Lowry and Power left winless on day two as Continental Europe takes 2-point lead at Hero Cup
Shane Lowry and Séamus Power went pointless on day two as Continental Europe claimed the last two foursomes to take an 8.5-6.5 lead into Sunday's singles at the Hero Cup in Abu Dhabi.
Trailing by a point after the opening day's fourballs, Great Britain and Ireland hoped to make their greater experience tell in two sessions of foursomes play.
But while the morning foursomes session was shared 2.5-2.5, Lowry and Power were well beaten, 3&2 by France's Victor Perez and Italy's Guido Migliozzi in the anchor match before losing again with separate partners in the afternoon.
Lowry and Tyrrell Hatton were beaten 1-up to Sepp Straka and Thomas Detry at number four and while Power was reunited with his fourball partner Robert MacIntyre they lost 2&1 to the impressive Perez and Migliozzi in the anchor match.
The 3-2 session win for Francesco Molinari's Continental Europe side gives them a two-point lead heading into the 10 singles and the Italian was delighted with his team and his partnership with young Dane Nicolai Hojgaard (21), which has yielded two and a half points from three.
"A lot," Molinari (40) said when asked how much he wants to win an event designed to give European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald some pointers for September's match in Rome.
"We said at the beginning of the week, we are all competitors and we are all Europeans obviously, and we know well that in September, we are all going to be together.
"But losing is never a nice feeling, so like you said, long way to go. The boys are really grinding it out and trying as hard as they can. So I couldn't ask for more from them, but tomorrow we need to go out and do the same again."
Molinari added: "Well, we need to win tomorrow's session. We've done a great job winning two sessions out of three and halving the other one. So we need to go out and win the session.
"Two points is nothing. We have been obviously in situations where much bigger margins were eroded. But I've got full trust and confidence in all the other nine guys, so looking forward to the challenge of tomorrow."
Lowry has lost his three matches while Power has one point from three and both will be keen to win their singles for Fleetwood, who won with Hatton against Straka and Detry in the morning before helping Jordan Smith to a 2&1 win over Thomas Pieters and Alex Noren in the afternoon.
"A couple of matches could have gone either way," Fleetwood said. "We ended the day two points behind, but two points behind is fine and we have a full, single session to go.
"We can reflect on today and we'll all sit in the team room and we'll be talking about our rounds and everything, but overall we go out and get a fast start tomorrow, we're straight back in the game."
Asked his message for his team, Fleetwood said: "Win the first three points and win the lead and go from there.”
Lowry will lead off in the singles against Molinari on Sunday while Power will take on Hojgaard in the fourth match.
Fleetwood is keen to erase the two point deficit quickly and plays at number two against 2016 Ryder Cup player Thomas Pieters as the experienced Hatton takes on French rookie, Antoine Rozner at number three.
Sunday Singles Matches
Continental Europe (8.5) v GB&I (6.5)
1 10:35 Francesco Molinari V Shane Lowry
2 10:45 Thomas Pieters V Tommy Fleetwood
3 10:55 Antoine Rozner V Tyrrell Hatton
4 11:05 Nicolai Højgaard V Seamus Power
5 11:15 Thomas Detry V Matt Wallace
6 11:25 Adrian Meronk V Callum Shinkwin
7 11:35 Victor Perez V Jordan Smith
8 11:45 Sepp Straka V Ewen Ferguson
9 11:55 Alex Noren V Robert Macintyre
10 12:05 Guido Migliozzi V Richard Mansell
Meanwhile, Spain’s Juan Postigo Arce won his maiden title after securing a two-stroke victory in The G4D Tour @ Hero Cup at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.
The Spaniard posted a closing level par round of 72 to finish on one over par after 36 holes, two clear of Canadian Kurtis Barkley in second while Louth's Brendan Lawlor was a shot further back in third on four over par after a 71
Ireland’s Conor Stone finished in eighth place after a closing 75.
