Five Arches 47 v Tenby 109
On a rain soaked Sunday afternoon , the Five Arches entertained table topping Tenby. After a good start to this year's league championship we would now face our sternest test. Tenby have been champions for the last four years and are once again leading the rest of us. Therefore any points gained from the match would be a huge bonus. On rink 2 in front of an appreciative crowd, Ray and his rink of Ben and Steve and new recruit Ben Sheldon played superbly against Tenby legend Pat Currie. They have been our top rink in the previous two matches and once again proved a force to be reckoned with. Comfortably in control after 10 ends by 15 shots to 6, they maintained their concentration to emerge winners by 20 shots to 11.
Tenby hit back on the remaining three rinks to run out comfortable winners overall. Tony and his teammates Stuart, Jim and Johno were always up against the wall . They found themselves 25 shots to 1 down at tea and even after the addition of a few biscuits , the Tenby rink continued in a similar vein to complete a comprehensive 43 shots to 6 win. On Rink 5 , Clive, Joe , Ray and Harold had a similar experience , trailing 19 shots to 2 at tea they again suffered as Tenby piled on the points to win by 35 shots to 6. Ashley and his rink of Mike, Tony and Ken had a tighter game out in the wilds of rink 6. Up against multiple Gold cup winner Paul Diment was always going to be hard but the Five Arches quartet stuck at it and trailed by only five shots at tea. However the Tenby rink kept this margin during the second half to complete a 20 shots to 15 victory.
An interesting game played in unpleasant weather. Hopefully we learned a lot playing one of the best sides in Wales . Special mention must go to Ben Sheldon who didn't know he was playing until an hour before and played superbly with Ray and his rink. Another two points gained and it doesn't get any easier, away to Haverfordwest on Saturday 9th June.
Ben Sheldon, Steve Davies, Ben Simmons, Ray Taylor 20 Gerald Hewitt, Steve Sheldon, Mike Jackson, Pat Currie 11
Stuart Askew, Jim Taylor, John Hubbard, Tony Brown 6 Ben Cloake, Brian Kingdon, Peter Day, Andrew Muskett 43
Joe Hewitt, Ray Hine, Harold Ebdon, Clive Webb 6 Neil Dickinson, Dai Spencer, Joe Richards, Craig Guymer 35
Mike Gouldingay, Tony Powling, Ken Lloyd, Ashley Hooper 15 Cameron White, John Baggott, Jon Webb, Paul Diment 20