Welsh Club Championship Quarter Final
Tenby vs Glyncorrwg (Neath/Port Talbot)
As mentioned in last weeks report, following the conclusion of the Gold Cup Tournament , Tenby faced formidable opposition in the Afan Valley side, Glyncorrwg, in their bid to retain the Carruthers Shield. With home advantage and the manner of the win against Pontrydyfen making Tenby favourites, the Afan Valley side enjoyed their roll of under dogs and proved throughout the match that they did not travel to Tenby just to make up the numbers.
After 1 end, the match was 6-5 to Tenby and all looked to be going well until the ‘Corrwg turned up the heat on an already hot afternoon. After 5 ends Pat Currie was 8-1 and Phil Carpenter was 11-0 down. Paul Diment and Craig Guymer tried to steady the ship and both lead 7-2 and 5-3 respectively. A lead of 11 shots to the away side this early in the game did not bode well and the large Sutton Street crowd were silenced by the scattering of away supporters who were now, even though still early in the match, sensing victory.
Paul Diment’s rink continued to surge away, and at 10 ends led by 13-4. Craig Guymer also extended his lead against Welsh International and Current British Isles Champion, Ross Tomlinson by 10-5. Phil Carpenter was still struggling against John Tomlinson but had reduced the deficit to 13-6. It was however on rink 1 where all was changing in Tenby’s favour, with John Roberts playing superbly to help the rink to trial by the 1 shot. At 10 ends, Tenby found themselves 6 shots ahead and had outscored their opponents by 17 shots between ends 5 to 10.
The question on everyone’s minds was whether Tenby would further press home their advantage or would Glyncorrwg find the spirit to 
pull the game around in their favour? At the 15 end mark Paul Diment, with Joe Richards and Peter Day playing some great bowls, further extended their lead to 14 shots (20-6); Craig Guymer with his brother also playing at the top of his game were beginning to demoralise Ross Tomlinson by continuing to convert opportunities set up by Luke Rees and Mike Jackson, and now led by 18 shots to 5. Phil Carpenter continued to keep things tight and was behind by 5 (15-10) and the Pat Currie revival continued to now level the game at 15-15. With Tenby now having a lead of 22 shots with only 24 playing ends remaining (6 ends by 4 rinks), it was now their game to lose.
Paul Diment continued to forge ahead taking a 4, 3 and a 2 over the closing 6 ends to record a final winning scoreline of 29-11. Craig Guymer finished winning 4 out of the last 6 ends to record a very impressive 24-8 victory over the talented Ross Tomlinson. Phil Carpenter’s four tried their best to close the gap but in the end had to settle for a 5 shot defeat, which after 7 ends, when 13-0 down, would have been more than welcome. Credit to the rink for their fighting spirit. Pat Currie had also come back level at 15 ends, but a dropped 5 on the 16th end, followed by losing 3 out of the last 5 ends, saw them fall away to a 7 shot defeat. Therefore a win of 22 shots (85-63) to the Welsh Champions, in a match kindly sponsored by Betfred.
Tenby will now travel to Llandridod Wells, the Welsh Bowling Association Headquarters, in 2 weeks time to face Ferndale from Mid Glamorgan in the semi finals, which will be held at 9.30am. If a win is achieved, they will then play either Porthcawl or Dinas Powis at 2pm that afternoon. The team would like to take this opportunity to thank the Club and in particular, Lynn Deli, for her co-operation with regard to ensuring that the match could be played due to her taking the effort to reschedule the Gold Cup. Finally, congratulations to Phil Carpenter on winning his third Silver Bowl and to John Roberts and Craig Guymer on reaching the semi-finals of Gold Cup and Silver Bowl respectively.
Rink Scores:
Rink 1: N Dickinson, J Baggott, J Roberts and P Currie 18-25 Glyncorrwg
Rink 2: D Spencer, J Richards, P Day and P Diment 29-11 Glyncorrwg
Rink 3: G Hewitt, J Webb, A Muskett and P Carpenter 14-19 Glyncorrwg
Rink 4: L Rees, M Jackson, L Guymer and C Guymer 24-8 Glyncorrwg