Rochford Hundred charged to a convincing victory and gained sweet revenge at the same time in the Thornton Cup Plate final on Sunday.

Rochford crushed Ilford 7-3 at the neutral Crondon Park course in Stock to take one of the top Essex team competition prizes.

And it was Ilford who sent Rochford to one of their heaviest defeats ever in the Thornton last year, but there were no slip-ups this time around.

Rochford got off to a cracking start.

The club’s first three players – Jimmy Dale, Arthur Leonard and Matt Fearn – all claimed wins.

Jordan Moss then came in with a half point.

And young Ben Franklin chalked up the biggest win of the day by 7&6 to put Rochford into an almost unassailable position, Joe Galbraith came back from four down to gain another vital half point.

And with Paul Birrell and Neil Cochran then tasting success, the match was over and it did not matter when tail-enders Carl Matthews and Steve Weidner both went down to defeat.

Team Captain John Gray was delighted with the way his side tackled the job.

“There was some good golf played by our lads and they had to be on top form to beat a very good Ilford side,” he said.

“We have used this competition to blood some of our up-and-coming younger players in the earlier rounds and they will be even better for the experience.

“To come through some very tough games and then to eventually win is great for the club and, with some other good golfers being eligible to play next year, I’m sure we will prove hard to beat in the future.”

Meanwhile Rochford members played for the Baltic Cup – a bogey competition – over the weekend with 17-handicapper Robert Bryan coming out on top with plus six, and earning a two shot cut to his handicap.

Bryan parred six holes and his score was good enough to push the luckless Matt Fearn into runners-up spot after the one handicapper finished with a superb plus four - three under par gross.

This total was mainly thanks to five birdies plus 11 pars.

Rochford Ladies played their final medal of the year with Sue Clarke’s nett 75 good enough to win ahead of Amanda Colgate-Herbert.