Neyland 66  Five Arches 81

Sunday saw the Five Arches visit Neyland for their last game of the season. After last week's win in Saundersfoot and St Thomas picking up 10 points from their match on Saturday, the Five Arches required 2 points to clinch the championship. However Neyland are a strong team and are traditionally  very hard to beat on their home patch.  So we travelled with some trepidation but also the with confidence that comes from winning  the last five games. The weather was on our side, a lovely sunny afternoon on which to do battle.

On rink 2, Tony's rink of Ron and John boosted by the experience of Carruthers winning Captain Dai Spencer were involved in a tight match. Trailing by 3 at the break they timed their fight back  to perfection. Picking up 5 shots on the 17th end to take the lead and consolidating this with a couple of shots on both the 19th and 20th ends they eased to a 20 shots to 16 victory. This win got the two points we required  and enabled the rest of the team to breathe a sigh of relief. Tony and his rink may have clinched the first two points but it was the Tiger and his cubs on rink 4 which really allowed us to relax. 6 shots to 1 down after 5 ends wasn't the perfect start but  they scored 13 shots in the next five ends to lead by 14 to 7 at tea and won 8 of the remaining 11 ends to secure a comfortable 25 shots to 12 victory. When Ray, Steve, John and Ben have played together they have won all their matches and once again they proved their worth.

On rink 5 Peter skipping for the first time this season and ably supported by Stuart, Harold and Gerald had another tight game. Leading by 10 shots to 4 at tea, this was reduced to 13-11 after 16 ends but another nicely timed finished ensured a healthy 19 shots to 14 victory. Therefore with the other three rinks winning, Captain Ashley and his rink of Ken, Tony and Luke had a lot to live up to. Unfortunately after a tight first half with the score 10 all after 10 ends, their concentration waivered and the Neyland rink took advantage to ease to a 24 shots to 17 victory. 

A fantastic win getting 12 points and clinching the championship. Special thanks to those who came to Neyland to support us.  Thanks also to everyone who has played for the Five Arches this year and lets look forward to next season playing in the First Division.

Ron Hurlow, John Hubbard, Dai Spencer, Tony Brown 20                B McKay 16
John Rees, Steve Davies, Ben Simmons, Ray Taylor 25                   A King 12
Stuart Askew, Harold Ebdon, Gerald Hewitt, Peter Hooper 19          G Robson 14
Ken Lloyd, Tony Powling, Luke Rees, Ashley Hooper 17                  G Nuthall 24