Brains Cup - Five Arches 77 Pembroke Dock Mariners 80

The first match in the defence of the Brains cup ended in a narrow defeat away to the team we beat in last years final. The game was played on a warm spring evening and provided an exciting ending with the result in the balance until the final few bowls. In a tight game on rink 4, Ashley and his rink of Ben, Tony and Gwyn recovered from a deficit at tea to pull away to a slender lead with only two ends go, however the loss of 5 shots on these 2 ends proved crucial and the Mariners rink skipped by County Secretary Gerard eased to a hard fought 19-17 win.

Rink 3 at Pembroke Dock is well known for its peculiarities and Lee's rink of Ken, Ben and Ray were unfortunate to be drawn against a Mariners rink who their local knowledge  completely out bowled them. Although they only won 4 ends, they are a strong rink and will bounce back from this defeat. Clive and his rink of Steve, Mike and Aaron continued their run of good form.  They were always in the lead and were never troubled and eased to a 6 shot victory.

Tony with John, Cameron and Eamonn providing good support staged a fine recovery to go on to be our top rink. Five down with 8 ends to play they completely outscored their opponents in the remainder of the match to win by 9. Overall a disappointing result but a good, hard fought game. The Mariners have a tricky away game in Haverfordwest so we are still in with a chance of qualifying.

Eamonn Maher, Cameron White, John Hubbard, Tony Brown 25    G Gelderblom 16

Aaron Lloyd, Mike Gouldingay, Steve Williams, Clive Webb 24         D Halward 18

Ken Lloyd, Ben Cloake, Ray Taylor, Lee Richards 11                      G Bann 27

Ben Simmons, Tony Powling, Gwyn Beynon, Ashley Hooper 17      G Thomas 19