Sidmouth Seniors played Exminster twice in the last week with the home match taking place last Thursday, writes Hugh Dorliac.

With Phil Spencer taking on the captain's role he and partner Chris Grubb fought out a tough front nine after going behind on the first hole.

They were one up at the turn, but then Exminster captain, Dave Hartland, hit a purple patch with a birdie and two pars to edge ahead.

Phil had a chance to halve the match on 18, but missed the opportunity - and the putt! Malcolm Couldwell and Colin Mitchell had a cracking game with birdies deciding the outcome, the best one from Malcolm on the tricky 16th as they ran out three-and-two winners.

Next out were Brian Cole and Colston Herbert. With John, from Exminster, playing particularly well and the Sidmouth pairing not so, they were beaten five-and-four!

The fact that Colston then started playing well when all was lost was no consolation!

Roger Bawden and Pater McGeer were engaged in a close fourth match, one that was memorable for two events, Exminster's 18 handicap player had an eagle on the long par four seventh and Roger had a poor drive on the 18th and managed to get on the fringe in three shots. He then sank the putt for a par and offered the opposition player, who was on the green in two, a half. The player declined and then proceeded to three-putt giving the match to Sidmouth one-up!

The normally strong pairing of Vernon Ruffle and Paul Blay were playing reasonably, but Exminster were slotting together well resulting in them being four down at the turn.

This was too much to make up and the loss of a further two holes resulted in a six-and-five win for Exminster.

Last out were David Bromage and late replacement John Sanders. Highlight of the day was David's second shot to the ninth for a tap-in birdie with them winning four-and-three. This meant the match ended in a draw with all to do in the away leg on Monday.

With Phil Spencer captaining the side again, he and his partner had a very close game. With never more than two holes in it Sidmouth were one down with two to play. Luckily, they won the 17th and then Phil sank a curling putt on the 18th for a win, making up for his poor putt last week.

Unfortunately, the following matches did not fare so well!

Malcolm Couldwell and Colin Mitchell started well and were one up at the turn. However, the opposition then started playing well and won four holes in a row. Sidmouth never recovered and lost four-and-two. Brian Cole and David Atkinson offered a similar fate although they held out until the 17th hole losing two-and-one.

David Millen and Vernon Ruffle also lost despite David playing close to his handicap with the result a four-and-three. The fifth pairing of Richard Seaver and David Bromage had a very close match with Richard winning the 'Sidmouth nearest the pin' prize, but this was only good enough for a half.

Last team going out was Len Wright and Ray Gunston but they again could not handle the vagaries of the bounce and lost four-and-two with the overall result being a

4.5-1.5 defeat.