on the 14th saw me go back to 3 up. This meant my opponent had to go for broke on the par 5 15th and when his second shot found water I was able to lay up, pitch and 2 putt for a par.

This was good enough to win the hole and my match 4&3. So we had won the last 3 games to win the match by 8 points to 7. This result means that we can still win the seconds league, if the results in final round of matches go in our favour.

My thanks go to Rugby GC for allowing us the use of their course and their excellent catering. To Matt Nixon for starting us off and to John Stubbings, John Duncombe, Anthony Gascoigne and Club President Barry for their support on the day. Finally thanks to Nick Kelly and his team for a tight match played in a terrific spirit.