Essex 10½ – 5½ Greater Manchester (Semi-Final), 3 June 1995

Essex performed well enough to secure a place in the fiunal against Notts, but were flattered by the margin of victory.  Although outgraded, Greater Manchester almost held their own over the top 12 boards, but the clean sweep over the last four boards (including a win for debutant Andy Hartland) saw Essex home.  On board 16, captain David Smith had to take over 50 minutes down on the clock when the scheduled player failed to arrive as a result of a car breakdown.  Fittingly it was David (who found a swindle late in the session after being outplayed for a large part of the game) who scored the point that took Essex to the victory target of 8½ points.

Essex 12 – 4 Greater Manchester (Preliminary Round), 23 April 1994

A surprisingly easy victory over the reigning national champions at U175 level.  Essex were missing a number of regulars and David Smith had to draft in some players from the U150 squad for the bottom boards.  Nevertheless the teams were evenly matched on paper.  However, Greater Manchester were severely handicapped by several of their players arriving half an hour or more late, costing time on the clock that would be felt later on in the afternoon.  With Fred Dorn collecting an excellent point against Harry Lamb on top board, the Essex team as a whole performed outstandingly, but nowhere more so than on the bottom boards where the five players graded under 150 all collected a full point.