Norfolk Seniors ended up a whisker away from a famous victory after a rollercoaster day in the Southern Counties Senior Foursomes Final at Swaffham Golf Club.

The hosts produced some brilliant golf to lead Sussex, Kent and Dorset at the halfway stage.

During a thrilling morning’s action, Ian Rollett and Steve Lloyd bounced back from a bad start to put Norfolk’s first point on the board with a 2&1 victory.

John Shapland and Blair Ainslie soon added to the tally, triumphing by the same margin.

The wins kept coming as Sheringham duo Mark Williamson and Jon Batten triumphed – as did Jon Baker-Odlin and Iain Reid.

Norfolk’s dream morning was complete when Mark Butt and Iain Yule pulled a half-point out of the bag, thanks to some gutsy golf on the final hole.

But the afternoon proved to be a different story as winning positions slipped away for the home side.

As the matches drew closer to their conclusions, Norfolk putts stubbornly refused to drop.

Only Baker-Odlin and Reid managed to record a success that left Norfolk on 5.5 points – fractionally adrift of Sussex (who earned outright victory on countback, via ‘total of holes-up’) and Kent who both finished on 6 points.

Norfolk’s non-playing captain Gary Brayshaw said: “We are all bitterly disappointed – it’s a case of so near and yet so far.

“When the dust settles, I’ll probably be able to look back at it more analytically, but it feels like we lost out on the greens. There were just too many three-putts in the afternoon.

“Overall, I want to thank the team for a great effort in making the final – and every one of them contributed to our tally at Swaffham.

“I’d also like to place on record my gratitude to Swaffham Golf Club, who were great hosts to all four counties on the day.”