‘Huge’ for St Pierre Park to reach the CI showdown

Having already seen off Royal Guernsey earlier in the 2022 competition, SPP proved once again that on home soil they are a match for anyone as they defeated L’Ancresse 5-2 on Sunday in the bailiwick section final of the inter-club knockout to earn another home tie against the Jersey representatives – either Royal Jersey or Les Ormes – and are now just one step away from Finals Day at Royal Winchester in September.

‘It’s huge for St Pierre Park,’ said Alex Ford, their team captain.

‘The La Grande Mare boys said to us we should start calling it the fortress now having play the two big clubs here and won.’

Although Ford himself lost to an in-form Andy Chamberlain, who played some excellent golf to pick up the first point of the day, it always seemed as if the visitors were playing catch-up against a home side who rose to the occasion impressively in the summer sunshine.

In the first match out, Paul de la Mare led 4 up at one stage against Matt Tullier, who rallied for a while but the SPP lead-out man closed out the match on the 17th to level the overall score.

The next three points on the board all went the way of the hosts as they took control of the match and got over the winning line with something to spare.

Lawrence Guiness-Browne, who had used the four shots he received from George Melhuish to good effect, claimed his point in great style with a remarkable up-and-down from beyond, and well below, the 15th green.

In the anchor match, Zak Hannis was a comfortable winner over the L’Ancresse team captain Jason Savident as he needed just 13 holes to get the job done.

Ross Haines won the race to win the decisive point, sealing his rubber against Gary Sarahs on the 16th green, before Martin Ireland put the gloss on the overall victory with a brilliant tee shot on the 17th to within ‘kick in’ range with Ash Dye conceding the birdie two at the end of a good tussle between the two.

Alan Le Noury earned a consolation for L’Ancresse with an extra-hole victory over Jason Le Cheminant, but by then the rest of the St Pierre Park contingent were already eyeing up the CI final.

‘Huge credit to L’Ancresse because they have been training hard around here – Jason and his team have come and played numerous rounds to prepare,’ said Ford.

‘But for a club like ours to win the Guernsey final and to have Jersey come here now for the CI final – we’re a bit in shock to be honest.

‘There is such a camaraderie in the team and we all practise hard, so this means a huge amount.

‘We were all sat around at breakfast before the match and we said “regardless of what happens, we have done the club proud”.

‘Hopefully we can now do the island proud against Jersey.’

RESULTS

(St Pierre Park names first)

Paul de la Mare (9) beat Matt Tullier (4) 3 & 1; Alex Ford (7) lost to Andy Chamberlain (5) 8 & 6; Lawrence Guiness-Browne (8) beat George Melhuish (4) 4 & 3; Jason Le Cheminant (10) lost to Alan Le Noury (4) at the 19th; Ross Haines (2) beat Gary Sarahs (10) 3 & 2; Martin Ireland (7) beat Ash Dye (6) 2 & 1; Zak Hannis (3) beat Jason Savident (4) 6 & 5.

St Pierre Park 5, L’Ancresse 2.