WILTSHIRE were beaten by Gloucestershire on the fourth day of South West Golf Week today after a heavy defeat in the afternoon foursomes of their last Inter-County Championship match.

Wiltshire triumphed 4.5-3.5 in the morning singles at Cumberwell Park in Bradford on Avon but were beaten heavily, 3-1, in the foursomes.

The county got off to a superb start, winning three of the first five singles matches to finish and avoiding defeat in the other two.

James Cooper triumphed 4&2 over Filton’s Mitch Wait at his home course, Salisbury & South Wilts’ Tom Stagg thumped Lansdown’s Joe Long 6&5, while there was a 2&1 success for Broome Manor’s Paul McMullen over Cotswold Hills player Jake Phillips.

Bowood’s Gary Slade and Cumberwell Park man Joe Retford halved their matches against Jake Cope, of the Players Club, and Henbury’s Nick Day respectively.

However, the Gloucester fightback soon began as Bowood’s Jamie Cooper fell to a 4&3 defeat to Brickhampton Court player Alex Ireland, while Broome Manor’s Tom Lord was beaten 6&4 by Kendleshire’s Haider Hussain.

In between, the match featuring Wrag Barn’s Max Drayton and Dan Sheehan, of Knowle, finished all-square.

That gave Wiltshire a slender one-point lead heading into the foursomes, but they won only one of the four matches contested as Stagg and Retford beat Wait and Sheehan 2&1.

James Cooper and Slade lost 3&1 to Day and Ireland in the opening match before Jamie Cooper and Marlborough’s Dom Baverstock-Seaman were beaten 1-up by Hussain and Kendleshire colleague Joe Harvey.

Drayton and Law then fell to a crushing 6&4 defeat at the hands of Phillips and The Players Club’s Thomas Workman in the final match.