Wins and losses for veterans' sides

Jimmy Shields, Sammy Small, Sammy Watson and Davy Balmer had an interesting game against T Beckett on rink2. The Ballymena men won the first 6 ends to take an 11 shot lead only for the visitors to win the next 5 ends and tie the game at 11-11.

The Ballymena men then won the next 3 ends to open up a 5 shot lead and with the remaining ends shared it left the score 22-17 in favour of the Braid rink.

Eddie Leckey, Jimmy Alexander, Dessie Shaw and Rowly Woods took on D Smyth on rink 3, however it was not a good day for the Ballymena men. Counts of 4,4,5 and 6 over the first 10 ends saw the visitors take control of the game and they continued to pile up the shots on their way to a 30-6 victory.

Ballymena Veterans II 32, Newtownabbey 29: Ballymena Vets 2 travelled to Newtownabbey last week. Each team had a rink win but it was the Braid men who claimed the extra points on offer with an overall win.

On rink 2 it was the home rink skipped by W Lyttle who made the better start against Allen Stewart, Liam Lyness, John Greer and Harold Smyth as they raced in to a 11-1 lead after 7 ends.

The Ballymena men dug in well and with only 2 ends remaining they had reduced the deficit to only a single shot, however scored of 2 and 5 over the last 2 ends saw the home rink claim victory by 21 shots to 13.

There was better news on rink 3 where Gary Shaw, Derek Greer, Peter Millar and Arnold Kenny were drawn against H Wallace.

At the half way stage of the game the visitors held a 2 shot lead, however the Braid men won the next 5 ends to open up a decisive 12 shot lead and this enabled them to go on to record a 19-8 victory.

Ballymena Veterans III 19, Forthriver II 42: Ballymena Vets 3 travelled to Forthriver last week and it was not a good day for the visitors as the Ballymena men were beaten on both rinks and returned home with no points

Tommy Crooks, Edwin Donaghy, Lyle McQuitty and Don McKee found the going tough on rink 1 against J Edgenorth.

The visitors could only manage to score on 3 of the first 12 ends and this left them trailing by 11 shots. The Ballymena rink won 5 of the remaining ends to reduce the deficit to 6 shots, but it was too little too late as they eventually went down by 16 shots to 10.

On rink 2 Joe Kyle, Keith Burnett, Robert Mark and Billy Scullion were level after 8 ends against N Adams with the score board reading 8-8. That was as good as it got for the visiting Ballymena rink who could only score on one more end as the home rink claimed victory by 26 shots to 9.

Ballymena Veterans IV 26, Newtownabbey II 37: Ballymena Vets 4 entertained Newtownabbey last week however it was the visitors claimed maximum points with two rink wins.

On rink 4 Tommy Glass, Clifford Duncan, Roy Kernohan and Jackie Barr made a good start against J Cameron when they won the first 5 ends to open up a 9 shot lead, however this proved to be a false dawn as the visitors took control of the remainder of the game winning 10 of the remaining ends to claim victory by 21 shots to 13.

There was a very close match on rink 5 where Sammy Rainey, Jimmy Maybin, Joe McKernan and Jim Cameron took on B Moore. Scores were level after 5 ends at 5-5 and after 11 ends when the score was 8-8.

There was still nothing to separate the rinks after 16 ends with the scores level at 12-12, however a decisive count of 4 shots in favour of the visiting rink was enough the tip the game in their favour as they went on to win by 16 shots to 13.