‘A’ team edged out by three shots by Pickie

it was the visitors who settled down more quickly and with 7 ends completed the Pickie men led by nearly 20 shots.

As the game progressed the Braid men fought back and with 3 rinks finished and 1 rink with only 1 end to play Ballymena trailed by only 1 shots however the visitors picked up 2 shots on the final end to claim a narrow 81-78 victory.

Michael Wilson, J J Robinson, Mark Torrington and Jim Baker took on A Lightbody on rink 4 and with 11 ends played the scores were level at 9-9.

The momentum of the game changed over the next 7 ends when the visitors outscored the Ballymena men by 13 shots to 1.

With the overall game in the balance Baker’s men mounted a late charge and 7 shots over the remaining ends saw the Braid rink reduce the deficit to 5 shots with the final score 22-17.

On rink 2 Steven Shields, Neal Garrett, Andrew Morrison and Andi Duncan had a tough game against W Angus on rink 2 and with 9 ends completed it was the visitors who held a 2 shot advantage.

A brace of 3’s kicked off a Ballymena push and over the next 9 ends they opened up a 6 shot advantage with only 3 ends left to play. The Pickie rink did their best to come back and win the game however they came up just short when they scored a total of 5 shots to leave the Braid men victorious by 19 shots to 18.

Graham Wilson, Jimmy Hodges, Steven Falls and Nigel Robinson made a very slow start against P Campbell on rink 3 and with 8 ends played the Ballymena men trailed by 14 shots to 5.

Over the next 9 ends the Braid rink found their rhythm and they won 8 of the next 9 ends to wipe out the deficit and draw level with the score board reading 17-17.

The Ballymena men continued their come back and going in to the final end they held a 2 shot advantage but it took a weighted bowl from the Ballymena skip to claim the shot and the victory by 22 shots to 19.

J R Nicholl, George Graham, Alistair Coleman and Steven Coleman also started slowly against N Belch.

The Braid men could only score 2 singles over the opening 7 ends while the visitors picked up a total of 13 shots to lead by 11.

The Ballymena men dug in and over the next 12 ends they reduced the arrears to only 4 shots and a well worked count of 4 shots on the penultimate end got Coleman’s men back on level terms.

Unfortunately there was no fairytale ending for the Ballymena men as the visitors picked up 2 shots to claim their point and ensure that the overall victory went to the Pickie team. Final score 22-20 to the visitors.

This week Ballymena A travel to Dromore in the Irish Senior Cup.