HEREFORDSHIRE clubs have made a good start to the Hargrove Trophy, the Shropshire & Herefordshire premier winter foursome knockout.

Burghill Valley A team, beaten by Church Stretton in last year's final, gained a resounding 3-0 home win over visiting Llanymynech B in the first leg of the first round and will fancy their chances of making progress as they also take a 15-holes-up advantage into this weekend's return leg.

Andy Lambert and Jim Payne won five up, Carl Rose and Mark Prior won two up, and Matt Harrison and Sam Baker completed the whitewash with an outstanding eight up.

Burghill B team were not to be outdone and beat visiting Lilleshall A 3-0 and 12 holes to the good after Rob Haines and Ed Morley won five up, Barry Park and Andy Webb won five up, and Ben Carter and Guy Haines won two up.

Kington, beaten finalists in 2003, claimed a useful 3-0 win at Worfield.

Matt Weaver and Dave Morris birdied the last to win the top game, in which eagle two were scored by both pairs, and this was followed by a five-up win for Alan Williams and Darren Richards, and a one-up success for Matt Davies and Dan Jarman in the anchor match.

The Kington B team, last year's winners of the Hargrove Plate for first-round losers, beat Oswestry B 2-1 at Bradnor.

Kelvin Alexander and Roger Richards won two up, Nigel Scott and George Smith won one up, while Lee Wilson and junior member Nick Crum went down by three holes.

Hereford A visited Leominster in a county derby match and gave themselves every chance of progressing with a fine 2- win.

John McQuillan and Jonathan Devereux beat Adam Phillips and Mike Craddock three up, and Neil Greening and Will Owens followed this with a fine six-up win over Jeremy Lawrence and Gary Price. In the anchor match Elliot Shaw and Ben Synnock battled for a half against Julian Morris and Peter Morris.

Hereford B team have a mountain to climb after crashing to 3-0 home defeat against Patshull Park.

Neil Bell and Keith Williams went down by four holes, as did Steve Griffiths and Mike Day. The final match went to the last hole with the visiting pair holing from six feet to stay one up against Wyn Owen and Steve Jones.

Belmont have also left themselves a lot to do when they visit Shifnal B for the return leg after going down 2-1 at home.

Gregg Morgan and Steve Hughes got the hosts off to a good start with a three-up win in the top match.

However, a heavy eight-down reverse for Pete James and Colin Gladwyn, and a one-down loss for Dave Lilley and Richard Lloyd, gave the visitors a decided advantage for this weekend's return fixture.