Penmaen prove dominant against two-man Lodgers B

Lodgers could only field two players, and things didn’t bode well.

Trev Blackbourn almost took an end out of top-ranked Brett Heppenstall in the first match, losing 10-12 in the third.

But that’s as good as it got for Lodgers B with all the Penmaen players winning all their games in straight ends, running out comfortable 10-0 victors.

In Division Two, two-man Sibsey B faced a full strength Sibsey C team with both teams requiring points to lift them up the division.

Steve Hill took the first game of the evening.

He was playing exceptionally well to win in three straight against opponent Dave Smith.

Unfortunately, for the B team, it wasn’t until the final game when they picked up their next point, Wayne Grooby beat the battling Mick Ellis in five ends.

In between, Roger Hooton picked up his two singles, beating Wayne in three and coming back from two sets down to beat Steve Hill in an epic five ender.

Dave Smith won one beating Wayne Grooby in four, and with Mick Ellis taking a fine point against Steve Hill, the B team had only the doubles left to try and add some respectability to the scoreline.

This turned out to be the game of the night with Steve and Wayne taking a two-end advantage over Dave and Roger without looking in trouble, but the C pairing pulled themselves together to take the next three ends to give a final score of 8-2.

Another derby occurred when Sibsey C took on their illustrious stablemates Sibsey A.

Due to injury and illness, Sibsey C could only field two players.

But undeterred, Dave Smith and Mick Ellis battled manfully to gain a good four points for their efforts.

Dave won his three singles in fine style notably his four set win over number four ranked Neil Snaith.

Mick, who improves with every game he plays, picked up a win against Sam Cade and just lost out to Neil in five ends and Fred Calvert in three.

Dave and Mick went into the doubles against Neil and Fred knowing a win would give them a creditable draw, but although the game was close the A pairing just had the edge to win in four to give them a 6-4 victory on the night.

Bottom placed Sibsey B achieved their first win of the season when they visited Graves Park D to close the gap on the teams above them, coming away with a creditable 4-6 victory.

Steve Hill and Daniel Johnson were the star players for the B team, each taking two points, although they could do nothing about Paul Matschull who was in imperious form, taking all three of his singles in straight ends.

Mick Dodes picked up one win, beating Wayne Grooby in four, leaving the chance of a draw if they could win the doubles.

As so often is the case, the doubles turned out to be the match of the night with Dodes/Walters taking on Hill/Grooby.

It wasn’t looking good for Graves Park when Sibsey took the first two ends, but Dodes/Walters rallied to take the next two to take the match to the deciding end – but Hill/Grooby just managed to hold it together for a priceless 4-6 victory.

Simon Raistrick took no prisoners when Lodgers Blades travelled to Kirton to take on Graves Park B with a dominant performance, taking all three of his singles in straight ends to help his team to a good 3-7 victory which propels them to to the top of the division.

Gavin Read chipped in with two, a good win against Mike Freeston before a ding-dong of a battle against Mick Maltby, with Gavin just taking the fifth end 9-11.

Scott Raistrick just took the point with an excellent win over Dave Graham, and with a comfortable straight ends victory in the doubles a rewarding 3-7 victory to the Blades was the result.

A good friendly and sporting match occurred when Graves Park E travelled the long distance out to take on a determined Tetford team in Division Three.

Peter Bell was the thorn in Tetford’s side, winning all of his three singles, and that was as good as it got for Graves Park.

Rita Rowe and Alex Allbones battled hard all night but the trio of Jon Newby, Andy Foster and Mike Schofield were just too strong for them on the night.

Peter and Alex teamed up in the doubles against Jon and Andy and took the first end 10-12 to give them a glimmer of an extra point, but the Tetford duo closed that door, taking the next three ends and a 7-3 victory overall.