SIDMOUTH Seniors received a visit from Teign Valley seniors, writes Terry Carter.

The hosts were expecting victory as John Bainbridge partnered Brian le Masurier in the first game.

However, confidence was in minimal supply as the visitors won the first four holes to leave the Sidmouth captain planning his after-dinner speech!

However, the Sidmouth pair battled back and had the match all square heading towards the tenth.

A close back nine had the Teign Valley pair in the lead after a birdie on the par 4 sixteenth, but the game was halved when both visitors miss hit their drives on the last. Dieter Ritz and Trevor Bradley were next out, and 3 up by the fourth, but in a dramatic change lost 6 and 5.

Peter Emery and Mike Boyes were next out and had a very close game, the honours going either way for most of the match and ending in a shared point. Brian Cole and Charles Brown went 1 up early on, and managed to maintain their lead most of the way round against a hard fighting pair, and eventually drew clear to win 2 and 1. Mike Anderson, and Mike Fisher were next on the tee.

This was Mike Fisher’s first seniors match, but he showed no nerves as they achieved a convincing 4 and 3 win.

Bob Cook and David Bromage played a steady game but eventually lost 2 and 1 to the visitors, leaving the match now all square and Bainbridge’s nerves in tatters as the final game came into view.

Thankfully Bruce Harcourt and Ken Price managed a clear 5 and 3 win for the decisive point, and seal an outright 4-3 success, but the visitors deserved credit for a strong performance despite unusually giving the shots in six of the seven games.