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2026 has not been good to our men's team. It really started to go wrong when we looked like taking a four point lead in the foursomes against Yorkshire then lost the match from a very strong position in the singles. Further league losses and fifth place finish in the Big 6 left us looking for some encouragement as we head into the close of the season.

A trip to the delightful Ormskirk Golf Club is always enjoyable however, just as long as you don't trust sat nav which will try to take you down a track best suited to only the larger models of tractor. This league match with Lancashire really was the proverbial "dead rubber" with both sides having no prospect of topping the table. The spectator count (only two hands needed), with a sparse number of die-hard followers, reflected the uninspiring status of the match

We introduced some new faces, Nathan Hopley, shortly to return to college somewhere in the depths of north Tennessee, and Alex Williams (Wallasey), and also welcomed back Chris Chilton who, despite being seriously "under cooked" having played only seven rounds this year, secured some valuable points.

Ormskirk, set in attractive heathland, was very burnt up like most courses. But with excellent and very receptive greens, the scene was set for some decent scoring.

Foursomes detail######

Matt Dodd-Berry and Sam Johnson were dormie two up, lost the 17th to a birdie and after a hooked drive on the 18th found the only patch of rough that hadn't been burnt off and had to settle for a half. Such outcomes feel almost inevitable during the sort of run the men have endured this term.

So we went into what was a particularly good lunch with another deficit that would be very difficult to overcome against a strong team with more than sprinkling of local knowledge. Bizarrely, Lancashire had two home league matches this year and both were played here at Ormskirk. Has this ever happened before in the Northern Counties League?

Our start to the singles was however very encouraging. In the top match, Matt Dodd-Berry won a hard-fought victory over ### by the smallest margin.

In the second match Sam Johnson was six under par in claiming the scalp of newly-crowned English Amateur Champion Jamie van Wyke. A win to remember.

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This resulted in Cheshire claiming a 6.5 to 5.5 singles win, a strong performance and one to build on for the future.

Our final league match is at Tytherington on Saturday ##### where we welcome Cumbria

Copy & images: Jerry Dixon