NGL Handicap League
Group A
Priors Hall secured their second victory of the Handicap League season as they edged a gripping home contest with local rivals Kettering by the scoreline 6-0.
With half of the matches finishing all square, and the hosts winning two others by just a single hole, the decisive result came in the final tie as Priors Hall’s William Adams and Stirling Donaldson triumphed by four holes.
Group B
Last year’s beaten finalists Collingtree Park completed their fourth victory in four outings in Group B with an excellent 13-5 away win at Cold Ashby.
With Collingtree holding the edge in many of the close ties, the decisive result came in game five as Mark Hemmings and Mark Cotton won by seven holes.
Daventry, meanwhile, earned a piece of unwanted history as they recorded the two biggest defeats in this year’s Handicap League as they crashed to consecutive 43-0 and 30-0 away losses at Kingsthorpe and Staverton Park respectively.
After home defeats to Cold Ashby and Collingtree in May, Daventry were no match for Kingsthorpe as they lost the pairs ties by margins of four, six, seven, eight and nine holes twice.
It was a similar story against Staverton as the hosts took all six games, with Gez Strangwood and Malcolm Jones securing the biggest win of 10 holes.
Group C
Northants County collected their first victory of the season as they got the better of Farthingstone at home by the scoreline 8-4.
Although the home pairing of Tim Faulkner and Quentin Wade won the opening tie by one hole, Farthingstone responded with a four-hole success for Simon Nightingale and David Summerfield in the next tie.
County took all the next three games by a single hole to level the overall match, before Gary Hoffman and William Knibbs completed the away comeback with a four-hole win.
Group D
Reigning champions Brampton Heath emphasised their determination to get their title defence back on track as they bagged their first victory of the 2019 campaign with a 29-0 demolition of Overstone Park.
After narrow away defeats to Delapre and Hellidon Lakes in their opening two fixtures, Brampton showed no signs of a drop in confidence as Brendan Kelly and Adrian Milward sent them on their way with a seven-hole victory in game one.
Jim Giles and Matthew James (eight holes) and Gary Duggan and John Norrey (nine holes) were also in impressive form.
Hellidon missed an opportunity to move clear at the top of Group D as they lost 13-10 at Delapre Park, who remain the only team in this section with an away win.
The visitors were always up against it after Delapre’s Craig McAuley and Martyn Buzzard romped to an eight-hole win in game three as two convincing wins for Hellidon in the final two matches proved too little too late.