Match day 4 was an away fixture at Great Barr Golf club against Staffordshire. With back to back wins in June and July we was quietly confidence going into this match. With a fast and firm course and very well watered greens which produced some superb putter surfaces it was all set to be a well contested day. I chose a basically unchanged team and at 10am we teed off with the traditional foursomes. It wasn’t looking too good in the early stages with being down in most of the matches but Myself and Matty Ruffinato stole a win on the 18^th green, John Cullen and Neil Grubb beat their opponents 3&2 and James Howl-Newton along with Simon Green had a convincing 5&4 win. So as in previous match we fought back well to take a 3-2 lead into the Afternoon Singles.

The singles matches in the afternoon have not been brilliant this year but a draw this time around would secure a third win on the bounce. Sending my strongest 5 out first hoping to bring in some early point didn’t quite go to plan with only James Humphries getting a point, I had an up and down game (again) against my opponent but I missed 2 easy birdies putts let him back in the game with him going 3 up with 3 to play.  I won 16 and 17 and should of won 18 to get a vital half match but halved the hole to lose 1 down. The tail end came in strong again with John Cullen, James Howl-Newton and Simon Green all winning.  Unfortunately the day belonged to Staffordshire by winning 8-7.

All the games were hard fought throughout the day were played in true sporting fashion. Once again I would like to thank the Greens staff for presenting a brilliant course, the clubhouse staff for looking after all the players for breakfast, lunch and dinner and a big thanks to my team who always give 100% for me. It’s a pleasure to Captain you guys.   

 Mark Dunkley

2^nd Team Captain

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