Sussex Colts gave manager Steve Graham a tremendous start to his first match in charge by beating Kent 7-4 at Willingdon.

"Torrential rain overnight threatened a postponement," said Graham. "But the Willingdon greenstaff, along with the greens chairman Graeme Cairns and club president Jack Jones were up in the early hours getting the course playable."

A strong to gale force wind helped dry the course out and, in testing conditions, some of the golf was exceptional.

The foursomes were halved which set up a nail-biting afternoon. Sussex won the singles by a three-point margin to give Graham a boost.

Dean Plant, on his home course, and Henry Hilton, had a comfortable 6 & 5 foursomes win, the highlight being an eagle at the par five eighth where Plant hit a nine iron to three feet after a massive downwind drive by Hilton.

Plant managed his second eagle of the day in his match with Kent's No. 1, Richard Costello. At the last hole Plant just missed from 20ft to win the match while Costello holed from 3ft for a deserved half point.

Tony Hilton produced a tremendous recovery against Behcet, an England Boys' selection. On the 15th tee, Eren Behcet was three up but Hilton fired three successive birdies to level and, like Plant, narrowly missed another on the last. A five-footer went down for Behcet to halve.

"All the players played very well and there was a tremendous team spirit. I'm hoping for good performances from current team members and also see the emergence of new talent," said Graham.

Results (Sussex names first), foursomes: Matt Summerfield & Neil Conley lost to Richard Costello & Eren Behcet 2 & 1; Tony Hilton & Matt Hart lost to Ian Lewis & Jon Ford, two holes; Robert Bright & Bruce Whalley beat Richard Prebble & Matthew Holman 3 & 1; Dean Plant & Henry Hilton beat Steven Mitchell & James Edwards 6 & 5.

Singles: Plant and Costellow halved; Tony Hilton and Behcet halved; Summerfield beat Holman 2 & 1; Hart and Ford halved; Bright beat Prebble 3 & 2; Henry Hilton beat Lewis 3 & 2; Conley lost to Mitchell 5 & 4; Whalley beat Edwards, two holes.

Sussex Boys beat Kent Boys 8-4 at Sweetwoods Park after leading the foursomes 3-1.

Results, Sussex names first (foursomes): Henry Hilton & Craig McCullom beat Eren Behcet & Steve Harrison 4 & 3; Peter Chandler & Paul Jones lost to Mark Stewart & Stephen Tilley 2 & 1; Mark Brayshaw & Jay Penfold beat Jamie Wood & Greg Hazelby 3 & 2; Jack Budgen & Nic Griffin beat James Skelton & Matthew Barber 2 & 1.

Singles: Hilton lost to Behcet 2 & 1; Chandler beat Stewart 4 & 2; Jones lost to Tilley 4 & 3; Brayshaw beat Harrison, one up; McCullom lost to Wood 5 & 4; Penfold beat Hazelby 4 & 3; Budgen beat Barber 5 & 3; Griffin beat Skelton 3 & 2.

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