Shropshire & Herefordshire’s dreams of winning the English Seniors County championships for the first time ended with a 6-3 final day defeat against Kent.
Shropshire needed to beat the defending champions yesterday at Trentham to stand a chance of lifting the trophy after drawing against Cheshire and winning against Devon earlier in the week.
But despite leading at one stage in several singles matches, Kent gradually turned things around and pulled three points clear to take the win.
Elsewhere, Cheshire came from behind to beat Devon 5-4 to top the league. Kent’s win, their second of the tournament, was enough to lift them into second to leave S&H in third.
Shropshire always had an uphill battle on their hands after losing 2-1 in the morning’s foursomes.
In the top match, Kent’s Chris Reynolds and Chris Buckley opened with two birdies against Steve Howell and Michael Rooke and they also won the next three holes to lead 5up through five.
The Shropshire duo briefly closed the gap but the Kent men ran out 5&4 winners.
Kent claimed an even bigger scalp in the bottom contest as Stuart Lee and Glyn Hughes lost six holes in a row from the fourth against Dave Jessup and Roger Salmon.
The S&H pair struggled and came onto the 12th with a 7&6 margin. In the other morning contest, S&H’s Anthony Smith and Gordon Reynolds needed just 14 holes to overcome Chris Hurst and Howard Moxon.
Shropshire hopes of an afternoon comeback were still high but faded somewhat when Garry Huggett lost 5&4 to seniors international Reynolds in the top match.
Rooke beat Chris Hurst by two holes to keep the flame flickering, but defeats for Renyolds, Hughes and Lee put the match to bed.
It was bitter disappointment for S&H after a fantastic start to the week, but reflective satisfaction still after last year’s wooden spoon misery.
By SEAN WOZENCROFT
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