KING SWINGS IT SHEFFIELD'S WAY

Sheffield had to dig deep before finally dredging up a 23-13 victory over the Leeds Union at Cookridge Hall on Sunday.

Having established a healthy 8-4 lunchtime lead by winning four of the morning foursomes games, Sheffield came under intense pressure from the home side in the burning afternoon heat. Although led off impressively in the top singles game by Hallowes’ Sam Bairstow, who recorded a fine victory over former Yorkshire Champion and home favourite Adam Frontal, the match was delicately poised throughout the twelve singles games.

Leeds had taken games two and three, and with Nick King, Jack Leversidge, Richard Hodgkinson and Tim Brind all three or more holes down, points were seeming difficult to come by. However, a middle order surge came with victories for Lewis Hollingworth, Nathan Fell, and Sam Rook impressively overcoming the reinstated Simon Hurd, and Sheffield had their noses in front again.

Jim Tasker of Hallamshire had a mighty tussle with another former Yorkshire champion, David Appleyard, and their resultant half put another valuable point on the board for the visitors. Then, the scrapping began: King started pulling holes back; Leversidge reduced his deficit from five to three; Hodgkinson squared his game with three successive wins from the 13th; whilst back marker Brind also set about preserving his proud matchplay record.

Leversidge eventually perished at the 16th; and Hodgkinson at the next hole. But King was not to be denied, and jubilantly holed at the 18th to complete a startling comeback win over Rob Wardle of Selby and take Sheffield to the magic 19-point mark.

With Neil Stones having fended off some big hitting from Liam Bennett in game 11, Brind – facing a limping Tom Broxup, who played some remarkable golf following a recent broken leg – did what Brind does best, and sauntered down the last to extend his unbeaten run for Sheffield which now stretches over two years. His coolness, however, disguised the closeness of the overall match, as did the eventual margin of victory.

“They just never give up, any of them,” said Captain Neil Allen of his team. “Those two comeback wins, from Nick and Tim, they were fantastic. And we needed them. Leeds are a really strong side, so we knew we were in for a fight. But the way they scrapped, the whole team, was just brilliant, and that was what got us over the line.”

It maintains the new captain’s perfect start, which now stands at four wins out of four. With a month until the next match, Allen and his team can take a well-earned break until battle recommences at Rotherham against the Teesside Union on August 5th.

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