Derby vs Nottingham Trent Golf
By Will Lavelle
A once again depleted Derby golf team slipped to a third defeat in four at home to Nottingham Trent by a wide margin of six points. This confirms a second straight home loss for Derby and leaves them at the foot of the table, but the issue of not being able to field a full team seems to be the underlying issue for a talented Derby team.
Derby got off to a torrid start with all five matches on the course swinging the way off Nottingham Trent after seven holes, ranging from deficits off one hole to four. The last match out on the course continued in this early trend with Harry Nicholls finishing his match with an 8&6 victory on the 12th hole to give Nottingham Trent an early two point lead, with the first coming due to Derby only being able to field a team of five players.
Hayden Burford was able to lead a mini revival having been able fight back from two down after two holes to all square going into the last after holding a lengthy putt on the 17th. This comeback was unfortunately unravelled as Nottingham Trent’s James Cash won it all on the 18th to put an end to an enthralling individual match.
The slight comeback from Derby began to quickly unwind as Luke Johnson etched another point on the board for Nottingham Trent with his 2&1 victory over Dale Gutteridge, leaving a demotivated Derby forced to trudge over the line knowing that there was nothing left to play for with a four point deficit and only two matches left out on course.
Edward Taylor-Hughes and Oscar Sutcliffe were both forced to concede on the 18th in their respective matches, knowing that they could do no more than halve the last hole in matches that they were already a hole down in as they both fell to 2&1 defeats.
The 6-0 drubbing which Derby endured was far closer within the majority of the individual matches which suggested a far more competitive affair than what the eventual scoreline reflected. The failure to field a full team for the third consecutive week has evidently been detrimental to Derby’s play and they will likely struggle to kick on and start winning matches until this persistent issue is rectified.
