Sidmouth League team had a roller-coaster of an afternoon in their last match of the season. They beat Axe Cliff at Padbrook Park, but not well enough for instant success and had to wait to hear Fingle Glen’s result against Exminster before the celebrations could start, writes John Rockey.

Needing at least three and a half points against Axe Cliff at Padbrook Park to ensure that the East Devon League title was theirs, Sidmouth made a bad start when team captain for the day Stuart Coles and his partner Nathan Brace lost the first match one down at the start of an anxious afternoon.

Things brightened up somewhat when the ever-reliable Neil Bunting and Challenge Cup winner David Pepperell brought the scores level with a comfortable three and two win and to get Sidmouth back on track, followed by Nick Gingell and Mike Knight coming in with a two up win.

During this match Nick scored an incredible albatross by getting a two on a par five hole to record the second albatross for Sidmouth league team this year, a feat unlikely to be repeated any time soon.

However, any feeling of security was soon dashed when the fourth pair of Will Hastie and Matt Brace lost two and one, which ensured that Sidmouth now had to rely on other clubs’ results to gain the league title. The final pair of Club vice-captain Paul Hitchcock and Trevor Kerridge were one up playing the last, but almost lost this when they could only manage a bogey on the final hole. Fortunately, their opponents could only match this and so the Sidmouth pair breathed a sigh of relief to come away with a one up win.

Their win gave Sidmouth a match victory of 3-2 which was insufficient for an automatic league title and ensured an anxious wait before knowing that Fingle Glen, their nearest challenger, couldn’t get a sufficiently large win against Exminster to overhaul them.