Seniors bounce back from Larne setback

The first game saw the Braid men travel to Belmont which is always a tough place to get points and that was the case last Tuesday night with the Ballymena team returning with just 1 point.

The second game was on Wednesday night when Ballymena men put on a solid performance to claim 6.5 of the 7 points on offer against Larne.

Ballymena Seniors (66) Belmont (81): J R Nicholl, Mark Torrington, Alistair Coleman and Steven Coleman scored a single shot on the first end against S Bennett on rink 1 however the home rink replied with 10 unanswered shots over the next 5 ends. The Braid men however stuck to their task and a good run of scoring saw them reduce the arrears to only 3 shots with 7 ends still to play.

Unfortunately the visitors could not maintain this level of performance and with 3 ends remaining the margin had crept up to 7 shots and even though the Ballymena rink won the final 3 ends they came up just short with the final score 20-18.

Steven Shields, Sammy Allen, Andrew Morrison and Andy Kyle made the early running in their game against D Hamilton however by the time 9 ends had been completed the home rink had drawn level with the score board reading 8-8.

The Belmont rink then appeared to have the upper hand when they scored 7 shots over the next 3 ends but the Braid men hit a purple patch when they won the next 7 ends to leave them 4 up with only 2 ends remaining. The home rink wiped out the visitors advantage when they picked up a count of 4 shots on the next end but Kyle’s men lifted 3 shots on the final end to win by 22 shots to 19.

The Ballymena rink of James Gaston, George Graham, Steven Falls and Nigel Robinson got off to a bad start when they dropped a count of 5 shots on the first end against R Horner on rink 3.

The home rink repeated the dose on the 7th end and this stage of the game they were 9 shots to the good. On rink 4 Michael Wilson, David Duncan, Jim Baker and Andi Duncan were quickly in to their stride and with 3 ends completed against R Battersby they lead by 7 shots to 1. Six ends later the margin had been cut to 4 shots and when the Belmont rink won 4 consecutive ends the Braid men found themselves trailing by 3 shots.

The home rink now had the momentum and over the closing ends they were able to double their advantage to 6 shots with the final score 22-16.

Ballymena Seniors (95) Larne (61): J R Nicholl, Roy Torrington, Alistair Coleman and Steven Coleman were never really in trouble against D McRandal on rink 1 after they shocked the visitors by scoring 11 shots over the opening 3 ends.

A count of 3 shots on the 6th ends and 4 more shots on the 9th ends saw them increase their lead but the Braid men were always able to maintain a healthy lead and in the end they strolled to a 25-16 win.

Michael Wilson, David Duncan, Jimmy Hodges and Andi Duncan took on P Robinson on rink 4 and with 4 ends played the scores were level at 4-4. From then however the Braid men took charge and 5 ends later they had opened up a 7 shot advantage.

On rink 3 James Gaston, Neal Garrett, Steven Falls and Nigel Robinson were involved in a very close game against A McLean and for the duration of the game there was never any more than 4 shots separating the 2 rinks. Each rink took the lead several times during the game but with the scores level at 4-4 after 4 ends, 8-8 after 9 ends, 14-14 after 16 ends and 17-17 after 19 ends it was no surprise that the game finished as a draw with the scores 19-19.

The first half of the game between Steven Shields, Sammy Allen, Andrew Morrison and Andy Kyle and the Larne rink skipped by M Murphy was well contested and with 12 ends played the Braid men held a 2 shot lead.

When the game had reached its conclusion 8 shots was still the margin with victory going to Kyle’s men by 22 shots to 14.