Kington beat Church Stretton to book a first-ever appearance in the final of the Shropshire and Herefordshire Hargrove Trophy.

But the prospect of an all-Herefordshire final evaporated when Here-fordshire GC went down 3-0 in the return leg of their semi-final at Hawkstone Park.

Favourites to make it to the final after beating Stretton 2-1 away from home in the first leg, Kington were made to struggle as the visitors established early leads in all three foursomes matches.

Even the players from two of the highest golf clubs in the land found the chill north-easterly wind difficult to handle with bogies plentiful and pars a rare commodity.

Kington youngster Matt Davies and Stewart Franks battled their way back from a two-hole deficit to secure a six-up win against John Kelly and Nick Evans in the first match, and second pair Ed Deasey and Matt Weaver made sure of victory when they halved with Tony Tyson and Chris Watson.

Team captain Darren Richards and his partner Alan Williams never got going in the final match and went down by three holes. But a winning overall result of 3-2 was good enough to earn Kington a final showdown against Hawkstone Park.

The final will be over two legs with the first scheduled for Kington on March 7 and the return at Hawkstone Park on March 21.

It was so near yet so far for Herefordshire GC at Hawkstone Park with two of their pairs losing the final hole as they went down 3-0 for an overall 4-2 defeat.

Neil Greening and Elliot Shaw recovered from three down to stand one up with two holes to play but lost the last two holes to pars and went down by one hole.

Second pairing John McQuillan and Jonathan Devereux were also level standing on the last tee but failed to match their opponents' par four and lost one down.

Unfortunately the final pair of Robin Eckley and Jason Griffiths failed to show the form that had earned them a couple of good away victories in the previous rounds and went down by six holes.

Leominster produced an encouraging performance in the away leg of the delayed Hargrove Plate semi-final against Hill Valley when they lost 2-1.

Kevin Gibbons and Simon Morgan finished with two birdies to snatch a one-up victory that might prove to be very useful in the final count-up.

Gary Price and Jeremy Lawrence battled well before going down by two holes, but Mike Craddock and Nigel Morris found it hard going as they lost eight down.

However, Leominster had beaten Ludlow B 3-0 at home in the quarter-finals to secure a semi-final place and a similar result in the return leg against Hill Valley would earn a place in the Plate final against either Market Drayton or Hawkstone Park B.