Dream team is an oft-used phrase in sport and unfortunately it can often be misused.

But that’s not the case when it comes to the Lilley Brook duo of Eddie Robinson and Andrew Hartley.

And a quick look at the facts will tell you why.

Firstly, they’re good pals; secondly, they think along similar lines, and, thirdly, they are winners.

In fact they are still celebrating right now after winning the National Senior Pairs Championship, clinching the title at Staverton Park, near Daventry.

“It’s a tournament organised by the Seniors Golf Association,” said Robinson. “Anyone can enter from all over the country and we had to win seven matches to win the title. It’s no mean achievement to become a national champion.”

The tournament is a betterball handicap knockout competition – Robinson plays off seven and Hartley off 13 – and the semi-finals and final were played over two days at Staverton Park.

“We’re thrilled to have won it, very pleased,” said 65-year-old Hartley. “It’s a good title to win.”

It certainly is although they had a few nervous moments along the way, most notably in their semi-final.

“We played a pair from Lowestoft and it went to the fourth extra hole,” explained Robinson. “To go to the 22nd hole was really nerve-wracking but Andy was brilliant in the play-off holes.

“He played a fabulous chip on the 22nd hole so that I could par and they couldn’t match it, he was amazing.”

They had to dig deep in the final, too, against their opponents from Bedfordshire, who were the defending champions.

“We were two down after nine,” said Robinson, “but we won 3&2 and shook hands on the 16th.”

With the way the competition’s handicap system works, the 14th hole favoured the Bedfordshire duo but it was Lilley Brook who claimed the hole against the odds.

“They’d have been thinking they’d win it or at least halve it,” said Robinson. “But I got a birdie to win, it was like one against the head. Sport is all about momentum and that gave us the momentum to go on and win.”

The earlier rounds had seen them beat pairings from Naunton Downs and Forest Hills among others and they overcame a pair from Lancashire club Poulton-le-Fylde to book their place in the last four.

And they certainly came good in those final two matches, so what is it like being one half of a dream team?

Robinson on Hartley: “We’re good mates. Andy is very steadying. We’re both pretty steady golfers, he doesn’t get flustered.

“We help to keep each other going. We talk all the way round although not always about golf.”

And Hartley on Robinson: “Eddie is the ‘professional’ among us, he’s the rock steady player. I did a little bit in the play-offs but Eddie was the driving force.”

They first started playing together last year and after doing well in Lilley Brook’s seniors winter league decided to test themselves on a bigger stage.

Hartley, originally from Burnley, has been playing at Lilley Brook for 25 years after playing for a short period at Cleeve Cloud.

Robinson, 58, is a relative newcomer to the sport – he describes himself as a “junior senior” – and only took up the sport 10 years ago.

He was a very good cricketer back in the day and in tandem with fellow spinner Mike Bailey helped Cheltenham to Western League title glory in the late 80s and early 90s.

Robinson was a left-armer, played a lot of cricket and was good enough to play for Herefordshire as well as Gloucestershire 2nds.

So how did he get into golf?

“I got invited to a cricket reunion in Buckinghamshire where I played when I was a Colt,” he explained. “The person who organised it then found out that no one was actually playing cricket anymore so he made it into a golf day.

“I said I wasn’t going to go because I didn’t play golf but he persuaded me to go along, I borrowed some clubs and I really enjoyed it.”

He certainly did and he joined Lilley Brook nine years ago, making as big an impact in his new sport as he did his old because he was club captain four years ago.

“I needed a sport,” he said. “Sport is an important part of life and it helps to keep you going. I’m intending to keep on playing for a very long time.”

And that, of course, means defending the national pairs title alongside his pal Hartley in 2019.