Match report

 Our first league match of the year was held at Aspley Guise, on a day when thoughts of us getting soaked didn't materialise, thankfully. The day was bright and quite breezy when Ian Glantz led us off against Middlesex. This is a fixture we always enjoy and we went into the match in a positive frame of mind after a good win against Norfolk in our final friendly. The wind played a significant part on some holes, and to see low single figure handicappers hitting 6 irons into a 140yd par 3, gives you an idea of the strength of the wind!

 Middlesex always bring a strong team to face us and this was no exception. There were no easy games and each player had to tough it out to the bitter end. I had a strategy for the layout of our team and, with 5 Aspley members playing, I decided to stack them all together in the middle of the team to give us an opportunity to build a lead. This was successful as they produced 3 ½ points between them. Ian Chivers producing a hard fought 2&1 win on his league debut. Middlesex are strong from 1 – 10 and this proved the case with two of their points coming in the last three games. It was nervous time waiting for the last match to come in. We stood 5 – 4 up waiting for Tim Bevan to finish. Talk was that he had been 1 up on 16^th but that it was all square going down 17^th. Middlesex were cheerful and had thoughts of salvaging a half from the match, but we needn't have worried, Tim had it all in hand and ran out a 2&1 winner to give us a well deserved 6 – 4 victory. An excellent team performance all round, well done guys.

 A great start to our league season, even though we know it will get tougher, particularly with our next match being away to the current English senior champions, Hertfordshire. The confidence is high and I'm sure Hertfordshire will know they've been in a fight!

Steve Montague, Seniors Captain

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