THREE county teams are still very much involved in the Shropshire and Here-fordshire Hargrove Trophy and Hargrove Plate competitions after victories last weekend.

Kington and Hereford-shire could still contest the first all-Herefordshire Trophy final after beating Church Stretton A and Hawkstone Park A respectively in first-leg semi-final matches.

Kington, fielding a father and son in Roger and Darren Richards, took pride of place with a 2-1 away win at Stretton, putting themselves in a strong position to book a first-ever final appearance in the prestigious winter foursomes team event.

Darren Richards and Alan Williams got the visitors off to a flying start in the top match by taking the last two holes to win two up in the top match.

Roger Richards and Matt Davies battled back well to win three of the last five holes to end only three down after losing six and five, and new county skipper Ed Deasey and Matt Weaver also won the last two holes to win the final game two up.

Although golf is somewhat uncertain, particularly in the foursomes format, Kington must start as strong favourites to go through when they meet Stretton at Bradnor on Sunday.

Herefordshire GC used home advantage well to beat strong Hawkstone Park 2-1 at Wormsley, but know that they face a tough task in the return match where the second leg will probably be played over the longer Windmill course.

Jonathan Devereux and John McQuillan won the top match four up, but Neil Greening and Ben Synnock went down by three holes in the second.

Anchor pair Robin Eckley and Jason Griffiths gave a solid performance and won five up to make sure that Herefordshire still have a chance of making the final.

Leominster claimed a place in the semi-finals of the Hargrove Plate, a competition for first round losers, when they beat neighbours Ludlow B 3-0 at Ford Bridge in a rain-delayed quarter-final second leg, to win the match 4-2 on aggregate.

Mike Craddock and Nigel Morris won the first match six up, Gary Price and Jeremy Lawrence followed up with a three-up victory, and Kevin Gibbons and Simon Morgan made it a clean sweep by winning the final match two-up.

Leominster travel to play Hill Valley A at Whitchurch on Sunday in the first leg of the semi-final, with the return leg scheduled for the following week.