After the victory against Cambridgeshire the Bedfordshire team were keen to get going in their second friendly of the season against a very strong Northamptonshire side at the Bedford Golf Club.

It was a cold April morning and the conditions proved difficult all day being very windy, with frequent hail and rain showers. Charlie O’Brien and Andrew Taylor led the way for Bedfordshire team and proved too strong for their opponents always ahead and pulling away on the back nine to finish with a 3&2 win.

Miguel Moitas and Darren Close got off to a great start winning three of the first four holes and never looked back taking their point on the fourteenth hole.Ross Jones and Paul Kenna had a much tougher time with nothing in it over the front nine but their persistence and patience paid off over the last few holes winning sixteen and seventeen for another point.

Connor Boyle and Jack Leek narrowly missed out after a close encounter losing two down in the end. Mark Carter and Matt Hill also took it the distance but eventually lost out on the last. At lunch the team were reasonably happy to find themselves taking a 3-2 lead into the afternoon singles.

The conditions for the start of the singles were very testing with the strong wind pushing in regular hail and rain showers.

All the matches were very tight affairs over the front  with only a single hole separating them all apart from Jack  Leek who had been drawn against a very strong and on form Paul Hogkiss and found himself four down at the turn. As the games progressed the momentum seemed to be moving in Bedfordshire’s favour and as they all passed through fourteen we had lost one game but were up or level in the other nine.

Matt Hill soon evened up the game we lost by taking his match 5&4, and was then followed by Mark Carter 4&3 and Darren Close 3&2. The pressure was on the Northampton lads to stay in the fixture and to their credit they battled very hard and took another close point from Andrew Taylor. The other four games all finished level with some tricky putts being holed on the last by the Northamptonshire players to take half points but enough had been done with Bedfordshire winning the singles 6-4 and taking the match 9-6.

Credit must go to all the players for contesting a great match in very cold and difficult conditions on a day when great concentration and patience was required.

Our thanks to all at the Bedford Golf Club for hosting this fixture and we look forward to our first league game against Hertfordshire on May 13^th at Dunstable Downs.

Dave Weedon, Team Manager.

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