CHANNEL LEAGUE 2009
HOME TEAM		GWENT
AWAY TEAM		GLOUCESTERSHIRE
Date:	Sun 4th August 2009		Venue:	MONMOUTHSHIRE
FOURSOMES
GWENT		Result	Points	GLOUCESTERSHIRE		Result	Points
Joe Vickery		3 & 1	1	Matt Sandford			0
Andrew Williams				Dave Wood
Alistair Mason			0	Nick Day		3 & 2	1
Neil Oakley				Rich Carter
Nathan Edwards			0	Nick Shorley		4 & 3	1
Rhys Briscoe				Chris Evans
Jordan McCarthy			0	Tyler Hogarty		3 & 1	1
Daniel Udry				Mark Pitcher
Jonathan Davidson		4 & 3	1	Andy Hale			0
Leighton Pollard				Shane Winstone
			2				3
SINGLES
Joe Vickery		Half	1/2	Matt Sandford (CS)		Half	1/2
Neil Oakley			0	Rich Carter (La)		3 & 2	1
Nathan Edwards		1 Up	1	Dave Wood (CS)			0
Jonathan Davidson			0	Nick Day (H)		1 Up	1
Rhys Briscoe			0	Nick Shorley (H)		2 & 1	1
Andrew Williams			0	Chris Evans (K)		2 & 1	1
Alistair Mason			0	Mark Pitcher (SH)		1 Up	1
Daniel Udry			0	Tyler Hogarty (RH)		2 & 1	1
Jordan McCarthy			0	Shane Winstone (Kn)		4 & 2	1
Leighton Pollard			0	Andy Hale (CS)		5 & 3	1
			1 1/2				8 1/2
			3 1/2				11 1/2

 Match Report Glos v Gwent

Gloucestershire finished the season in style as they beat Gwent 11.5 – 3.5 on Sunday at the Monmouthshire Golf Club. With near perfect weather conditions the foursomes was a close affair with the visitors just edging into a 3-2 lead going into the afternoon singles. With Gloucestershire losing against Glamorgan and then Cornwall the channel league was out of reach but second place was up for grabs! A good performance was needed in the singles and it was achieved! Match 1 saw Mat Stanford birdying the last hole to gain a valuable half against welsh international Joe Vickery. In match 2 Rich Carter played very solid golf to win 3/2. Match 3 went in the favor of Gwent as Nathan Edwards just edged out the ever reliable Dave Wood 1up. But after that Gloucestershire put in a fantastic performance from the rest of the team, all players winning their matches to produce an 8.5 – 1.5 win in the singles and an 11.5 – 3.5 overall result giving Gloucestershire second place in the channel league just behind Glamorgan.

County captain Nigel Thompson was full of praise to his players saying “After the shock defeat against Glamorgan and poor display against Cornwall this is what was needed to finish the season with! My players have put a huge effort into this season and for that I am very proud of them. We had a chance to win the league but it was not to be! But we have won the South West Match Play shield and finished 2^nd in the Channel League I think that’s a pretty good effort from my players. I know for sure this will make them even more determined to go one step better next season. This year has seen both the 1^st and 2^nd teams improve in squad size and with new talent coming up through the junior ranks it will be exciting times for next season”

This match saw the debut of rising star Tyler Hogarty (Rodway Hill) who won both of his games and gained the praise of the skipper! “Tyler deserved his chance in the 1^st team and played very well! He will have a great career in county golf and I look forward to picking him in future games.”

Now with the season over I must also congratulate the 2^nd team for winning the Wessex salver under the guidance of 2^nd team captain Mike Darby. A fantastic effort from Mike and the players.

                      Nigel Thompson

                      County Captain