Ballymena '˜B' team continue recent run of winning form

Ballymena B travelled to Cliftonville last Saturday afternoon and they continued their recent good run of form when they claimed five points.
Ballymena B's Ivan Lynn in action during Saturday's Division 2 League game with Ards at the Old Ballymoney Road. INBT 21-196CSBallymena B's Ivan Lynn in action during Saturday's Division 2 League game with Ards at the Old Ballymoney Road. INBT 21-196CS
Ballymena B's Ivan Lynn in action during Saturday's Division 2 League game with Ards at the Old Ballymoney Road. INBT 21-196CS

The Ballymena rink of Leslie Barr, Arnold Kenny, Geoff Padgett and Andrew Morrison settled down quickly against P Neeson on rink 1 and with 3 ends played they led by 5 shots to 0.

Seven ends later the margin was still 5 shots and with 16 ends completed the Braid men appeared to be well on their way to victory as they led by 19 shots to 7.

The home rink however had not read the script and with the help of 4 shots on the 17th end and 6 shots on the 19th end they trebled their score to stun the Ballymena rink and claim an unlikely victory by 21 shots to 19.

Mark Pearson, John McFall, David Torrington and Roy Torrington were in good form against L McKenna on rink 2.

The first half of the game was reasonably contested with both rinks winning 5 of the opening 10 ends. At this stage of the game the Braid men led by 8 shots to 6.

The second half of the game belonged to the visitors. They won 7 of the remaining 11 ends during which they outscored the Cliftonville rink by 14 shots to 5 to claim a well deserved 22-11 victory.

On rink 3 Alan Smyth, Joe McKeown, Danny McCullough and John Coulter took on E McKenna and with 9 ends completed the scores were level at 7-7.

The game however changed over the next 5 ends as the home rink took control. During this period the Cliftonville rink picked up another 12 shots while the visitors could only manage a count of 3 on the 11th end to leave them trailing by 9 shots.

The Braid men rallied over the next few ends and going in to the final end they had reduced the deficit to 4 shots but there was to be no fairytale ending for the visitors who could only manage 2 shots on the final end to leave the final score 21-19 to the Belfast men.

Jimmy Gage, Nigel McFadden, Chris Wilson and Ivan Lynn made a poor start against R Gray on rink 4 and fell 10-0 behind after 5 ends.

The Ballymena men however got their act together and they replied with interest over the next 5 ends when they scored 12 unanswered shots to take a slender 2 shot advantage in to the second half.

Two shots was still the margin after 16 ends but the home rink picked up a count of 3 shots on the next end to wrestle the lead back and they were able to hold on to the lead right up until the end to win the game by 19 shots to 18.

This Saturday, Ballymena B travel to Claredon in the second round of the Irish Intermediate Cup.

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