Ballymena C claim1.5 points aftercreditable display

Ballymena C travelled to Willowfield last Saturday and they put in a creditable performance but in the end they were only able to claim 1.5 of the points on offer.
Bowls.Bowls.
Bowls.

Leslie Jackson, Roy Kernphan, Robert McCready, Liam Lyness had a difficult day against J Graham on rink 1. The Braid men could only pick up 4 singles during the first half of the game while the home rink accumulated a total of 11 shots to lead by 7. By the time the game had reached the 19th end the Willowfield rink had increased their advantage to 13 shots but to their credit the Braid men never gave up and they were rewarded with a count of 5 shots on the penultimate end but in the end this made little difference to the outcome of the game with the home rink winning by 22 shots to 13.

There was a close game on rink 2 where Jimmy Shields, Jimmy Gage, William Crawford and Johnny Elliott took on M Hedley. The lead changed on several occasions and it was no surprise that at the conclusion of the game the scores were level at 22-22.

Only a total of 8 shots were scored over the first 7 ends in the game between Keith Burnett, Gary Shaw, Andy Hill and Derek Greer and the Willowfield rink skipped by V Thompson and at this stage of the contest the Braid men lead by 6 shots to 2.

The complexion of the game changed over the next 6 ends as the home rink scored 15 unanswered shots to turn a 4 shot deficit in to an 11 shot advantage. Greer’s men stopped the rot when they claimed 3 successive singles but the Willowfield rink stunned the visitors when they picked up a count of 6 shots on the 17th end to lead by 23 shots to 9. The Ballymena men kept fighting until the end and they actually won the last 4 ends to reduce the arrears to 7 shots but it was too little too late to leave the final score 23-16.

Willie McNabb, John Montgomery, Artie McAuley and Alex Wilson were never behind in their game against G Childs. With 5 ends completed the Braid rink lead by 6 shots and this was still the margin however by the time the game had reached the 14th end the scores were level at 14-14.

The Braid men won 4 of the next 6 ends and with only 1 end remaining the Ballymena men were 6 shots to the good. The final end did not build up well for the visitors and even though they conceded a count of 5 shots Wilson’s men were still well worth their 22-21 victory.

Next Week Ballymena C entertain Larne B

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