The Addington
The captain and players of The Addington warmly welcomed the Surrey A team to their first match of the year, following the unfortunate cancellation of the West Surrey fixture the previous day. The match format was 12 a-side, with foursomes in the morning and singles in the afternoon. The Addington fielded an impressive line-up of quality players and, following the win against the Surrey A Team in 2022, all the players on both sides knew that this would be a tough match.
On paper, the county had marginally the better side, but home knowledge always proves to be essential. The course has been undergoing many changes and was in beautiful condition, with a strong chilly wind making scoring difficult for both sides.
Surrey started strongly, but The Addington won the last 2 morning games to lead at lunch by a slender 3.5-2.5 margin. After a fabulous lunch, all the players headed out for the afternoon singles.
The Addington continued their winning form with the first 2 matches going to the home team and then the next 2 being halved. This meant that the lead had been extended to 3 points (6.5-3.5). Surrey then staged an impressive fight back, winning the next 6 matches.
Despite losing the last 2 games, it meant a slender victory to Surrey by 9.5 – 8.5. The match was enjoyed by all and was played in great spirit. A huge thanks to The Addington and all its staff for hosting the match.
Coombe Wood
The captain and players of Coombe Wood welcomed the Surrey A team to their second fixture of the season, following the re-arranged schedule for the poor weather in the spring. Surrey A lost this fixture last year and were hoping to gain revenge. Having started the year with a win, they seemed in form to do so.
After some bacon rolls and coffee, the match followed. It was to be a straight 18 holes 8 a-side singles, so any points won would be vital for each team to finish as winners, and so it proved.
The weather was beautiful, and the course was in fabulous condition. After many months of hard work from the greens staff, it played its full length and was a credit to Coombe Wood. All the matches were fiercely competitive, and the game was very close.
Nothing was decided until the last match, which narrowly went in favour of Surrey. When the final scores were in, the result of 4-4 seemed to sum up a fabulous day. A light lunch in the restaurant and some stories of where it all went wrong (and right) completed. My thanks to Bob and the team at Coombe Wood for a great day, and we look forwards to another match next year.
The A team look forward to their next match at Betchworth Park
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