Norfolk’s men suffer second defeat in Anglian League

Norfolk's frustrating start to the Anglian League season continued on Sunday when they were beaten by Northamptonshire.

Michael Few's team were unable to recover from the blow of losing two tight foursomes games as they slid to an 8.5-3.5 defeat at Wellingborough Golf Club.

The defeat followed a 6.5-5.5 reverse in the opening home fixture against Cambridgeshire but, according to the man in charge, the results don't tell the full story.

'The match at King's Lynn was really close and could easily have gone the other way while it might also have been a different story at the weekend,' he said. 'Warren Bates and Giles Evans won 5&4 and although Carl Green and Thomas Nudd were well beaten we were in a good position to win the other two games. Sadly it wasn't to be and Josh Weeds and Tom Carding and Iain Yule and Simon Clark both ended up suffering narrow (2&1) defeats. Iain and Simon were 3 up after 11 and at one stage I thought we had a chance of going into lunch 3-1 ahead.

'Overall everyone put in a solid performance but it was just one of those days when the putts didn't drop. I lost count of the number of long putts I saw holed by the Northants players but I can't remember seeing any from that distance from us.'

Norfolk never threatened a comeback in the afternoon as they added only two and a half points to their total. Giles Evans - described as the stand-out player by Few - won 3&1 and Simon Clark took the final singles 4&3 while Green marked his county return with a half.

Norfolk's second team got their campaign up and running when they beat Northants II 6.5-5.5 at Eaton.

They took a firm grip on the match by winning all the foursomes and then withstood a brave fightback from the visitors in the singles to take the points.

In the morning there were hard-fought wins for Kevin Webb and Shaun Larkins (2&1), James Hazel and Richard Wilson (2&1), Jack Cullington and Richard Lindley (2up) and Dylan Green and Aiden Tanner (2&1). Lindley and Cullington (both 2&1) and Green (half) got the Norfolk points after lunch.

A sunny afternoon at Dunston Hall saw the Norfolk Under-14 team take on their counterparts from Suffolk.

Norfolk were fielding five fresh faces, affording them a taste of county competitive golf for the first time, and they didn't disappoint.

Although Suffolk won the match by nine points to six everyone played well and the future looks rosy for the county.

The match was played in fine spirit, with everyone enjoying themselves.

The Norfolk team, managed by Nick Macartney, was made of James Black, Alfie Edgson, Charlie Woodward, Nick Macartney, George Sommerville, Torin Grady, Daniel Leggett, Luke Johnson, Haydon Bradley, Billy Britcher and Alex Blake.

Some of the youngsters will now be looking forward to making their mark at the Norfolk Boys' Championship, which is being held this year at Swaffham on Thursday, July 26.

Another target is the Under-12 and Under-14 Championships which are being staged at Costessey Park on Friday, August 24.