The Rolls of Monmouth Golf Club Men's team, led by club captain, Mike Maguire, visited Ross-on-Wye Golf Club on Saturday 5th October in the final fixture of this season's campaign.

Despite a valiant effort by a makeshift elite squad, The Rolls fell to defeat by the narrowest of margins.

The rain of earlier in the week made for perfect playing conditions on a gloriously sunny day in south Herefordshire.

Maguire and his partner Dick Bull led from the front with a 4 and 3 rout of the Ross opening pair comprising team captain Terry Jarrett and club captain Phil Wilson, the same result that Maguire inflicted on these opponents in the home tie.

Ross strengthened their second pairing by dropping Steve Wallbank in favour of the in-form Dave Hart to partner the long-hitting Danny Gear.

Hart has recently retired and has devoted his time to improving his all round golf game, which showed as they just managed to edge ahead of the Rolls pair of Tim Barker and Roly Bulman by 5 and 4.

Adrian Clark joined Russell Webb in The Rolls line-up to be confronted by 2 handicap James Morgan, the current Ross Autumn Scratch and Handicap Champion and Geoff Thomas, who was brought in to bolster the Ross team in place of Clive Witson.

Despite a late recovery the Rolls pair slipped to defeat by the slender margin of 3 and 2.

The Ross old guard of Harold Beach and Gwynne Morgan, determined to make amends for their surprise defeat at the hands of Alastair Beedie and Peter Woodrow in the away fixture, struggled under the mounting psychological pressure and the match result was only determined on the very last green, when the Ross pair scraped home.

Rolls newcomer David Goldthorpe courageously stepped into the heat of battle as a last minute replacement to partner old boy Nigel James. Pitted against the formidable if somewhat ponderous Ross duo of Andy Peterson and Steve (Chris) Philips, they battled steadfastly but marginally failed to convert their significant promise into points.

Roger Lord and team coach Geoff Walsh, fresh from their victory in the Rolls four ball championship, took an early three-hole lead against Colin Bennion and Kevin D'Lonra, the pair they comfortably despatched in the last encounter. Still two up with only two to play, their game deserted them and their opponents snatched a halved game with two solid pars.

This was Walsh's last fixture as team coach and he praised his squad for the effort shown throughout the long season.

He said it was a shame to bow out on the losing side but the very closeness of the result would leave his successor in a healthy position when competition resumes next year.

Captain Maguire formally presented Jarrett with a framed copy of the report of the early season fixture and promised an equally unbiased memoir of this latest meeting to adorn the trophy room at Ross-on-Wye.