Fighting Scots beat Belgium

3-2 in Flight 2 tie

Scotland scored a gritty 3-2 win over Belgium in their opening Flight 2 tie in the European boys' team championship at Bled Golf Club, Slovenia today.They now play Switzerland, 3-2 winners over Spain as they seek to win the flight which would give them an official ranking of ninth at the end of the tournament.

Andrew McLachlan and Kyle Smith lost the one foursomes tie but there was a stirring 20th hole win in the top singles tie by Scottish boys' match-play champion Michael Stewart and also one-hole wins by James Ross and Paul Shields.

David Law lost by 3 and 2.

In the top flight, England beat Italy 4-3, thanks to their "tail" of Eddie Pepperell and Eamon Hodgson wagging with singles wins, and move through to a semi-final tie against Norway. The other tie will be Portugal v Sweden.

Today's results:
CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT

ITALY 3, ENGLAND 4
Foursomes; M Manasero & C De Stefani lost to T Fleetwood & T Lewis 1 hole; C Vigani & C Terregni lost to E Hodgson & D Renwick 1 hole (0-2).
Singles: A Bolognesi bt G King 4 and 3, S Pitoni bt Fleetwood 1 hole, Vigani bt Drenwick 3 and 2, Manasero lost to E Pepperell at 20th, Terregni lost to Hodgson 2 and 1.

IRELAND 2 1/2, NORWAY 4 1/2
Foursomes: A Dunbar & L Lennox lost to A Kristiansen & E Betheussen 3 and 2; R O'Donovan & R Whitson lost to A Friestad & M Schjolberg 1 hole (0-2).
Singles: Dunbar bt Betheussen at 19th, P Dune bt S Ronold at 20th, Lennox halved with Friestad, O'Donovan lost to Kristiansen 2 and 1, C Selfridge lost to F Kollevold 1 hole (2 1/2-2 1/2).

GERMANY 2, PORTUGAL 5.

DENMARK 2, SWEDEN 5

Friday's semi-finals: England v Norway, Portugal v Sweden.
Play-off for 5th place: Italy v Ireland, Germany v Denmark.

FLIGHT TWO

FRANCE 3, FINLAND 2

NETHERLANDS 5, WALES 0

SCOTLAND 3, BELGIUM 2
Foursome: A McLachlan & K Smith lost to P-A Rolland, T Detry 2 and 1 (0-1).
Singles: M Stewart bt T Pieters at 20th, D Law lost to K Hesbois 3 and 2, J Ross bt J Richelle 1 hole, P Shields bt R Picone 1 hole (3-1).

SPAIN 2, SWITZERLAND 3.

Friday's ties: Play-off for 9th place - France v Netherlands, Scotland v Switzerland.
Play-off for 13th place - Finland v Wales, Belgium v Spain.