Midweek team hit top spot after Comber win

The Braid men had made a decent start to the season and they continued their good form with a 16 shot win which now sees the Ballymena team top of the league table.

There was little to separate Keith Burnett, Dessie Shaw, Paul Davidson and Joe McKeown against J Corry and for the first half of this match there was little to separate the 2 teams with the score board reading 7-7 after 11 ends.

Six shots to the visitors over the next 3 ends put them in a good position with only 4 ends remaining however the Braid men had other ideas and 7 shots between the 15th and 17th ends gave them a 1 shot advantage going in to the final end. Unfortunately for McKeown’s men they were unable to finish the job and the Comber rink claimed a single on the final end to give them a share of the spoils with the final score 14-14.

Willie McNabb, John Houston, Liam Lyness and Robert Mark were in devastating form against B Magill. The Ballymena men opened their account with 3 successive 2’s however 4 shots on the 4th end got the visitors on to the score board. This turned out to be just a blip for the Braid rink as they won the next 8 ends to open up an 18 shot advantage. With the game in the bag the Ballymena men took their foot off the gas and in the end the visitors were able to reduce the margin of defeat to 26-14.

Roy Kernohan, Bertie Thompson, George Stewart and Jim Cameron took on the Comber rink skipped by A Gwynne and with half of the game played there was nothing to separate the two rinks with the scores level at 7-7. The visitors however had the better of the next few ends and with only 3 ends remaining they had opened up a 7 shot advantage over the Ballymena rink. Cameron’s men did win 2 of the remaining 3 ends but it was not enough to secure victory as the visitors went on to win by 17 shots to 12.

John Montgomery, Tommy Crooks, Norman Armstrong and Peter Millar had an interesting game against J McBride. With 5 ends played the scores were level at 4-4, however 2 singles and 2 counts of 4 shots over the next 6 ends saw the Comber rink take the initiative and lead by 4.

Millar’s rink hit back and 6 shots over the next 2 ends put them back in front and from then on they dominated the remainder of the game. In fact the visitors could only score 2 more singles compared to the 9 shots which the Ballymena men collected and in the end they ran out winners by 24 shots to 15.